Does anyone have good suggestions or tricks for translating Tab notations into Nashville Number System (NNS)?
As I’m learning new songs, I have found that NNS is the closest to how I break down and think about new bass parts. But Tab is far and away the most common way to see music presented for bass.
I’m not a huge fan of tab, especially for more complicated things. It’s just a note-by-note grind and doesn’t show me the shape of what I’m trying to figure out. This takes me longer to learn and is harder for me to memorize. Especially if it’s a song where the bassist is doing a lot of fills/improv/vamping within chords.
Any tricks or tips for how to break this down in ways that will be easier for me to wrap my head around?
In particular, we’re working on “Seether” by Veruca Salt. I’m trying to wrap my head around the bridge/solo section.
Keep in mind, Major chords are designated by uppercase Roman Numerals; minor chords by lowercase Roman Numerals; and diminished chords by adding a ° (degree symbol).
Here’s a good excerpt from girlinbluemusic explaining functional harmony:
Crash Course in Functional Harmony
Functional harmony is the culmination of a bunch of theories of harmony in which one chord in a piece of music is perceived as the most important. We can say that a piece of music is “in the key of A major,” which means that the A major chord is the most important chord in the piece. That piece uses the A major scale, which goes A B C♯ D E F♯ G♯ A.
Building chords from every step of a scale gives us every chord that can occur within the scope of that key. In A major, this would look like this:
Notice that underneath every note is a Roman numeral. Roman numeral notation is a common way of discussing tonal harmony, as it can be used as a tool for noticing patterns across different keys, based on the harmonies built from each scale step. Each numeral communicates the scale step that serves as the root of the chord as well as the quality of the chord. Capital numerals (I, IV, V) show that the [appropriate, correlated] chord is major. Lowercase numerals (ii, iii, vi) show that the chord is minor. Lowercase numerals with a degree symbol (vii°) or with a slashed degree symbol (viiø) show that the chord is diminished.
Bear in mind, as far as I’m aware, that the Nashville Number system only specifies chords whereas tab specifies notes. So NNS on it’s own will never give you the full story, though of course you may well just improvise the notes around the chords.
Knowing chord tones and learning arpeggios built on chords (in major and minor, in all inversions and fingerings) provides a ton of ammunition for creating bass lines and solos.
If you can’t find tabs with chords, then look for lead sheets or chord sheets. Those pretty much always have the chords.
As for the key signature, that often won’t be on tabs or lead sheets. One hack is to look at the first and last note of the song. That will often be the key signature. E.g. if the first note is a C, chances are good you’re in the key of C. This isn’t always the case, but it often is, especially in popular music. If the first and last note are the same, then it’s a pretty safe bet that’s the key. Looking at the chord for that measure (can look on guitar tab if it isn’t on the bass tab) can tell you if it’s C Major or C minor.
Once you have the chords, you can also figure out the key with your ear. Listen to the song and decide which of the chords most feels like “home” to you, and that will usually be the key.
Of course the easiest thing is to get an actual transcription in music notation, if you can find one. Then you’ll have the key signature and the chords, so coming up with the progression is straightforward from there.
The bridge on this song and sections of a lot of others are not a set pattern. Pretty clearly the bassist taking a chord and vamping/arpeggiating slightly differently each time within that shape.
I took a bit of a stab earlier and it’s starting to make more sense.
I’ve been struggling with how to keep “notes” as well. I stared with tab, couldn’t read that while playing.
Then I went to lyrics and chords. I have a 2 column document that I put all of that into removing repeated sections like the chorus. Then at the top right I make notes about the notes in the song, when to come in, any gotchas. But that too is a little too heady to read on the fly.
The next idea I had was to break down each section’s pattern and for the harder parts include a one liner note like:
“Chorus: A 3, Slide to 9, E 9 slide to 4” (notes for string names)
I was trying to do it with note names rather than strings and fret numbers but what I need is a quick reminder of the pattern to get my brain into the feel of the song. I’m learning notes but not quick enough and the fact that they can be in multiple places adds another factor that makes it slow for me.
A quick reminder of the pattern is something I can fret quietly and quickly if I’m really lost before a song.
Also for bass solo / non pattern things for me it’s just got to be by ear and repetition. Fortunately/unfortunately those parts are either super hard (by repetition) or super easy (by ear).
Sorry for the brain dump but I’d love to know if you come up with any other good ideas.
Rather than use the bass clef properly it is notating everything as ledger lines from the treble clef, and technically these are also an octave off as if we are not correctly notating the instrument it is rather twee to keep its +1 transposition
Rather than set a proper key signature it is instead just using accidentals everywhere
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