Prior knowledge Before beginning to work on this material, you should know: ● How to read bass clef ● What the parts of the bass are called (the neck, frets, the body) ● The names of the strings on your bass Understanding the major scale Q: Which notes sound good? A: Those which use notes in the song’s current triad. Q: How do I connect triads? A: By knowing the relationship between notes in the triads.. Day 0: An introduction to the Bass Book Oftentimes when playing bass outside of classical or big band situations, we will not be given a written part, but a list of triads. The composer is assuming that we already understand how to connect those triads in a bassline. In some of your jazz music, you will see triad symbols like these above a written part: 1 Jazz band provides you with a great opportunity to discover what these triads mean while still having a written part to use as a guide. Above is a bass line I wrote down from a song I like. The written notes here are related in some way with the triad symbol. For example, in the first measure, the written part suggests the note F to go along with the F7 chord. A chord, like F7, is a technical term meaning certain sets of notes work together to achieve certain effects . A chord progression is a series of chords played one after another. 1 This phrase is the beginning of a bassline played by Percy Heath on an F blues from Miles’ Davis album Bags’ Groove . The song is also called “Bags’ Groove.” 1 A well-built chord progression evokes a complicated feeling. Understanding the notes in these chords helps us learn how to build them and play with them. Think about colors... kind of like notes, but for visual art. Red is often equated with excitement, and blue typically described as calm. These broad concepts can only be applied generally to every single red or blue thing you see every day. A more accurate emotional description of red or blue comes with context. When you view different pieces of art and see how the artist uses those colors in context, the colors become more complicated and personal. Much like a painter might build their ability to understand the effects of different shades of red, musicians must also break down their favorite music to build a personal relationship with how those songs are built—with chords. The best way to understand chords is to listen to lots of music in the style you want to learn and then try to play that music. It’s pretty obvious that playing the note written in the chord symbol (like playing the note F with the F7 chord) is going to be safe—what are our other options? Figuring out which notes sound good in certain situations will improve our confidence in playing bass lines based on how we relate our own preferences to the music, rather than only reading the notes we are given—in other words, we will be more able to improvise. 2 Day 1: A foundation in F Major When playing a song, there are three steps to being able to grasp which triads to play: identify and understand the key, understanding the framework of building triads, and applying that framework to each note in the scale. When looking at a piece of music, the key signature of F Major will be communicated with one flat between the bass clef and the time signature: The flat symbol is on the “B” line, which means the B has a flat added (B ♭ ). The first step in narrowing down our available notes depends on knowing the key of the song. This is the set of notes that most of the bass line will come from. Every instrument’s most basic job is to state in clear terms, “Hey! We’re in F major!” (except the drummer). This is a great way to play the F Major scale on electric bass. “1” means index finger, “4” is your pinky, and “3” is the ring finger. “0” means that you play an open string. Unless an alternate fingering is provided, all of the music contained in this packet will be using this fingering for the scale given at the beginning of the chapter. The notes of the F Major scale are connected to one another in multiple patterns. Being able to hear these relationships between these notes and how they feel when played on the bass is an important step to understanding a scale. Once you can play the scale from memory, with the correct fingerings, you’re ready to move onto the next day. If you can write in your fingerings for the F Major scale without referencing the previous diagram, you are good to go! 3 4 Day 2: Exploring the F Major scale Let’s spend some time unraveling the F Major scale. This exercise moves through the scale in a certain pattern. Let me modify this so you can see the pattern a little easier: If you continue crossing out the second and fourth note of each measure, you’ll see a built-in F Major scale! Cool, right? Each note on the first and third beat makes up the scale. The notes on the second and fourth beat connect to the built-in F Major scale in a unique way. We’ll look at what this unique pattern of notes mean tomorrow. Underneath each note, write in the fingering. It’s important to use the same fingerings as shown in the F Major scale so that the patterns become more obvious. 5 There are two notes in this pattern that aren’t in the F Major scale I gave you yesterday—the high G, A, and C. These notes are all above the high F in the scale I showed you earlier, on Day 2. Play the G with the open G string, and then play A on the G string with your index finger, and the C with your pinky three frets above the A. Now that you have these new fingerings, write them in! This exercise is a combination of everything we’ve studied so far with the F Major scale. It has higher notes, as well as patterns that move within the F Major scale in different ways. Writing in these fingerings now, while you have time, will help you out a lot when you don’t have time to stop and think. When you’re playing on-the-fly, this foundation you built will support your creativity with good technique! 