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The Importance Of Ear Training: Part 2, Putting it Into Practice
Welcome back, folks! In this article, we will continue where we left off in our ear training pursuits! Last time around I talked about the importance of ear training and the impact it can have on your musicianship. In this article, I would like to address some very elementary approaches to putting this into practice. If you are just starting to get serious about pursuing this vital skill, these exercises will help you to learn how to teach yourself, using some very simple principles.
There are many methods and practices you can use to improve your ear training. But if you have never really dug into this before, I would recommend some basic philosophical guidelines that you can apply to your practice routine, no matter how elementary. For starters, here is a simple approach that utilizes the patterns you already know on your bass:
Start by taking inventory of every pattern or shape-based component that you have learned in the past or are working on now. Examples of these might be scales, modes, or arpeggios. If it is a static pattern that you have played repeatedly up and down the neck, then it can be used here.
Even if you only know a one octave major or pentatonic scale, you can start to work on effective ear training. Starting with the simplest forms you have under your belt, reframe your practice perspective for each so that you are focusing on the ear training element more so than dexterity. Remember; the goal is to get away from our visual dependence on the fingerboard, moving closer to a dependence on our ears.
Once you have taken inventory of your patterns, you are going to start with the simplest forms, relearning each form in 3 stages, using a combination singing/playing approach:
Stage 1: Internalizing the sound of the complete shape
Stage 2: Internalizing the sounds of the individual notes within the shape
Stage 3: Internalizing the sounds of phrases created from the shape
To begin work on this, we are going to first employ a musical component that you are probably already very familiar with: the major scale.
The Major Scale: Meet Your New Ear Training Instructor
Most of us are already familiar with the major scale. Even if you don’t know how to play it on the bass yet, you’ve without a doubt heard it in action countless times whenever you have listened to music. We have come to recognize its sound and character in such contexts as nursery rhymes, tv commercials, birthday songs, and even Mary Poppins’ signature melodies!
Here’s what it looks like on a staff, along with a typical fingering used to play it in a single octave. This example is a C major scale, since it begins on the note, ‘C’. [See: cmajscale above]
This scale pattern, as is the case with any pattern on the bass, is movable, meaning that it can be transposed simply by moving your fretting hand to a different starting location. For example, if you wanted to play an A major scale, instead, you would move your fretting hand’s 2nd finger to the 5th fret, E string (which is the note, ‘A’) and play the pattern from there: [See: amajscale above]
Using our major scale pattern, we are going to approach ear training using the 3 stage method mentioned earlier, applied specifically to the major scale’s notes and intervals:
Stage 1: Internalizing the sound of the complete shape
Stage 2: Internalizing the sounds of the individual notes within the shape
Stage 3: Internalizing the sounds of phrases created from the shape
(This method can subsequently be used to ear train any other type of scale, phrase, arpeggio, or musical pattern that incorporates notes separated by sequential intervals. More on this in a moment…)
Ok, at this point I’ll bet some of you out there may already be thinking that you know this simple major scale backwards and forwards already, but I challenge you to prove it! I maintain that we don’t know ANY shape on the bass until we can make the connection between hearing an idea in our head and spontaneously playing it on our instrument without any errors… Remember those scatting references I was making in my last article? Well, that is the direction we are going to head in, but before we dive in, you better put your singing hat on!
Use “The Voice”, Luke!
(please excuse poorly executed Star Wars reference…)
That’s right; we are going to use our voices to work on this stuff. Don’t be bashful, embarrassed, or concerned. Unless you are truly tone deaf, you don’t have any excuse for not being able to do this, so pretend I’m right there with you nagging you until you pull this off!
b) Now, sing the scale while you play it, first ascending through the entire octave and then descending. Don’t be bashful… Sing out loud nice and strong, loud enough so that you can hear your voice at least as loud as your bass is. Match the pitch of your voice to each individual pitch in the scale. Go slowly and sing as precisely as you can, using a simple syllable such as “LA”, or “DA”, or “DO”. Play at a tempo slow enough so that you can adequately evaluate your accuracy. After you are able to do this over and over again without error, then move onto part c). Otherwise, continue working through the scale while singing until you have truly internalized and learned the sound of the scale in your head. See how we’re transferring our focus from the pattern on the fingerboard to our ears???
c) Now it’s time test yourself. Play the root of the scale, ‘C’ and then sing it. Only play the root. Now try singing the complete scale ascending and descending without your bass. Practice by only playing the root on your bass, followed by singing the entire scale over and over again until it is second nature. If you can do this successfully, then you have conquered stage 1!
