A few Slightly OT questions...

[Bass_god_offspring]

Here's a few questions that have been nagging me lately...

 

1.) The other day at band practice, whenever i touched my lips to the mic it seemed to be shocking me. It was painful but i managed to get through the night. anyone know why this is? (It was a powered Berhinger Speaker through a Shrue Mic)

 

2.) Recently, when trying to write music to accompany lyrics that i've written i ran into a little writers block. I was wondering that this might be cuased becuase i play bass, (i.e. a more rythm and backup instrument), and not guitar (i.e. more independant and leader like). Now when i play with our drummer and guitarist i can easily create bass lines off the top of my head, but when i am alone, it seems to go south. Question: could my writers block be due to the fact that Guitar isn't my main instrument and i am too used to back up others?

 

3.) (i know i had one i just can't think of it at the moment)

 

Thanks a lot.

 

[musicfiend]

Originally posted by Bass_god_offspring:

Here's a few questions that have been nagging me lately...

 

1.) The other day at band practice, whenever i touched my lips to the mic it seemed to be shocking me. It was painful but i managed to get through the night. anyone know why this is? (It was a powered Berhinger Speaker through a Shrue Mic)

 

2.) Recently, when trying to write music to accompany lyrics that i've written i ran into a little writers block. I was wondering that this might be cuased becuase i play bass, (i.e. a more rythm and backup instrument), and not guitar (i.e. more independant and leader like). Now when i play with our drummer and guitarist i can easily create bass lines off the top of my head, but when i am alone, it seems to go south. Question: could my writers block be due to the fact that Guitar isn't my main instrument and i am too used to back up others?

 

3.) (i know i had one i just can't think of it at the moment)

 

Thanks a lot.

 

1. Make sure the grounding in the room is ok. HOw old is the electricity, are there 2 prong plugs used. Do you have a better practice space available.

 

2. Bass can be very responsive to writing. There is no problem with playing lead lines, chords, and melodies on bass; while playing and while writing. I've written songs around tapped bass lines, slapped lines, chords, vocal melodies played on bass, you name it I've done it.

I also write on geetar, you might want to pick one up if you think it might help.

 

3. I use an old tapemachine from the arly 80's to record my ideas.

 

First I'll play the basic rythm or chord progression. Then I'll turn the machine way up to saturate the machine and get a different sound so the two lines don't sound the same.

I'll then play the lead line, melody, harmony line, etc.

[BigKahuna855]

2. Bass can be very responsive to writing. There is no problem with playing lead lines, chords, and melodies on bass; while playing and while writing

he has a great point. come on bgo, havent you ever heard Longview?

[Seamy ALB]

1, You are earthing the system, stop it or ya might die and get the wiring checked.

 

2, There are a number of things I do in this situation:

 

A, Read the lyrics till you get to the place you where when you wrote them.

B, Practise technique till you feel at one with your bass then focus on the words and let it flow.

C, Go do something else for a few days, park the bass out of sight.

[jeremy c]

That's a shocking revelation.

 

The pa and your amp are grounded opposite. (earthed for our UK friends). Make sure everything is plugged into the same outlet. If it is possible to unplug and turn the plug over and plug it in, try that. If your amp power switched on either up or down try the other way.

 

If the floor is concrete, wear rubber soled shoes.

[BenLoy]

One more thing:

 

Are you using a "ground lift" adapter plug to plug anything into a two-prong, non-grounded outlet in your rehearsal space?

 

http://www.adorama.com/images/Product/ZZAC32.JPG

 

If you have to use one of these babies to plug your amp or PA or anything else in YOU MUST connect that little copper loop to a metal pipe or something else running into the ground that conducts electricity! Otherwise, you could get electrocuted!!!

[Nicklab]

Also, investing in a foam windscreen for your mic can help avoid this. That way you're not in physical contact with the mic itself.

[mcbn]

Does it make your hair stand up?

[Tenstrum]

I had to buy on of those ground lift plugs for my bass amp. For some reason, my Rack Rider was causing a very loud buzzwhenever my amp was plugged in. I could plug my amp directly into the wall and not buzz. I plugged one of those ground lifters onto my amp plug, plugged the amp into the rack rider, and then plugged my rack rider into the wall. No more buzz. Hope I'm grounded...

