Bass Edu
Suffering from Sheet Music?
What do guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Django Reinhardt and Muddy Waters have in common?
How about piano players like Elton John, Erroll Garner and Jerry Lee Lewis or multi-instrumentalists like Paul McCartney and Prince? They all learned to play music by ear.
In fact, almost all the entirety of pop, rock, soul, funk, blues, hip hop, metal, grunge, country, bluegrass and folk music from around the world has been created and performed by musicians that never read sheet music or tablature and often had a comparatively limited knowledge about classical music theory.
Most conventional ear training programs and tools for musicians, however, are based on sheet music and concepts like “intervals” and “scales”. It’s a read and play format, originally designed for classical music. But music is sound and the key to playing successfully in almost all popular or folk music is to connect your ear directly to the music.
Reel Ear Web Apps, a small start-up in Valencia, Spain, has just released a new suite of ear training apps on their website reelear.com. These ear training apps help musicians develop the crucial ability to hear a melody or chord progression and then sing it or play it back, without having to learn to read or write sheet music and without the burden of abstract music theory.
According to Reel Ear Web Apps Director Mattie O’Boyle, “We set out to correct what we perceived as three main deficiencies in ear training education. The first being the tight interdependence between ear training and sight reading. This has continually proven to be a burden on most musicians interested in popular and folk styles of music. The second is the fact that almost all ear training programs offer limited ear training materials while the real needs of students often exceed the paucity of that practice material. The third, and perhaps most important, that traditional ear training curriculum is linear, forcing students through a predefined funnel, often at a predetermined pace, without taking into account whether all the material is the adequate level for each student at each moment, or that it is even relevant for the individual student’s musical aspirations and goals.”
The Reel Ear Web Apps are style independent, skill level independent and instrument independent. Therefore both music students, as well as music teachers, can the apps to each learning moment and align each practice session to the student’s particular musical interests and goals.
Currently, the reelear.com suite of ear training apps focuses on Melody, Harmony and Arpeggios. Musicians choose the musical variables they want to work on, like Pitches, Note Durations, Speed, etc., and the apps then produce random call and response musical dictations based on their choices. Students listen to each musical phrase and then they sing it back, or play it back on their instrument. Because each dictation is random, students can not anticipate what they are going to hear, which accelerates the development of active listening skills, but because the dictations are based on the student´s choice of variables, each phrase is relevant to the student’s immediate musical goals, skill level and interests.
Music teachers who incorporate the apps into their ear training programs also see benefits in terms of student retention.
At Reel Space Folk Music School, in Valencia, Spain, for example, the school increased student retention by 12% the first year they used the apps in the classroom, and then by 23% more, the next year with they expanded the use of the apps into weekly ear training homework assignments. As Maria Vazquez, the educational psychologist at Reel Ear Web Apps, explains “when a student learns, that moment is reinforced by a small release of dopamine in the brain – so learning feels good. We design our ear training apps to accelerate each student’s music learning journey, and, as they progress, they feel good moving towards their own musical competence and creative freedom.”
reelear.com is located on 29 Joaquin Benlloch Street, in Valencia, Spain and it promotes music education, courses and tools that are particularly relevant for musicians playing both folk and modern styles of music.
Bass Edu
BASS LINES: Triads & Inversions Part I
Triads & Inversions Part I…
Hello bass players and bass fans! In this issue, we are going to study the triads and their inversions.
It is very important for all bassists to understand and master the triads, but it is even more important to understand their different inversions.
In Part I, we are going to learn what the triad is in fundamental position.
The Formula consists of root, third and fifth.
Degrees of the Triad
Major Triad: 1 – 3 – 5
Minor Triad: 1 – b3 – 5
Diminished Triad: 1 – b3 – b5
Augmented Triad: 1 – 3 – #5
Fig.1 – The C, Cm, Cdim & Caug triads
(Fundamental Position)
Bass Edu
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
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.
Bass Edu
Approach Notes – Part 5
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!
Bass Edu
BASS LINES – The Blue Notes (Minor Blues Scale)
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