All thumbs Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 (edited) Hi basschatters! I've been busy making a bunch of free youtube lessons recently. These particular lessons are designed to help and inspire you to develop your ears. Here's the first lesson - "Singing what you play" Hope it's of help to some of you :-) Scott. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDcAjpDUQg4&feature=share&list=UURbA5YtMuQ9ax8v1IxWFH2Q[/media] Edited December 6, 2012 by All thumbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tandro Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 Hi Scott, Interesting stuff. If its 2 ideas I've heard over and over the past couple years its sing what you play, and the use of visualization (neither of which I do mind you, doh!). But I really need to set aside time to work with those things. Just wanted to ask though, and it may just be me being slow, but I didn't really get what you were trying to say between 16:50 and 17:20. You did a couple of edits in those few seconds. Are you saying that you will eventually be able to put a song on, hear the bass line and sing it, and then just 'play it' on the bass with not too much fuss or fiddling around to find the notes? And then you spoke about knowing which key to play in after you've found the notes you sung/played? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yepmop Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 Thanks Scott Very interesting and helpful much appreciated Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redstriper Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 Thanks for this, it's going to be very hard for me, but I'll try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All thumbs Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 No prob's and thanks :-) [quote name='Tandro' timestamp='1354334572' post='1884993'] Are you saying that you will eventually be able to put a song on, hear the bass line and sing it, and then just 'play it' on the bass with not too much fuss or fiddling around to find the notes? [/quote] Yes! Sorry for that bad edit - not sure how I accomplished that lol. [quote name='Tandro' timestamp='1354334572' post='1884993'] And then you spoke about knowing which key to play in after you've found the notes you sung/played? [/quote] That's correct. So you learn to sing the line, but then you need to find what key it's in on the bass. More to come... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Most profound moment of "No, I'll never ever get [i]that[/i] good at bass" was seeing our very own JakesBass hear a tune once and play the bass line straight away, in the right key without any fumbling around. Serious skill demonstrate by a serious player.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tandro Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Thanks for the reply. The reason I had to ask those questions is because I need to 'dumb' this thing right down for me. As you stated, only a very few people appear to possess perfect pitch. But I just always assumed that for someone to hear a bass line, and then just instantly (or almost so) regurgitate it on their bass woud need to have perfect pitch? I mean if not, how would you even know which is the first note to start on instantly? If it is that you need to 'fumble' around for the first note initially so that you have a basis on which to find the other notes in the line based on familiarity and relative pitch, then OK I get that. Maybe thats the 'secret' for the non perfect pitch people. If you are someone who does not have perfect pitch, but yet can hear a line and immediately play it like jakesbass (no idea if he has perfect pitch), then please tell little ole me how the heck you did that. But as All Thumbs stated, there is more to come. Maybe I'm jumping ahead of him, sorry Thanks again though for the insights! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All thumbs Posted December 6, 2012 Author Share Posted December 6, 2012 [quote name='Tandro' timestamp='1354626413' post='1888277'] Thanks for the reply. The reason I had to ask those questions is because I need to 'dumb' this thing right down for me. As you stated, only a very few people appear to possess perfect pitch. But I just always assumed that for someone to hear a bass line, and then just instantly (or almost so) regurgitate it on their bass woud need to have perfect pitch? I mean if not, how would you even know which is the first note to start on instantly? If it is that you need to 'fumble' around for the first note initially so that you have a basis on which to find the other notes in the line based on familiarity and relative pitch, then OK I get that. Maybe thats the 'secret' for the non perfect pitch people. If you are someone who does not have perfect pitch, but yet can hear a line and immediately play it like jakesbass (no idea if he has perfect pitch), then please tell little ole me how the heck you did that. But as All Thumbs stated, there is more to come. Maybe I'm jumping ahead of him, sorry Thanks again though for the insights! [/quote] Hi - just a quick reply... 'Relative pitch' is where it's at for most of us, and is on the whole just as useful as perfect pitch (in some ways perfect pitch can be a pita for some who have it believe it or not!!) Let's say you're out at a party and the DJ does that thing where they drop out the track for a moment whilst everybody sings (a fav' at the min is 'Sex On Fire' for example). A lot of the punters will carry on singing pretty much in tune won't they? But they don't have a clue what key it's in right?! Now if one of the 'in tune' singers walked out of the room still singing the song and sat at a piano, if they haven't got perfect pitch they'd need to use the piano to find notes that match what they're singing, or the key they're singing in, Does that make sense lol? Down the line the aim is to hear melodies as intervals. Easy example is the East Enders Theme tune - first part is an ascending major scale. Soooo if I heard the East Enders Theme for the first time I'd hear it as Intervals 1 2 3 4 5 6 4 but wouldn't have a clue what key it's in without a bass or something handy. If I had a bass handy I'd sing the first note (which in this case is the tonic/root/1) and play every semitone on the bass until it matches the note I'm singing. Then bang - you can instantly play the melody on the bass. Hope that's not too complicated an answer. Some of the following ear training lessons will touch more on the interval thing & the diatonic chord system, and this will reveal many more 'answers' I hope ;-) Cheers, Scott. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tandro Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Thanks Scott. It does pretty much answer my question though, in that it does not seem like there is a way to instantly play something I hear in my head as I won't know what that first note is. The ultimate goal for me would be to hear some melody, line, whatever in my head and then just instantly play that on my bass. And if I could do that in real time for some constantly evolving idea I have in my head would be amazing. As regards the perfect pitch, I have a friend who does have it and actually seems irritated by it. As an example, he can always hear if an instrument/note is off pitch and hampers his enjoyment of it! Thanks again though. Looking forward to your other videos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 (edited) Cheers Scott. thats exactly what i always wanted to do. When a bass teacher i saw for a while asked me what i wanted to accomplish on her bass. Thats more or less what i said . "Hear something then play it" (or a reason able attempt at it) by ear. I have always greatly admired those who can do that. Be interested to see any more vids on this area. ps: funnily enough, now i think of it. The bass teacher told me to sing the notes as I played them too Edited December 9, 2012 by daz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bassman7755 Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 [quote name='Tandro' timestamp='1354626413' post='1888277'] If you are someone who does not have perfect pitch, but yet can hear a line and immediately play it like jakesbass (no idea if he has perfect pitch), then please tell little ole me how the heck you did that. [/quote] Each of the 11 non-root notes has a unique "sound" relative to the key root note which you can learn to recognise. This is the basis of (for example) bruce arnolds one note ear training series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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