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Willis Takes on Your Questions
Meet WIllis
Question
I’m relatively new to jazz bass lines, and my teacher and I were wondering how to walk a chord progression that has slash chords. Example: the |D- D-/C|B-7b5 E7b9|A- A-/G|Fmaj7 | chord pattern from Black Orpheus. My teacher recommended a |D D C C|B F E B|A A G G|F…| line. I was doing more of a |D A D C|B F E B|A E A G|F…|. What kind of walking line would you do over that kind of progression?
Befuddled,
Beth
[Willis] Hey Beth,
Both examples, your teacher’s and yours, will work fine. A valuable element of line creation is the use of passing tones – notes played on weak beats 2 & 4 – that chromatically connect chord tones that are played on strong beats: 1 & 3.
A slightly more interesting line could be | D Db C Bb | B F E Bb | A Ab G Gb | F… or you could try | D G C Bb | B F E Bb | A D G C | F… One thing to remember when you’re playing over chord changes is that each musical situation could require a different approach: like the basic one from your instructor to a more creative setting where the chord changes are just used as a framework for improvisation from everyone involved. Depending on the situation, you can ignore playing roots altogether and play a descending line like this one: from the A on the G string – | A Ab G Gb | F E D Db | C Bb A G| F…
Question
I was wondering if you compose on the bass initially or do you write on other instruments as well?
-Thanks & peace-CH
[Willis] Hey CH,
Lately I find myself working more on creating “groovescapes” within Logic Pro on my Mac. I’m exploring all kinds of different ways to get sounds that create each composition’s own environment and most of the time that doesn’t involve the bass. Once the environment is established then it’s much easier for me to find out how to fit the bass in.
Question
I just wanted to ask, if you know any good tricks for working on the “speed” side of bass playing. I always feel that when I play fast, I loose control over playing and my articulation and tone suffer… how can I gain more “tempo headroom”?
greetz Alex
[Willis] Hey Alex,
Good question – bad word choice “tricks”. No tricks or illusions will get you playing fast. Although I do like the phrase “tempo headroom”.
The first thing to focus on is efficiency. Your right hand is pretty much always on autopilot so you have to break it down to get control and eliminate wasted motion. Do some motion studies of your right hand and analyze exactly what your fingers are doing and make sure that every movement has a purpose.
The next thing to do is to create the instinct to relax. Everyone’s natural reaction to playing fast is that it’s hard and so the tendency is to tense up and “muscle” your way through. The phrase “tempo headroom” in interesting in that “headroom” is usually associated with volume and in this case volume becomes very important for relaxation. If you normally play “hard” with your right hand then speed will always be a problem. You can create tempo headroom by giving yourself more volume headroom. On an intensity scale of 1 to 10, you need to reeducate your right hand to be playing all the time at around 5. Then when things get fast, you do not have to fight the tension that used to slow you down.
By creating this awareness of relaxation and efficiency you’ll probably find that it will carry over to your left hand as well. Another thing to remember is that a more relaxed intensity will allow you to lower your strings and your bass will be easier to play.
Question
How do you practice your bass playing when you’re not playing with a band? Do you have any good tips on that? Thanks!
[Willis] Since your question arrived via the Internet then that means you have a computer – use it! Sequencing, midi, sampling, signal processing, chord voicings, drum patterns, looping – all these elements will help you develop a good, modern practice environment. Plus they’re all valuable tools that you can use to create your own music. A good place to start is to learn how to use sequencing software to create grooves. Choose a drum groove that you would like to play over and re-create it in the software.
Question
I’ve been working on the right hand exercises on your website for a bit, and wondered how you handled consecutive notes on different strings – and which fingers do the damping. For instance octaves; if I do something like P2 – D1 – P3 – D2 (play two, damp one etc) I end up with fingers in a position where its quite difficult to repeat the same pattern again. I notice in one of your answers you say that for playing for consecutive notes on ascending strings you’d use “1 2 3 2” – but which fingers do the damping?
Chris
[Willis] Hey Chris,
Actually, for repeated octaves, I just repeat 1-3-1-3 where each finger takes care of its own dampening. An extension of that pattern is triplet octaves 121(1 dampens) 323 (3 dampens). For consecutive notes on ascending strings, we have the benefit of the follow through (rest stroke) dampening the preceding note.
Question
I am DR SIDIBE KAN the bank manager of BANK OF NIGERIA (BOA) BURKINA FASO WEST AFRICA BRANCH.
