The Major's Bass Boot Camp (Session 4)

[Major-Minor]

The Major's Bass Boot Camp (Session 4)

An Introduction To Odd-Metre and Multiple Time Signatures

[attachment=38967:MBBC4.pdf]
[attachment=38968:MBBC4.mp3]

It's fairly rare to find odd metre time signatures (5/8, 7/8, 9/16 etc) in the world of pop. They do surface occasionally in Rock music, particularly in Prog Rock, and some forms of Jazz and World music use them quite extensively. Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck in particular was a great exponent of these rhythmic ideas. Have a listen to Unsquare Dance, Blue Rondo a La Turk, and of course his most popular and enduring tune, Take Five.

Classical musicians come up against odd-metres regularly, particularly in 20th century music (have a look at the last page of the bass part for Stravinsky's Rite Of Spring for a good example). British composer Mark-Antony Turnage has written bass guitar parts in several of his orchestral works (I've undertaken these roles on a couple of BBC broadcasts) and like many composers of his generation, he uses odd-metre time sigs extensively.
In the world of Theatre, they crop up also. Riverdance is a good example. Andrew Lloyd-Webber's musicals also.

So why should an aspiring bass guitar player bother to learn about these quirky rhythms ?

Well, I believe it helps to really get to grips with the internal working of even basic common time rhythmic structures. In order to perform odd-metre time sigs, you need to "feel" every subdivision, to imagine notes that are not being articulated, to group notes together in your head. Stick with me here - I'll explain what I mean.

Most beginners when asked to play, say, 8 crotchets (1/4s) in a row, will only hear and feel just those 8 notes. An experienced player, however, will also feel the subdivisions, ie the 1/8th notes that are not being played but are "inside the head". This is what helps us to play "in the groove". So the example I have written here will really test your ability to hear inside the main beats.

Even more rare in the rhythm section world is the idea of multiple time sigs, and the mixing of odd metres together with regular metres.

So, in this exercise I have created a short piece that brings together some of these rhythmic ideas.
The first time sig is 10/8
Now the secret with these sort of time sigs is to group the quavers into either 2s or 3s.
In this one (10/8) I have grouped them 3 - 2 - 2 - 3. There are other groupings you can use, but I happen to really like this one, and have used it in several compositions.

I have also included 5/8 and 7/8 in this piece.
5/8 is fairly straightforward as it can either be 2 + 3, or 3 + 2. Here I have chosen to write 3 + 2.
And for the 7/8 bars, I have grouped them 2 + 2 + 3.

When we get to the 4/4 bars, I have made it a little more challenging by writing triplet quavers (8ths) of each crotchet (1/4) beat. I could have written these bars as 12/8 with a "dotted crotchet = crotchet" sign, but 4/4 is easier to understand.

The Major

[jakenewmanbass]

This is a really great explanation, most importantly Major I think the examples you give both verbal and musical make it entirely palatable.
I really think this is worthy of publication. It would be a fabulous resource for student and tutor alike.

[stevie]

[quote name='jakesbass' post='785573' date='Mar 25 2010, 10:16 AM']This is a really great explanation, most importantly Major I think the examples you give both verbal and musical make it entirely palatable.
I really think this is worthy of publication. It would be a fabulous resource for student and tutor alike.[/quote]
Totally agree with this.

[Major-Minor]

Thanks for your kind words guys !
I'm really enjoying doing these Bass Camp Sessions. It's so easy to take the things you do everyday in music for granted. Having to think how to explain something to those less experienced than myself actually throws up points i haven't thought about for years. Its quite cathartic.

Whether i will ever actually get around to trying to find a publisher, well who knows ?!

