One of the most frightening things about being a bass player is the prospect of having a piece of music thrown in front of you and having to play it cold. This is called sight-reading, which means to play a written piece of music without any real practice or preparation. Some musicians are better than others at this. But any way you dice it, sight-reading is an invaluable skill. No matter what style of music you play, you should develop some capacity for reading a chart on the fly. At first this task can be frustrating. However, with a little practice and know-how, you will get the hang of it.

There is always a nomenclature associated with any specialized pursuit. This is also the case with music where there is a substantial lexicon of musical terms that you must learn. Throughout this book you've been introduced to a moderate dose of these terms. However, there are still many more to learn. In fact, there are whole dictionaries dedicated to musical vocabulary. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is the most famous of these publications.

Brace yourself for this next piece of information: Since this chapter focuses on chart reading, you will not see tablature. Tab is never included in a chart. Given this, you should start weaning yourself off of tab. Tab is used primarily as a learning tool for beginner and intermediate-level guitarists and bassists. It is never — or very rarely — used in real-life playing situations. If you plan to play professionally or even semiprofessionally, you will, however, need to know how to read standard notation and charts. Making the transition is not easy, but you can do it!