Natalie: Hello Gigajamer's, welcome to Gigajam. This is lesson nine of our essential bass skills course part one. My name's Natalie Barrass, and our tutor, as always, Terry Gregory. Terry how are you?
Terry: I'm fine, how are you?
N: Oh very well
T: Good
N: Never a dull day with you
T: (Laughs)
N: (Laughs) So, lesson nine
T: Yeah, it's…
N: We're near…
T: …exciting
N: …the end, yeah
T: Yeah, I mean, we've gotta kinda put, try and tie it all together today because next time out, lesson ten will be all about a performance
N: Yeah
T: So lots, lot of objectives today
N: Alright, how many?
T: A handful, five I think
N: Oooh, tell me what they are
T: Yeah, you ready?
N: Yes
T: Okay, hold on tight. Developing root and fifth, so it's about moving root and fifth around. As a consequence of that we've got some new notes to learn
N: Excellent
T: And the notes of B
N: Mmmhmm
T: And the notes of F
N: Fantastic, then have we got a full set?
T: We'll have the full set, yeah well done, you've been paying attention. So that will then mean we'll have knowledge of all the natural notes
N: Mmmhmm
T: So that's good. And that will aid and improve and advance, you know, develop our knowledge of the fingerboard, our visualisation techniques we've been talking about that a lot, using the shapes, these patterns and pictures we keep moving around
N: Excellent
T: The final one is just an, just another little rhythm to add in there but it's a really easy one, it's called a half note
N: A half…
T: But they're…
N: …note
T: They're our five objectives
N: I like it, let's begin
T: Yeah well we'll begin with a review if you like really. Last time out we were doing root and fifth and over the first eight lessons we've developed quite a lot of knowledge of note names. If you think about it the notes we know already are A
N: G
T: G
N: C, D
T: And E. So if we put those in sort of alphabet order, we often do that you know, we start at A and we go through. Wherever we start, later on when we start, start studying scales and stuff in the second part of the essential bass skills course, we always have this convention where we learn things in their alphabetical order. So whatever you start on you try and go through things in alphabetical order and keep that in the right way, right way's up. So if we start with A
N: Yes
T: The next one in alphabet order would be C, D, E and G. If you think about the alphabet, it doesn't go from A to C
N: No
T: There's something in between it
N: There's a B
T: So we need to plug that gap right now and find B, which of course lives between A and C. And we know where A is, we find A on the fifth fret of the E string
N: Mmmhmm
T: We also find A on the open string
N: Ahh yes
T: And we find C on the third fret of the A string. So we know that between the open string and the third fret, there's gonna be the B. That's where the B lives
N: Ahhh
T: Second fret, so it's all pretty logical really
N: Just one along. So let's run through that again
T: Okay. The third string
N: Yeah
T: The second thickest string, is the A string
N: Yeah
T: We play that as an open string
N: Mmmhmm
T: If we play the third fret, that's C
N: Yeah
T: So it doesn't take a genius, even I can work it out
N: (Laughs)
T: That between A and C the B has to live somewhere. That's where the B lives
N: Okay
T: It lives on the second fret. So that's it
N: That's B…
T: That's B
N: …that's in my…
T: Learned a new
N: …brain now
T: …note. Just like…
N: Fantastic
T: …that. So what we need to do now is, there's the knowledge, we kind of understand it. Let's put it into practise, let's find an exercise…
N: Mmmhmm
T: ..which helps us to practise it so we get familiar with playing it. I imagine the exercise is gonna be A going to B going to C. So it would be, if I turn my bass up, it's gonna be A, B, C
N: Okay so the A's the open and then second fret, B…
T: I'm just…
N: …third fret…
T: …using my first…
N: …C
T: …two fingers
N: Yeah
T: So it's good that in previous lessons we worked on actually making sure we had some kind of technical facility with all our fingers. If you did that, and you concentrated on it and you went back over it every time it should be there for you. If it's not, don't worry about it, go and do it now, and then come back and do this exercise
N: Okay so, just to double check, open A
T: Open A
N: Which is the third string
T: Very good
N: Fretting the B on the second fret
T: That's right Natalie
N: That's that, and…
T: And then the C…
N: …the C at the third
T: …which we knew already. So that is the new note today
N: It's all quite logical isn't it?
