Jazz Blues Workout

This is a classic Charlie Parkeresque blues.

There are many approaches to playing bass on this one. Doubling the melody is one, as in this example. You’re in unison with the sax or piano (depending on the instrumentation).

Check out what happens when we double the melody EXCEPT for a couple of strategically placed spots where we harmonise the melody in thirds.

Little “freshen ups” can do wonders for otherwise literal readings of a classic. Hey, I don’t want to rattle anyone’s cage, but, hey…Charlie Parker wrote this tune MANY decades ago,I love hearing fresh takes on it.

Advanced Slapping

Try these and practice hard.

Rocco Prestia 16th Notes

After the classic Motown period, various players started to build on Jamerson’s inspiration. One of these 16th note pioneers was Rocco Prestia from the band Tower of Power. Rocco bridged the gap between Jamerson and Jaco. Find Tower of Power recordings and transcribe the bass lines. You will find it a challenge and great for your time. Here is a Rocco type line below.

Tuning a Bass Guitar – Part 1 The Basics

You have brought your shiny new bass guitar home and the first thing you should learn is how to tune it. Even if it was tuned perfectly before you left the music store, chances are it will be out of tune slightly by the time you get it home. Tuning will be affected by many things such as temperature, humidity and the chances are that sliding it in and out of the case or gig bag will disturb one or more of the tuning pegs.

Correct tuning is vital otherwise everything you try to play will sound awful and you will become discouraged quickly. Tuning a bass guitar is not difficult, but does require following a few simple steps. There are several tuning methods that can be used, but before discussing them, let us discuss the basics.

On a 4-string bass guitar the strings from thickest to thinnest are tuned to the notes E-A-D-G. Before tuning up hold your bass guitar locate the tuning peg that corresponds to the E string. Pluck the E string and turn the tuner approximately 1/4 turn in either direction while listening to the sound. Did the pitch of the string increase or decrease? Make a mental note which direction you will need to turn the tuner when tuning. If all of the tuning pegs are on the same side of the headstock, the direction the tuners need to be turned will be identical for all strings. However, if your bass guitar has tuning pegs located on both sides of the headstock, repeat the experiment with one of the tuning pegs on the other side of the headstock.

Regardless of the tuning method you are using to tune your instrument, if the bass note is too low turn the tuner slowly to increase the pitch until it is correct. Conversely, if the bass note is too high, turn the tuner to decrease the string pitch until the note is slightly too low, then turn the tuner in the opposite direction until the pitch is correct. Always tune up to the note rather than down as this method is more accurate and will help your bass guitar stay in tune longer.

The next post will discuss the different methods that can be used for tuning a bass guitar and the pros and cons of each method.

James Jamerson 16th Notes

Take a look at this classic Jamerson type bass line. Notice the use of 16th notes over a standard rock/r&b groove. Learn to feel comfortable with the placement of 16th notes on and off the beat by playing this line and transcribing others like it.

You can find Jamerson lines on most of the famous Motown hits or in the great book “Standing in the Shadows of Mowtown”. The book is also a great tool for improving your sight reading.

More Muted Slap And Pop

This lesson will establish a pattern that we will use later. Let’s get comfortable with this first. Play the first note as an open E by slapping with your thumb. The second note will be a Left-Hand Slap across the strings, producing that muted clicking sound. The third note will be a “pop” or “pull” of the D string while your left hand remains (muting) the four strings. The fourth note will be an open E slap like the first note. Continue with this pattern to the second measure. The first note of this measure will now be the Left-Hand Slap (as beat 2 was in the first measure), the second note will now be the “Muted Pop” or “pull” of the D string, the third note will be the open E slap, and the fourth will be the Left-hand Muted Slap. The pattern to establish is Open string slap, Left-Hand Muted Slap, Muted Pop, Open string slap, LH Muted Slap, Muted Pop, Open Slap, LH Muted Slap, Muted Pop and so on. By playing this pattern we will se how the Open string Slap will move to a different downbeat within the measure creating the ever popular “Forward Motion” Technique. Play it slow and get familiar with the pattern using quarter notes. The next lesson will involve eighth note and we’ll see how the pattern starts to “cook”. Play it with a drimmer sometime, and see how the two of you start to groove.

Right Hand Fingering

Very often I’ve been asked what is the best exercise to improve speed? I’ve found that in 90% of the cases, the first thing to correct was the picking hand. Here is the basic idea that you will have to apply for your playing:

The fingers must be straight when they pull the strings, meaning that you should not bend the 1st or 2nd joint. It is better, for power and endurance purposes to use the larger muscles of the hand, rather than the smaller muscles of the fingers.

LET’S PLAY ON THE OPEN STRINGS

The numbers below the staff, represent the right hand fingers, number one being the index finger. You should rest on the pick-up, or if you have a 5 string bass, on the B string. This will help mute it. You have to pull on the string, don’t try to hit it. The more you pull, the louder it will play. Just pull, don’t pluck. For example, if you play the G string with your first finger, after pulling on the G string your finger should be resting on the D string.

Now if you play the G string again, you should use your 2nd finger. After playing, your 2nd finger will be resting on the D string and your 1st finger will be up in the air ready to play the G string again.

If you want to play the D string, you will then use your 2nd finger, which is already in position, resting on that string.

SEE CORRECT HAND POSITIONS:

CROSSING THE STRINGS:

WHILE YOU DO THIS EXERCISE, TRY TO DO THE FOLLOWING:

Play the E string with your 1st finger, then, the A with your second finger. Your 2nd finger will be now resting on the E string, leave it there while you play the D string with your 1st finger. Your 2nd finger will be ready now to play the next E. Proceed now to play the A with your 1st finger, it will be now resting on the E string, leave it there, and play the D with your 2nd finger. You are now ready to start from the top again…etc..

