Need help with patterns of root/5ths....

[fkatzenb]

Hey all, I am in a bind. I cant remember anything from my Jazz Bass lesson. Unfortunetly I have been sick and working hard, and didnt practice right after my lesson. Now little over a week since my lesson, and I can remember the lesson in regards to patterns that use only the root/octave and the 5th. While it doesnt sound hard, I cant find the right ones that flow properly.


I appreciated any help! Thanks!

Frank


PS. btw, awesome site you all have!

[leanne]

It may be helpful to record your lessons with a tape recorder or something like that. My teacher provides a tape recorder and prefers that all his students bring a tape, then you can refer back to all that went on each week...

About your question, I'm not sure exactly what you're asking...

[JimK]

Root-5 in Jazz?

Sounds like a two-beat feel...maybe.
So, using your basic 12-bar Blues changes in "C"-
Play the Root on "1", the 5th on "3".

lC-G-lF-C-lC-G-lC-G-l
lF-C-lF-C-lC-G-lC-G-l
lG-D-lF-C-lC-G-lG-D-l

Make sure you play with a 'swing feel'. too.

[fkatzenb]

i finally got it... see i started taping my lessons so that if this happened, i could just listen. however when i played back the tape on the little walkman recorder w/ speaker, i couldnt hear anything. i finally got smart and plug it into my computer... i can hear the bass now well most of it.

what he was teaching me was taking for example, G and C and playing the root/5th in a few variations.

Start on 3rd fret
|
|              4G
|     3C      2D 
|     1G

Start on 5th fret
|
|            1&4G
|     3C      2D 
|    

Start on 5th fret
|     3C     2G
|  1&4G 
|
|

For some reason I thought there were more.... All i come up with is the same combinations?


Thanks for the help.
Frank

[jazzbo]

I'm not totally sure I understand your last post, but it looks incorrect. Am I misreading it?

[fkatzenb]

Ok, that was a horrible attempt at notation. I think I got it down, now that I was able to listen to the tape and finally picked up the guitar with a half working brain and ear drums.

Basically I was to play | G | C | notes over, rotating different combination of root/fifth combinations. So it was always |G-D|C-G|. However the part that I couldnt remember until I finally was able to play the tape back was that you can hit the 5th above the root note, so that opens up for different root/5th combinations.

I guess another aspect is getting used to playing outside the "box" and learning all my notes even more then what I used to.


Frank

[jazzbo]

Originally Posted by fkatzenb

Basically I was to play | G | C | notes over, rotating different combination of root/fifth combinations. So it was always |G-D|C-G|. However the part that I couldnt remember until I finally was able to play the tape back was that you can hit the 5th above the root note, so that opens up for different root/5th combinations.

...and the octave, right?

This is a decent exercise. I would definitely play it with a metronome or drum machine. Get a good feel for the "business-man's shuffle." You can also work in octaves as well. I find this a good way to get a feel for building basslines, finding what works melodically, maybe a little more than rhythmically. At some point, even adding 3rds and/or 7ths is also a great device. Remember to really listen to what's going on, hearing what everything sounds like, moreso than just getting the tactile part under your fingertips.

Also, you can do this with a jazz chart. In the example you have, you have a repeating two bar pattern. Like Jim introduced, you can do this over a twelve-bar blues format, then move on to a jazz chart, just playing root-fifth, then adding in octaves, then adding in 3rds, then 7ths, etc.