A Practice Routine That Seems to Work

In the past month I have finally hit on a practice routine that works for me.  (I play bass and my chosen genre is jazz and jazz standards.)

I study each song in our set list by reference to the chords on the sheet music.  I go through the chords, experimenting on the best way to play major 7ths, minor 7ths, dominant 7ths, and minor 7ths flat 5s.  At band practice on Sunday I figured out how to play a 6 chord, like C6.  It has a unique and pleasant sound.

Each chord in a song doesn't stand alone and can't be taken separately -- the chord that follows is also very important.  You want to move from one chord to the next in a smooth, melodic transition -- this is called the bass line.  A walking bass line is a smooth transition from one chord (or arpeggio) to the next.

Before this approach can be effective, you need to know a bit of music theory.  You need to know scale tones, chord tones and intervals.  You need to know your finger board thoroughly. But how do you get this knowledge?

Most bass courses emphasize practicing scales and arpeggios, and this practice is important; but a little of it goes a long way.  Too much of it is boring and may even be discouraging.  I find that learning the elements of music is best achieved when the elements are being applied in a practical way:  you want to play a certain jazz standard.  So you play that standard over and over, trying different ways to play the arpeggios, different places on the neck where you can access the notes in the chord.  In the process of learning the song, you are also learning your instrument and training your ear.

How do you become a jazz musician?  One professional jazz man said you do it by learning tunes.

Cats Swing Band, Full Recital, 11/13/2015

We had a recital for our jazz/swing band last night.  You can listen to the entire recital at the link below.

My bass playing, IMHO, has improved greatly since I joined this band.  I have turned a corner.  I am not where I want to be just yet, but I am happy with my progress.

If you want to be a successful bass player:

• Learn music theory
• Learn bass techniques
• Learn SONGS.  The more songs you learn, the easier it is to learn new ones.  

Here's the link:

http://yourlisten.com/Stogiebass/catsrecital11132015

Big Band Practice: My Progress on Double Bass Continues

Last night we held the first band practice with our new band leader, a young college student named Faris.  Faris is a senior at San Jose State University, majoring in jazz.  He plays piano and trombone.  But not at the same time, har har.

Faris proved to be an excellent band leader, and we the members got a lot of good out of this first session.  Unlike the former band leader, whom we much loved, Faris pays attention to the rhythm section.  He asked me to turn up my volume!  Omigod, I like this guy.  Then he asked me to play a few lines of the sheet music, and I did (thank goodness I have been learning sight reading of notes).  That went well.

Faris told me to be bold, to hit those notes with vigor, not timidly, as the band, and especially the soloists, need a strong rhythm section to keep them on course during solos.  He also implied that we need not follow the notes perfectly literally, that it is okay to throw in some flourishes that are not in the sheet music.  Jazz is about improvisation, after all.

In other words, "once again, with feeling."

I was into it last night.  My sight reading is the best it has ever been, though it is not as good as I want it to be, yet.  I will renew my practice with increased vigor.

The new practice site is in the band room of a junior high school, and it is crowded with chairs and equipment.  I didn't have time to bring in my stool, so I stood for the whole hour and a half of practice.  To my surprise, I didn't tire, my legs didn't hurt, and my arthritic right shoulder didn't ache. Also, I didn't get lost!  I must be getting in shape, but I think the intense focus also was a factor.  By god, I am going to be a double bass player!

Zen and the Art of Playing Bass; and Introducing "The Abe Train" Jazz Quartet

My Big Band music class starts up again tomorrow.  This morning I began practicing the songs (on my string bass) that I learned in the last session.  I noticed how much easier it is to read notes this time around.  What once was torture is now an achievable task.  You do something many times over and it becomes easier to do.  Funny how that works.  I am not "there" yet, but I am further down the road.

Before I started this class, my two string basses sat in their stands, untouched, gathering dust.  No more.  Now they both get handled a lot, played, tuned, adjusted and repaired.   I am forever tweaking the setup of each one, always seeking the best playability (the "action") and sound possible.  I even ordered a well known book to teach me better how to do that:  Chuck Traeger's book, Setup And Repair of the Double Bass for Optimum Sound: A Manual for Players, Makers, And Repairers.