b) Repeat part a) for each of the scale degrees in order, going from root to octave, and then back down from octave to the root. Remember to first sing the root before each interval as a way to ‘reinitialize’ your ears. Also don’t forget to first sing each interval without your bass, and then use your bass to check your pitch. Continue doing this until you can successfully sing each individual pitch in sequence without your bass. Effectively, the order you will sing and play in will be this:
root-2nd, root-3rd, root-4th, root-5th, root-6th, root-7th, root-octave
Then you will descend the same way:
root-octave, root-7th, root-6th, root-5th, root-4th, root-3rd, root-2nd
c) Now randomize the order of each sung interval. Before each attempt, sing and play the root to once again ‘reinitialize’ your ears. For example, instead of starting with the 2nd scale degree, you might start with the 5th, and then return to the root before moving to the next interval. You want these to be chosen in a non-sequential order. This will add a level of difficulty to the exercise that you may not have experienced before in any of your ear training practice. If you can effectively match your playing and singing of any interval taken randomly from the 7 scale tones without any mistakes, then you have mastered stage 2!
Be sure to join me next time around for Part 3 of the ear training series. We’ll cover Stage 3 in detail and also talk about the continuation of your ear training studies. In the meantime, have fun and practice diligently!
Bass Videos
Tour Touch Base (Bass) with Ian Allison
Ian Allison Bassist extreme…
Most recently Ian has spent the last seven years touring nationally as part of Eric Hutchinson and The Believers, sharing stages with acts like Kelly Clarkson, Pentatonix, Rachel Platten, Matt Nathanson, Phillip Phillips, and Cory Wong playing venues such as Radio City Music Hall, The Staples Center and The Xcel Center in St. Paul, MN.
I had a chance to meet up with him at the Sellersville Theater in Eastern Pennsylvania to catch up on everything bass. Visit online at ianmartinallison.com/
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This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
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Features
Interview With Audic Empire Bassist James Tobias
Checking in with Bergantino Artist James Tobias
James Tobias, Bassist for psychedelic, Reggae-Rock titans Audic Empire shares his history as a musician and how he came to find Bergantino…
Interview by Holly Bergantino
James Tobias, a multi-talented musician and jack-of-all-trades shares his story of coming up as a musician in Texas, his journey with his band Audic Empire, and his approach to life and music. With a busy tour schedule each year, we were fortunate to catch up with him while he was out and about touring the US.
Where were you born and raised?
I was born in Dallas, Texas and lived in the Dallas area most of my life with the exception of 1 year in Colorado. I moved to the Austin area at age 18.
What makes the bass so special to you particularly, and how did you gravitate to it?
I honestly started playing bass because we needed a bass player and I was the one with access to a bass amp and bass. I played rhythm guitar and sang up until I met Ronnie, who I would later start “Audic Empire” with. He also played rhythm guitar and sang and we didn’t know any bass players, so we had to figure something out. I still write most of my songs on guitar, but I’ve grown to love playing the bass.
How did you learn to play, James?
I took guitar lessons growing up and spent a lot of time just learning tabs or playing by ear and kicked around as a frontman in a handful of bands playing at the local coffee shops or rec centers. Once I transitioned to bass, I really just tried to apply what I knew about guitar and stumbled through it till it sounded right. I’m still learning every time I pick it up, honestly.
You are also a songwriter, recording engineer, and a fantastic singer, did you get formal training for this?
Thank you, that means a lot! I had a couple of voice lessons when I was in my early teens, but didn’t really like the instructor. I did however take a few lessons recently through ACC that I enjoyed and think really helped my technique (Shout out to Adam Roberts!) I was not a naturally gifted singer, which is a nice way of saying I was pretty awful, but I just kept at it.
As far as recording and producing, I just watched a lot of YouTube videos and asked people who know more than me when I had a question. Whenever I feel like I’m not progressing, I just pull up tracks from a couple of years ago, cringe, and feel better about where I’m at but I’ve got a long way to go. Fortunately, we’ve got some amazing producers I can pass everything over to once I get the songs as close to finalized as I can.
Describe your playing style(s), tone, strengths and/or areas that can be improved on the bass.
I honestly don’t know what my style would be considered. We’ve got so many styles that we play and fuse together that I just try to do what works song by song. I don’t have too many tricks in the bag and just keep it simple and focus on what’s going to sound good in the overall mix. I think my strength lies in thinking about the song as a whole and what each instrument is doing, so I can compliment everything else that’s going on. What could be improved is absolutely everything, but that’s the great thing about music (and kind of anything really).
