12. Four Chord Praise
Intro: E | E/G# | C#m | A
Verse: E | E/G# | C#m | A
Pre-Ch: C#m | | A/C# |
E/B | | B |
Chorus: E | C#m | A | B
Bridge(x2): C#m | A | E/G# | B/D#
C#m | A | E | B
Introduction
Who am I?
Personal background
Musical background
Church music background
Assumptions
Not assuming you can read music – just chord charts
Slides available online
No need to take notes
Any questions, comments, suggestions at any time during the workshop – please ask!
Outline – just so you know where we’re going
Will discuss some strategies for what you can work on to make you a better bass player, and one who understands who to best serve a congregation through our playing
Breakdown:
Break down playing bass into four essential ingredients that going into playing bass
For each of those ingredients, we’ll discuss how to improve the quality, with some practical demonstrations
Then to finish we’ll quickly workshop a couple of songs and test out some of the ingredients that we’ve been discussing
(3 mins)
(3 mins)
But first…
One of the best ways to become a better bass player: listen to amazing bass players
The sounds they make
The techniques they use
The way they interact with other musicians in the band
Riffs they play
Beg, borrow, steal
Transcribe some of your favourite bass performances
MAKE SURE CLIPS ARE ALL STOPPED
Some examples
Jaco Pastorius – clip: Teen Town
Marcus Miller – clip: Power from M-Squared
Randy Hope Taylor – clip: Magnetic Ocean
Other ways to get inspired
lessons
Find a qualified teacher
Online – Scott’s Bass lessons
Great quality videos ranging from beginner to more advanced stuff
If you sign up, you do get a fair bit of spam
There’s also the option of the paid course, can’t speak to it
You can just watch plenty of his videos on YouTube without signing up to anything
Record yourself!
Great educational experience
(7mins)
(7 mins)
This is the main thing I want you to remember
Where do these individual categories come from?
What is the role of a bassline?
The bassline and the melody (think of four-part chorale SATB) define the texture of a conventional piece of music
Defines the key – you can totally change the context of a melody, for example by moving from a major to a relative minor key
Obviously then, the bass has a fundamental role to play
But, in another sense, the bass player plays a supporting role
“Mortar between the bricks”, or “Glue that holds a band together”
Building a rock-solid foundation your band can build on
So the congregation can follow along and sing with confidence
In a church setting, bass playing is a bit like the Powerpoint guy
Some may never notice you – unless you mess up
The bass player has primary harmonic AND rhythmic responsibilities
Most other instruments tend to be more one than the other
Can’t separate the two in terms of importance
Most of the rest of the workshop will be looking at different techniques and ideas that relate to harmonic and rhythmic elements
You also need to consider what you sound like – your tone
Finally, important to consider dynamics
These ingredients add up to make you a good team player on your band
Bass player should be solid, reliable – skill level doesn’t matter
Don’t need to do anything complicated
What follows is a grab-bag of advice for improving the quality of each of these four ingredients - hold on to what’s interesting for you
Will end with a couple of scenarios
(12mins)
*rim shot*
(12mins)
Harmonic foundations
AKA – what notes are you playing
Modes
Why are they important?
Ie. They give you the notes that you can add in to add variety
They define the “sound” or “feel” of every chord in the scale
Key of song + chord number = mode
Ionian I
Dorian II
Phrygian III
Lydian IV
Mixolydian V
Aeolian VI
Locrian VII
Demo – play I, VII, IV, V modes – with drum beat
Knowing the important notes in each mode (especially the 1, 3, 5 7 notes) helps you to understand the relationships between chords
Demo – show that IV and VII share the 3/5 and 1/3 notes e.g. A -> C#m transitions
Blank screen: Slight segue - warmups
Even just for a minute or two before your start helps enormously
Any repetitious scale or exercise is fine really
Preferably something that gets you moving up and down the neck, stop the “anchoring” or “tethering” effect.
Will show you what I do for warmups as we discuss those bits
Octaves and tenths
Simple but effective way to add variety and power
(20mins)
(20mins)
Rhythmic foundations
Essential to creating the feel/groove for a given song
When in doubt, the most important two things to fallback on:
Keep it simple (want to strengthen the intended framework of a song, not distract people)
Hook up with the kick drum!
Simple demo – kick drum phrasing
Secondarily, phrase with a guitarist to add in some passing notes
The rhythm you play can completely change the feel of a song
Choose a pattern is appropriate
Walking might be appropriate for a swing-style song, or maybe a fun kids song
Don’t swing when it’s supposed to be straight
Modern chorus – often just looking for eighth-notes
Repetition is your friend
Any variations you make just to add some style and interest, but should really underscore the solid foundation of what you’re doing 95% of the time
Where appropriate, you can add interest by playing inversions or a few passing notes rather than messing with the rhythm too much
A few techniques that add rhythm:
Slap?