ON THE NEXT ONE, LET’S JUMP OVER THE “D”

LET’S JUMP OVER THE “A”

ALL THE STRINGS NOW:

Four FAQs for Beginning Bass Players

1. How are basses tuned?

Four-string electric and upright basses are tuned in perfect fourths, E A D G from low to high. Five-string basses commonly add a low B, but some add a high C instead of the low B. Six-string basses usually have both the high C and the low B. Seven-string basses add an F# to the six-string layout. Eight-string basses are like 12-string guitars. There’s an extra string added to each of the four standard strings, with the second set tuned an octave higher. 12-string basses add two “octave” strings to the pair, making four sets of three strings.

2. What is the difference between J Bass pickups, P Bass pickups & soapbars?

The P in P Bass pickups stands for Precision Bass. They are made of two single-coil pickups that are offset so they each pick up vibrations from two different strings. The signal is combined before it reaches the volume and tone controls. Each single-coil is wound in opposite directions to reduce hum. Basses usually have one P Bass pickup.

The J in J Bass pickups stands for Jazz Bass. They are made in one piece that picks up vibrations from all four strings. J Bass pickups are single-coils, and J Bass pickups usually have two of them; one near the neck and one by the bridge.

Soapbar pickups owe their name to their shape. These one-piece pickups are about twice as wide as J Bass pickups and can be wired as either single-coils or humbuckers.
Jazz Bass, J Bass, Precision Bass, and P Bass are trademarks of FMIC. All rights reserved. FMIC is neither affiliated with nor endorses any non-FMIC products.

3. What’s the difference between bass strings?

There are two main flavors of bass strings: roundwound and flatwound. All wound strings are made by wrapping layers of wire around a core wire. Roundwound strings use a round wire as the wrap; flatwound strings use a flat ribbon wire. Roundwound strings deliver brighter sounds, but can emphasize squeaks. Flatwound strings have a duller sound with less extra noise.

Flatwound strings tend to keep a more consistent tone longer. Here’s an extra tip: you can rejuvenate your roundwound strings by boiling them in vinegar or a mild detergent solution. It really works.

4. What is Biamping?

Biamping splits the signal from the bass preamp using a crossover. The highs are split from the lows and each is sent to a different power stage in the amp, and to separate speaker cabs. Low frequencies require more power to deliver the same volume, so this is ideal for situations where you have one cab with smaller drivers (4 x 10) for the highs and another cab with meatier speakers (4 x 15) for the lows.

Instant Funk

Flat 7 Your Way To Basic Funk

So your jammin with friends and the guitar player yells…”Let’s play something funky! Like James Brown!” Panic, fear, and worry grasp ahold of you like a deer caught in the headlights! What do I play? Funky? Isn’t what I’ve been playing funky? Who’s James Brown? Why does the drummer look even more worried than me?

All joking aside I’m going to impart a little secret. This secret is known as the b7. Whats the flat seven? Well it’s the seventh note derived from the Mixolydian scale and used over a dominant 7 chord but we really don’t need to know that right now. All we need to know is how to find it on our bass.

Ok, lets say that we are in A. The b7 always lies one whole step below the root of the chord (in this case the root is A). The b7 in A would be G.

Check out the example in below and notice how I’m only playing G’s and A’s. The sound of that G defines a strong funk bassline.

That was a pretty quick example. Let’s move it into an even more common jam key like E. The b7 in E would be what?….Ill wait… mmmmm…..your right, D. In this example I’m using only E’s and D’s to create a potentially funky bassline.

Remember to leave alot of space to start out with. A funk line can have a lot of room to develop. Here is an example in C#, a not so common jam key. What’s the b7 of C#? Wait the coffee is ready… oops, needs cream… Did I hear you say B? Hang on, let me get my bass…..yes, it’s B. Here is an example with a lot of space only using C#’s and B’s.

Wow, that last one had a lot of space. It was boarding on non funky. But, it was a good example of space because now I am going to take the same basic line and show you why we used all that space. I am going to fill in the space keeping the original idea as my “home bassline” so-to-speak. Again, all roots and b7′s here again in C#.

Remember that the “home bassline” happens every two bars. You have to always know where this bass line lies in relation to the fills you are improvising. Getting away from the home bassline to much is where it can start to become to “busy”.

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Slap And Pop

Bass Line #1: A simple practice line for Slapping and Popping. Using the knuckle/side portion of your right hand thumb strike down on the open E string on the 1,2,3,4 downbeats of each measure. Using your index finger (I sometimes use my middle finger)pop or pull up on the E (2nd Fret) of the D string on the “AND” or “UP” beats of 1,2,3,4. Start slowly and play clean before increasing tempo. After you have mastered increasing tempo try slowing it back down and play clean. It’s harder than it seems. The next lesson we’ll explore Left-Hand Muting.

Bass Line #2: This line introduces the Left-Hand Muted Slap. Strike the open E string as you did in the previous “Bass Line #1″ with your thumb on downbeats 1,2,3,4. On the “AND”/”UP” beats strike all four strings with the four fingers (placed close together) of your left hand in a clamping motion across the strings to produce a muted sound that will also produce a “clicking” noise when struck. Pay close attention where you strike the strings to avoid producing unwanted “Harmonics”. Move your left hand up and down the fretboard to experiment. Start slow and increase tempo only when you have played it clean and even. Next lesson will intoduce the “Muted Pop”. Note: The line builder can not denote an “x” on the “up beats”. An “x” usually indicates a “muted” note.