Mastering an instrument is similar to learning a new language.  It requires immersion, study, practice, contemplation and great patience.  Zen might help too, except that it is difficult to play bass while holding the full lotus position.  

Stick with it long enough and you may come up with something like "The Abe Train" (see video below).  The Abe Train is a jazz quartet of young musicians in their twenties.  They are from the San Francisco Bay Area and damn good.  The bass player really grooves.  Use headphones so you can hear every note of their rendition of "Autumn Leaves."

Big Band Practice! I Have to Read Notes! Arrrgh!

Tonight I start an adult education class called "Beginning Big Band."  We will study the music for various standards and play the songs as a band.

The course requires you to be able to read music.  I do -- sort of.  I have studied the bass clef in the past, but never had any opportunity to apply what I learned, so have forgotten it.

So now I am on a crash course to relearn bass clef.  Hope I don't make a fool of myself tonight.

My String Bass Practice Routine: It's Working!

My Calin Wultur Panormo
Carved String Bass

I have been playing my upright bass for the past 3 or 4 days, using Vince Guaraldi's Christmas album as the music to accompany.  My idea was to bring myself up to speed, physically, on the string bass so I can look for bands and gigs.

The practice routine is working.  Each day I seem stronger and can play longer before tiring out.  In fact, my progress is faster than I expected.  The first couple of days provided a blister on my right index finger -- the one used for plucking.  It's no longer sore and is becoming a callous.

Some aspects of playing an upright or string bass should be considered carefully before switching from bass guitar.  The upright bass is much more physically demanding.  You may be able to remove some of the stress by using medium or light gauge strings instead of heavy gauge.  I changed mine, and the results were quite beneficial.  Lighter gauge strings don't have as much volume, but if you are amplifying your bass with a pickup or microphone, that doesn't really matter.

Another physically demanding aspect of the upright is the neck.  Yes, it is much thicker and also much longer.  However, the length does not give you more notes.  The upright bass neck actually offers you less notes, not more.  The neck is long, but so are the half steps (what would be frets on a bass guitar) down the bass.  An upright player must use the open strings more often than is necessary on a bass guitar.

I was surprised this week to find how easily I can press the strings to play arpeggios and bass lines.  Yes, the neck is thick, but not so thick that an experienced bass guitarist can't handle it.

In short, my conquest of the string bass is easier than I expected, though it does require effort.  My next goal is to buy the best pickup for the bass that I can afford.  That will cost me around $195   Ouch.

Zen and the Art of Playing Bass

Finally, finally, finally, I am making a serious effort to raise myself from the ranks of amateur bass players to professional bass players.

I have a long way to go.  But I have learned, thanks to a bass teacher named Dale Titus, that it can be done with patience and repetition.

Oh, the learning regimen is fairly traditional:  learn scales, learn modes, learn arpeggios.  Absorb scale theory and how it relates to chords and keys.  Learn every inch of the neck.

However, a lot of successful bass playing (or playing any instrument) is great execution.  Getting your fingers on the right fret at the right time, without string rattle or buzz, plucking those strings accurately and quickly -- those skills are hard to attain.  You attain them by playing exercises (Titus calls them "chop builders") slowly at first, concentrating on a good sound.  You then slowly increase the speed of playing those chops until you can do it quickly as well as accurately.

So much of learning an instrument is developing the muscle memory to play it well and right.  Break it into its various parts and learn each part well, taking as much time as you need to do it.  Keep at it on a daily basis.  If you learn one small thing each day, your knowledge and skill will accumulate faster than you think.

I think this principle works for mastering just about any skill or body of knowledge.   It's like the old but useful analogy of the snowball rolling downhill.

A Road Map to Learning Bass

I have been struggling with the question for years.  What things do you need to learn to become a competent bass player?  I think I have a pretty good idea now.  First off, it's great if you have a good series of instructional videos that demonstrate the concepts herein.  I use the Bass Lessons and Tips of Dale Titus, the best series of instructions I have found yet (and they're free).  Dale has numerous videos on both music theory and bass technique, and they follow a logical sequence so that each builds on the one before. Each video is only a few minutes long and easy to watch. See a list of his videos here.  I will refer to them in this post.

Here are the steps.

