transposing music

[karlplaysbass]

hi again everyone recently ive been practising transposing music and was just wondering if theres anything i need to look out for or whether it really is just moving the positioning of where you play the song on the board? cheers karl

[Geek99]

You need to consider revoicing parts too- if you keep shifting up the board you run out of bassy notes eventually

[JapanAxe]

Here are some things to think about:
Transposing up:
- fretted notes are not a problem unless you run out of fretboard at the dusty end, but open strings will need a fretted alternative.
- some things just sound wrong played too high, so you may want to think about taking sections down an octave.
Transposing down
- eventually you will come to the nut, and have to play the note on the next lowest string.
- if the new lowest notes are lower than the pitch of your lowest string, you may have to take sections up an octave.
The results of transposing may leave you with a piece that's easier to play, or much harder. Personally I rarely think in terms of just moving the position, but then I tend to work from my own transcriptions in music notation, and address a transposed piece with fresh eyes and ears,

[karlplaysbass]

both good points cheers

[Mottlefeeder]

If you are going to be doing a lot of transposed work, consider a 5-string bass. Having more options about where you play the note hepls you move away from using open strings, but you may not like the sound of a B string higher up the fret board.- it has a different mix of harmonics.

David

[Bilbo]

I don't know what you mean by transposing. Do you mean literally taking a piece of music in one key and putting into another opr are you talking about reading a chart in one key and playing the notes in another? (It happens less now we have ireal books than it did in the days of paper charts).

The issues are many and complex depending on what instrumentation you are using. Bass guitar has one set of problems, saxophones another, brass another, tuned percussion another etc etc. Changing the area of any instrument in which a tune is played has the potential to impact upon the instrument's tessitura (the range in which a given instrument presents its best-sounding tone or texture). A sax playing a fourth higher may put comfortable notes into the area of the instrument where tone is thinner, more screechy or plain unreachable etc. Moving things around on stringed instruments is complex as voicing changes can seriously alter the effect. Imagins the opening Dsus of Pinball Wizard played in C. It's a massive subject.

[lojo]

I don't read music , but I know a 5 string comes in handy with some bands when they alter the key of songs down the board toward the nut, particularly those that are in or near E and sound wrong played higher.

Edited June 2, 2015 by lojo

[dand666]

The main thing for me is to try and not learn by muscle memory.

Recently we had to do 'Rock-e-oke' on our last cruise, and occasionally members of the audience would like the key changed (or start singing, then stop and ask for a key change >.<).

Was really hard for me as I've learnt all my songs as muscle memory and moving them became a pain. So now all the songs I learn I'm trying a different technique.

[philparker]

Some good points there, especially the 5-string being more useful for this.

It happens to me very often, the two line-ups I play with often change key up or down a tone to the singer on the day. The guitarist are using capos most of the time anyway and don't notice it. Therefore, when constructing my bass lines in the first place I always consider what would happen with an open string for example, I also try and play mid-fretboard as a preference and be comfortable moving up and down...and of course knowing every single note on the fretboard without having to think about it.

[Count Bassy]

Use a five string and avoid the use of open strings and, within a few semitones, you can often just slide the whole left hand back and forwards to shift the key(especially shifting up), .
If you want to go further than this then you might want to consider going up or down a string , where a five string again gives you more flexibility than a four, but often the whole finger pattern can stay the same.

Or, of course you can change the whole finger pattern, which also has its place.

[ras52]

[quote name='dand666' timestamp='1433271374' post='2789685']
The main thing for me is to try and not learn by muscle memory.
...
Was really hard for me as I've learnt all my songs as muscle memory and moving them became a pain. So now all the songs I learn I'm trying a different technique.
[/quote]

How do you do this? I find that those pesky muscles will memorise things whether you want them to or not!

[dand666]

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1433335348' post='2790169']
How do you do this? I find that those pesky muscles will memorise things whether you want them to or not!
[/quote]

Nashville number system really. You'll find that naturally you will fall into muscle memory, but I guess the main thing is remembering the roots and key of the song then you're fine.