The Weekly Lesson

[rslaing]

There are a number of people who have shown interest in advancing their understanding of music theory and how to apply it to their instruments.

In response to Jakesbass and Major Minor (I think!) also showing interest in helping out with the topics, I am starting off the thread with a lesson on diatonic chords and modes (well, we have to start somewhere). I am sorting out a "syllabus" so there will be a degree of structure to this "course".

Why am I doing this? Although I have a degree of knowledge and practical experience (40 years ) , I also hope to learn more about theory to an advanced level while this thread (hopefully) runs it's course, and perhaps a few things I didn't know about

This thread is not starting at ground level, you must be able to read music in both bass and treble clef. The reason for this is that I have nicked stuff from here and there to show examples, and I don't have the time to tab it, or transcribe the treble clef stuff in to bass clef. I will also upload limited material initially from a few excellent manuals I have acquired for interested players to read, absorb, and ask questions about. Anyway, I imagine anyone interested in theory will either have a basic reading ability, or will take the time out to learn.

If you want to learn, but have little knowledge, would like to learn to read music etc, please pm me separately with the topic that you want to learn about at grassroots level and I will forward material that will help. The questions or comments in the thread MUST be relative and on topic please?

So, let's give it a go.

This is the basic start to theory for a bass player, [b]diatonic chords and modes[/b]. The knowledge gleaned relative to this will help the player learn the notes he can use to play over a chord, and give you a grounding for when we move on to key centres (basically understanding which notes can be played over a chord sequence relative to the key of that moment).

Don't worry if it seems complicated. Take your time and post any question you have about it in the thread. By doing that you will also help the people who are perhaps a little too reserved to get involved.

Finally, I hope the materials provided, and the answers given are a help to anyone interested. I am not attempting to do anything other here than structure something which will be a help. I presently have time on my hands and can only play my bass for 6 hours a day max so this could keep me out of the pub.
There will be a syllabus (when I have finished it) and the materials given every week will be relative only to that topic. I hope that by the time we are finished - if we ever get that far - we will have a full online course for the bass player that wants the knowledge that goes with being a great player.

Fingers crossed I hope I am not being too optimistic............(ending up in me resembling an idiot for trying to do this)

Here is the first part, there is a lot of stuff in it, so please ask about anything you want explained in more detail so the experts/pro's can make the learning process easier for you than it was for them. Obviously, the continuance of the effort will be relevant to the amount of interest shown !!

Rob

[size=2][b]If you would like supporting written materials on this topic, please PM me with your email address and I will forward it to you[/b][/size]

Edited June 24, 2009 by rslaing

[jakenewmanbass]

A great start Rob, I have only skimmed the content but am familiar with most of it. Anybody that wants any kind of explanation of what they don't understand in there and I will happily oblige.
I think it's important to remember that the musician you are will dictate where you can go with this stuff, and therefore there is only benefit (as long as you keep taste and quality at the front of your thinking) coming from it.
The most difficult thing about absorbing and regurgitating this is how to make it musical, so guidance and steeping yourself in the great practical exponents of these concepts is a critical counterpoint to the written stuff.

I have a few ideas about how these things should be approached but I will wait to see what relevance they bear to the interested parties before I go spouting off.

Edited June 23, 2009 by jakesbass

[Thunderthumbs]

Jake,

Feel free to spout off. Any advice you can give would be good at this stage I would imagine. It may help people going off in the wrong direction.

[jakenewmanbass]

Ok TT, my first suggestion with modes and diatonic scales is to view them globally. By all means learn each one individually, but try to refer to them as part of a larger thing, the larger thing being the mother key. Each mode is played off the notes of a major scale so there is a continuum of sound that flows through the entire thing.
The reasoning behind this is to have under ones control the range of sounds that are immediately available so that switching from one chord to another when playing through changes is effortless and right under your fingers as a degree of investigation should show you that the notes can be reached with very little hand movement.
What is required of this is to know the sounds that are being produced not only from tonic to tonic in the traditional scale sense, but fom any point in the scale to any other point in the scale, or another scale. The result is easy access to a range of sounds in a more contained way than scale movement normally accomodates. Once fluency is achieved then a firm knowledge of the aural possibilites should be developed to make sure there is musical meaning and not typewriter style note playing.

