KikkyMonk Posted October 15, 2002 Author Share Posted October 15, 2002 Oh btw I ordered that book... its going to be a monster though as I'm guessing its written in bass clef notation. I played percussion and actually became pretty good at reading treble clef (for the mallet instruments) but never have read bass clef. On top of that I think in terms of fret numbers in my head not note names (by product of reading tab in the beginning and playing with non-music theory knowing people) so I think this book is going to be super hard, but super fruitful. Hey at least I have great time and a great sense of rhythm BUT my ear sucks monkies. man rhythm is hard to spell... it has no vowels Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wally Malone Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 a e i o u and sometimes y Wally I have basses to play, places to be and good music to make! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g. Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 /me has sudden vision of Annette Funicello singing to young impressionable greenboy personally, on the M-I-C--K-E-Y MOUSE Club: Y? Because I wuuuuv u! . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 Kewl Dave....... actually the book starts off very basic, and builds from there. As for reading bass clef, it's just like treble clef except that all the notes move down one line or space.. A,C,E,G are the spaces and G,B,D,F,A are the lines. Besides, if you can figure out tablature,(something I've never been able to do, I guess cause I've read music most of the 50+ years I've been around)notes should be easy. Don't worry, you'll do just fine. And once you can sight read, it'll open up new opportunities at studios like you won't believe. Rock on ... BCR's homepage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Dalton Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 Originally posted by KikkyMonk: how can I break the penatonic barrier. Im really sick of sounding like myself. I have the same fills bass lines etc in every song I play on.There's some great advice here about scales... However, the problem in your original post won't necessarily be solved by learning scales better. You already know your pentatonic scale and you say you use the same fills all the time. who's to say that won't happen when you learn all the other scales? Keep using your pentatonic scales, but learn to vary them. I'll add this to Music-man's immediate band-aids: Make sure you're not staying within one octave. Try playing your usual fills but play one of the notes an octave higher or lower, to give them a different emphasis. Then try playing them with a couple of notes moved to different octaves, etc. It always seems to me that no matter how brilliant Jamerson's, Flea's or McCartney's basslines are, they're basically pentatonics or slight variations on pentatonics. They always got plenty of work! Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g. Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 Alan Dalton: It always seems to me that no matter how brilliant Jamerson's, Flea's or McCartney's basslines are, they're basically pentatonics or slight variations on pentatonics.Well, taking exception to the bit on McCartney, whose lines (and the songs they were built for) in mid- and late-period Beatles were hardly that pentatonic, I'll go with that. They say good short story authors know much more about the characters and setting than is ever written into the text. I think an effective musician playing mainly with pentatonic-based forms needs to know much more too. That's what gives one the judgment to add the right notes at the right times, and what makes the otherwise mundane become rich, what makes it resonate... . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred W Posted October 18, 2002 Share Posted October 18, 2002 Kikkymonk-- May I ask what is the purpose of the fills you play? I mean,what function do they serve besides filling a space.What form of music- aaba pop song, w/wo vocals, jam music, many repeats of form ie jazz, etc.? I ask sincerely perhaps clumsily. Reviewing the concept driving bass fills is something I am constantly working on myself.I know you asked about getting out of the pentatonic scale, which can only be good {you can always return}. I just thought hearing your concepts I could possibly assist more ably Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KikkyMonk Posted October 19, 2002 Author Share Posted October 19, 2002 mostly to connect chucks of the songs together... say between the verse and chorus etc. When I listen to CDs I hear musical fills the support whats going on in the song... but when i try fills they are not at all what I hear on the CDs... I've been learning the fills that I would like to emulate in an attempts to "understand" whats going on musically, but am finding that when I stick those fills in to the songs we play they sound wrong... so now Im trying to learn how to play in key and what scale degree denotes the different chord tonalities... like the 1st note in a scale (say a E for an e major scale) means that the chord will most likely be an Emaj7 so that is giving me more notes to play with instead of my ol blues/penatonic ones Dave hope that makes sense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred W Posted October 19, 2002 Share Posted October 19, 2002 Good Answer! Popular songs are almost always built upon 8 bar sections. The bass part is often used to introduce the next section of 8 {2nd "a" into the bridge "b"} also to puncuate the end of a section.Itis usually one measure, can be 2, or just the last 2 beats. My favorite example is the last two bars of the bridge of "Nowhere Man", THe Beatles. Thats as melodic a line as you hear, over a basic 2-5 turnaround,and to my knowledge is completely unique. Well worth studying. I would recommend listeniing to walking bass on a song you already know.Listen how the bassist connects chord changes. Functionally very similar to what you're doing in your fills. Walking lines are usually not pentatonic, are often chromatic, and sometimes even melodic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g. Posted October 19, 2002 Share Posted October 19, 2002 I have to admit I rarely even think in terms of "fills" when I'm playing. All I do is PLAY MUSIC. I'm very much in the moment and very few things I've experienced in life are as likely to put me in a place where I don't have to think, but just be part of a greater thing, as playing does. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KikkyMonk Posted October 20, 2002 Author Share Posted October 20, 2002 i agree completely greenboy... the only thing is when i play music the way you said its penatonic/blues! haha So now im trying to use my brain and change the way i play music (in the way you said) i dont think the bass greats played the way they do when they got competent and comfortable with the bass... as i have also...or maybe thats my problem.. im simply one who hears the same bass line to every song boy i think too much dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgrow Posted October 20, 2002 Share Posted October 20, 2002 John Scofield(I know, I know, a guitarist... ) says if you're playing the same licks over and over again, write a song that uses those licks. then you can't use them anymore except for that tune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KikkyMonk Posted October 20, 2002 Author Share Posted October 20, 2002 but thats the problem... they ARE in EVERY song I have haha Maybe I should not play fills, because otherwise my bass lines are varied and pretty good Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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