Musical vocabulary

[silverfoxnik]

Hi folks

I've got a couple of months now with no gigs so I want to try to address some things that are really bothering me about my playing.. One thing is my left-hand technique (see my other post asking for help this morning) which is getting pretty bad..

But the other thing that's bothering me massively is that I feel a desperate need to improve my musical vocabulary as I am getting so bored with my own playing!

What I mean by this is that, for as long as I can remember, I play riffs and basslines around the same mode or key, so that all of my improvised playing sounds the same.. I've got away with it for a long time but in the end, you can't fool yourself can you!! But I know that I need to be able to express myself musically in a much more varied way if I am to keep developing as a musician. To give a crude analogy, it feels a bit like I can/will only play along and join in if everyone else speaks English, because that's my only language - does that makes sense?

I don't read music and have always been very lazy with practicing and have never learnt all the different modes/scales etc that I feel and know would really help.. So, does anyone know if there a set of basics that I could/should learn and practice that will over time, help to extend the range of my creativity and expression as a player?

I also wondered whether some lessons would be a good move? Anyway, look forward to hearing what you have to say and thanks for reading this!

Cheers

Nik

[funkysimon]

Lessons are great for breaking you out of a playing rut, which it sounds like you are hitting. Force yourself to work out how to play some different tunes, anything from music you usually listen to or adverts you hear on telly (which is a great test, there's usually a 30s time limit on how long you get to hear the melody - can you work out how to play it that quickly?) Don't limit yourself to working out basslines, try working out the horn parts or the vocal melody. Modes and arpeggios are great things to learn, but rather than exclusively focussing on them I think you can get a long way if you increase the connection between what you hear/sing and what you play, so try singing any scales you learn while you play them, or sing a made-up melody then work out how to play it.

Just some ideas, hope you find it useful!

[mcgraham]

[quote]I don't read music and have always been very lazy with practicing and have never learnt all the different modes/scales etc that I feel and know would really help.. So, does anyone know if there a set of basics that I could/should learn and practice that will over time, help to extend the range of my creativity and expression as a player?[/quote]

Listening to pieces of music and identifying ideas and phrases you like is just one great way to build up your vocabulary. Transcribing them by ear takes this further, you develop your ear, find other variations on that phrase as you get better, develop technique around something you weren't/aren't able to play, and ultimately end up with a phrase that you've got in your mind and under your fingers that you really like...

[quote]...for as long as I can remember, I play riffs and basslines around the same mode or key, so that all of my improvised playing sounds the same.. I've got away with it for a long time but in the end, you can't fool yourself can you!![/quote]

... then, you need to apply it! Try fitting that phrase into songs and various places, use the variations you may have come across, or even 'heard' in your head when you were trying to nail it. Drawing from the other Tips on Improv thread, perhaps even pick up just one lesser known scale and figure out its sound e.g. Phrygian - sounds quite spanish or flamenco, Dorian - relatively bluesy etc. Then fiddle with it, imagine phrases and attempt to play them. Just a thought and one way that worked for me.

Mark

[silverfoxnik]

Thanks for the replies Mark/Simon!

Food for thought and some good ideas which I'm going to try out but, as I said in my other post about left-hand technique, I've been so busy with work this last 2 weeks, I haven't had a minute to sit down and think let alone try anything out yet...

But that's what this weekend is for

Much appreciated,

Nik

[urb]

I'll just quickly add that if you really start to get into rhythmic playing you can actually do more with less notes - by simply rephrasing the same three or four notes with different rhythmic accents - try playing groups of 3 - like 123, 123, 123, 123 over a simple 4/4 groove - suddenly it gets more interesting - likewise try playing groups of 5, 6, 7, and then when you get confident mix them into a random order. You could simply take any scale or mode and try this, EG play three notes of the scale from the root, then starting on the second note play a sequence of 5 notes, then do 3 again and then 6 etc - or just loop groups of 3, or 4, the key is to stay in time and really try and accent the first note of each group. You can also apply these rhythms to arpeggios - I know it all sounds obvious but often it's easy to get caught up in thinking about note choices and knowledge and ignore developing a solid rhythmic base to your playing - all these ideas work great for bass lines as well - hope all that makes sense. A rhythmic vocabulary is just as important as a notational and technical one - work on your finger picking too as the less you have to think about how you pluck notes etc the more you can concentrate on making music!