I'm cautious of this becoming too advanced too soon, hence my earlier comment about waiting for questions, so I'm going to leave it there for now.

Ask away fellas...

Edited June 24, 2009 by jakesbass

[rslaing]

Jake may have a point in the topic becoming too advanced too soon, so let's break the first topic in to smaller parts over the next few days.

To tie in with the diatonic (diatonic basically means built from the notes of the scale) chords and modes lesson this week, you will find below a chord sequence and play along midi file which is probably the most commonly found and important progression in modern music, especially jazz, the II-V-I (two-five-one). In other words, from the scale of C major, the progression is the second diatonic chord built on the scale of Cmajor, the fifth diatonic chord and the root diatonic chord.

Explanation:-if the key is Cmajor, the notes in that scale are C D E F G A B and finally C an octave higher than your first note.

To build the II chord (Dm7 in this case) use the second note in the scale and build the chord in thirds. In other words D F A C

To build the V (five) chord, take the fifth note in the scale, G and build up in thirds again. The resulting G7 will therefore be G B D F.

To build the I chord, use the root C and build up in thirds. The resulting Cma7 will therefore be C E G B.

[b]THE KEY CENTRE OF THIS PROGRESSION IS C MAJOR[/b] If the II chord was, for example Gm7, the V chord would be C7 and the I chord would be Fmaj7 (the key centre therefore would be F major)

Play along with the midi file starting with just one note for each chord change to get the sound in your head. Then play root and fifth and build up to root third and fifth of each chord. Finally, play through using the full arpeggio on each chord e.g. on the Dm7 playing 4 beats to each bar you would use D F A C. On G7 play G B D F and on Cmaj7 play C E G B.

After practising playing the chordal notes in your walking bass line at 4 beats (or more if you like!) to the bar, experiment using the non chordal notes as well.

Once you have a handle on that, improvise over the full sequence as though you were a lead instrument. It's easy - you can play the full C major scale at random as every note "fits" all 3 chords. You may want to play in this manner in a higher register to differentiate "the sound" of the notes and their qualities relative to the chord and beat. You will find that some notes are stronger than others and you might want to observe the effect of the "avoid" note of F (the 4th note in C major scale) when playing over the Cmajor7 chord. You will find it is ok as a "passing" note played on the upbeat (e.g.beat 3) but if you sustain it, you will hear the dissonance on the Cmaj7 but how well it fits the Dm7 and the G7.

If you want to be really adventurous, you could try playing the chromatic notes (non-chordal or scalar) as "approach notes".

Approach notes are notes that lead into, or approach, the main notes which you are playing. Basically the approach note creates a little bit of tension which pulls you into some other note. Non scalar notes are the ones that aren't in the scale (obviously) and in this case would be Db Eb Gb Ab Bb.

The chord sequence for the play along is:-

:|Cmaj7 / / / |Dm7 / G7 / |Cmaj7 / / / |Dm7 / / / |:

Use the roman numerals method below to transpose the progression in to any key. Get used to the II V I by starting the sequence on a different note each time you practice.

:| I / / / | II / V / | I / / / | II / / / |:

repeated over and over and over and over

The midi file should automatically open in your default player. It plays ok in Windows Media Player or similar.

[url="http://www.trds.co.uk/music/12CSwing.MID"]Link to midi file is here[/url] There is a bass line on it so you might want to have a listen first to get the idea.

If any of the above is not clear - just post your question.