Its a tough old business out there at the moment, mainly caused by this (wonderful) thing called t'internet.
The last few years I've been churning out tracks for both Retail and Library and up till now this has been quite lucrative.
But there seems to be a general feeling that the bubble has burst in the commercial recorded music world. Everybody expects their music for free so no longer can musicians make a living this way. The future has to be in live playing - and even that world is difficult at present.
I've been hugely lucky to have a full time BBC job as a staff musician - and I'm not retiring just yet !
Hopefully i can encourage some of you out there to take your music making more seriously. But I don't want to give the impression that it will be easy to make a living from it - quite the opposite. And only a few of the most able players will succeed in making a long term career.

The Major

[ZMech]

that really helped me make sense of time sigs, cheers. one question though, what about if the number on the bottom isn't an 8? i've yet to understand the difference between 6/4 and 6/8.

[Major-Minor]

[quote name='Zach' post='823043' date='Apr 29 2010, 02:15 PM']that really helped me make sense of time sigs, cheers. one question though, what about if the number on the bottom isn't an 8? i've yet to understand the difference between 6/4 and 6/8.[/quote]
Hi Zach
The bottom number refers to the type of note ie whether its a quaver (eighth) or a crotchet (quarter) or a minim (half) or a semiquaver (16ths).

So 6/8 means 6 quavers (eighths) in a bar.

6/4 means 6 crotchets ( quarters) in a bar.

7/8 means 7 quavers in a bar

3/16 would be 3 semiquavers in a bar.

It can all be very confusing, i know, but actually its very simple once you realise that its all about communicating ideas from the composer to the player.
You might say:
Well why write something in 6/4 ? Isn't that just 2 lots of 3/4 ?
Well yes and no !!
I don't think I've ever seen 6/4 in a pop or jazz type chart, but it's common in the classical world.
If a piece is in 3/4, the composer expects you to give the first beat of every bar the same weight - think of a Waltz for instance.
6/4 of course is 2 lots of 3 beats (although confusingly it can be 3 lots of 2 beats !!) where the weight is laid on the first of the 6 beats.

THE most common time sig is 4/4. That's why it's called "common time". So that's 4 crotchets (4) in a bar. If each of those main beats is divisible by 3, we get a "compound" time sig of 12/8 (12 quavers in a bar). This is another common time sig in rock and pop, but (confusingly) it's often written as 4/4 with triplet quavers written only where required. This is a sort of short hand way of writing a "shuffle" of "swing" chart.
I've covered this in Boot Camp Sessions 2 and 2A.

Is this helping ? Let me know if it's still unclear.

The Major

[ZMech]

yeah i think that makes sense. am i right in thinking that the main difference between x/8 and x/4 is where you are meant to accent notes?

[Major-Minor]

[quote name='Zach' post='823717' date='Apr 30 2010, 09:30 AM']yeah i think that makes sense. am i right in thinking that the main difference between x/8 and x/4 is where you are meant to accent notes?[/quote]
Perhaps my explanation wasn't very clear ! It's quite hard to get the wording right - bear with me - I'll try again:

Back in Medieval times when the writing down of music was first developed, the stave was 11 lines or more, with the notes (numes they were originally called) spaced to show the passage of time ie no bar lines were used. But this, it was realised, was tricky to read. So the bar line was invented to break up the notes into smaller packages thereby making it easily readable.

Nowadays, the 4 beat bar is the most commonly used time grouping.

So, tap your foot to some imaginary track, ideally a middle of the road pop or rock track. (In my head, I'm going to think of Billie Jean by Michael Jackson for no particular reason other than it's in a straight 4/4).

So you are tapping the crotchet beats (the quarters as they would say in the USA). Lets group them in 4 to a bar:

So count at a nice steady tempo: 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 etc

Now say "and" between each beat:

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and (etc )

Now you are creating 8 sounds per bar - 8 quavers (eighths or 8ths) per bar. In theory you COULD call this 8/8, but that seems unnecessary as it's easier to stick to just 4 main beats, each of which is divisible by 2.

Now try this:

Say: 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a (where each sound is equal in length)

You have now created a compound (triplet) rhythm - where each main crotchet beat is divisible by 3.