1.  Learn the four strings, from top to bottom:  E, A, D, G.  Learn to tune your bass to these notes.  I suggest using an inexpensive digital tuner, which you can buy in any music store.  If you try to do it with an untrained ear, you are liable to break a string.  Your bass must be in tune before you try to learn anything.

2.  Learn how to name the notes on each string, moving from an open string to the first fret, second fret and so on.  See the simple chart on the bottom of this page.   Know what a half step is and what a whole step is.  Play each string from open to the 12th fret, naming the notes as you go.  If it helps, sit down and draw the neck and the frets on a piece of paper and then name each note on each string.

3.  Learn to play the major scales.  I suggest learning them in "Circle of 4ths Order," even if you don't have a clue as to what the Circle of 4ths is. (I'll explain later.)  Consult the chart linked above.  Learn to play each scale by memory; listen to the sounds of the notes, and say the notes out loud as you play them.  (Watch Dale's videos here, here and here.) This will train your ear and also make you learn the bass neck.  All bass runs, riffs and chords are made up of elements of the scales; learning the scales is like learning the alphabet.  You can't write novels without learning the alphabet.  You can't be a competent musician without learning the scales.  Note:  If you're a beginner, don't worry about playing the scales in a fancy way -- just play them up and back down again.  Once you learn the simple basics, you can expand from there, e.g. by playing the scales in thirds as Dale demonstrates in the videos.

Start with the C scale.  Play it carefully, making each note clear, without string rattle.  If you're new to bass, your fingertips may hurt a bit.  Don't worry, they will soon toughen up -- it's part of the process.  Play the scale forward and then backward, i.e. C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C, C-B-A-G-F-E-D-C.  It will sound like "do mi re fa sol la ti do, do ti la sol fa mi re do."  (Remember when we learned that in third grade?)

After a week or so, you should be able to play all of the scales.  Most of them are quite repetitive, you simply shift your start position to a different fret and play the same motions.

4.  Learn to play the major triads, or chords.  When playing bass with a band, you are actually playing chords, or parts of the scale.  You don't play the entire scale, generally you just play three notes when playing major chords (from the major scale):  you play the 1st (or root) note, the 3rd note, and the 5th note.  Look at the chart of major scales.  What are the notes in C major chord?  They are C, E and G (1, 3 & 5).  What are the chords in, say Bb (B Flat) major chord?  Consult the chart.  They are Bb, Db and F (B flat, D flat and F).  See this video on how to play major triads.  It is quite instructive.

5.  Learn to play the natural minor scales.  The minor scales are much like the major scales, except that the 3rd note and the 7th note are flatted.  That means they are played one fret back from where they are played on the major scale.  The sound of the scale is different so listen carefully and memorize the sound.

6.  Learn to play the minor triads, or minor chords.  A simple rule to remember is that a minor chord is just a major chord with a flatted third.  So if C, E & G are C major chord, C minor chord would be C, Eb and G.  (The "b" stands for flat).  Remember, to flat a note you just move back one fret.  If E is played on fret 7 of the A string (2nd string from the top), then Eb is played on fret 6.  See this video on how to play minor triads.

7.  Learn to play the Major Pentatonic Scale and the Minor Pentatonic Scale.  These are short and easy to learn, but they further train the ear and provide the basis for some bass lines you will use later.  Practicing them also helps develop your fingering skill.

8.  Learn the Modes.  Modes are the major scales played in a different sequence.  The different sequences produce very different sounds and further train the ear, increase knowledge of your neck, and provide the grist for bass grooves and bass lines you will learn later on (generally, ones you create yourself).

Dale Titus covers all of the modes.  Consult his link for a listing of all his videos.  I will provide charts for each mode, to give you a visual reference and perhaps make it easier for you to learn them.