Edited June 24, 2009 by rslaing

[jakenewmanbass]

And now a second approach to absorbing scales and mode:

look at each scale in the 7 modes and realise that they are all within two groups, Major and Minor sounding (not necassarily in theory, just how they sound).

Major:
Ionian, Lydian, Mixolydian

Minor:
Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian, Locrian.

Using the Ionian mode (major scale) in a given key as a starting point look at each scale in the major sounding group and notice that the physical difference between eg Ionian and Lydian is one note, the fourth. In a Lydian scale you employ the same shape or pattern as a major scale but the fourth note of the scale is one fret higher, and no hand movement is required to play it.
Similarly the difference between Ionian and Mixolydian is one note, the seventh, in a Mixolydian mode it is one fret lower and the same applies as above...

Seeing as Rob has called this the weekly lesson, I would normally ask students to do a certain amout of investigation themselves once principles like the above had been demonstrated, so I will leave the Minor differences open to your investigation, but will happily field questions if anyone has difficulty grasping the concepts.

A Reasoning...

This method is about using small steps on from well established information (the major scale) to realise that what some consider to be mystical, is actually very close to what you already know...

EDIT. As I typed Rob posted the very useful info above, which adds a little purpose to what I'm talking about. I'm showing first step methods of investigation, Rob is showing application possibilities (where to use it), the two complement one another well.

Edited June 24, 2009 by jakesbass

[Major-Minor]

I think the Forum owes a huge debt of gratitude to you 2 guys for starting this thread. I'll add my twopennyworth when i have a moment, but for now - keep up the good work !!

The Major

[rslaing]

[quote name='jakesbass' post='522315' date='Jun 24 2009, 08:56 AM']And now a second approach to absorbing scales and mode:

look at each scale in the 7 modes and realise that they are all within two groups, Major and Minor sounding (not necassarily in theory, just how they sound).

Major:
Ionian, Lydian, Mixolydian

Minor:
Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian, Locrian.[/quote]

A great way to practice the modes and get the sound of them in to your head is to (assuming you play a 4 stringer) play the open E string and let it ring.

Start on the E (7th fret) on the A string and playing up the scales across the A, D, and G string, play the modes as follows. Don't forget to let the bottom E string ring out while you play these modes. It will reinforce the sound of the mode in your head. And if you can, sing the notes as you play them - good ear training.

Ionian: E F# G# A B C# D# E

Dorian: E F# G A B C# D E

Phrygian: E F G A B C D E

Lydian: E F# G# A# B C# D# E

Mixolydian: E F# G# A B C# D E

Aeolian: E F# G A B C D E

Locrian: E F G A Bb C D E

Edited June 24, 2009 by rslaing

[xilddx]

This is fantastic gents, thank you!

[spiltmilk_2000]

Yeah huge thanks to you's for starting this... its a pretty huge undertaking but something that i think will on some level benefit every single Basschatterer! (Basschatist? Basschatee? whadever...)

Looking forward to seeing what the syllabus has in store for weeks to come :-)

[rslaing]

[quote name='spiltmilk_2000' post='522519' date='Jun 24 2009, 12:39 PM']Yeah huge thanks to you's for starting this... its a pretty huge undertaking but something that i think will on some level benefit every single Basschatterer! (Basschatist? Basschatee? whadever...)

Looking forward to seeing what the syllabus has in store for weeks to come :-)[/quote]

Thanks for that - we'll see how it goes.

The success of this can only be driven by the interest of the participants though

[Mikey D]

[quote name='rslaing' post='522352' date='Jun 24 2009, 09:37 AM']A great way to practice the modes and get the sound of them in to your head is to (assuming you play a 4 stringer) play the open E string and let it ring.

Start on the E (7th fret) on the A string and playing up the scales across the A, D, and G string, play the modes as follows. Don't forget to let the bottom E string ring out while you play these modes. It will reinforce the sound of the mode in your head. And if you can, sing the notes as you play them - good ear training.

