So I was looking at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x6chChxzV0

And really liked that scale that mel plays starting around 3:25.
If one of "yall" could tell me what scale or scales that sound close to it is, that would be awesome. Thanks!

He's doing: 1-3-4-4#-5-6-6#-7-1

He jumps down almost an octave from the first 1 to the 3 and works his way back up.

What?
:confused:

He's playing the

1 = the first note of a major scale
3= the third note of a major scale
4= the fourth note of a major scale
4#= the fourth note augmented one semitone
5= the fifth note of the scale
6= the sixth note of the scale
6# = the sixth note augmented one semitone
7- the seventh note of a major scale
1 ( 8) = the root

This is a major scale with a chromatic approach tones, it's used frequently in western music, but you'll hear it in jazz and blues quite a bit. When i say chromatic approach tones, i mean that notes that are not normally in the scale (the augmented fourth, for example) are used, and sound good, because they are leading to notes in the scale, and give the line a sense of movement.

I dont want to sound like a tool, but that made NO sense to me:(

I dont want to sound like a tool, but that made NO sense to me:(

that's because he's making up words. he's making it all up. there's no such thing. it's just gibberish

that's because he's making up words. he's making it all up. there's no such thing. it's just gibberish

Your like the dear abbey of bass.

I dont want to sound like a tool, but that made NO sense to me:(

what are you having trouble understanding?

I thought this thread was going to be about Merzbow.

what are you having trouble understanding?

I dont know what scale to use, whats notes to change, and I might have to use tabs, but I dont wanna.

That particular bassline isn't really about a scale. The song is in G minor. In the section you refer to he is playing a chromatic run that starts on the tonic and plays the M3, P4, dim5, P5, m6,m7 and M7.

If that makes no sense it might be time to get some lessons.

guess I need lessons cause i didn't understand any of that.:hmm:

Cool scale or not Mel and GFR rock!

Yeah, sounds like you need to learn the Major scale (and minor scale ideally) and the explanation should make sense once you know that.... If you don't know your scales and what intervals are, you have no reference point and it'll only be harder to learn new stuff from other people....

I'm not a big theory buff, but couldn't you say that is from the chromatic scale?

No help to the OP of course, but still worth a mention :)

I'm not a big theory buff, but couldn't you say that is from the chromatic scale?

No help to the OP of course, but still worth a mention :)

well you could say anything is from the chromatic scale.

That was the point I was trying to make, but I wasn't 100% sure myself so I didn't want to be ridiculed by the bretheren :D :D

That was the point I was trying to make, but I wasn't 100% sure myself so I didn't want to be ridiculed by the bretheren :D :D

Yeah, I mean the chromatic scale has ALL the notes, so everything technically relates to it, but it's fairly useless as a way to try and figure out harmonic relationships with other scales, etc...

He was probably playing over a dominant chord and using some chromatic passing tones (ala: common gospel bass line, R&B, blues, jazz.....oh yeah....everyone plays that!) he just mixed up the rhythm a bit.

But, original dude who posted the thread. I forget what key he was playing in, but play this...

E F F# G
B C C# D
G

with that shapefrom bottom to top (low to high) and that's essentially what he was playing (if I remember correctly)...

Yeah, I mean the chromatic scale has ALL the notes, so everything technically relates to it, but it's fairly useless as a way to try and figure out harmonic relationships with other scales, etc...

He was probably playing over a dominant chord and using some chromatic passing tones (ala: common gospel bass line, R&B, blues, jazz.....oh yeah....everyone plays that!) he just mixed up the rhythm a bit.

But, original dude who posted the thread. I forget what key he was playing in, but play this...

E F F# G
B C C# D
G

with that shapefrom bottom to top (low to high) and that's essentially what he was playing (if I remember correctly)...


THANK YOU SO MUCH! Now I know why dogs lick people after they dangle a treat in front of them and then give it to them.

I'm jammin this friday and I was gonna use this as a bass line:bassist:

Yeah, I mean the chromatic scale has ALL the notes, so everything technically relates to it, but it's fairly useless as a way to try and figure out harmonic relationships with other scales, etc...

He was probably playing over a dominant chord and using some chromatic passing tones (ala: common gospel bass line, R&B, blues, jazz.....oh yeah....everyone plays that!) he just mixed up the rhythm a bit.