6 Day 3: Whole steps and half steps in scales The most basic pattern in a scale to understand is based on half steps. A half step is the smallest standard interval in Western music. In the F Major scale, you can see it between A and B ♭ , and again between E and F. Each of these pairs is one fret apart. This is an example of a half step interval, because each of these pairs is a half step apart. The other notes in the scale are two half steps apart. If you play F, and move up one fret, you’ll be playing F#. Move up another fret, and then you’re on G, which is the second note in the F Major scale. This interval is called a whole step , because it’s a combination of two half steps. Write down the interval between each of the notes in the F Major scale. Notes in F Major Whole step (W)/half step (H) F to G G to A A to B ♭ B ♭ to C C to D D to E E to F This scale recipe is commonly abbreviated as WWHWWWH (Whole Whole Half Whole Whole Whole Half). This is the first F Major pattern we looked at on day 2. With this new knowledge of half steps, we can dig a little deeper into how this pattern works. In between each note, write how many half 7 steps are between each note. Only write in the number of half steps for the notes that are ascending, like this: We’ll talk about how the number of half steps between two notes helps us build chords tomorrow. 8 Day 4: Building a Major triad with the “two things” The F Major scale: one note out of seven is flat (B ♭ ). The other six are natural (F G A C D E). So what? It is not enough to know just the key of a song and use those notes to play with the entire song—try playing with the song (insert song in f major) with only the knowledge of the key guiding you. Trying to arrange those seven notes into a nice-sounding bass line is a guessing game without digging deeper into the scale. Remember the definition of a chord ? Working to understand the chords of a scale will help us 2 develop more specific basslines than just playing an F major scale. Without picking certain notes of a key, it is difficult to control the flow of different emotions in the song. Trying to play a song without understanding the chords will make the bass playing sound repetitive and lead to the music sounding thin or unfocused. We’ve finally caught up to the question posed at the beginning of this chapter: what notes can we play over certain chords, other than the note in the name of the chord (also known as the root note, or tonic ). Well, to answer that question, we need to look at a specific type of chord first—the triad. Having a foundation in triads will be very helpful for launching into learning about chords. Just to explain my word choice... triads are like chords, but a little different. A triad is made of three notes, while a chord is made of four. We’re going to start with triads, because three notes is PLENTY to work with for now. Chords are easy to understand after you understand triads! Here are the guidelines that we can use to discover triads within the F major scale: Two things to remember about triads as a bass player: 1. Triads are built in Major or minor thirds from a root note 2. The notes of a triad can be inverted in any order There is a triad that we can find for each note of the F Major scale. The first is the tonic triad (also known as the “I” triad, pronounced “one triad”). Tonic triad just means the triad built from the root of the scale . With the F Major scale, that note is F. Thus, we call this a F Major triad. 2 Triad is a technical term which means certain sets of notes which fit together to achieve certain effects. 9 Let's find the F Major triad, using these guidelines listed above. Applying the “two things” to the F Major triad 1. triads are built in major and minor thirds When playing the F Major scale, think of each note as not only being assigned a letter name, but also a number: F 1 G 2 A 3 Bb 4 C 5 D 6 E 7 The note F is 1 because it is the root of the F Major scale. Each note has a higher number than the note before it. These numbers are the same whether you are playing the scale going up or down. For example, the scale in one octave would be: Going up... ...and coming back down 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 F G A Bb C D E F E D C Bb A D F Since we are starting with the F Major triad, we know that the note F is our root note. With that in mind, what could the major third of the note F be? To find this next note, an important concept to remember is that an interval is the distance between a pair of notes. A triad is made up of two different intervals: a major third, and a minor third. These intervals are not coming out of thin air—they are already built into the Major scale that you already know! We just have to learn how to recognize them. 10 Take a look again at the F Major pattern on page 4. In the first measure, you play F and move up to the note A, skipping the second note of the scale (G) . To build a triad from the note F, we need to use musical logic. There are certain patterns within a scale that work together to create new sounds. F and A are the first two notes of a Major triad. The first interval in a Major triad is a major third, which is made of two whole steps F and A are two whole steps apart. Thinking about the order of the notes in the scale, A is the “3” in the key of F Major. This proves the “third” part of a