Ionian: E F# G# A B C# D# E

Dorian: E F# G A B C# D E

Phrygian: E F G A B C D E

Lydian: E F# G# A# B C# D# E

Mixolydian: E F# G# A B C# D E

Aeolian: E F# G A B C D E

Locrian: E F G A Bb C D E[/quote]

All great posts so far.

Rslaing, I would suggest a slightly different way, adopting your technique of playing the low E, but playing the modes in order of "brightness"-"darkness" (I think this is even shown in the attached document to the first post). This way only one note changes at a time between the modes so you can hear the subtle (or not so subtle changes) it also groups the modes together as major or minor as described by Jake.

Major
Lydian: E F# G# A# B C# D# E
Ionian: E F# G# A B C# D# E
Mixolydian: E F# G# A B C# D E

Minor
Dorian: E F# G A B C# D E
Aeolian: E F# G A B C D E
Phrygian: E F G A B C D E
Locrian: E F G A Bb C D E

[rslaing]

[quote name='Mikey D' post='522613' date='Jun 24 2009, 02:17 PM']All great posts so far.

Rslaing, I would suggest a slightly different way, adopting your technique of playing the low E, but playing the modes in order of "brightness"-"darkness" (I think this is even shown in the attached document to the first post). This way only one note changes at a time between the modes so you can hear the subtle (or not so subtle changes) it also groups the modes together as major or minor as described by Jake.

Major
Lydian: E F# G# A# B C# D# E
Ionian: E F# G# A B C# D# E
Mixolydian: E F# G# A B C# D E

Minor
Dorian: E F# G A B C# D E
Aeolian: E F# G A B C D E
Phrygian: E F G A B C D E
Locrian: E F G A Bb C D E[/quote]

Apologies, I should have made myself a little clearer but will improve my communication skills in future

You can play them IN ANY ORDER. It doesn't matter. I only listed them in that order because that is how the modes are derived from a scale.

Ionian from 1st note of scale, Dorian from the second note, Phrygian from the 3rd note etc.

Cheers

Rob

[foal30]

it's good to practice this stuff in the cycle of fourths
because the I-IV movement is also the "position" of II-V which is Jazz City

[foal30]

also
arpeggios from the 3 not the root
3 - 5- 7- 9

like this Open E string exercise and singing along, it may help your ears "settle" or "fix" as you do minor or major modes. You got to be able to hear the difference.

Got= I think it's important.

[xilddx]

Can I just get something straight here please?

I am sure I'm wrong in thinking the only purpose of the [b]Cycle of Fifths [/b]and [b]Cycle of Fourths [/b]is to show the order of key signatures with incrementally increasing numbers of sharps and flats.

What other benefits do the cycles bring?

Thanks.

[rslaing]

[quote name='silddx' post='523450' date='Jun 25 2009, 11:30 AM']Can I just get something straight here please?

I am sure I'm wrong in thinking the only purpose of the [b]Cycle of Fifths [/b]and [b]Cycle of Fourths [/b]is to show the order of key signatures with incrementally increasing numbers of sharps and flats.

What other benefits do the cycles bring?

Thanks.[/quote]

Briefly, and I'll expand upon this later today:

The II -V relationship consists of a minor type chord moving to a dominant type chord (e.g. Dm7 to G7) with a cycle root motion - down a perfect fifth.
Cycling in this manner is a very strong forward motion and is the most common of all chord movement.

As you know, music is all about movement.

It also helps to transpose and practice all licks/progressions etc in all 12 keys, and if you practice them in the cycle of fifths, it not only increases your abilities technically, but is also great for "the ear".

Edited June 25, 2009 by rslaing

[xilddx]

[quote name='rslaing' post='523472' date='Jun 25 2009, 11:43 AM']Briefly, and I'll expand upon this later today:

The II -V relationship consists of a minor type chord moving to a dominant type chord (e.g. Dm7 to G7) with a cycle root motion - down a perfect fifth.
Cycling in this manner is a very strong forward motion and is the most common of all chord movement.