I am contacting you based on Trust and confidentiality that you will keep this as top secret. Don’t be scared or surprised, I am the manager of BANK OF NIGERIA and I have an opportunity to transfer sum of US$10.5MILLION (TEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED UNITED STATE DOLLARS) I have the courage to look for a reliable and Honest Person who will be capable for this important business Transaction, believing that you will never let me down either now or in Future. The owner of this account is JONATHAN F. GRAHAM, foreigner and he is the Manager of petrol chemical service, a chemical engineer by Profession. Unfortunately he is deceased and the bank has made series of efforts to contact any of the relatives to claim this money but without success. My investigation proved to me as well that his company does not know anything about this account. I want to transfer this money into a safe foreign account abroad but I Don’t know any foreigner, I know that this message will come to you as a surprise as we don’t know ourselves before, but be sure that it is real And A Genuine business. Hope that you will never let me down in this transaction, at the conclusion of this business, you will be giving 30% of the total amount, 70% will be for me. I look forward to your earliest reply by email for more details
Best Regards,
DR.SIDIBE KAN
[Willis] Hey Dr. Kan,
It’s true that at first I was scared and surprised but 10.5 million big ones can do that to a person. Nevertheless, I’m a reliable and honest person and I’m always on the lookout for important business Transactions. I hope not to let you down and will do my best to make sure that this guy’s family never sees that $10.5 million dollars. I’m enclosing all my personal data and bank account records and look forward to doing A Genuine business with you very soon.
Bass Videos
Interview With Bassist Erick “Jesus” Coomes
Bassist Erick “Jesus” Coomes…
It is always great to meet a super busy bassist who simply exudes a love for music and his instrument. Erick “Jesus” Coomes fits this description exactly. Hailing from Southern California, “Jesus” co-founded and plays bass for Lettuce and has found his groove playing with numerous other musicians.
Join us as we hear of his musical journey, how he gets his sound, his ongoing projects, and his plans for the future.
Photo, Bob Forte
Featured Videos
Visit Online
www.lettucefunk.com
IG @jesuscsuperstar
FB@jesuscoomes
FB @lettucefunk
Bass Videos
Working-Class Zeros: Episode #2 – Financial Elements of Working Musicians
Working-Class Zeros: Episode #2 – Financial Elements of Working Musicians
“These stories from the front are with real-life, day-to-day musicians who deal with work life and gigging and how they make it work out. Each month, topics may include… the kind of gigs you get, the money, dealing with less-than-ideal rooms, as well as the gear you need to get the job done… and the list goes on from there.” – Steve the Bass Guy and Shawn Cav
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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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Bass CDs
New Album: Jake Leckie, Planter of Seeds
Bassist Jake Leckie and The Guide Trio Unveil New Album Planter of Seeds,
to be released on June 7, 2024
Planter of Seeds is bassist/composer Jake Leckie’s third release as a bandleader and explores what beauty can come tomorrow from the seeds we plant today.
What are we putting in the ground? What are we building? What is the village we want to bring our children up in? At the core of the ensemble is The Guide Trio, his working band with guitarist Nadav Peled and drummer Beth Goodfellow, who played on Leckie’s second album, The Guide, a rootsy funky acoustic analog folk-jazz recording released on Ropeadope records in 2022. For Planter of Seeds, the ensemble is augmented by Cathlene Pineda (piano), Randal Fisher (tenor saxophone), and Darius Christian (trombone), who infuse freedom and soul into the already tightly established ensemble.
Eight original compositions were pristinely recorded live off the floor of Studio 3 at East West Studios in Hollywood CA, and mastered by A.T. Michael MacDonald. The cover art is by internationally acclaimed visual artist Wayne White. Whereas his previous work has been compared to Charles Mingus, and Keith Jarrett’s American Quartet with Charlie Haden, Leckie’s new collection sits comfortably between the funky odd time signatures of the Dave Holland Quintet and the modern folk-jazz of the Brian Blade Fellowship Band with a respectful nod towards the late 1950s classic recordings of Ahmad Jamal and Miles Davis.
The title track, “Planter of Seeds,” is dedicated to a close family friend, who was originally from Trinidad, and whenever she visited family or friends at their homes, without anyone knowing, she would plant seeds she kept in her pocket in their gardens, so the next season beautiful flowers would pop up. It was a small altruistic anonymous act of kindness that brought just a little more beauty into the world. The rhythm is a tribute to Ahmad Jamal, who we also lost around the same time, and whose theme song Poinciana is about a tree from the Caribbean.
“Big Sur Jade” was written on a trip Leckie took with his wife to Big Sur, CA, and is a celebration of his family and community. This swinging 5/4 blues opens with an unaccompanied bass solo, and gives an opportunity for each of the musicians to share their improvisational voices. “Clear Skies” is a cathartic up-tempo release of collective creative energies in fiery improvisational freedom. “The Aquatic Uncle” features Randal Fisher’s saxophone and is named after an Italo Calvino short story which contemplates if one can embrace the new ways while being in tune with tradition. In ancient times, before a rudder, the Starboard side of the ship was where it was steered from with a steering oar. In this meditative quartet performance, the bass is like the steering oar of the ensemble: it can control the direction of the music, and when things begin to unravel or become unhinged, a simple pedal note keeps everything grounded.