T: Yeah, yeah
N: Which is a good thing for me
T: Me too, yeah it's pretty sensible. There's a lot of information so I'm sure the guys are making notes and going through things, and stopping it and reviewing it. And that's the way I'd do it too
N: Absolutely
T: At the moment, as we've talked about before, I haven't switched any, we haven't switched any of the software on
N: No
T: It's there for us to look at and check, and the guys at home can do that too. Initially when I learn an exercise I don't worry about any tempo, I just need to figure out my moves. I just need to find out where the notes are, what fingers I'm using
N: Yeah
T: Check it, get the sound and the feel of it. Then when I feel ready I'm gonna switch the software on and play
N: Okay, talk us through it one more time, and then we'll play it with the band
T: Open A string
N: Open A
T: Third string
N: Yeah
T: New note B on the second fret
N: Still on that same string
T: On the same string, yeah good point, we're just sticking to the same string
N: Yeah
T: And then, just…
N: With our…
T: …a little ex…
N: …second finger
T: On the C, on the third fret. So we're just playing A N A
T: B
N: B
T: C
N: C. A, B, C
T: There you go, you got it already
N: I'm gonna turn up my bass!
T: Okay…
N: So we can hear
T: …do it!
N: Got A, B, C
T: There we are, great
N: Thank you
T: The exercise, exercise one…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …which is the first one we've done today. It looks very similar to most of the exercises we've done. It's just slightly different
N: Yeah
T: There are three notes in the bar. The first one is the A of course, so…
N: And that's where it is on the stave, so we've got our positioning there
T: That's right in the, in the bottom space, in the first space there's the A. The B next to it, that's our new note and that lives on the second line up
N: Yeah, sort if being speared through the middle by that line, isn't it?
T: Yeah, and they're both quarter notes…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …they both last one beat each
N: Alright so the C one, I can see the positioning there, it's in that second space up
T: Very good so that's where it lives in terms of its pitch
N: But it hasn't been coloured in
T: Hasn't been coloured in, yeah, good. So again this is another kind of music notation technique. This is the stuff that's been passed down to us by musicians through the ages. If you think about it, again we were talking about logic and common sense
N: Yeah
T: We've got a quarter note on A
N: Mmmhmm
T: That's one, if we keep count, we've got a quarter note on B, that's two
N: Yeah
T: How many beats left?
N: Three, four. Two
T: Two beats left in the bar. So it looks like, since there's no other events, there's no other activity, no other notes to play
N: Mmmhmm
T: That note there, that C note, is gonna last for those last two beats
N: Ahhh
T: That means it's a two beat note. We call it a half note because of course two beats is half the bar
N: Half of the bar
T: So that uncoloured-in note there
N: Yeah
T: Is a half note
N: Okay so how would that sound?
T: That would sound
N: A, being the quarter note
T: Yeah that would be one, two T&
N: Three, four
T: And I have to make sure that note lasts for two beats…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …so if I just play that note on it's own it would go one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four, that's me playing C
N: Yes
T: As a quarter note. No it's not! It's me playing C…
N: (Laughs)
T: …as a half note. It's two half notes
N: Yeah
T: So we try it again. It's a half note C and it goes one, two, three, four. And we must let the note ring so that it has its full rhythmic value, its full length. We don't do it like this, one, two, one, two, because there are spaces…
N: Yeah
T: …and there would be a different way to represent that in music notation
N: No gaps, this is a fluid continuous sound
T: Yeah, so this exercise with that fluid continuous sound of A…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …B and C goes A, B, C. A, B, C, you're diving for the Xtractor?
N: I am
T: I'm ready
N: Okay (Xtractor starts playing)
N: Four T&
N: A, B, C, one, two, three, four
T: A..
N: One…
T: …B…
N: …two…
T: …C
N: …three, four
T: One T&
N: Two
T: Three, four
N: A
T: Open…
N: B
T: …second fret…
N: C
T: third fret. Open, second fret, third fret
N: That's good, yeah T&
N: Open, second
T: Fret T&
N: Third
T: Fret. And the fingering is….
N: One..
T: Open..
N: …two…
T: …one
N: …three, four. One, two, three, four
T: A, B, C. Quarter note, quarter note, haaalf note, quarter note, quarter note, haaalf note, quarter note, quarter note
N: Fantastic explanation…
T: You…
N: …Terry
T: …okay?
N: Yeah, brilliant
T: Good. So we've… (Xtractor stops playing)
T: …learned quite a lot there. We've learned a new note, B, which we find on the second fret of the A string, and we've learned about half notes
N: Excellent, so, we've got the B there
T: Yeah
N: Let's get the next note!
T: Let's get the next new note. The next new note to learn on our, on our journey, is F. And when we've done this, we'll know all the natural notes on the bass, which will then take us from A, through B which we just learned, C we already knew, D, E, F, G
N: Mmmhmm
T: And after G we'd come back to A an octave higher, and that's the complete…
N: We're there
T: …series, yeah
N: So do we need to find the notes around the F to find logically where it would be?