[BenLoy]

Originally posted by Tenstrum:

I had to buy on of those ground lift plugs for my bass amp. For some reason, my Rack Rider was causing a very loud buzzwhenever my amp was plugged in. I could plug my amp directly into the wall and not buzz. I plugged one of those ground lifters onto my amp plug, plugged the amp into the rack rider, and then plugged my rack rider into the wall. No more buzz. Hope I'm grounded...

You aren't.

[lug]

Originally posted by BenLoy:

Originally posted by Tenstrum:

I had to buy on of those ground lift plugs for my bass amp. For some reason, my Rack Rider was causing a very loud buzzwhenever my amp was plugged in. I could plug my amp directly into the wall and not buzz. I plugged one of those ground lifters onto my amp plug, plugged the amp into the rack rider, and then plugged my rack rider into the wall. No more buzz. Hope I'm grounded...

You aren't.

Agreed. Sounds like the ground pin (longest pin in power plug) on the rackrider may not be actually hooked up to it's chassis. If you have a multimeter, check resistance between the pin and the chassis, if not zero ohms, return for prompt refund. Just a guess.

[Bass_god_offspring]

2. Bass can be very responsive to writing. There is no problem with playing lead lines, chords, and melodies on bass; while playing and while writing. I've written songs around tapped bass lines, slapped lines, chords, vocal melodies played on bass, you name it I've done it.

I also write on geetar, you might want to pick one up if you think it might help.

 

3. I use an old tapemachine from the arly 80's to record my ideas.

 

First I'll play the basic rythm or chord progression. Then I'll turn the machine way up to saturate the machine and get a different sound so the two lines don't sound the same.

I'll then play the lead line, melody, harmony line, etc.

Well in response to the First questions answers:

 

A.) I will try to plug everything into the same power strip next time, i think that was the problem since the PA was plugged into something seperate.

 

B.) i'm not using any type of converters.

 

C.) the wiring was ok as far as i knew.

 

2nd Question answeres:

 

A.) I do have an acustic electric guitar, though it's been hard for me to write my own guitar riffs on the guitar (probably becuase i play bass, lol)

 

B.) i don't know how to read music, so i don't really know how to do chord progression off the top of my head, if someone taught me probably though.

 

---------------

 

Thanks a lot for all of the help. i'll try to remeber it when i am writing next time.

 

[musicfiend]

you dont need to know how to write music to write chord proggression. theyre completely unrelated

[Bass_god_offspring]

well then what exactly is chord progression?

 

[Gruuve]

Originally posted by musicfiend:

you dont need to know how to write music to write chord proggression. theyre completely unrelated

???

 

Did you really mean to say what I think you just said?

 

???

 

Dave

[musicfiend]

Yes. To write a chord progression I do not refer to writing it ona piece of paper. I mean writing as in songwriting. Someone can write a chord progression the second day they pick up their instrument, Albeit a simple one. What really relates to chord proggression is music theory. If you know where a not should resolve, what a 1-5-4- is(for example obviously), and if you can tell the when to use minor, major, and dominant tones (along with the scales and modes many progressions are built off of) you have the basis for many progressions.

[getz out]

What?

[jeremy c]

Whoa! We're all a little shocked at what you just said.

 

A chord progression looks like this:

 

Verse:

|A |A |A |A |

|D |D |E7 |E7 |

|A |A |D |Dm |

|E7 |E7 |A |A |

Chorus:

|A |E7 |A |A |

|A |E7 |A |E7 |

 

You could give this to a guitarist and a keyboard player and they should know what it means.

 

As a bass player, you are also supposed to know what it means. You get to make up a bassline over these chords.

 

Then you (or your singer) makes up a melody and lyrics.

 

You may not want to learn how to read notes, but you have to know what this stuff means.

[musicfiend]

Originally posted by jeremy c:

Whoa! We're all a little shocked at what you just said.

 

A chord progression looks like this:

 

Verse:

|A |A |A |A |

|D |D |E7 |E7 |

|A |A |D |Dm |

|E7 |E7 |A |A |

Chorus:

|A |E7 |A |A |

|A |E7 |A |E7 |

 

You could give this to a guitarist and a keyboard player and they should know what it means.

 

As a bass player, you are also supposed to know what it means. You get to make up a bassline over these chords.

 

Then you (or your singer) makes up a melody and lyrics.

 

You may not want to learn how to read notes, but you have to know what this stuff means.

MAybe I'm just condused. I dont get what this has to do with reading music. I read music, but if I'm "writing" a song I just "write" it, I don't put it on pen and paper. I just can't see where actually writing music (as in transposing an ideas onto paper) is needed for writing a chord progression (as in writing a song's chorus, verse, blah, blah, blah). Jeez, I'm startig to feel very little.

