Transpose tuba to bass?

Question:Well, I used to play baritone in my schools pep band. I was just asked to play electric bass since I am known to play it. I was handed a flip folder of tuba music and told to transpose it by tomorrow. I have a program called guitar pro. I'm just wondering how to transpose it. I need help.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Well, I used to play baritone in my schools pep band. I was just asked to play electric bass since I am known to play it. I was handed a flip folder of tuba music and told to transpose it by tomorrow. I have a program called guitar pro. I'm just wondering how to transpose it. I need help.

Generally: you don't need to transpose anything. All instruments that read bass clef (like the bass and the tuba) are concert C instruments (unlike, for example, the trumpet or alto sax) so no transpositions are required. You can play the notes on the page as you see them. (The bass does sound an octave lower than written, but that shouldn't affect the music you are playing very much.)

However, you may have to make some "rearrangements" to make it work. For example, the lowest note of a bass is the low E (one ledger line below the bass clef staff), and it sounds an octave lower than written. A tuba can play notes much lower, so you may have to take some of the notes of the tuba part an octave higher to make them work on the bass. (In fact, the band director may want you to play the entire tuba part an octave higher so the notes match exactly to those of the bass.)

So you'll have to use your best musical judgment: depending on what the part is, you will either play it as written or up an octave, and you may need to find the places to switch octaves so you can play the line in a coherent musical way- and the only way to do this is by doing it and hearing the results (and seeing if you like the way it sounds)!

Assuming that you aren't reading a British brass band tuba part in treble clef, just read it up an octave. No transposition necessary.