Breaking Loose On Bass

(Intro To "The Art Of Reactionary Bass")

 

by Rod Goelz

 

 

Role Of The Bass Player: Fundamental To Advanced

 

The bass player is the support guy (or girl) of any small guitar/bass/drum type ensemble. The bass player is the team player of “the band,” the link between the guitar and drums. It’s not the bass player’s role to be the star, the one always after the limelight (that role is reserved for the guitarist). Sure, there are times where the bass player can shine, but at the end of the day, the bass player who helps others to reach higher levels of musical greatness… this is the type of bass player bands are in search of.

The bass player, first and foremost provides the low end to any given song. This is OUR primary role/fundamental responsibility. Neglecting this responsibility would surely lead to unemployment or dismissal. The bass player’s job is to follow the root motion of the chords laid out by the guitar or piano player. We don’t just play roots—that would be boring. Bass players of skill play lines as melodies that reflect the chord changes, without being stuck to the root (you should stick to the root when it is appropriate to do so, but a bass player should always have ways of branching out melodically). Bass players are constantly improvising melodies that SUPPORT the music. This constant state of melodic improvisation is what bass players find so appealing about the instrument, and is precisely why the bass is not an “easier” instrument than the guitar (despite popular misconceptions).

Bass players also have a strong connection with the drummer, providing a discernible pitch to the thud of their bass drum. The best rhythm sections have a drummer and bassist who have worked hard to develop “the lock,” whereby the two instruments work as one musical unit.  First, you must learn to match the bass drum. Later, learn to interact with it. 

Lastly, with the innovations of players like Larry Graham (and his “thumping and plucking” style), bass players have come to understand that the bass can not only be a supportive/melodic instrument that locks and interacts with the drummer, but also take on more of a percussive role by emulating drum sounds. Players like Victor Wooten have carried on this tradition. It should be known, however, that percussive playing does not stop with the “thumping and plucking” style. Players like Rocco Prestia and Jaco Pastorius rely heavily upon percussive effects (like “ghosting” and "raking"), while neither THUMPS nor PLUCKS.

 

 

 

What Do I Need To Work On?

 

If you’re first getting started, the best advice I could offer you is to study with a teacher. A good teacher can provide a direct route toward what you need to know on the instrument in order to achieve maximum enjoyment. In your quest to become a better bass player, there’s the question on what areas of musical study that need to be addressed most. Of all skills the first year bass student must develop, developing your musical ear is the most important. The general “LEARNING HOW TO PLAY BASS” ability is best learned by DOING, playing real songs as opposed to exercises. As soon as possible, you’ll need to be playing along with records, and learn to copy what you hear (again, a teacher can help you with this). Insofar as lesson material goes, the beginner bass player is in luck, modern rock radio is filled with easy bass lines played by marginal players (there are a few exceptions)… all of which can be used as lesson material, all ideal for the beginner.

Better players with a little more experience are capable of making up there own lines to these same songs. This act of creating your own lines “on the fly” is a sought after skill the intermediate player must develop. Better players aren’t necessarily committed only to what’s current… there are many great players who don’t make it to the radio or MTV.

 

OTHER AREAS OF MUSICAL FOCUS (ASSORTED IMPROVEMENT AREAS).

 

• ATTITUDE—It’s a fact, there’s not a lot of great bass playing on the radio nowadays, SO YOU SHOULDN'T LIMIT YOURSELF TO ONLY THOSE WHO ARE POPULAR AT THE MOMENT.  There’s a history to the electric bass, and a lot of great players. In your quest to be a better bass player, seek out good musical role models from every era. Develop your own list of favorite bass players, and find out who those players listened to when they were younger—those were the influences that helped shape their playing and ideas about the bass.  Don’t stop at the electric bass, our instrument evolved from the upright bass… go to the source and learn from upright masters as well. ABOVE ALL ELSE…KEEP AN OPEN MIND!!!!!

 

• SCALES/ARPEGGIOS/RUNS—these are undeniably important. But to make the best use of these musical materials, check out how the really great players make use of these building blocks.

 

• MUSIC THEORY/EAR TRAINING—As stated before, the bass player’s job is to improvise low-frequency melodies. The act of improvisation is like composition… only instantaneous. To make intelligent decisions in your improvisations, you should understand how music works like a composer would.  Consciously thinking about how music works is called the study of music theory. In this study, we learn principles that govern all musical instruments within a band setting. Theory can also be specialized—theory as it applies to bass line construction, for example. Once you’ve grasped the textbook understanding of how music works… listen and steal from great players who make use of these ideas. DEVELOP YOUR EAR. The best way to broaden your understanding of theory and application is to learn by musical example. The more you hear, the more you can sample. In this search for new ways to approach, check out my page of Essential Bass Players: http://www.rodgoelz.com/bassplayerlist.htm

 

• THE BLUES—become a student of the blues and the 12-bar blues form. There’s an infinite amount of lessons to be learned from studying the blues. All great bass players can play the blues (it’s part of what makes them great). The blues is about theme and variation, listen to (and incorporate into your lessons) many, many different players. Note how different players with different styles (or the same style for that matter) approach the same musical skeleton--the 12-Bar Blues--that’s when the REAL education begins.  Remember that great players and great musical ideas sometimes have to be discovered and searched for. Great bass players are often times not the star of the band, so you'll have to search these players out (http://www.rodgoelz.com/bassplayerlist.htm).

 

• GENERIC STYLES—each style of music has a different set of rules, rhythms and other characteristics that give that style its FLAVOR. Expose yourself to as many different styles as your brain can hold. Don’t be a musical elitist, for that will only narrow the number of sounds you’re capable of using.  A sampling of generic styles include: Swing, Bossa Nova, Rock, Country, Funk, Reggae, Ska, Punk, Heavy Metal, Polka, Samba, Zydeco, Blues, Motown… and variations and subdivisions of each.

 

• READING—Learn to read… it’s not that hard, and the payoff is tremendous. Once you’ve mastered the basics, reading music can be fun. Get to the point where reading is not a chore.  It takes discipline… but there’s a payoff!!

 

 

As bass players, we're expected to know every song ever written. Since this is an impossibility, we must acquire the kinds of skills that would make it SOUND like we know every song ever written. This process makes us master improvisors--reacting in a musical way to rhythms, chords, and melodies of a given song. Basically, we're reacting to everything we hear on the bandstand, from the groove the drummer is laying to the chord changes that make up the song (which requires understanding key centers and tonal colors), often without the aid of a chord chart. This practice and philosophy of reacting to all musical stimuli is what I refer to as REACTIONARY BASS. All the great bass players are masters of this "reactive" skill (Flea, Les Claypool, John Paul Jones, Jaco Pastorius, Larry Graham, James Jamerson, Willie Weeks, etc.). REACTIONARY BASS is what I teach. Scales, Arpeggios, Music Theory, Ear Training, The 12-Bar Blues Form, Generic Style Analysis, Reading, SONGS.... these are our tools to acquire advanced "reactionary" skills.

 

That’s All Folks!!

 

That’s it for now. As always, if you have any questions concerning anything at all, you can get in touch with me at Campbell’s Music (741-2634) or by email (rod@blazenet.net). Be sure to check out my website: http://www.rodgoelz.com/.