Music Theory (things you really use on the bass)

[Jay J.]

I was not sure what to call this thread but here is what I am getting at. I was talking with a guitar player friend of mine, and we have both been learning a lot of theory stuff over the past year. I took a formal Music Theory 101 class, and have been doing a lot of reading for more directly bass related stuff. there is a lot of it to know. what do you think are some of the most important things to know of theory for plaing bass. stuff that you really use every day and every player should know. most people like myself can't learn everything (no one can) but what are the real important things that will make life playing with a band easier. I talking more every day stuff, not real tough things like band leader jazz kind of stuff where you have to come up with things in a few seconds. I hope that kinda made sense. I am trying to make a list of real important things/concepts to know.

[BenLoy]

All of it. Seriously.

 

You can get away with not knowing any arpeggios past 7th chords, but it'll come back to haunt you.

[Addix Metzatricity]

Yep... Learn all you can hold. Practice it to death. Then go learn some more. You'll be doing that your whole life, it never ends.

[Scoot]

Learning walking basslines would be good. Even though I never use them as they're taught (straight quarter notes) since I'm pretty much in a rock-oriented enviroment, they show you how the bass line can spells out the current chord while leading into the next. Even if you aren't playing "walking bass lines" per se, you can use those ideas (and the scales that get burned into your memory) to do more melodic stuff.

 

Make any sense?

[Jode]

What Ben said. All of it.

 

My first theory class was in high school, taught by my choir director. His favorite question to get from us was, "What's going to be on the test?" His answer? "Everything. What, you think I teach you useless stuff that I don't think you need to remember?"

 

The point with music theory is to learn it and make it as ingrained as breathing, so that you don't consciously refer to it, but you just KNOW.

[Addix Metzatricity]

Originally posted by Jode:

The point with music theory is to learn it and make it as ingrained as breathing, so that you don't consciously refer to it, but you just KNOW.

Don't worry... It sounds a lot harder than it is. By the time you've got something down, you won't even realize it. It's like breathing on purpose.

[Jode]

Here's an example: think about how hard your multiplication tables were in school. Nowadays, do you really have to think that hard to know that 4x3=12?

[randy clay]

You could look at the "Working Bassists Toolkit" on Ed Freidlands site. I have this book, and it covers a lot of territory. The kind of stuff you really NEED to know.

 

I'm sure there are a lot more books available, but I really like this one.

[jeremy c]

I have often had students, ask me, "you've given me all these things to work on, but just tell me which one is the most important".

 

It's all of them.

 

If there were shortcuts, I'd gladly tell you.

 

Every bit of theory, ear training, reading, technique, etc. will help you.

 

If you study jazz, you are learning to use everything you know immediately on a millisecond's notice.

 

Then if you play rock and someone asks you to make up a bass part, you can make one up instantly.

 

After you have been playing for 10 years, you will be just beginning to get a handle on all this.

 

Have fun!

[jpmiii]

All of the above is so true it's a life long endeavor, you never really stop. Theory 101 is a great start it will serve you well. (chords and more chords)

 

But one thing to remember is that music was invented first then theory to explain why you heard what you did. I guess what I'm saying is don't forget to listen a lot of people (including myself) get caught up in why to much and forget to just to play.

 

So learn to sing, that did as much if not more for me then learning the mechanics.

[dcr]

Yes, one of the best things you can do to learn to make music with your instrument is to listen to good players, all you can, & make a study of their work.

 

And that's one of the best reasons to learn theory, as well as to read music. You need to understand theory in order to understand the chordal structure of a piece of music, and once you understand that, you can go from just learning what so-on-and-so played on some song, to learning why it worked to play that, how it brought the harmonies together, etc.--and then you start filling your "toolbox" with musical ideas that you can apply intelligently in lots of different contexts. If you can do that, you'll start developing your own voice. Otherwise, your ability to learn from others will be pretty limited; you'll probably just end up memorizing & copying, which shows you how to play that one song, but little more.

 

This also means that you'll need to be able to read--and hopefully to write--transcriptions of the bass lines you want to study. These transcriptions need to be in musical notation, period. "Tab" is very useful for writing down fingerings (e.g. showing you to have your hand in position to play E on the A string, rather than on the D string, that sort of thing), but not much more. Tab does not show you rhythm, and it does not teach you to see the line within its harmonic context. There's much more to playing than just putting your fingers here, then there.

 

You've already been told, "It's ALL important," and it all is. But the next question is, "So where do I start?" The best thing, imho, is to start with basic chord theory--learn what the different chord types are, how they're made up, & how they're related to each other (& to the key of the song). That will allow you to read chord charts, & to understand how songs are put together. That's the first step towards knowing what bass line to play over a song. (Russell Garcia's book, "The Professional Arranger/Composer," has a good section on chord theory. Don't let it overwhelm you, though!) Of course, this assumes that you already know the notes on your fingerboard, and at least the basic scales (chords are built out of intervals in the scale); if you don't know that, start there.

[Tom Capasso]

So let me add another practical example. I'm in a rock band. We occassionally look at chord charts (well, the keyboard player sometimes works from sheet music). It is expected that we have the stuff memorized, but during the course of working on a song, the guitar player looks at me and says "what chord is that?". If I have some theory background, I can dig into my head, hear the chord, and figure it out. I don't have to stand there and say "well, I'm playing an A", because that means nothing. Even if A is the root of the chord, but that still doesn't tell you the whole story.

 

I'm no expert, and can't recognize the more complex chords (though I'd like to take your course so I could). The point is that working with people means you do more than just your own part. That's true for reading treble clef as well....

 

Do your best, and it will pay off !!!

 

Tom

[Slaerty]

Like the others learn everything. But if you want a list to start from: Major & minor scales, pentatonic major & minor scales and blues scale, then all the other scales, arpegios, learn how to build chords, learn all of this in different positions and keys. Learn common chord progressions for your style, experience different styles - blues, jazz, rock, pop, latin, EVEN Country, funk, anything you can, I always find circle of 5ths handy when working out keys, i have found the best thing is to learn how to get along with the other musicians and learn from them. I'm not a good bass player but i know these things. I wish someone told me to learn them when i first started out, but they just got picked up along the way. I have probably forgotten something very important and basic but there are many other more knowledgable players who can add to this list. I always wished i learned to sight read. Probably too late now.

Hope it helps.

[GeorgeR]

The side with those long strings on it is the one that makes the loud noise, not the other side.

 

;-)