Who were your influencers in terms of other musicians earlier on or now that have made a difference and inspired you?
My dad exposed me to a lot of music early. I was playing a toy guitar while watching a VHS of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble live at SXSW on repeat at 4 years old saying I wanted to “do that” when I grew up. I was the only kid in daycare that had his own CDs that weren’t kid’s songs. I was listening to Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, and The Doors when I could barely talk. I would make up songs and sing them into my Panasonic slimline tape recorder and take it to my preschool to show my friends. As I got older went through a bunch of music phases. Metal, grunge, rock, punk, hip hop, reggae, ska, etc. Whatever I heard that I connected to I’d dive in and learn as much as I could about it. I was always in bands and I think I kept picking up different styles along the way and kept combining my different elements and I think that’s evident in Audic’s diverse sound.
Tell me about Audic Empire and your new release Take Over! Can you share some of the highlights you and the band are most proud of?
Takeover was an interesting one. I basically built that song on keyboard and drum loops and wrote and tracked all my vocals in one long session in my bedroom studio kind of in a stream-of-consciousness type of approach. I kind of thought nothing would come of it and I’d toss it out, but we slowly went back and tracked over everything with instruments and made it our own sound. I got it as far as I could with production and handed it off to Chad Wrong to work his magic and really bring it to life. Once I got Snow Owl Media involved and we started brainstorming about a music video, it quickly turned into a considerably larger production than anything we’ve done before and it was such a cool experience. I’m really excited about the final product, especially considering I initially thought it was a throwaway track.
Describe the music style of Audic Empire for us.
It’s all over the place… we advertise it as “blues, rock, reggae.” Blues because of our lead guitarist, Travis Brown’s playing style, rock because I think at the heart we’re a rock band, and reggae because we flavor everything with a little (or a lot) of reggae or ska.
How did you find Bergantino Audio Systems?
Well, my Ampeg SVT7 caught fire at a show… We were playing Stubbs in Austin and everyone kept saying they smelled something burning, and I looked back in time to see my head, perched on top of its 8×10 cab, begin billowing smoke. We had a tour coming up, so I started researching and pricing everything to try and find a new amp. I was also fronting a metal band at the time, and my bass player’s dad was a big-time country bass player and said he had this really high-end bass amp just sitting in a closet he’d sell me. I was apprehensive since I really didn’t know much about it and “just a little 4×10” probably wasn’t going to cut it compared to my previous setup. He said I could come over and give it a test drive, but he said he knew I was going to buy it. He was right. I immediately fell in love. I couldn’t believe the power it put out compared to this heavy head and cumbersome cab I had been breaking my back hauling all over the country and up countless staircases.
Tell us about your experience with the forte D amp and the AE 410 Speaker cabinet.
It’s been a game-changer in every sense. It’s lightweight and compact. Amazing tone. And LOUD. It’s just a fantastic amp. Not to mention the customer service being top-notch! You’ll be hard-pressed to find another product that, if you have an issue, you can get in touch with the owner, himself. How cool is that?
Tell us about some of your favorite basses.
I was always broke and usually working part-time delivering pizzas, so I just played what I could get my hands on. I went through a few pawn shop basses, swapped in new pickups, and fought with the action on them constantly. I played them through an Ampeg be115 combo amp. All the electronics in it had fried at some point, so I gutted it out and turned it into a cab that I powered with a rusted-up little head I bought off someone for a hundred bucks. My gear was often DIY’d and held together by electrical tape and usually had a few coats of spray paint to attempt to hide the wear and tear. I never really fell in love with any piece of gear I had till I had a supporter of our band give me an Ibanez Premium Series SDGR. I absolutely love that bass and still travel with it. I’ve since gotten another Ibanez Premium Series, but went with the 5-string BTB. It’s a fantastic-sounding bass, my only complaint is it’s pretty heavy.
Love your new video Take Over! Let us know what you’re currently working on (studio, tour, side projects, etc.)
Thank you!! We’ve got a LOT of stuff we’re working on right now actually. Having 2 writers in the band means we never have a shortage of material. It’s more about getting everything tracked and ready for release and all that goes into that. We just got through filming videos for 2 new unreleased tracks with Snow Owl Media, who did the videos for both Love Hate and Pain and Takeover. Both of these songs have surprise features which I’m really excited about since these will be the first singles since our last album we have other artists on. We’ve also got a lot of shows coming up and I’ve also just launched my solo project as well. The debut single, “Raisin’ Hell” is available now everywhere. You can go here to find all the links distrokid.com/hyperfollow/jamestobias/raisin-hell
What else do you do besides music?
