Lesson 1: 3/31/2011 – Ex. 11 (E String)
I fell off the boat again for the past 2 days due to house stuff, editing wifey’s statement of purpose for another grad school and work stuff. Earlier today, I picked up the HL Method and went over what I’d worked on the other day. I did the open string exercises (while reading the music) pretty quickly and moved on to the E string again.
I’m trying to go slow, for now. So, I did the first exercise (Ex 10) , which was just E-F-G-F-E on the E string using whole notes. For those of you who just do tab, that’s 0-1-3-1-0 on the bottom (thickest) string. Its easy enough. I’m beginning to understand the differences between tab and notation now though. With tab, I’d never have been able to say what kind of note to play on that string. I don’t know of a way to indicate whole, half, quarter, or whatever in tab. However, with notation (especially since I’m so new to it) I don’t know which E to start on. There are E notes on other strings on the bass, and if you’re using standard tuning, there’s an E on the E string, up at the 12th fret. If the book didn’t specify to use the E string and first 3 frets, I’d have probably been lost. Maybe, as I learn more, where to play on the neck will be made apparent.
Lesson 1: 3/28/2011 (E String)
Sorry. This first post with the new book is going to be lengthy.
So, I started going through the Hal Leonard Bass Method Complete book yesterday. I did the open string exercises and the lesson on the E string. I’m learning to read standard notation as I go (at least as far as bass is concerned, I think the treble side of things is different), so I’m going slowly. I’ll probably do the same lesson over again, to make sure its ingrained in my head. Here’s a breakdown of what was covered so far:
Equipment & Position:
1. I glossed over the pages on parts of the bass, the amp and tuning methods. I’ve seen enough of that in other books, so I think I know how it works well enough to move on.
2. Playing positions covered both sitting and standing. They each get ½ a page with 4 bullets. This is discussed a lot more thoroughly in other books. However, there are differences in things like hand position when sitting vs. standing that I’ll write about later, as it could be helpful to beginners, like me. I’ve grabbed info about left and right hand positioning from the internet and was especially impressed by the videos from Adam Neely which I posted on March 4 (the day I started this blog).
BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS!?!?!?!
My Amazon order came in on Saturday! They’re so fast and I’m so slow. Between working on the house on Saturday, and work at the office on Sunday, I didn’t get to go through it as well as I wanted until last night. Here’s what I got:
Hal Leonard’s Bass Method Complete Edition by Ed Friedland: I’ve been waiting for this. I dug in after work yesterday, and then re-read some of it again before bed. I really like it so far. Its slow, and does start with reading music, but it does it one string at a time, so I’ve been able to follow along without any trouble. Initially, it shows you where notes on the musical staff go for each of the 4 open strings, and that’s not so bad. Then it goes on to focusing on the first 3 frets of the E (thickest) string. So, you learn E, F and G. After a few exercises, it shows you F#/Gb. Since it was late, I didn’t get to play along with the book, but I’ll fix that today. As I was reading, I saw that it gradually introduces other music symbols, like naturals and stuff to let you know when to repeat a part. I’ll go into all of that later though.
This Complete Edition contains volumes 1, 2 & 3 of the series, as well as 3 CDs which have examples and tracks to play along with. It says that the bass was basically recorded with the right speaker, so if you want to play along without the bass (so you can play the parts yourself) you can pan the volume to exclude it.
Pestilence – The Level Of Perception / Aurian Eyes / Soul Search
The Level of Perception is one of my favorite Pestilence songs. Spheres (1993) is a really unique album that a lot of older death-heads despised when it came out. It was very progressive, and Patrick Mameli said that at the time, they were really being inspired by jazz and classical music. Looking at it now, lyrically, I can make many associations between it and playing bass & music theory from the 3rd line and onward.
The Seven Mile Journey – The Engram Dichotomy
.
This is The Engram Dichotomy from The Seven Mile Journey‘s new album, Notes for the Synthesis. I’ve been driving with this album for the past 2 weeks. Wifey’s also gotten into it. The album is all instrumental, and its beautiful.
[edit 2/3/215] The Youtube account that originally published the song above has been removed. Here’s a new link to the song:
More practice!