The modes are these:

• Ionian Mode -- Just the major scale, no difference.
• Dorian Mode -- The major scale, but you start on the 2 and play up to the octave and back again.  For example, C major scale is C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C, and the Dorian mode of that scale is D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D. 
• Phrygian Mode -- Major scale, but start with the 3rd, e.g. for C scale this would be E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E and back down again.
• Lydian Mode -- Major scale, start and end with the 4th (F, for C Scale).
• Myxolidian Mode -- Major scale but start and end with the 5th note in the scale, which is G for C scale.
• Aeolian Mode -- Start with the 6th note in the scale, which is A for C scale.
• Locrian Mode -- Start with the 7th note in the scale, which is B for C scale

9.  Learn higher triads or chords, as follows:

• Diminished Triads
• Augmented Triads
• Major 7 Arpeggios (arpeggios are just chords, played one note at a time)
• Minor 7 Arpeggios
• Dominant 7 Arpeggios
• Minor 7 (Bb) Arpeggios
• Tritone Substitutions  (different chords sometimes have the same notes as other chords, played in different sequences.  Tritones allow you to substitute one chord for the other to create dissonant bass sounds -- great for jazz and improvization).

10.  Learning to Apply All of the Above!  The whole idea is to be able to play bass well, and these elements of knowledge will help get you there.

11.  Other Things to Learn:  Fingering and plucking techniques, slapping, harmonics, playing technique.  See Dale Titus's site for a whole list of these.

Don't get discouraged or be impatient.  If everyone could be a great bass player, it wouldn't be any fun.  Add to your knowledge and skill a bit at a time.  Imagine where you will be a month, three months, or a year from now!  Don't worry about learning the higher skills until you have mastered the basic ones.  (If Step 9 scares you, ignore it until you are ready.)

For questions, you can leave a comment or email me at stogiechomper "at" gmail.com.

UPDATE:  Dale Titus has left Dana B Goods where his great lessons are linked.  He is now teaching private bass lessons from his home in Folsom, California.  His website is here.  You can contact him through his website.

Some Thoughts on Playing String Bass

My Fully Carved String Bass,
a Calin Wultur Panormo

I have been practicing and gigging with the band herein for a year and a half.  During that time I have used my electric bass guitar exclusively.  I own two string basses, one a laminate and the other a fine carved bass.  My two string basses were only gathering dust in my music room at home.  Oh, I would practice on them from time to time, but the strings hurt my fingers too much and there seemed to be little opportunity to actually play them with the band.  For one thing, string basses are large and not easy to transport.

Here's how I started to actually use and play my string basses.

1.  I changed the strings from heavy gauge to medium gauge, making the basses easier to play and more comfortable on my sore fingers.

2.  I took the laminate bass to our practice room and left it there (on a bass stand).  Now it will be there for each and every practice, making it unnecessary to transport it every time.

3.  I started actually playing the string bass with the band, and this is an important point.  If you want to learn to play string bass, then play the darn thing.  It won't play itself, and once you begin, you start becoming familiar with the instrument and learning the best techniques for playing it.  (You won't bother learning the best techniques until you have a pressing need to do so, i.e. because you are actually playing the bass with a band.)

So I began playing string bass with "Stray Cat Strut," an easy song for bass and a nice starting point for my career as a string bassist.  Once you have begun, you can move forward.  I'm excited by the possibilities.

Note:  You really must amplify your bass in order to be heard.  I use a $90 simple bass microphone that plugs into my bass amp with a regular guitar cord.  You can order these from Gollihur Bass at this link.

Learning Bass

I played electric bass when I was in high school and for a time after graduation.  I put myself on a long hiatus to finish college, build a career and raise a family.  Then about three years ago, when I was making good money, I ordered a Fender Mustang bass guitar and a Fender bass amplifier.  I converted my upstairs home office to a music room and began practicing scales and studying music theory.

Playing scales every day, in every key, both major and minor, really worked.  I soon knew my bass neck better I ever had, and could hear chord changes much better too.  If you really want to play bass, practice scales until your fingers fall off.  Yes, it's boring in a way, but so is weight lifting.  If you want big muscles, two things are required:  (1) effort and (2) patience.  It works the same with learning bass.  Playing scales is a form of exercise:  you are exercising your ears, your fingers and your brain.

Last January (in 2009) I contacted a band advertising for a bass player on Craig's List, and tried out.  They liked me, I liked them.  We began a steady regimen of weekly practice together, gigging occasionally for mostly unpaid charity events.  Meanwhile, my knowledge of bass and bass lines grew exponentially, my ear continued to develop and my confidence grew.

So now I am a bass player.  Now what?