So beat one has 3 components: 1 and a

So when you write this down as notes you will have 4 groups of 3 quavers ie 12 sounds in total (in each bar)

This would be called 12/8 12 quavers (8ths) in each bar 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

We can't call this anything else but 12/8

What we COULD do is split the bar two, creating two 6/8 bars:

123 456 123 456

OR we could divide this again and get four 3/8 bars:

123 123 123 123

But WHY would we want to write these alternative time sigs ?

Well there are several reasons:

It's become normal to feel the "1" beat as the strongest beat in any type of bar, not necessarily accented, but with a little more weight than the rest of the bar. Just say out loud (as if you were counting the band in over and over again) 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Do you notice that you tend to put more emphasis on that "1" each time ?

So if you (the composer) wanted the players to put that emphasis on the first of each 3 quavers (in my example) you would call it 3/8 and write it accordingly. 123 123 123 123

Another reason is to do with making it easier to read:
The bar lines are our "friends" when we read music at speed. They help to group the notes together in a way the eye can easily work out what is going on.

The other reason is more cynical !

When composers (and arrangers) are commissioned to write a piece, they often agree a fee per bar of music. So if you can write 400 bars of 3/8 rather than 100 bars of 12/8, clearly you are going to earn more money !


All music rhythm is basically a combination of 2s and 3s, as i hope I have shown above.

So 5/8, for instance, is really 3 + 2 (or 2+3)

Say out loud 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Now do the same and put a little emphasis on the 1s and the 4s

Now do the same but put the emphasis on the 1s and the 3s

So here you have the two ways of thinking of a 5/8 bar.


Try this more complicated rhythmic structure:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (10/8)

Try as many combinations as you can of 2s and 3s within the 10 quaver notes:

Here's my favourite:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (3 / 2 / 2 /3 )


Now taking this 10/8 example, let's look at it more carefully:

10/8 is 10 quavers (as we've seen), so we could pair them up and create 5 crotchet beats (2 quavers per beat).

This would be called 5/4 (5 crotchet beats in each bar - remember: the 4 refers to the type of basic note - in this case, the crotchet)

Have a listen to "Living In the Past" by Jethro Tull. This is in 5/4.

Or "Mars" from "The Planets" by Holst. This is slighty more complex as he writes it in 5/4 but divides the first beat of each bar into 3 triplet quavers.

Similarly, "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck is always written as being in 5/4, but actually, as it has a swing feel (where each beat is divisible by 3) you could argue that really it is in 15/8 !!

Hope this helps !

The Major

Edited April 30, 2010 by Major-Minor

[ZMech]

Cheers for taking the time to respond, was hugely helpful, and the most thorough and coherent explanations i've read about time sigs. now just 17 more boot camp sessions to take in!

Edited April 30, 2010 by Zach

[Major-Minor]

[quote name='Zach' post='824469' date='Apr 30 2010, 11:19 PM']Cheers for taking the time to respond, was hugely helpful, and the most thorough and coherent explanations i've read about time sigs. now just 17 more boot camp sessions to take in![/quote]
How good are your reading skills ?
If you still have to look carefully at each note and rhythm before playing them, you might find it helpful to go straight to Session 20 where I have started a new series called "Getting Started with Music Reading". Each Session is in just one key and starts nice and easy to get you going. I've provided "play-along tracks" with each phrase repeated, to try to get those notes and rhythms firmly implanted in your brain.
I'm going to move fairly slowly - gradually introducing more info as we go.
There are 3 Sessions so far. I'm currently preparing the 4th - in Bb major.

Do join me on this journey if you can. You won't regret it !

The Major

[ZMech]

My reading is basic at the moment, although i started working through the 'sightreading for bass book'. still trying to get my head round the different variations of semi-quaver rests, and at slow tempos at that. I'd gladly join you on the journey, if i didn't have exams coming up. however i might start making reading practice my 30-min revision break filler.