How to practice
All of the books I’ve referenced say to practice slowly at first and increase speed only when you’ve perfected an exercise at the tempo in which you’re working. Bass Guitar Secrets (BGS) even adds, “There’s a saying that practice makes perfect. Well that’s NOT entirely true. If you practice the wrong thing you’ll become perfect alright… But perfectly WRONG! The ONLY way, the best way and the most ‘discipline-requiring’ way to perfect perfection is to practice SLOWLY… A heck of A LOT slower than you CAN go.”
My books also recommend practicing exercises with a metronome, to help develop a good sense of time. Interestingly, Jeff Berlin’s video has a chapter called “Metronomes” in which Jeff emphatically contests this wisdom. His claim is that it puts the time before the music and that it artificially alters the bassist’s sense of time. He even goes into a few on-the-spot tests with his cameraman to help prove his point and discusses ideas such as how Latin musicians (from South & Central America) generally don’t learn with metronomes and have a strong sense of time.
David Ellefson (bassist for Megadeth)
[note] This post used to be the bottom part of a post about practicing that I wrote when I first started this blog. It was included because the video focuses on information from Dave Ellefson about practice. I’ve snipped it in half, so now Dave Ellefson and my Practice post can live their separate lives. The first half of the original post can be found here: Practice
______________________________
I’ll go deeper into some practice stuff that’s been on my mind later. For now, here’s a video from David Ellefson (Megadeth) about practice routines:
David Ellefson’s Rock Shop, Developing Good Practice Habits
Practice
Practice should be routine
Its important to practice every day. I recently watched the Music Principles section of Jeff Berlin’s video “Principles of Bass”. I don’t think that bass was its specific focus; a lot of it was philosophical, like an hour-long soapbox. But, there’s a chapter in there called “How to Practice” that I found interesting. In it, Jeff explains that musical ability doesn’t increase at the same rate as returns from a strong financial investment. He said that its generally a slow process that builds on existing skills and compared it to growing hair.
Looking at it in that light, I can see why practicing every day is stressed so much. Its like working out, or mastering any physical skill. Many books, videos and articles that I’ve read on the internet and in magazines support this notion.
Initial exercise
Every bass book or method has exercises that the reader should learn in order to gain specific skills and conceptual knowledge needed for play. Anything I write about should be looked at as supplemental to that. Definately scour the internet and cross-check against other books or videos for exercises and a deeper explanation of theory when you’re learning.
(1) FIRST EXERCISE (the numbers below the tab show the fingering)
Above is the first, and only, exercise that my instructor had the chance to give to me. We were talking about Latin music and he was telling me how much fun it is to play. He then started doing something on piano and had me try to play this under it. I was barely able to, and messed up a lot. My homework was to practice this and come back and see him when I was able to play it smoothly and without any errors.
A method to the madness
I have a lot of bass books. However, unless they’re about some specialized aspect of playing, they’re all basically the same, and for some reason, none of them really drew me in and guided me in playing. Recently, though, that changed. I’m not sure if its because time has passed and my personality has changed, or if its something else (like practicing regularly). Maybe the stars have aligned in the constellation of Azathoth…
Thus far, as a born-again beginner, I’ve found two methods useful:
The first is Alex Sampson’s Bass Guitar Secrets (Vol. 1). Its pretty direct; and for a novice, it packs a lot of practical information into a very small space that’s badly in need of editing. What Alex teaches is really working so far, but his presentation is not professional. There are typos and grammar mistakes all over his 100 pages of otherwise insightful work. I’m not an expert grammarian in any way, but if *I* can pick out a dozen mistakes just skimming through the book, then it needs the once-over.
The 2nd method I’m really enjoying is Bass Guitar for Dummies, 2nd Edition by Patrick Pfeiffer. Patrick has a very readable way of writing. He covers a lot of ground in quite some detail (from my novice perspective). I’m only about 1/5 through the book, but combined with Alex Sampson’s work, the two guides are giving me what I believe is a very well-rounded education in beginner bass.
Bass Ackwards
This is a picture of a weird bass I came across on the internet.