[jeremy c]

Let's try again.

 

I just said that you didn't have to know how to read music to understand or write a chord progression. I meant you didn't have to read actual notes on the page. Not that it would kill you to learn.

 

But if you plan on communicating with other people, you better have some way of talking to them.

 

In my previous post I put in a chord progression. It's just a list of chord names. How do you expect to communicate with someone who plays a chord instrument without being able to talk about chord names?

 

You don't have to write anything down, you can have all the songs you want memorized. But if you want to tell someone else how the song goes it would be nice to have a language to speak in.

 

I often help other band members by calling out chord names if they don't know the song.

 

If it's all on paper, it makes it even easier.

 

And by the way, I can (and so can many other people) tell what the chords are going to sound like by looking at the chord names on a piece of paper.

[musicfiend]

OK. Now I think I'm getting it

 

I agree with you when you say it's neccesary to communicate with your bandmates, whether you do this through talking, playing music, or writing out chords, or writing music. I also agree that it is important to learn how to read and write music (I learned and I am very happy I did)

 

Where I was confused was BGO's statement, he asked if he should learn how to read music to understand chord progressions.

 

The way I understood, I thought he was saying that he could not communicate with his bandmembers or write a song because he could not read music. I know that many of the greastest songwriters out there did not read or write music, so I thought

"wait, you cant read music....so you cant write a song because of it?"

 

I think I understand now.

 

Unless I'm just diggin' the hole deeper right now

[BenLoy]

Yes, knowing chord names and common progressions is important.

 

It would be a good idea to learn.

[musicfiend]

Originally posted by BenLoy:

Yes, knowing chord names and common progressions is important.

 

It would be a good idea to learn.

Pretty much what I've been geting at...sorry to all I might have offended, I have a tendency to muck things up while having good intentions.

 

I had to learn all of this stuff on the fly unfortunately. Whether playing a cover gig without knowing any of the songs beforehand, or doing gigs based on just jamming and calling out chords, or just auditioning for bands.

 

BGO, I cant force you to do anything, and nobody should. But, usually if you don't learn how to read or recognize chord shapes and sounds...your environment forces you to.

[Bass_god_offspring]

OHHHH!!!

 

i remeber the 3rd question...

 

3.) does anyone know of any good (Preferably free) software that converts ACC Audio into mp3 audio? (ACC is the defalt for realplayer).

 

thanks.

 

[musicfiend]

Originally posted by Bass_god_offspring:

OHHHH!!!

 

i remeber the 3rd question...

 

3.) does anyone know of any good (Preferably free) software that converts ACC Audio into mp3 audio? (ACC is the defalt for realplayer).

 

thanks.

 

No

 

Hey...I did answer you're question:D

[Bass_god_offspring]

oh, and one last question...

 

4.) How much would it cost to get my bass re-finished in the color Orange???

 

like so...

 

http://offspring.com/ofe/content/photos/fullsize/1708623853-N1620-N2861.jpg

Hey, doesn't that bass look familiar!

[Quinn]

Probably $50 bucks I'd guess, but only do it if you're sure you won't want to sell the bass later, as it will significantly lower the price you'll get.

[musicfiend]

Cool bass, funny looking player.

 

I saw the offspring play live once, and while the drummer was pounding away and the guitar player and singer are going crazy, the bass player is just kind of standing there....swaying back and forth, like a pendulum....

 

Those sims led's he had were cool though.

[Squ]

I wouldn't say that written music and chord progressions are COMPLETELY unrelated, but anyway.

 

In reponse to the song writing issue, if you could learn an instrument more suitable for playing chords on (such as guitar), that would help with the song writing. With the bass, one note won't give much context to the vocal lines, but if you knew what chords you'd want there, that'd give you a whole bunch of notes to choose from the chord, as well as dictate how the song is going to feel over all. And just because you're making a chord progression, the guitar players don't necessary have to just be playing chords. You could be laying down the roots of the chords, giving the feel, and thye could play a riff that goes with the progression.

 

Learning basic theory is also suggested, specifically about making chords and what chords are diatonic to a key. Learning to play major and minor chords will do for a while before you look into 7ths and such. But either way, theory is good. You don't need much.

[musicfiend]

If you don't know music theory, I suggest getting a teacher that will teach this aspect, as this will fuel your creativity with knowledge.