Major third, but what about the “Major” part? All you have to do is count the whole steps between the notes F and A to see that they are two whole steps apart (or four half steps—same thing). Two notes, separated by two whole steps, are a Major third apart. It’s that easy! This is the essence of the first “thing”: Two things to remember about triads as a bass player: 1. Triads are built in Major or minor thirds from a root note 2. The notes of a triad can be put in any order {insert speed bump so student understands what they need to know before working through the next day of material} 11 Day 5: Finding the fifth So, F is the root of the F Major triad, and A is the major third. Since every triad is made of three notes, we know we are still missing one. How can we find the other note of the F Major triad? Remember the guidelines of the first “thing”—that every triad is built in Major or minor thirds. The next note of the F Major triad is another third up—this one is a minor third ! That means that it is one whole step and one half step away from A. This time we will find the third by moving higher in the scale from the second triad tone (A). Try finding the next triad tone without looking at the table on the previous page—remember that you can find a third in two ways: skipping a note when moving higher up the scale, or by thinking in numbers. 3 For the first method, which is based on skipping notes, think about the F major scale. When playing A, which note comes next? Well, that would be a Bb. If you skip that note and play the next highest note in the scale, that will be the next triad tone, C. If you prefer the second method, which attaches a number to each note in a scale, remember that the root of the scale is called 1, and the third is called 3. Following the same numerical pattern—triad tone (F), skip a note, triad tone (A), skip a note, triad tone—what would the next number be? Which note is assigned that number in the scale? To double check whether or not you found the right note, remember that the minor third interval is made of one half step, and one whole step (three half steps), so A and C should be three frets apart. Looks like C is the next triad tone in the F triad! That means that our F triad looks like this: 3 Being able to understand triads with both the first and second method is a great way to make sure you fully understand all sides of the idea. I use both methods—sometimes one is more useful than the other depending on what concept you are trying to figure out in your practice. 12 I include the high F because it is important to be able to feel that the high F is included in the shape and sound of this triad. The high F is not connected to C by a major or minor third, but it is still part of the triad because it is the root. Triad tones can exist in any octave. All F’s, A’s, and C’s in any octave, if played with other F’s, A’s, and C’s, are part of an F triad. There is a recipe for a Major triad, just like there is a recipe for a Major scale. To make a Major triad, you will always move up by a major third from the root, and then move up again by a minor third to land on the perfect fifth. Don’t worry about the “Perfect” part of the fifth that I included in the diagram—it’s a technical name. Just calling it a fifth is fine. For this triad, I use the same fingering for each note as I do when I’m playing the F major scale. Experiment with just playing these notes, first up and down, then in any order. Like with a scale, it is important to be able to feel where each note is physically (on the fretboard) in relation to the one you’re playing. Here is one example: Here is some information regarding the names of each of these notes and their intervals. It’s important to use clear language when you’re talking about music so that you can communicate with other musicians. These terms are true for any triad, whether it is F Major or not. 13 Note Relationship to other notes Number in relation to F major scale Common name 4 F Root note, tonic 1 “The root” A Major third above the root note 3 “The third” C Minor third above the third, also a fifth above the root note 5 “The fifth” 4 For example, if a band director asks you to just play “roots and fifths” of the F triad, they only want the bassline to contain the notes F and C. 14 Day 6: Putting the notes of a triad in any order Applying the “two things” to the F triad 2. The notes of a triad can be put in any order Despite most of these measures starting on notes other than F, the implied triad is still F. Try singing the note F while playing this pattern—it still has the nature of the F triad, because all of the notes are still F, A, and C. If you sing A or C under this pattern, it still may sound good, but some of the notes in the pattern will not have the same feeling of stability. 