The Major's Bass Boot Camp (Session 5)

[Major-Minor]

The Major's Bass Boot Camp (Session 5)

The Tritone, the Whole-Tone Scale and the Cycle of Fifths

Looks rather daunting doesn't it ? But if you can get to grips with this session, you will gain a huge amount of understanding of the basis of harmonic movement ie the way chords can lead from one to another in a way which is not only pleasing but is in fact at the root of much modern styling eg blues jazz rock and roll and pop. Having said that, the theory of the Cycle of Fifths was developed way back, well before the Baroque Period (18th century).

Let's get you playing this first, then we can look at the theoretical implications.

Download and print out this pdf:
[attachment=39079:MBBC5.pdf]
Listen to the mp3:
[attachment=39078:MBBC5.mp3]
(By the way - I've harmonised the whole-tone scale with consecutive major triads on the piano just to give it some context).

Now play the notes.
I've fingered the whole-tone scale to demonstrate a couple of points:
As I've mentioned before, I tend to use DB style fingering in the lower reaches on BG. Feel free to use your own fingering,but try mine before dismissing it!

Start in 2nd position for 4 notes, then move back to 1st pos. for the D#, then slip the 1st finger up a tone to F (3rd pos.) and use 4th on G (rather than using an open string). Coming back down the scale, you will see that I have put the position change from G to F rather than F to Eb. I always try to stick to this idea ie that you move UP a position with the first finger, and DOWN with the 4th (where appropriate). This stops the hand closing up, keeping a nice solid "hand position".

In the 2nd octave, there are several possible fingerings available, but the one I chose to use has 2 big jumps in it - maybe not the easiest fingering but good position change practice all the same.

Now you will have noticed that I have used the enharmonic names for the C# and D# on the way down (Eb and Db). As a general rule (and there are always exceptions), it is perceived to be easier to read if you to use the #s when ascending a scale-like passage and ♭s when descending.
Now move on to the 3/4 section (bar 17).
Although of course you could finger this differently (and more easily), I am hoping that the fingering I have marked will help to demonstrate the theoretical aspect of this session. It's also quite a good exercise, having big jumps to contend with, also good for hand-eye coordination.

In the Cycle of Fifths, notice that after the Gb7 bar, I change from "flat" chord names to "natural" names - B7, E7 A7 etc.
I could have used Cb7, Fb7, Abb7, Dbb7 etc but this would look ridiculous on the page (although arguably theoretically correct).

Now the bit that might be difficult to get your head around - and its also not easy to explain !
So here goes: ( good luck - to both of us! )

The "Dominant" chord is built on the 5th note of the major scale. So if we think in the key of C, the Dominant chord would be rooted on G (cdefG). This chord can be just 3 notes, root, 3rd and 5th (the major triad) in this case G B D.

Think of "Auld Lang Syne" - just the first 2 notes - "should Auld" and imagine the chords to go with these notes. This is called a cadence, moving from one chord to another. There are several named cadences, but this one is called a Perfect Cadence. If we think of "Auld" as being the "tonic" (root) chord - the home key if you like - then the "should" is the dominant chord which leads back (resolves) into that "tonic" chord.

Now, we can make this cadence work even better (with greater directional clarity) by adding the 7th to the dominant chord - so in this example the G7 chord would be GBDF. Note: because we are in the key of C (no sharps or flats), the F is natural, not sharp as it would be if we were in the key of G. Still with me ?

Now the interesting bit:
The interval between the B and the F is 3 tones ( B to C#, C# to D# and D# to F) so this interval is called a TRITONE.
The sound of the tritone is quite strident, so much so that in Medieval times it was called "the Devil in music" and was avoided at all costs (music was predominantly governed by the Church at that time). But that stridency, that tension, that desire to resolve, is what makes it a very useful musical tool.
By incorporating this tritone in a chord, we get this great feeling of latent movement - it just has to move on to another chord.
So, of course, we let the G7 chord resolve naturally to the tonic chord (C in this case). The note B wants to resolve to the C, and the note F wants to resolve to the E (the 3rd in a C major triad). Note: The G7 chord could resolve virtually anywhere - to A minor for instance, or Ab major. But the most natural resolve is to the tonic chord of C major.