Its like they made it backwards and turned the head into the body and the body into the head; then they did some voodoo head-shrinking magic on the new body-head. And it only has two strings. I imagine that its probably not too much fun to balance, but it sure leaves an impression. 😉
http://www.hansvanrock.com/bass-pictures/5453_file_8766_3-11/
[edit 5/4/2011] Learned this on the Talkbass forums: That weird bass belongs to Stig Pedersen from Danish rock band D-A-D. Stig designs his own basses with only 2 or 3 strings because he only uses the E and the A strings when he plays!
[edit 10.18.2011] My Strange Bass Gallery has images of more of Stig’s basses, as well as other interesting ones from around the internet.
For the Fallen Dreams – December Everyday
I’m really enjoying this band, and particularly this song.
Just the tip ;)
Just a quick note about fretting:
A few months ago, I read something that helped clear up questions I had about fretting-hand position. When I was first learning, I held my fretting hand all wrong and constantly bent my wrist at almost a 90-degree angle. According to Adam Neely’s video (and after applying some thought) this isn’t the most natural way to play and could, in fact, damage your wrists over time.
I fretted like this because I pressed down on the strings with the pads of my fingers. I tended to use the middle of the first digit of each finger to press, because it felt like this gave me the most strength. I can see now that this was due to my wrist position, and it probably isn’t a good idea to do it extensively.
Since then, I’ve read two things that helped me understand which part of the fingers to use when fretting:
1. Use the same part of your finger that you type with.
2. Place your hand flat on your desk with your palm down. The part of your fingers that isn’t touching the desk is what your should be using to press down on the strings.
So, basically, its your fingertips, not the pads of your fingers, that you want to use. Its probably ok to use finger pads now and again, but really, strive to play with the tips. Don’t give yourself carpal tunnel syndrome, or some other problem.
[edit 4/21/2011] I just read a thread on the TalkBass forums on curved fingers vs. flat fingers. Curved fingers seem to be the winner in terms of ergonomics. Read that thread here!
[edit 03.26.2015] Here’s something about left-hand (fretting hand) technique, including thumb placement from Russ Rodgers:
Ergonomics and what to do with your hands
Over the years, I’ve collected a small library of bass method books. Most of them teach the same things, so there are definitely baseline skills that bass players need to have in order to play. Most books go over the parts of the bass and tuning the bass first, and then delve into exercises to acquaint your hands with the instrument.
There’s generally a small section on holding the bass right before exercises begin. I think that this perfunctory note needs to be examined more closely though. For people who have been playing for years, how to hold the instrument is second-nature. Its like wiping front-to-back. For me, it was confusing. It seems obvious that you strap it on, get your fretting and attacking hands into position and just begin, but where exactly to strap on the bass and how to position the hands was really a point of confusion to me.
Do you need an instructor to learn how to play?
When I first tried learning to play bass, I didn’t have an instructor and I didn’t really get anywhere. I’d asked friends, but they were busy with other projects, and were more guitarists than bassists to begin with. I had no one to compare myself to, to see if anything I was doing was right or wrong. I just went through the exercises in my book, slowly, and stopped somewhere around where blues bass lines began.
Some years later, after we’d all gone our separate ways, I hung out with one of my old friends (Hi Ray!) again. He was still playing guitar in a band. The talk turned to bass and I told him that I still hadn’t learned how to play. He told me that I should just grab tabs from an easy band that I liked, like Green Day, and learn how to play from that.
Well, I didn’t do that. I didn’t do much of anything with bass at all, other than read Bass Player magazine semi-monthly. Last Thanksgiving (2010), I finally dug up my old bass and went to a teacher. I found someone in my city (Yonkers, NY) and ran out to make a start.
Dear Diary…
When I first attempted to learn to play bass, about 15 years ago, I had no musical background. I knew what I liked to hear and hung out with musicians and local bands at home, at shows and in the studio quite a bit, but had no real idea of what anyone was actually doing. Most of my friends who played in bands were guitarists and drummers. Some of the guitarists also played bass, but it was secondary to them, and now that I look back at it, they were probably just playing guitar on the bass.
I wanted to learn an instrument, but guitar and keyboard just didn’t appeal to me. I’ve always thought that there are too many guitarists in the world, and it also seems like an ego-driven instrument to me (sorry, guitarists – I know you’re not all like that). Somewhere along the way, while seeing shows and staring at drummers, I finally noticed that there was someone else on stage at a lot of these shows, and that person usually Boomed.
Ugly Bass Face 