T: Yeah I think that's a good way to do it. I mean it's like anything else, when you're trying to find your way around and get your bearings you don't know everywhere but you recognise something and you work other things out from that. Sort of in a relative manner, does that make sense?
N: It does
T: So we do the same, you know, we do the same a lot. We know that we've got these open strings
N: Yeah
T: So if we think about the names of the open strings, one of them is gonna be quite close
N: Mmmhmm
T: To playing an F. We know that that open string there, the second open string, is a D
N: Yeah
T: If you think about the alphabet, it's not gonna be far away from, from F
N: Absolutely
T: If you think about the alphabet D, what comes after D?
N: E
T: E, F. So we're not gonna be far, and we'll be there. If fact the F lives at, as you can see on the notes for the Gigajam…
N: Yeah
T: …lesson. Example, or figure two, is that. It's the third fret
N: Of the…
T: Of the
N: …second string
T: That's right Natalie, of the second string of the D string
N: So that's…
T: There's the F
N: So this is the second string…
T: That's right
N: …counting one…
T: …the second…
N: …two…
T: … thickest…
N: …three…
T: …one
N: …four. Second, at the third?
T: Yeah, and there it is
N: So that's…
T: And that's…
N: …you can see…
T: …an F
N: …it on mine, I'm the right-handed version
T: You're the right way up
N: You're the left-handed version. Let's try this exercise
T: There's the F, yeah, so we're gonna play E, F and G. We know E from there
N: Yeah
T: When we played root and fifth earlier. E on the seventh fret of the A string
N: Mmmhmm
T: So this exercise would probably go. That's a bit awkward for me, not quite…
N: Yeah
T: …comfortable. So I'm gonna take that E, instead of playing it there, I'm gonna play it there
N: Ahh okay
T: It's right next-door to the F
N: Yeah
T: This is the new note we're learning, F on the third fret
N: Yeah
T: This exercise is gonna go E, F, G T&
N: E, F
T: G. Same rhythm, quarter note, quarter note, half note. E, F, G
N: Okay Terry, what we'll do, we'll have a break and then af….
N: Hello, welcome back to part two of episode nine, I'm still Natalie he's still Terry. Terry
T: Mmmhmm
N: We're still on this exercise, exercise two. We didn't have time to sort of play it out before the break so let's recap it
T: We learned a new note didn't we? We learned F
N: Yeah
T: And we found that the F was conveniently located on the third fret of the D string. So that was great
N: Mmmhmm
T: And we know that this exercise involves the notes of E, F and G
N: Yes
T: So where's my E? Well the E we knew was a low E, well that's not much use if I'm gonna play down there and then have to run all the way up there. So that's out of the game. I seem to remember when we were doing root and fifth earlier
N: Yeah
T: In an earlier lesson, we found an E there. So that's the seventh fret of the A string, the third string…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …there was an E there, so I thought "oh yeah I've seen an E before". We were talking earlier about, you know, logic and common sense, and we need to remember all that and think where have I seen this before, you know?
N: Mmmhmm
T: There's an E, I'm sure I saw an E around here somewhere. Okay, okay, I'll pick that E up. So I could play the E there, and then the F there
N: Okay. That looks a bit tricky
T: Yeah it's good and bad. I've found the E so I'm quite pleased, but actually I've created more problems for myself because physically that's really difficult. Interesting thing about, we talked about the symmetry of the bass guitar in an earlier lesson and the layout of the fingerboard. You mentioned something which I think was really helpful here, about a keyboard. When you look at a keyboard you've got white and black
N: Mmmhmm
T: Now a keyboard can be as long as a room, you know if you go to a concert hall they're massive things, if you've got one at home they're much smaller. But essentially a keyboard is the same, the same one octave cloned
N: Yeah
T: A whole bunch of times. And it's very easy to see that, we're all comfortable with that, we can see the black notes and we can see where that system starts again. It's much more difficult to see on here, but it does do that. So what I'm trying to say is, there are lots of E's
N: Right
T: And whenever you find an E, if it's not in a convenient location, look for another one
N: Mmmhmm
T: There's gonna be another one close by which will help you
N: Of the same pitch, or?