But what if we make this C chord also into a dominant chord - C7. It will then want to move to IT'S tonic key, which is F. ( Remember the dominant chord is built on the 5th note of the scale - so in the key of F, we go F G A Bb C) Then once again, make the F into F7, it will resolve to Bb - and if we carry on in this way we will eventually return to C major - this is the Cycle of Fifths. This sequence would go on round and round for eternity if we let it.

Now, the reasons for incorporating the whole-tone scale in this session:
The whole tone scale (and there are only 2 of them - think about it ! - and you can start them wherever you like - I just happen to have started the one in this session on a G) is really a series of tritones. Wherever you start the whole-tone scale, that first note will have a tritone above or below it. In fact, that is true of every note in the scale.

Also (and I only just discovered this while writing this session):
There is a descending whole-tone scale built into the Cycle of Fifths:
Take any 2 consecutive chords in the Cycle - lets say G7 and C7 - the common note to both chords is G. Take the next 2 chords in the cycle - F7 and Bb7 - common note is F. Take the next 2 chords - Eb7 and Ab7 - the common note is an Eb. Can you see that we are creating a descending whole tone scale here ? G F Eb ..... (Db B A G etc).
If you listen to the top notes of the piano part at this point, you will hear what I'm talking about.

I'm the least mathematically minded muso I know (believe me!) but I find this stuff quite fascinating !

Look again at the pdf page:

At the beginning of the 3/4 section, let's have a closer look at these notes:

The first A7 bar (bar 17) is: A (root) G (7th) and C# (3rd) - the tritone interval is between these last 2 notes.
In the next bar, the G (7th) is taken up an octave - but yet we still have a tritone between C# and G.

So this is the point: The tritone (note) occurs exactly half way between 2 octave notes. It doesn't matter which way up you voice these 2 notes, you get a tritone.
Now look at the notes of the D7 bars. First we get D F# and C, the tritone occurring between these last 2 notes , then we move the F# up an octave and, again, we still have a tritone - C to F#.

Now the great bit !
You will see that in the first A7 bar, the G and C# are just a semitone higher than the F# and C in the first D7 bar.
Now look at the Cycle of Fifths passage (bar 29):
You will see that the 2nd and 3rd notes of each bar (and therefore of each chord) move down by a semitone while the root note is changing by a fourth up (or fifth if it goes down). I've had to put a break in this pattern at the Eb7 bar for practical playing purposes - but I'm sure you can see the sequence that is emerging here.
So in the A7 chord for instance, the upper 2 notes are the 7th (G) followed by the 3rd (C#).
In the D7 chord, the upper 2 notes are the 3rd (F#) followed by the 7th ( C ). Yet there is only a semitone between these 2 sets of notes (the A7 and D7 upper notes).

If your brain is still working (mine's flagging now!), perhaps I can also point out that in all these bass arpeggios (chords) in this example, I have missed out the 5th of each chord. The 5th is a subject for another session, and be aware that it is a most interesting note to deal with. But for this session, I have just used the root, 3rd and 7th to demonstrate the amazing power of the tritone.

On the bass, you can play this tritone very effectively in the higher register as a double stop. Jaco P used this devise frequently. I'll do some more on this in another session.

I think I now deserve a lie down in a darkened room with a strong drink ! And if you have got this far, so do you ! (over 18s only!)

The Major

[essexbasscat]

Once again, in your debt

A very big THANK YOU MAJOR

Happy new year to you

[Major-Minor]

[quote name='essexbasscat' post='697831' date='Jan 1 2010, 12:10 PM']Once again, in your debt

A very big THANK YOU MAJOR

Happy new year to you

[/quote]
And a Happy New Year to you and all basschatters !

Let me know if there are any bass-related theory or sight reading questions you would like me to tackle.

The Major