What did you do to tie it all together?

JazZ-A-LoT · #1 10-19-2003, 07:19 PM

I'm at the point with my playing where I've gotta start tying sounds to notes and everything sorta together. Like being able to hear ideas, play them anywhere on the neck and juSt sorta cross that bridge from doing machined excercises to actualy playing what you hear and such. I know it's a long slow process but I was just wondering what things did all you folks do too get this down. Just anything would be a great help.

Stephen Soto · #2 10-19-2003, 08:08 PM

I don't know... I mean, I can literally listen to a song, and hear it in my head anywhere, note by note. Which is actually weird.
But when I hear something in my head, and can just remember it, all I have to do is tab it out.
All that converting stuff from your head to your hands is tabbing stuff out.

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #3 10-19-2003, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by STEAMIN' DeSOTO
But when I hear something in my head, and can just remember it, all I have to do is tab it out.
All that converting stuff from your head to your hands is tabbing stuff out.

Doggonnit, my tongue appears to be bleeding again. How odd.

thrash_jazz · #4 10-20-2003, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Stephen Soto
I don't know... I mean, I can literally listen to a song, and hear it in my head anywhere, note by note. Which is actually weird.
But when I hear something in my head, and can just remember it, all I have to do is tab it out.
All that converting stuff from your head to your hands is tabbing stuff out.

I'm assuming he's talking about jazz lines here. Meaning, you have to be able to do it ON THE SPOT.

JAL - A good thing to do to start with is to sing (or hum, if you're a non-singer like me) the lines first. This is something we're all used to doing; if you have a song stuck in your head, you'll generally sing it.

Coming up with a good line in this manner is a heck of a lot easier if you have a theory background. Knowing what works and what doesn't will save you a lot of frustration.

Next step is to have good enough ears to be able to translate the line you're singing to your bass. Shortly, you'll be able to translate it straight from your head to your bass, without the intermediary step.

Have fun!

jazzbo · #5 10-20-2003, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris Fitzgerald
Doggonnit, my tongue appears to be bleeding again. How odd.

Spend a lot of time up here, do you?

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #6 10-20-2003, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jazzbo

Spend a lot of time up here, do you?

With any luck, I spend about as much time up here as I'm gueesing you'll spend up here after 6 months to a year with your new squeeze ALMA. See you down in the castle real soon. Don't wait too long: the moat's absolutely beautiful this time of year, but it never lasts as long as you'd like.

thrash_jazz · #7 10-20-2003, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by GRISTLE FISHBARREL

With any luck, I spend about as much time up here as I'm gueesing you'll spend up here after 6 months to a year with your new squeeze ALMA. See you down in the castle real soon. Don't wait too long: the moat's absolutely beautiful this time of year, but it never lasts as long as you'd like.

I miss the castle sometimes... but in my case it's all for the best...

On that note, might this post fit in better in the Music Theory section? Or is it perilously close to the dungeon, where the screams of pain can be heard day and night, and the Rosin forum is said to still walk the hallowed halls?

jazzbo · #8 10-20-2003, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris Fitzgerald

With any luck, I spend about as much time up here as I'm gueesing you'll spend up here after 6 months to a year with your new squeeze ALMA. See you down in the castle real soon. Don't wait too long: the moat's absolutely beautiful this time of year, but it never lasts as long as you'd like.

I can feel myself getting grumpier and grumpier. I gotta start packing my bags.

stephanie · #9 10-20-2003, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SOTO VOCE
All that converting stuff from your head to your hands is tabbing stuff out.

It's actually called transcribing. Transcribing music has helped me tie things together...analyzing the song, examining what makes it what it is. Theory knowledge is a tremendous help. And also knowing your fretboard, and not just the first four frets. What has helped me with that is 1)Playing 2 octave scales up and down the fretboard, and also chords from the lowest note to the highest note and 2)Studying some classical sheet music (this also helps with sight reading). The reason why I say this is because a lot of these pieces jump from position to position and will help you to make smooth transitions.

So listen to what others do...transcribe...listen to your heart...pick up your bass and play.

Hope this helps,
Stephanie

roswell1965 · #10 10-20-2003, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris Fitzgerald

With any luck, I spend about as much time up here as I'm gueesing you'll spend up here after 6 months to a year with your new squeeze ALMA. See you down in the castle real soon. Don't wait too long: the moat's absolutely beautiful this time of year, but it never lasts as long as you'd like.

Chris spends more time here than he'll EVER admit - he comes here quite often to nurse his bruised and battered ego. Too bad he can't comprehend the simple fact that he needs those who he perceives as less intelligent than him alot more than they need him. It's pretty sad, actually.