OK to add sometimes
Subtle pop can be used as an effect for interest, in conjunction with finger plucking
Rarely appropriate for wholesale use in church
If you move to Harlem, maybe
Muted notes
Adds some rhythmic interest to a straight groove
Don’t overuse – record and listen to yourself
If you’re going to use them, keep them tight: when they’re sloppy, they can be a distraction
Right-hand damping
Good for first-verses, intros, when you want to bring the energy down
Not for a whole song – unless you’re in a reggae worship band
Slides
Signature bass player thing
Again, use them sparingly and make them count
The main point: get in the pocket!
You don’t have to play a lot of notes, or any difficult rhythms
Main thing is to sync with the other musicians and nail down the groove
Especially the drummer, but even when there’s not a drummer and perhaps older music styles, you still need to nail it!
(27mins)
(27mins)
What Your Bass Sounds Like - Tone
Bass Settings, Amp settings
Passive vs. Active
Passive – no pre-amp: roll-off frequencies only
Active – pre-amp, usually EQ controls
Pots/amp settings
Demo with spectrum analyser
Each instrument contributes to the overall sound energy the band is creating
Start with them all in neutral positions, loop a simple riff and make small adjustments
Adjustments should also be appropriate for the style of music
Tuning
Buy a tuner if possible
Manual tuning techniques
Harmonics – listen for the shimmering
Third fret
Demo – how just a little bit of out-of-tuneness can ruin a band’s sound
New strings - Or boil your strings!
Factors outside your control
Trust the sound guy/gal! Develop a good relationship with them
Ask them for feedback
“Do I sound boomy? Do I sound too clicky? How do I sound in different parts of the auditorium?:
Help the sound guy out, especially in situations where the players on stage are largely in control of their foldback
Arms race
(32mins)
(32mins)
Variation is key to dynamics – e.g. dropping out for a verse, playing sparsely or playing high
Make your low notes count!
No other instrument brings power to the low-end like you do
When you want to add ramping-up to a song, start up high & work down
Lateral movement perhaps the single most important technique
Also prevents your bass playing from feeling “bland” if you get rooted in one spot all the time
Caveat: sense of appropriateness – don’t want to be zipping up and down the fretboard all the time
If unsure, then keep it simple, or your band for an opinion
Not playing at all
Dropping out completely for the first verse/third verse can be very effective
Again, exploits the unique low energy that you bring to the band
Need to develop the skill of listening
To each other instrument in your band
Develop an awareness of how much energy should be present at any given point of a song
Techniques
Octaves - Good technique to add volume and richness during powerful sections
RH positions
Playing up the neck a nice way to begin ballads
Quiet attack, full, round sound, Nice complement with tenths – Demo 6/8
Closer you play to the bridge, more percussive/funky the sound is
More energy you want, close to the bridge you might get
Remember to adjust your pickup balance to suit
(36mins)
(36mins)
Scenario one: You and Mrs. Jenkins on piano
Mrs. Jenkins doesn’t read chords – she plays the notes very correctly and rigidly
The drummer called in sick because he stayed up too late reading his Bible
Today’s first song: All Creatures of Our God and King
Classic hymn, written in SATB style
As a bass player, how do you tackle this?
What sort of sound should you go for? (any suggestions?)
What approach should you take rhythmically?
What approach should you take harmonically?
What approach should you take dynamically?
Important to pay attention to inversions
What are inversions?
Simply, triads starting on a different root note
Root position, 1st Inversion, 2nd Inversion
If you get them wrong, you will clash
Demo
Play straight through
Play with some adding passing notes
Play with some wrong notes??
Essentially, we can’t do a lot rhythmically and harmonically
But, we can still think of our tone and dynamics to add shape and power
(40mins)
(40mins)
Scenario two:
A modern worship song – (can you name the genre??)
Four chords only (plus a couple of inversions)
Different examples of what you could do over the same chord progression
Things to try:
Up high vs. down low
Tenths/octaves
Passing notes/leading notes
Playing up the neck
Hook up with the kick drum
Phrasing with the piano triplet in the verse
(48mins)
There’s always room to take your playing to another level
It’s very common when learning an instrument (or engaging in any creative endeavour) to experience plateaus and/or impostor syndrome
Your favourite players sounded terrible when they first started playing
Just keep playing and practicing, you will experience break throughs eventually
Break the problem down into one of these four categories and pick something to work on:
Rhythm
I am going to concentrate on listening to the drummer and locking into the kick drum
I am going to fight my urge to go all Seinfeld on poor Mrs. Jenkins and just focus on giving the hymns a solid foundation for the congregation to launch their praises on
Harmony
I am going to use my knowledge of the modes to figure out some nice passing notes between the 4 and 6 chords
Tone
I am going to try and find a nice rich tone to complement a ballad
Dynamics
I am going to start up high for the first verse and not hit the low notes until the second chorus
(50mins)