For work, I own a handyman service here in Austin doing a lot of drywall, painting, etc. I have a lot of hobbies and side hustles as well. I make custom guitar straps and other leather work. I do a lot of artwork and have done most of our merch designs and a lot of our cover art. I’m really into (and borderline obsessed) with health, fitness, and sober living. I have a hard time sitting still, but fortunately, there’s always a lot to do when you’re self-employed and running a band!
Follow James Tobias:
jamestobiasmusic.com
Facebook.com/james.tobias1
Instagram.com/ru4badfish2
TikTok.com/@jamestobiasmusic
audicempire.com
Bass CDs
New Album: Avery Sharpe, I Am My Neighbors Keeper
Avery Sharpe and his Double Quartet to release, I Am My Neighbors Keeper
A new recording will be released on JKNM Records by internationally renowned bassist/composer Avery Sharpe, “I Am My Neighbors Keeper” is scheduled for release in June 2024.
Sharpe has composed a new work that highlights our commitment to one another. Avery initiated the project as a response to the political and racial division that has grown over the past seven years in the country. “The U.S political climate has drastically changed in the past 40-plus years, especially during the last seven of those years. In this age of greed, which Sharpe refers to as “IGM,” I Got Mine, basic human compassion has been eroded. Racial, economic and social strides are being turned back.
“We have food insecurity, the unhoused, pandemics, school shootings, domestic violence, and an opioid problem, just to name some. There is a need to remind people that each of us is here on this planet for a very short period of time. It doesn’t matter if one has a religious approach or a secular approach, it all comes down to concern and compassion for each other. Through these compositions and recordings, Avery’s mission as an artist is to remind us that we all are interconnected and that ‘We Are Our Neighbor’s Keeper.’ When we help to uplift one, we uplift everyone,” Sharpe said.
Each movement in the piece describes the values we should strive for to help one another for this multi-media (video slide show during performance) and multi-discipline performance.
Many of Sharpe’s projects and recordings have been about “standing on the shoulders of ancestors, heroes and sheroes.” Among his recordings and projects, include “Running Man” (celebrating the athlete Jesse Owens), “Ain’t I A Woman” (about Sojourner Truth), and his most recent project “400: An African American Musical Portrait” (marking the 400 years from 1619 to 2019).
Avery Sharpe has recorded and performed with many jazz greats from Dizzy Gillespie to Yusef Lateef. He had an illustrious run of 20 plus years with the legendary Jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, of which he recorded more than 25 records with Mr. Tyner and performed countless worldwide concerts.
Visit online at averysharpe.com/
Bass Videos
New Gear: Spector Woodstock Custom Collection Volume II
Spector Launches Woodstock Custom Collection Volume II…
Spector Musical Instruments expands their celebrated Woodstock Custom Collection with the Volume II series – a breathtaking series of 12 handcrafted, one-of-a-kind bass guitars, each one masterfully designed by members of the Spector team. Crafted in the Spector USA Custom Shop in Woodstock, New York, these works of art go beyond musical instruments and expand the boundaries of Spector Bass design.
Spector’s iconic design lays the foundation for the Volume II collection. Each bass showcases a unique vision, including the selection of tonewoods, electronics, captivating finishes, and intricate design details. The collection highlights Spector’s commitment to craftsmanship and artistry and the individual people and stories that make up the team.
“The Woodstock Custom Collection was such a huge success, and we had so much fun with it that we couldn’t wait to do it again,” said John Stippell, Director – Korg Bass Division. “With Volume II, we’re expanding on everything we learned from the first collection, as well as pushing our design and Custom Shop team even further. These basses are a testament to the inspiring talent, creativity, and skill of every person on the Spector team. I’m excited for all of these basses and love how they tell the unique stories of all involved.”
Visit online at spectorbass.com/
Tour Touch Base (Bass) with Ian Allison
New Gear: Spector Woodstock Custom Collection Volume II
New Gear: The Dingwall John Taylor Signature Model
Interview With Bassist Edmond Gilmore
Have Fret Sprout? Sharp Fret Management… a How-To Video
This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
New Gear: Spector Woodstock Custom Collection Volume II
New Gear: The Dingwall John Taylor Signature Model
Tour Touch Base (Bass) with Ian Allison