Boplicity · #11 10-20-2003, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by roswell1965

Chris spends more time here than he'll EVER admit - he comes here quite often to nurse his bruised and battered ego. Too bad he can't comprehend the simple fact that he needs those who he perceives as less intelligent than him alot more than they need him. It's pretty sad, actually.

Say what???

Chris is one of the most level-headed members here and has submitted hundreds of helpful, informative posts over the years. There isn't anything remotely sad about having a hard-working, articulate and knowledgeable contributor such as Chris Fitzgerald here. He is a pillar of Talkbass and an asset to this web site. We need more just like him.

jazzbo · #12 10-20-2003, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Boplicity

Chris is a pillar of Talkbass and an asset to this web site.

roswell1965 · #13 10-20-2003, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Boplicity

Say what???

Chris is one of the most level-headed members here and has submitted hundreds of helpful, informative posts over the years. There isn't anything remotely sad about having a hard-working, articulate and knowledgeable contributor such as Chris Fitzgerald here. He is a pillar of Talkbass and an asset to this web site. We need more just like him.

Now THAT is really sweet...

Wrong Robot · #14 10-20-2003, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Nuts New hampershire 81

It's pretty sad, actually.

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #15 10-20-2003, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Boplicity

Say what???

Chris is one of the....

Thanks for the nice review, Boplicity, but what we have here with OSWALD1963 is a kind of split-personality troll kind of thing. He/she/it doesn't post much, but when he/she/it does, about half the time it's to drop in and make disparaging comments about "elitist" behavior from some of the DB guys - Fuqua, Don Higdon, Ray Parker, and myself. I can only assume that he/she/it must believe that doing this is providing some great public service by uncovering some big conspiracy to...to do what? To be "elite"? I guess, since as far as I know, none of us DB guys ever killed anybody.

Anyway, ROSWELL, you say whatever your little old heart feels like it needs to, but the way I see it, if my ego was even half as large as you seem to believe, there's no way I could fit my head into - much less drive - a Civic. Did I mention I drive a Civic? Oh, I forgot...that must be part of the "coverup" too, huh? Whatever.

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #16 10-20-2003, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JazZ-A-LoT
I'm at the point with my playing where I've gotta start tying sounds to notes and everything sorta together. Like being able to hear ideas, play them anywhere on the neck and juSt sorta cross that bridge from doing machined excercises to actualy playing what you hear and such. I know it's a long slow process but I was just wondering what things did all you folks do too get this down. Just anything would be a great help.

Back on topic, I think the thing which helped me the most was learning to trust my own instincts on the bandstand and to try to do away with thinking about the music I'm trying to play in favor of trying to simply HEAR what's going on. Two things continue to help me with this:

1) Singing. The best stuff I ever play always comes straight from the ear, so a lot of times if I'm having trouble with a particular set of changes I'll just sing over the top of them. Human nature is such that no-one likes to sing anything that's horribly off, so the tendency when singing is towards simplicity (in my case, anyway). And my simple ideas are almost always more direct and soulful than my complicated ones.

2) Listening - listen to the music you want to be able to play as much as you can stand it. When I was studying classical music, I listened to classical music. When i was studying 16th century counterpoint, I listened to Palestrina. Now I listen to jazz, since that's the music I'm trying to improve in at the moment. But never underestimate the power of aural osmosis in learning. It's more powerful than I can believe sometimes.

JazZ-A-LoT · #17 10-20-2003, 10:31 PM

Thx for all the help. The singing thing was kinda the direction i was first thinking of but then the little leprechaun in my head said no do this( but that's another story). Thx again

Stephen Soto · #18 10-20-2003, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by thrash_jazz
JAL - A good thing to do to start with is to sing (or hum, if you're a non-singer like me) the lines first. This is something we're all used to doing; if you have a song stuck in your head, you'll generally sing it.

Yeah, i've heard that before, good suggestion man.

Howard K · #19 10-21-2003, 04:53 AM

Well, much as I feel left out not being able to join in the conversation about who's as troll and who's a pixie or whatever the freak you lot are talking about..

I think my perspective on this might be quite intersting, even if it's of no use to anyone...

I played for about 10 years before I learnt any theory. So I can work stuff out by ear quicker and easier than I can read from sheet (much, much quicker!).
Because I already knew the fretboard and sounds of notes realtively well, theory sinks in easily and I find it easy to grasp new sounds.

Personally, I think a musical feel for the bass is more important that any theory in creating your own music - hence the vast majority of musical ideas come by accident - so my advice would be to pick your bas and just play - put your fingers in new places (Ooh Matron!!) and see what happens.

Play first ask questions later!