But, original dude who posted the thread. I forget what key he was playing in, but play this...

E F F# G
B C C# D
G

with that shapefrom bottom to top (low to high) and that's essentially what he was playing (if I remember correctly)...

Well it has all the chromatic, even tempered notes. There are other scale systems than the chromatic system we use, but that is another story, really.

Agreed on what you said about the dominant and passing tones.

try to think of the notes not as a scale but as Damian pointed out, "passing notes". In order to do that you need to form an aural perspective of what notes you're passing INTO. Since the example you're posting about is in the key of G, lets look at it this way;

The G is obviously your "home" note. Thats where this run of notes lives. There are other notes in this bass run that are going to be semi-related to this home/house. But they will be "outside" and away from the home note.

The next important note in the run is the C note. You can think of this as your best friends house. You know where he lives and you know what the house looks like and you may even know where he hides the porn stash in his bedroom... but it's still not YOUR house.

The next note is the D. This is like your grandmothers house. Sometimes you stay over night and she cooks for you and it feels ALMOST like home but not quite. Shes family, but one step removed.

The last note is the F. This is like your friends cousins place. You've been there a few times and he's cool but a little annoying.

I'm trying to get you to think of the DISTANCE of these notes in RELATION to your home note. Play the G ( home) then play the C, and try to hear/feel the emotional gap/divide/distance between the two. It's a feeling thing more than anything else. Do the same with the D and the F in relation to the G.

Now for the fun part; Play the note DIRECTLY BELOW those 4 notes and listen/feel the PULL they create. You'll start to hear how the note below the C (which is B) will want to pull up into the C.

Our next target note is the D and a half step below that is the C#. Feel the pull on that one. It'll be pretty strong.

Next is The E leading into our F target, and finally the F# goin g back to our home note G.

One way to think of these "passing notes" could be to picture them as the front steps leading up and into our target note houses. You walk up the steps and only then, can you enter the house.

The bass run you picked out was a good one to work on/listen to in order to begin discovering the relationships that notes have on each other. Some notes push, and some notes pull. All the "passing notes" here exert a very strong pulling tendency up into the target notes.

try to think of the notes not as a scale but as Damian pointed out, "passing notes". In order to do that you need to form an aural perspective of what notes you're passing INTO. Since the example you're posting about is in the key of G, lets look at it this way;

The G is obviously your "home" note. Thats where this run of notes lives. There are other notes in this bass run that are going to be semi-related to this home/house. But they will be "outside" and away from the home note.

The next important note in the run is the C note. You can think of this as your best friends house. You know where he lives and you know what the house looks like and you may even know where he hides the porn stash in his bedroom... but it's still not YOUR house.

The next note is the D. This is like your grandmothers house. Sometimes you stay over night and she cooks for you and it feels ALMOST like home but not quite. Shes family, but one step removed.

The last note is the F. This is like your friends cousins place. You've been there a few times and he's cool but a little annoying.

I'm trying to get you to think of the DISTANCE of these notes in RELATION to your home note. Play the G ( home) then play the C, and try to hear/feel the emotional gap/divide/distance between the two. It's a feeling thing more than anything else. Do the same with the D and the F in relation to the G.

Now for the fun part; Play the note DIRECTLY BELOW those 4 notes and listen/feel the PULL they create. You'll start to hear how the note below the C (which is B) will want to pull up into the C.

Our next target note is the D and a half step below that is the C#. Feel the pull on that one. It'll be pretty strong.

Next is The E leading into our F target, and finally the F# goin g back to our home note G.

One way to think of these "passing notes" could be to picture them as the front steps leading up and into our target note houses. You walk up the steps and only then, can you enter the house.

The bass run you picked out was a good one to work on/listen to in order to begin discovering the relationships that notes have on each other. Some notes push, and some notes pull. All the "passing notes" here exert a very strong pulling tendency up into the target notes.

+1,00000

Cool. So you got what I was trying to say, right?

Play each one of the "leading up to" notes slowly... or actually you can STOP on them and your ear will "pull" you up to the next note automatically after a second or two. This is the sort of thing that bridges what is mostly thought of as an aural musical experience with a more physical one. This pull/push phenomenon is also what gives music tension or release within certain sections of songs ( trasitions from the verse to the chours for example). By breaking this little bass line down we can see that it incoorporates a ton of very fundamental concepts.