harmonics

[chantezlebas]

hi janek


im having trouble with putting together harmonics can you suggest some way to logically putting this notes together ...in a manner that when they appear on a written bass line i don´t go ok stop reading and lets see where´s that c sharp !!!!!
can you shed some light on this subject......

thank you

Sérgio

[janekbass]

Sergio,

I'm not sure I've ever seen a written bassline that I had to sight read that contained harmonics.

When you're getting harmonics together on the bass it should be like everything else that you're working on. Slow and methodical so as to engarain it in your mind, and make it something that comes out naturally.

To work out harmonics is fairly simple. Just play the harmonic and then find out what note it is by fretting another note on the bass. You'll find that on the fourth and seventh frets for instance, you'll find that the harmonic above the fret sounds an octave higher than the fretted note. There are only so many possibilities with a limited number of frets on the instrument, so sitting there with the bass for an hour or so should be enough to figure out what the notes are.

You then have to figure out a way of using them in the context of the music you're playing. Bare in mind that if you're playing with someone else, playing behind a singer, playing on a record date etc. etc.... you might want to chillout on throwing in tons of harmonics all over the place. It might not be in good taste in the context you're playing in. Just be aware of your surroundings.

Easy,

Janek

[chantezlebas]

well i was working on some jaco stuff (portrait of tracy) where there were some harmonics on the staff that i couldn´t really read it......what i was trying to know is if it is possible to play scales or arpeggios in order to organise this sounds .............but maybe this is kind of a dumb question ....


Thank you

[Brian S]

I hope you don't mind me putting my 2 cents in, but I wanted to learn more about harmonics, so I got Dean Peer's Bass Harmonics book. It explained where the harmonics are on the string with their relationship to the open string note.

For example, the set of usable harmonics on a single string are the same notes used in a dominant 7th (#11) chord. You can also play a D major scale using a patttern around the 3rd and 5th frets. Which means you can play all of the scale modes of D major using those same harmonics.

Hope this helps.

[chantezlebas]

Thanks man

im definitily going to check it out

Thanks again

[janekbass]

nice one brian, I didn't know about that book. Could be the best way to get that stuff down if you're looking for a teaching method.

I would definitely recommend learning that stuff by ear so get it as deep in your subconcious as possible.

Forget about the chart for portrait of tracy and work that stuff out by ear. It might take a while, and you might want to try something easier at first to get your transcribing chops together. But it's going to pay off in the end for sure.

Easy,

Janek