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Jimmy Garrison Lesson – Walking Bass Lesson

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Jimmy Garrison Lesson - Walking Bass Lesson-2

Jimmy Garrison Lesson – Walking Bass Lesson

Disclaimer: the written part for the lesson is LONG 🙂 Video does not go deep into analysis, the written part does.

The second part of my walking bass series goes back to one of my favorite upright bassists of the 1960s era – Jimmy Garrison. He is best known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet, nevertheless, he has an incredible discography which includes names like Ornette Coleman, Bill Evans, Archie Shepp, Sonny Rollins, Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane.

He is often described as being a solid center of a band laying down a rock solid foundation. Nonetheless, he could also be a driving force having a huge woody sound. He had an amazing feeling of space and time – he knew and used pauses and breaks in his lines without interrupting the flow of music itself. He was the safe yet fertile grounds for the band – he allowed them to go wherever they wanted to go, following them, yet he was there to get them back together. He always chose to be supportive, his great musicianship lies in his musical humbleness – he had masterful technique and great musical wisdom as his objective was to make the band (the other members) sound good. In the John Coltrane Quartet he was often given a solo space between songs and had extended improvisations. He is definitely a musical giant and should receive more recognition.

Bessie’s Blues is a very simple blues and I really find it amazing how many little nuances there are in such a “simple” piece. The bass line is solid yet some rhythmical choices and note approaches make it very interesting on many levels. Again, I strongly recommend to listen to the piece while you are learning this – this will make you hear a lot of interplay in these 36 bars only!

First of all, if you are new to walking bass, look at my previous lesson. Then open the PDF for this lesson, and look at all that information 🙂

At the top of the page, you can see 3 chord diagrams – these are the chords, which constitute the song. I also spell out the chords with the root, the third, the fifth and the seventh. In grey, you can see the scale notes (diatonic means notes are within scale). From the root to its octave we number the notes in the scale – we already have the first (the root), the third, the fifth and the seventh – I hope the other numbers are obvious 🙂 (These numbers become important when we analyze the walking bass line later!) The green notes form a chord voicing.

In the notation/tab part, you can see letters above the notes – that describe the notes according to the chord diagrams. (R-root, 3-third, 5-fifth, 7-seventh, D-diatonic and there is C, which means chromatic passing note). So if you all know that, we can begin to talk about the bass line 🙂

In the video, there is only a general analysis, so if you want to look deeper and discover some patterns here are some things to look at in addition to what I mention to in the video:

Let’s look at the first 12 bars:

– bar 1,3,4,5,7 use a very similar pattern played forward and backward: R-2-3-(last note)… the last note usually depends on the following bar – in the first bar, you have a 5th (a Bb) as a last note which leads perfectly to the root of the next bar – Ab. And that works especially well, since in that bar (Ab7) that Bb note is now a second.  The same way, in bar 4 that last note, that third (G) leads to the root again smoothly.?- bar 6 has no chord notes in it! Problem? Of course not – the Ab7 chord lasts for two bars and this is the second bar of Ab7 there and as the diatonic notes are within that harmony it sounds great. Similar thing happens in bar 10 – but now as the chords change rapidly notice how Jimmy employs almost the same notes in bar 9 and 10 – yet they have different harmonic roles in the bars!?- bar 2 and 11 employ the same pattern of notes – under two different chords – it just moves to different strings?- notice that bar 7, 9 begin with thirds/fifths – listen to how it sounds together with the rest of the band – it does not always have to that root :)?- chromatic notes are used sparely and only on weak beats as passing notes leading to the next chords. The harmonies are spelt out clean as this section in the song is where the band plays the melody

– the movement is balanced throughout the 12 bars – the direction almost varies bar by bar yet it feels smooth – notice how the line has ascending and descending movements as chords change

The second 12 bars get more exciting as Jimmy brings up the intensity by going up the neck.

– he brings in more chromatics this time, nevertheless, you can see that he is again strongly outlining the chords throughout these 12 bars, notice that while going up the neck, roots are mostly on beat one – he brings variation to the motion by adding upper octaves?- the very first bar is the same as bar 13

– pattern in bar 15 – an octave variation of bars 1/ 13 – here he brings in chromatic notes to bring tension – notice how he stops on that chromatic note in bar 16 – can you hear that actually when continues the line, he follows the pulse of ride?