Cheers

Mike

[mcgraham]

[quote]A rhythmic vocabulary is just as important as a notational and technical one - work on your finger picking too as the less you have to think about how you pluck notes etc the more you can concentrate on making music![/quote]

+1

If all we had was super technical ability, awesome scale and arpeggio knowledge, but could only play 16th/32nd notes, we'd be guitarists!

EDIT: Quick addition, one thing I like to do is manipulate feel of songs. Kind of falls between what Mike was saying about rhythm but also to do with note choices.

Many genres and musical styles have 'signature' note choices, phrases and rhythms that characterise them, similarly with general feel I.e. how you place the note (ahead, behind, on the beat). Weaving one style into another, or perhaps giving one style a 'cameo' appearance in another, but without making either sound 'wrong' (which obviously varies depending on the context) is fantastic for getting inside sounds of different styles, learning phrases, observing why things work rather than just reading about them. On top of that, you are using rhythms (and notes) where you wouldn't normally use them... which can only be a good thing! (at least when you practice).

And with time, suddenly genres no longer become boxes, but simply arbitrary markings on a spectrum that you are in control of and aware of (again, depending on the context), and yet you can fit into them when necessary.

It's quite an ethereal, perhaps even pretentious concept to explain, but i found it works really well.

Mark

Edited February 7, 2008 by mcgraham

[urb]

Cool Mark

I was just checking out some Youtube bits and pieces and this great young bassist Damien Erskine - he's the nephew of the famous jazz drummer Peter 'Weather Report' Erskine - has put some very cool and informative instructional things on the site - check out this video with him explaining how to open up a simple C major scale by playing wider intervals - also check out his rhythmic variations:



Here's another one with him showing how he plucks with thumb, index and middle fingers and also adds in a hammer on to create some cool plucking effects - a nice alternative to slap!




It's cool stuff and he's a well chilled guy - someone who's good to learn from!

M

[mcgraham]

Hi Mike,

Great spot! Damian is a truly original player. I'd seen a couple of his vids a while ago and enjoyed them, particularly the gospel chops one. There were also a couple of solo slots at open mic/jazz evenings. I like how he's taken what was presumably a Wootenesque influence and made it his own. Another guy who's quite big into that is Anthony Wellington, although i've not delved into his stuff particularly.

I really like Damian's idea of having two straps on the bass, one going each shoulder. It would undoubtedly distribute the weight better and also help bring the bass (for those who don't already do this) into a much more ergonomic playing position i.e. bass body more central to your body. The only bass I've ever tried that did this naturally was bassjamm's Fbass. Shame jazz basses don't do that!

Anyway, enough derailing!

Mark

[silverfoxnik]

[quote name='urb' post='135956' date='Feb 7 2008, 06:15 PM']Cool Mark

I was just checking out some Youtube bits and pieces and this great young bassist Damien Erskine - he's the nephew of the famous jazz drummer Peter 'Weather Report' Erskine - has put some very cool and informative instructional things on the site - check out this video with him explaining how to open up a simple C major scale by playing wider intervals - also check out his rhythmic variations:



Here's another one with him showing how he plucks with thumb, index and middle fingers and also adds in a hammer on to create some cool plucking effects - a nice alternative to slap!




It's cool stuff and he's a well chilled guy - someone who's good to learn from!

M[/quote]

Hi Mike

Only just seen these YouTube clips.. Thanks - they're really good!

Nik