T: Yeah, of the same pitch quite often, so let's do that
N: Alright
T: Let's do it now. Here's the E that I remember from an earlier exercise. So I'm gonna leave that there, now that's E
N: Yeah
T: And I know I'm playing F in this new exercise…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …on the third fret of the D string. So that's just a little too big a stretch…
N: Yeah
T: …even for me with fairly experienced hands. So I'm gonna relocate that E. Instead of playing that E there I'm gonna put it somewhere else. I'm playing the F on the D string
N: Mmmhmm
T: There's gotta be a D, sorry, there's gotta be an E close to the D
N: (Laughs)
T: So if you think the logic through you think "okay well that's F…
N: Yeah
T: …and that's D", somewhere between there's gotta be the E. Remember what we did for the, on the last string
N: Yeah, we found that
T: Okay, so just common sense. There's my F, third fret of the D string, you've got it too, thank you. If I let go of that and play the open string, the D
N: Mmmhmm
T: The E has gotta be in between. There's another E
N: One down again
T: Yeah
N: Like we did with the, okay. So that's second fret, second string
T: If there's any doubt, or you wanna check or double check it, just do exactly that. Play that E, and then go, which is the second fret of the D string
N: Mmm
T: And then go back and compare it to my old favourite E, and see whether it's the same pitch
N: Good piece of advice, yeah
T: It's exactly the same pitch, so I know I can trust my ears
N: Mmmhmm
T: We usually know and we think "mmm I'm not quite sure that's right". So just check it, we've used our common sense, we've used our knowledge of the finger board, we're using a bit of logic, and the alphabet the musical alphabet names. The final clincher for me is always, let me just check how it sounds and then I'll know for sure
N: Okay
T: So this exercise is E, in our new location
N: Mmmhmm
T: The new note of F, and our old G which we've played before when we played the octave shapes, so it's…
N: Okay. And that we're doing with the first, the second and the fourth finger
T: That's right, first finger on the second fret E
N: Mmmhmm
T: Second finger on the third fret F, good…
N: Yeah
T: …Natalie. And then fourth…
N: So these are all fretted notes on the D string
T: All fretted notes on the D string, all along one string…
N: Yeah
T: …nice convenient hand position. You probably find, I don't know how it feels, that's quite a stretch for the hand
N: I can't, actually if I was in a static position
T: Yeah
N: My little finger…
T: Isn't…
N: …doesn't reach that
T: No. So you'll just have to cook the books a bit
N: (Laughs)
T: And just move your hand a little adjustment, just make a little adjustment
N: Alright, let's have a go!
T: Yeah, let's try it. The rhythm for this is quarter note, quarter note, half note. Remember we learned…
N: Same again
T: …about half notes before the break
N: So one, two T&
N: Three, four
T: There you go, great (Xtractor starts playing) T&
N: E
T: F, G. E, F, G. Second fret, third fret, fifth fret. Second fret T&
N: Third fret, fifth
T: Fret. First finger
N: First T&
N: Second, fourth
N: Finger. E…
T: And the…
N: …F…
T: …rhythm…
N: …G
T: …is T&
N: One, two, three, four, one, two
N: Three…
T: And the note…
N: …four
T: …values are quarter, quarter, half note T&
N: Quarter
T: Note T&
N: Quarter
T: Note T&
N: Half
T: Note. I made a mistake there, did you hear that?
N: E, F, G. No I was concentrating on my own performance there Terry
T: Great
N: Ahh!
T: Good well played. You were concentrating… (Xtractor stops playing)
T: ...yeah
N: Good stuff, I was concentrating
T: You played it better than I did!
N: The way my mouth was hanging open T&
N: (Laughs)
T: Pulling funny faces, we all do that all the time
N: Exactly
T: Concentrating so much. So there we are we just learned the new note of F
N: Yeah
T: And we've learned, not a new note, but a new location for E
N: Mmmhmm
T: And we know there are plenty of other E's knocking around the bass, but that's for later. What we should do now is kind of just glance back. You remember the octave shape we were looking at in an earlier lesson?
N: Two along for me and two up, or two down…
T: Yeah
N: …depending on how you look at it, yeah
T: Yeah, so that was starting on a low note
N: Yeah
T: And going higher. We just learned the note of an F
N: Yes
T: If I asked you to play an octave above F
N: Mmmhmm
T: You'd probably find that difficult, actually you'd probably find it impossible (laughs)
N: There's no…
T: There isn't…
N: …I'd go two along
T: But you can't go two up
N: But I've run out of strings
T: Yeah, so there are times, of course, when you can't play a higher octave
N: What d'you do then?
T: Just use your common sense, you think "well if I can't play a higher octave"
N: I could play a lower octave
T: "Could I play a lower octave?", yeah. So just always keep your wits about you and think, well if I can't do that what about the opposite. So can you reverse that octave shape?
N: Literally that same shape?