– observe that again, movement is balanced – but now there are longer arcs – upward 13-16, downward 17-18, upward 19-20

– in bar 21 he is beginning to close the melody section – he breaks the traditional walking pulse and plays a rhythmic variation on a fifth and brings the bass line down again and bar 22 has a closing walking motive in a chromatic sandwich 🙂 which leads to the little motive I was talking in the video – finding that little space and referring to the closing of the sax melody is simply amazing to me. and by the way, just look at these 4 bars and imagine how difficult these jumps were on the upright 🙂 also bar 21-22 is also a “violation” against non-written walking bass rues – root on weak beat and even repeated 5 times? busted! but does it sound good? you bet

Last 12 bars:

– as I said in the video – back to laying down the foundation so the first soloist can start off of safe grounds – yet you can feel that the approach is more free – notice roots being on weak beats (bar 26) and thirds and fifths being dominant on strong beats.?- I feel that the movement is very subtle – it feels as if he would stay in one place

– yet, the variatons are interesting: root on weak beat again in bar 26, root played twice in bar 27 – the pattern used in this bar is also great for two bar chords(R-R-3-6 – 5-4-2-C)

– bar 29-30 – seventh is on weak beat and a chromatic is on a strong beat – when the chord lasts for two bars you have greater freedom to explore notes. Also if you listen to the piano solo, the previous bar is also bringing up tension and I feel Jimmy is just following him by going to the same territory while maintaining the pulse this time

– bar 31 employs the same pattern that was mentioned regarding the first 12 bars – it is a backward version of it

– bar 32 is a variaton of bar 2 and 11!

– bar 33-34: chromatic ascending and descending pattern compare with bar 9-10!?- bar 35-36 – a motive employing third (on an open string) and fifth – notice how Jimmy avoids the obvious as the soloist begins to heat up

– root is completely avoided

…and the solo and the bass line goes on 🙂

When you learned the line, it is also important that you get a sense of shapes on the bass too – this fingering is trying to view the bassline from an upright viewpoint – sit down with your bass and try to come up with different fingerings in different positions – bring the root to another string and find the same notes in that fingering. Look at the upper and lower octaves of the thirds, fifths and sevenths – it is important to know the “shapes” in both “directions”.

Well, that’s it for today – hopefully I haven’t made your brains explode with all that walking bass stuff and could show you a few tips and angles on it 🙂 Happy practicing – enjoy this bass line and try to see the poetry of it 🙂 As a homework assignment, try to transcribe the rest of it and identify the roles of the notes within a bar!

The video does not intend to violate any laws or copyright, it is to be used for educational purposes (fair use). The original song can be purchased at Amazon and iTunes!

Support the legacy of Jimmy Garrison by buying his records and be sure to check out his son, Matthew Garrison as well – he is a monster too!

For members, here is the GuitarPro5 file and the PDF!

Cheers,

Rajoe

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Bass Edu

Premiere! Bass Playthrough With Foetal Juice’s Bassist Lewis Bridges – From the Album, Grotesque

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Premiere! Bass Playthrough With Foetal Juice's Bassist Lewis Bridges - From the Album, Grotesque

Premiere! Bass Playthrough With Foetal Juice’s Bassist Lewis Bridges – From the Album, Grotesque

Bassist Lewis Bridges Shares…

“Gruesome’s sparse intro marks a stark contrast from the intensity of the rest of the album.  The original intention was to keep the bass simple but colourful, however as I worked on it, the lines grew more expressive and the more striking flourishes began to emerge.  The intensity builds into a harmonic minor passage that takes us into the drop — a signature death grind cacophony.  This is where Foetal Juice thrives.  You’re getting a full-on right-hand barrage to in the face to take you into a groove-laden mulch-fest.

I owe my throbbing bass tone to the Darkglass Alpha Omega pedal borrowed from our sound engineer, Chris Fielding (ex-Conan), mixed with the clarity of the tried and true Ampeg SVT CL.

As mentioned earlier, colourful basslines are important, especially in a one-guitar band. Chucking some funny intervals and odd flourishes here and there brings life into the brutality. There’s no point sounding brutal if it’s not gonna be fucking evil too!

Recording this playthrough was hard work. This was not the fault of James Goodwin (Necronautical), who was kindly filming and is ace to work with, but because in true Foetal fashion, we had stinking hangovers — and that jam room was hot!”