As you know, music is all about movement.

It also helps to transpose and practice all licks/progressions etc in all 12 keys, and if you practice them in the cycle of fifths, it not only increases your abilities technically, but is also great for "the ear".[/quote]

Ah, thank you! I am pleased you are going to expand on this though

What is the origin of these cycles, classical theory?

Edited June 25, 2009 by silddx

[dlloyd]

[quote name='silddx' post='523716' date='Jun 25 2009, 03:06 PM']Ah, thank you! I am pleased you are going to expand on this though

I what is the origin of these cycles, classical theory?[/quote]

It comes down to the fifth (and fourth) being so prominant in the harmonic series.

[xilddx]

[quote name='dlloyd' post='523814' date='Jun 25 2009, 04:07 PM']It comes down to the fifth (and fourth) being so prominant in the harmonic series.[/quote]

Erm, sorry, what is the harmonic series? Something to do with the diatonic chords built on the major and minor scales? Or that the fourths and fifths commonly define the major or minor nature of a chord? I really am guessing here!

[rslaing]

In addition to the earlier post regarding the cycle of fifths and it's importance in music.

I will try and keep this as simple as possible. If you really want to get in to the physics of sound, [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_series_(music)"]go to wikipedia and look up the circle of fifths and the pythagorean comma[/url]. If you want to retain sanity, just read this bit for now. This will hopefully give you some info about the circle of fifths. If you want a quick look at the harmonic series from the note C [url="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/255532/65374/"]go here
[/url]
Every time you pluck a string on your bass, the sound or note produced is a combination of the fundamental and a series of overtones called the harmonic series.

In the harmonic series after you play a c note, you get a c harmonic an octave higher and after that, a G. Which is a 5th above C. This is where the sense of resolution or musical gravity in music emanates from. If you want to know the rest of the harmonic series every time you play a note, go to wikipedia because I don't want to complicate things here.

When you play a G, followed by a C, there is a sense that you have set the G up as first overtone of the C, and then fallen naturally downward to the source of the gravity that hold that overtone series in place. Conversely, when you move from C to G, there is a sense that you are "climbing" through the overtone series of your original note.

The music we hear in our everyday lives, tonal music, is full of peaceful resolution and at the opposite end, what sounds like exerted effort. These relationships also apply between the chords based on those notes and also modulation between the keys based on the notes.

The cycle or circle of fifths (going down) or cycle of fourths (if you go upward) is a common modulation in a lot of popular songs because of it's natural tendency to fall into the next chord and is easy on the ear.Try playing either chords or the roots on your bass, or put together a bass line around this sequence of chords. G7 - C7 - F7 - Bb7 - Eb7 - Ab7 - Db7 - Gb7 - B7 - E7 - A7 - D7 - and back to where you started G7.

The cycle of fifths is also used to imply a key centre in a tune. When you see a chord sequence e.g. Gm7 / C7 / Fm7 / Bb7 / Ebmaj7 you would normally read it as the first two chords being diatonic chords in the key of F major (the Gm7 being the II chord and the C7 being the dominant V chord). The C7 has a tendency to always want to resolve to the next chord a fifth down (but it doesn't always!! we will get to that later).
The next chord in this sequence is Fm7 to Bb7 then to Ebmaj7. SO the II - V here, Fm7 to Bb7 are diatonic chords from the key of Eb, the Bb7 falling to the Eb. So you would use the key of Eb when playing notes in this second II - V - I sequence.

Here are a couple of songs with easy to hear chord changes that contain the cycle of fifths.