T: Yeah, instead of going two up and two across, go
N: Two the other way
T: Two down and two back
N: Ahhh
T: Yeah, there's an illustration of that in the notes
N: Yeah
T: So you can look at that up close
N: Mmmhmm
T: So there's the F, so we need to go, which, what do you wanna do first? Which way do you think of the shape, go down…
N: That way
T: …two frets first
N: Yeah
T: And then down two strings
N: Ah okay, and that, cos that would be the same if you were at that F, and you wanted to go up, wouldn't it? It's literally the same pattern, two along takes it to there
T: Yeah, so it's a good thing to move shapes around. You can compare them to one another and, where we were saying earlier, you know, relative comparisons...
N: Mmm
T: …so, there's the high F…
N: Yeah
T: …I can't play a higher F
N: No
T: So maybe I can find a lower F. That octave shape's a really valuable tool
N: Yeah
T: So there's my F on the third fret…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …of the D string. That's…
N: That's…
T: …the new note we learned
N: Fourth on the second, there
T: There you go
N: And then I'm gonna go two strings towards me, and then two frets along
T: And you use that kind of claw, that first finger and fourth finger. It's another very valuable hand shape for the bass. And there's our octave shape
N: Yeah
T: And if you find yourself down there now, just to double check it think, let me just check that that octave shape, my old octave shape going up, low…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …to high works. Can I go up two and across two…
N: Absolutely…
T: …and there…
N: …cos that's…
T: …it is
N: …where we came from. Yeah, so it's just taking that shape and looking at it the other way round
T: Yeah, can I try something else? Are you alright?
N: Go on then
T: You go any?
N: I've got enough, a little bit of brain space left, yes
T: Okay, let's do it. We've been doing new notes today, we've done F
N: Mmmhmm
T: And we've done the backwards octave shape, high to low
N: Yes
T: And then we've checked it from low to high and said yeah it's absolutely fine, it does work. What about root and fifth? Why don't we do root and fifth as well? We…
N: Ahhh
T: …did that in a earlier lesson, and I like to do that because it shows me that there's the root, there's the octave, and I know that the fifth is half way
N: Yeah
T: So what I'm gonna try and do now, and we use an exercise from the Gigajam files here
N: Mmmhmm
T: Is play root, fifth and octave
N: Octave
T: And the little exercise combining those three notes…
N: Mmmhmm
T: So we've got F
N: That's our low F
T: Low F on the first fret of the E string
N: Yeah
T: Using the first finger. There's the octave, we're very comfortable with that shape
N: Yeah
T: And root and fifth is kinda halfway house
N: Yeah
T: There you go, very good
N: So the fifth, to recap that, is two along and instead of going two strings across
T: As you would for the octave
N: It's just one
T: Yeah
N: Alright
T: And you can see how they relate to one another, those shapes
N: Okay
T: Big L and little L if you like, yeah
N: Ahhh…
T: Good
N: …capital L, little L, yes
T: There you go. So, and I would probably mess around with these in advance of doing the exercise…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …as well as after it, to just try and find my way around, and maybe come up with some. F, C, F. Root, fifth, root, and I know the name of those notes, F, C cos I was paying attention during the root and fifth thing when we counted up
N: Let's run, let's run that by again
T: Okay, we learned, we learnt the new note of F
N: Yeah
T: And that's on the third fret of the…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …D string. What we've been doing is going backwards with our octave shape
N: To our lower F, our root F
T: Okay, so there's our octave shape
N: And then how do we work out our fifth?
T: I pushed you even further and went, okay there's the root, there's the fifth, there's the fifth shape
N: Yeah
T: Normally we count up the alphabet T&
N: F, G, A, B
N: C, on the fifth finger, yeah
T: F, root, C, fifth
N: Yeah
T: F, root
N: And we've looked at that C before I think, haven't we?
T: We've seen that C before many times, in fact it was probably the third or fourth note that we learned, so maybe if I play the exercise
N: Mmmhmm. Let's play it without the Xtractor just so we can really concentrate on this
T: Okay, so I'll just play a random exercise which is just root and fifth then
N: Okay
T: And I'm gonna use half notes, so…
N: Half…
T: …it goes..
N: notes
T: …one, two, three, four, one, two…
N: That's quite nice…
T: …three…
N: …varying it up…
T: …four
N: …actually cos the half notes give you that little bit extra time don't they?
T: Yeah it gives me more time to think, find the note
N: Yeah
T: Send the message to my finger. Please be there
N: (Laughs)
T: That kind of stuff
N: Yeah I know, it's just taking it nice and chilled
T: Yeah
N: And you could try it with quarter notes, couldn't you?
T: You could try it with quarter notes. So that's F, root, fifth, octave
N: Terry, thank you very much…
T: Pleasure
N: …another informative lesson. That was lesson nine, we've only got one more to go, its lesson ten, join us back here next time for that one. We'll see you soon