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Bass Edu

Bass Lines: The Circle

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jaime Vazquez

Bass Lines: The Circle…

Hello bass players and fans of bass! This month we’re going to study “The Circle.”

The Circle of Fourths can also be called “The Circle of Fifths or just The Circle.

Practicing the scales, chords, and ideas in general via the circle has been a common practice routine for jazz musicians and highly recommended.

It is a disciplined way of working through all twelve keys.

Plus, many bass root movements to jazz and pop songs move through sections of the circle.

Fig. 1 – “The Circle”

See you next month for more full bass attack!

#bassmusicianmag, #basslines, #bmmbasslines, #groovemaniac, #thecircle, #thecircleoffourths, #thecircleoffifths,#scales & #chords.

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Bass Edu

Approach Notes – Part 5

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James Rosocha

Continuing our lesson of Approach Notes, Part 5…

In continuing with the concept of approach notes being applied to chord tones, this lesson approaches the root, third, fifth, and seventh degree of each arpeggio inversion by incorporating a double chromatic approach from above, and a single chromatic approach from below. 

The first examples approach the root of a G major 7th arpeggio as a double chromatic from above and a single chromatic approach from below -before continuing to the third, fifth, seventh, double chromatic from above/ single from below to the root, continue to the third, fifth, and come back down.

The next example approaches the first inversion of G major 7th arpeggio.

A double chromatic from above/ single from below approaches the third, continue to the fifth, seventh, root, double chromatic from above/ single below to the third, continue up to the fifth and seventh, and back down.

The third example approaches a second inversion of a G major arpeggio.

A double chromatic from above/ single from below approaches the fifth, continue to the 7th, root, 3rd, double chromatic from above/ single from below to the 5th, continue to the 7th, root, and back down. 

This final example approaches a third inversion of a G major 7th arpeggio.

A double chromatic from above and below approaches the 7th, continue to the root, 3rd, 5th, double chromatic from above and below to the 7th, continue to the root, 3rd, and back down.

Be sure to pace yourself with these lessons to avoid burning out.

Being overly ambitious with your practice schedule can lead to unrealistic expectations. Try learning one approach note concept and one chord type a week. Change your practice routine as necessary and tailor it to your needs as a musician. Good luck!

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Bass Edu

BASS LINES – The Blue Notes (Minor Blues Scale)

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jaime Vazquez

Hello bass players and bass fans! Happy New Year 2024!

In this issue, we are going to study the blue notes.

In blues, jazz, and rock, a blue note is a note that (for expressive purposes) is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical context.

The blue notes are usually said to be the lowered third(b3), lowered fifth(b5) and lowered seventh(b7) scale degrees. The lowered fifth(b5) is also known as the raised fourth(#4). Though the blues scale has “an inherent minor tonality, it is commonly ‘forced’ over major-key chord changes, resulting in a distinctively dissonant conflict of tonalities”.

Blue notes are used in many blues songs, in jazz, rock and in conventional popular songs with a “blue” feeling.

Formula:

The A Minor Blues Scale

1 – b3 – 4 – (#4/b5) – 5 – b7

A – C – D – (D#/Eb) – E – Bb

The grades(blue notes):

b3, (#4/b5), b7

C, (D#/Eb), Bb

See you next month for more full bass attack!

#bassmusicianmag, #basslines, #bmmbasslines, #groovemaniac, #thebluenotes, #minorbluesscale & #bluesscale

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Bass Edu

BASS LINES: Staccato for Bass

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jaime David

Staccato for Bass…

Hello bass players and bass fans! In this issue, we are going to study the technique known as staccato.

When we talk about the staccato technique, we are referring to a form of musical articulation.

In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence.

* In 20th-century music, a dot placed above or below a note indicates that it should be played staccato.

* The opposite musical articulation of staccato is legato, signifying long and continuous notes.

Fig. 1 – An example of a normal notation.

Fig. 2 – Is the same example but now with the staccato articulation

Fig. 3 – A basic groove played and written in a normal notation.

Fig. 4 – The same basic groove using the staccato technique.

So, at the end of the day, you as a bassist will decide what type of technique you will use depending on the effect you want in your performance.

See you next year for more full bass attack!!! Happy Holidays & New Year 2024!!! Groove On!!!

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