For another practical example and to put this theory in to practical sound you can hear the same effect in this re-done old tune, where the cycle of fifths is used to great effect, changing most of the time every two bars from the first verse onwards, going on endlessly without becoming boring (I.M.O). Listen for the chord changes from when she starts singing, and you will hear what I have written about so far. Not every change is that of a cycling fifth, but when it does, it is obvious to the ear. If you can't hear it, it might be a good idea to learn the song so my ramblings can be put into perspective


Finally, try playing stacked fifths on a piano from note C (or as many as you can cover on your bass!). Notice something? No clashing of notes. C G D A E for example, are the first five notes in the stacked fifths, and also happens to be the C major pentatonic scale!!

[url="http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/circleprogressions.html"]Here is a link[/url] to a good article with lists of songs that have cyclical progressions and is full of good info.

As usual, if any explanation is needed, or you have any questions, please put it in the thread for the benefit of everyone. Anyone with anything to add to this, (or even a contradiction) feel free to throw your hat in the ring. Any info I give as usual, is only stuff I have picked up over the years and some of it may have to be clarified or corrected depending upon how long I have been in the pub before I write this stuff

Edited June 25, 2009 by rslaing

[Major-Minor]

While Rob is spot on with his explanation, let me just add this:

When we write C7 (for example) what we actually mean is C DOMINANT 7, and this word DOMINANT has the meaning that this chord DOMINATES the tonic key - in this case F. It does not want to stay still - it NEEDS to move.
In other words, C7 naturally wants to RESOLVE its tension to the triad of F. (Harmony is all about tension and release).
The Bb note in C7 wants to RESOLVE to A and the E in C7 wants to RESOLVE to F. The TENSION is caused by the tritone of E and Bb wanting to RESOLVE to F and A (a major third). This also works in the minor key C (dominant) 7 resolving to F minor.

Having said all this, in a lot of jazz and rock music, this TENSION is left unresolved.

Try to imagine this groove (or play it on the guitar/piano):
C7 for one bar followed by Bb7 for another - loop this round.
Feels good - that's because TENSION is there in the unresolved DOMINANT 7ths. But its a GOOD TENSION. Maybe add the 9th and the 13th to both chords - even more TENSION and starting to sound jazzy. This creates a great atmosphere.

All these words - DOMINANT / TENSION / RELEASE / RESOLVE - are very apt in the world of music (and another area of life ! but we'll gloss over that!)

The Major

[Major-Minor]

[quote name='silddx' post='523845' date='Jun 25 2009, 04:43 PM']Erm, sorry, what is the harmonic series? Something to do with the diatonic chords built on the major and minor scales? Or that the fourths and fifths commonly define the major or minor nature of a chord? I really am guessing here![/quote]
Rob has again given some great detailed explanations re the harmonic series. But let me try to put it another way:

Music THEORY is a man made system - developed over thousands of years.

The HARMONIC SERIES is a fact - its science - its mathematical. I'm no scientist so this will be brief!

Choose a string on your bass - lets use the G for my example.

It vibrates from the nut to the bridge producing G.
Lightly place your finger over the 12th fret and pluck - you get a HARMONIC also G an octave above the open string. Notice that you have divided the string in half to get this pitch.
Place your finger over the 7th fret (D) - you create the note D one octave above the fretted note.
Now place your finger lightly over the 5th fret © on the same string - you have quartered the string and you get G but now 2 octaves above the open string. Essentially you are making your way up the HARMONIC SERIES.

Now it starts to get complicated and I won't go into details but if you move your finger lightly towards the nut plucking as you go you will find (with care) more HARMONICS getting higher and higher until they are almost inaudible.
This is the HARMONIC SERIES.

The Major

Edited June 26, 2009 by Major-Minor

[xilddx]

Ahh, the harmonic series! Gotcha. So fifths and fouths are prominent in the harmonic overtones of every note I play. Thank you. I expect what gives a particular bass its character is how the materials it comprises emphasise these overtones.

Stacked fifths, they are so useful! I pull those out of the bag every now and then and my singer really likes them, presumably because of the lovely harmonic support they provide.

[velvetkevorkian]

Good stuff all