The Major's Bass Boot Camp (Session 2)

[Major-Minor]

The Major's Bass Boot Camp - Session 2

Major Scale Triads 8va (one octave higher than in Session 1).
+ the modern alternative way to write a triplet (shuffle / swing ) groove.

[attachment=38963:MBBC2.pdf]
[attachment=38964:MBBC2.mp3]

Following on from "Session 1", the first part of Session 2 is aimed at the more advanced BG players. (The examples are perfectly playable on DB but require different fingerings. Actually you can try doing them all in thumb position. Play the first F with 1st finger on the E string. )

Just to be clear:
8va means an octave higher. 8vb means an octave lower.
If a part is marked 8va (usually with a bracket sign around the relevant notes), it means that these written notes should be played an octave higher. In these examples I have already transposed the notes up an octave (from Session 1), and consequently there are a lot of ledger lines. It's quite normal to be expected to read ledger lines up to about "C" (sitting on 4 ledger lines) and you need to be able to easily recognize the "look" of several lines like this.
Sometimes parts will have very high passages written in the Treble Clef, so all bass players need to have a good grasp of this. In Classical music, we also often get high register notes written in Tenor Clef, but I have yet to see this outside this genre.

The first Example is all in one position - the 12th - such that the first note - F - is played with the 2nd finger on the 13th fret.
This is a good warm up exercise and helps develop dexterity and control.

The following 3 Variations could also be played in this 12th position, but I think it a good idea to extend the usefulness of the exercise by starting in 7th position and making position changes, as you might have to do in a practical context. It's not always possible to start an awkward passage from the most convenient position, as you may have previous notes that keep you in the lower reaches of the fingerboard.

As in Session 1, I've varied the tempo of each Example on the mp3 just to show that time signatures don't relate to tempo but are a means of grouping notes together in a manner that can be easily understood and therefore read.. Practice each one slowly at first and then increase the tempo to whatever you are comfortable with.

Finally in this session:

A lot of grooves are actually in compound time ie each beat is divisible by 3. For instance, many blues and jazz grooves are theoretically in 12/8, and hip hop and r'n'b is often in 24/16. But these sort of time signatures can be tricky to read, so nowadays we tend to write most grooves in 4/4 (simple time) and make an indication on the part that the music is swung or has a lilt or is a shuffle, and we put a triplet sign when required.
The example I have shown uses the "dotted semiquaver / semiquaver " method to replace a "quaver / quaver rest / quaver" (in 12/8) which, although theoretically correct, looks a bit cumbersome on the page.
This is one of those areas which easily confuse the less experienced players, so I hope this makes some sense.

So, questions please !

Edited January 3, 2010 by Major-Minor

[Sean]

Great stuff, Major. Very useful and easy to take o board. Cheers all round.

[essexbasscat]

+ 1

much appreciated Major

[Major-Minor]

[quote name='Sean' post='696780' date='Dec 30 2009, 09:50 PM']Great stuff, Major. Very useful and easy to take o board. Cheers all round.[/quote]
Its my pleasure guys !

But I would appreciate some further feed back. If I know what people have difficulty with, I can then prepare some more sessions accordingly.

Obviously this forum attracts players of all abilities and I can't possibly make each session relevant to all of you. But please throw questions and any other worries at me, and I will endeavour to deal with them as best I can.

I always said that one day I would write a tutor when I had time. Now I have a little time available (just a little, mind you !), but as the market is swamped with tutor books there is no chance of getting published, so doing this is my way of giving something back to the bass world.

The Major

[XB26354]

Very good stuff - I would only add that the example with swung rhythms can also be written as straight eighths (again, with an indication that the rhythm should be swung).

[Major-Minor]

[quote name='XB26354' post='698635' date='Jan 2 2010, 12:00 PM']Very good stuff - I would only add that the example with swung rhythms can also be written as straight eighths (again, with an indication that the rhythm should be swung).[/quote]
The Major's Bass Boot Camp (Session 2a)

Yes of course you are absolutely right XB26354. There are various ways to abbreviate the written notes in a swing chart to make it easier to write and also to read.

Have a look at this pdf:
[attachment=39232:MBBC2a.pdf]
and here is the mp3:
[attachment=39233:MBBC2a.mp3]

Even going back to the Baroque Period (18th century), abbreviations were common in music writing. But composers became increasingly detailed in their scores during the 19th and 20th centuries, and every little dot and dash had a fixed meaning (have a look at Elgar's bass parts - just about every note has an articulation indication).

It was during the Jazz age (1920's onwards) that composers, arrangers and their copyists in the Dance Band world started to use abbreviated methods of writing swing style music. This was mainly to save time when parts needed to be produced quickly, but also there was so much syncopation in the music, that reading all those dotted notes and semiquavers was quite hard on the eyes, especially in dimly lit situations like Dance Halls and Cafes.

I've done a huge amount of composing, arranging and orchestrating during my career, and I was always been happy to use the accepted ways to hand write swing feel parts, it made life a lot easier, believe me !
But now that we all use computers, writing swing parts in the dotted quaver / semiquaver style is no longer time consuming, and I suspect that the old ways of abbreviation (in quavers) will gradually die out. Indeed, most music software defaults to writing swing parts in this "dotted" way.


Dance band and big band players will recognize the intro and ending I have nicked from a well known Sinatra chart for the example on the pdf. It's one of those numbers that just crops up time and time again.

The Major

[XB26354]

That's funny, because I always prefer straight eighths written as swung. The dotted eighth-sixteenth looks cumbersome and even though neither rhythm is technically correct, it's much easier to look at when there are long passages. I always thought that classically trained musicians wrote it that way, and lazy jazzers used straight eighths so you learn something new every day...

[Major-Minor]

[quote name='XB26354' post='700741' date='Jan 4 2010, 06:10 PM']That's funny, because I always prefer straight eighths written as swung. The dotted eighth-sixteenth looks cumbersome and even though neither rhythm is technically correct, it's much easier to look at when there are long passages. I always thought that classically trained musicians wrote it that way, and lazy jazzers used straight eighths so you learn something new every day...[/quote]
I work in both the classical and jazz genres (and other styles as well) and both these ways of writing are common in both genres. Just recently we did a new piece at the BBC by a UK composer that had a pseudo bebop section in it and it was written in straight 8's and marked "swing".

My original point was that swing and shuffle type music (call it what you will) which is really theoretically in 12/8 (compound time) is nearly always printed as 4/4. Bass players need to be aware of the different ways of writing this "feel".

I agree that the easiest way to read jazz type tunes is in straight 8s and if I was hand writing a part now that's how I would do it. But I haven't written by hand for several years now. Every new piece we get at the BBC these days has been prepared on a computer.


The Major

[Sean]

Session 2A very useful. Thanks for all these.