The two trio tunes on the album are proof that the establishment of his consistent working band The Guide Trio has been a fruitful collaboration. “Santa Teresa”, a bouncy samba-blues in ? time, embodies the winding streets and stairways of the bohemian neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro it is named for. The swampy drum feel on “String Song” pays homage to Levon Helm of The Band, a group where you can’t always tell who wrote the song or who the bandleader is, proving that the sum is greater than the individual parts. Early jazz reflected egalitarianism in collective improvisation, and this group dynamic is an expression of that kind of inclusivity and democracy.
“The Daughters of the Moon” rounds out the album, putting book ends on the naturalist themes. This composition is named after magical surrealist Italo Calvino’s short story about consumerism, in which a mythical modern society that values only buying shiny new things throws away the moon like it is a piece of garbage and the daughters of the moon save it and resurrect it. It’s an eco-feminist take on how women are going to save the world. Pineda’s piano outro is a hauntingly beautiful lunar voyage, blinding us with love. Leckie dedicates this song to his daughter: “My hope is that my daughter becomes a daughter of the moon, helping to make the world a more beautiful and verdant place to live.”
Bass CDs
Debut Album: Nate Sabat, Bass Fiddler
In a thrilling solo debut, bassist Nate Sabat combines instrumental virtuosity with a songwriter’s heart on Bass Fiddler…
The upright bass and the human voice. Two essential musical instruments, one with roots in 15th century Europe, the other as old as humanity itself.
On Bass Fiddler (Adhyâropa Records ÂR00057), the debut album from Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and bass virtuoso Nate Sabat, the scope is narrowed down a bit. Drawing from the rich and thriving tradition of American folk music, Sabat delivers expertly crafted original songs and choice covers with the upright bass as his lone tool for accompaniment.
The concept was born a decade ago when Sabat began studying with the legendary old-time fiddler Bruce Molsky at Berklee College of Music. “One of Bruce’s specialties is singing and playing fiddle at the same time. The second I heard it I was hooked,” recalls Sabat. “I thought, how can I do this on the bass?” From there, he was off to the races, arranging original and traditional material with Molsky as his guide. “Fast forward to 2020, and I — like so many other musicians — was thinking of how to best spend my time. I sat down with the goal of writing some new songs and arranging some new covers, and an entire record came out.” When the time came to make the album, it was evident that Molsky would be the ideal producer. Sabat asked him if he’d be interested, and luckily he was. “What an inspiration to work with an artist like Nate,” says Molsky. “Right at the beginning, he came to this project with a strong, personal and unique vision. Plus he had the guts to try for a complete and compelling cycle of music with nothing but a bass and a voice. You’ll hear right away that it’s engaging, sometimes serious, sometimes fun, and beautifully thought out from top to bottom.”
While this record is, at its core, a folk music album, Sabat uses the term broadly. Some tracks lean more rock (‘In the Shade’), some more pop (‘White Marble’, ‘Rabid Thoughts’), some more jazz (‘Fade Away’), but the setting ties them all together. “There’s something inherently folksy about a musician singing songs with their instrument, no matter the influences behind the compositions themselves,” Sabat notes. To be sure, there are plenty of folk songs (‘Louise’ ‘Sometimes’, ‘Eli’) and fiddling (‘Year of the Ox’) to be had here — the folk music fan won’t go hungry. There’s a healthy dose of bluegrass too (‘Orphan Annie’, ‘Lonesome Night’), clean and simple, the way Mr. Bill Monroe intended.
All in all, this album shines a light on an instrument that often goes overlooked in the folk music world, enveloping the listener in its myriad sounds, textures, and colors. “There’s nothing I love more than playing the upright bass,” exclaims Sabat. “My hope is that listeners take the time to sit with this album front to back — I want them to take in the full scope of the work. I have a feeling they’ll hear something they haven’t heard before.”
Available online at natesabat.bandcamp.com/album/walking-away
Interview With Bassist Erick “Jesus” Coomes
Working-Class Zeros: Episode #2 – Financial Elements of Working Musicians
Tour Touch Base (Bass) with Ian Allison
New Gear: Spector Woodstock Custom Collection Volume II
New Gear: The Dingwall John Taylor Signature Model
This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Working-Class Zeros: Episode #2 – Financial Elements of Working Musicians
New Gear: Esopus Guitars Launches New Acoustic/Electric Bass
Interview With Bassist Erick “Jesus” Coomes