5 If you think it would help your practice, write in the fingerings below each note. Those fingerings are still the same as the F Major scale on page 3. Musicians who understand these “two things” about triads are off to a great start! [insert a comprehension check so that the student understands what knowledge is needed to progress to the next section of material] 5 In case you’re curious, if you sing the note A under this pattern, the stand-out note will be the note F. If you sing the note C, both notes will stand out: F more so, A less so. 15 Day 7: Building triads from other notes in F major In Step #2, we focused only on the F Major triad. We first thought about how to build it from the root note using Major and minor thirds. Then, we looked at how the triad is the same regardless of the order of the notes. Now it’s time to look for other triads inside of the F Major scale. In the excerpt from Bags’ Groove on page 1, the triad symbol in the second measure is “Bb.” Bb is the fourth note in the scale, counting up from the root note of the scale. We can find the triad for that root note! A little more vocab to get us started: when someone says “the root,” it’s really an abbreviation of “the root note of X triad.” When talking about an F Major triad, the root is F. When talking about a triad built from the note Bb, the root is Bb. All roots belong to a specific place! So, what are the two triad tones that go with Bb, in the key of F Major? Remember the first of the “two things”—triads are built in Major and minor thirds. Check Step #2 again if you need a refresher... ... D and F! The Bb triad in F Major is spelled Bb, D, F. Since the D is two whole steps up from Bb, we know that interval is a Major third, so this is a Bb Major triad. triads are labeled Major or minor based on the third. Here is another pattern with these triads. Like the example for the F major triad on the previous 6 page, the triad tones are in any order—it’s important to recognize the shape and names of the notes under your fingers in any combination, not just up or down from the root. Root Third Fifth Major/minor F A C Major 6 Play the high Bb with your pinky, on the third fret of the G string. 16 Bb The rest of the triads in this scale follow the same rules as the first of the “two things.” Write in each note of the F Major scale in the table above, and then go up in thirds! Now we can have some fun—we have seven triads to play with! In any song in the key of F major, these triads are very common. We need to familiarize ourselves with all of these triads in the same way that we have with the F Major and Bb Major triads—through patterns. Our next mission is to explore these other triads and deepen our relationship with the Major scale. 17 Day 8: Exploring other triads How to transpose patterns from one triad to another triad 1. Identify how the notes in the pattern function in the context of a triad 2. Transpose those functions into a new triad Wow... take a breather for a minute. We just took a scale and turned it into seven powerful triads. Who knew that there was so much information within a scale? Something interesting about the format of a triad—root, third, and fifth—is that ALL triads follow this same layout. This means that we can transfer one triad pattern to another. Moving patterns between triads can strengthen our ears and help us see how the thirds which make up triads blend together. The first part of this process involves digging back into —look back at the F Major triad pattern on page 13: Identify which triad tone each note is, and then write the corresponding number above the note. For example: This is the first measure of the pattern. Continue through the pattern and identify whether each note is a root, third, or fifth within that triad. 18 So there’s no confusion; these numbers are not fingerings, but labels for the triad tones. Fingerings will always have the string each note should be played on listed below the staff. [this is not yet true :)) a short term goal of mine is to make this labeling system more consistent within the sheet music] Once you write in all of the triad tones for the F Major triad pattern, do the same with the Bb Major triad pattern on page 9. (here’s the first measure of the Bb pattern): Once you have written in all of the triad tones for both patterns, it’s time for step 2! Transposing patterns between triads 1. Transpose those functions into a new triad Now that you’ve written out the triad tones for both of those triad patterns, let’s take the third measure of the Bb Major triad pattern. The triad tones in that measure are: 5, 3, 1, and 5. What if we wanted to keep that same order of triad tones—the fifth, the third, the root, and the fifth again—but in the D minor triad, so that D is now the root? We learned in the previous step how to analyze a phrase. This process of taking that analyzed material and moving it to a different context is transposition. Referencing the table you completed on page 9, go ahead and write out that sequence of notes (5, 3, 1, and 5) for a D minor triad... (speed bump)? 19 ... and again for a G minor triad. Even as we change from the triad those tones were originally pulled from, the sequence still sounds good. Those four notes maintain a similar, but not identical, character between the F Major, D minor, and G minor triad. Sing the root note out loud while playing each note —it might give you a better idea of what I mean. In all of the phrases, regardless of which triad, the root note is always played on the third beat. That is the spot in the measure where the phrase might feel more balanced, or “done.” The fourth beat is always going to be the fifth of the triad. Moving to the fifth after playing the root in that phrase can take away that impression of balance. 7 This concept is somewhat similar to the analogy I made on page two about the colors red and blue. These ideas of balance and “done-ness” are based on my experience with music, and many other musicians would agree. Regardless, descriptions like these are difficult to understand through words, and it is more than okay if you don’t hear what I (or anyone) is describing in music. Words are limited in their ability to explain the emotions of music. If you listen and play attentively, you will develop your own language to describe what you hear. Day 9: Build your own patterns! 7 You could try and regain that balance by playing the root note again after playing the fifth. 20