...well, TBH, I've heard on some jazz (vocal usually) gigs things like "let's take it down a half-step", and, "up a major third on the bridge". Nobody is going to say, though, "yeah, lets do that 5 semitones higher".
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Circle of Fifths Question
- Thread starter baddarryl
- Start date
...well, TBH, I've heard on some jazz (vocal usually) gigs things like "let's take it down a half-step", and, "up a major third on the bridge". Nobody is going to say, though, "yeah, lets do that 5 semitones higher".
I've never heard that terminology on a gig either. It's always "Can we take that down a step?" or "Can we play this in Bb?"
Granted, I gig in the US and we don't discuss quavers and semi-tones. Also, I have to stop and think really hard about how many semi-tones are in a particular interval because I've purged that from my memory. It doesn't matter.
Thats correct and since it was all classical training i applied my theory to Blues, Jazz,, rock, funk, to include bands like Skynyrd, Zep, Bruford, Weather Report, King Curtis, Motown, Stax, AC/DC, Free, Cream, Stevie Wonder, Floyd, Muddy Waters,etc etc. And players like Stanley Clarke, Michael Manring, Marcus Miller Monk Montgomery, Steve Swallow, Nathen East, Carol Kaye, Chuck Rainey, Tim Bogart, Jack Bruce, Larry Graham Jerry Jemmott, Cliff Williams, John Paul Jones, Keith Ferguson, Preston Hubbard, Tommy Shannon, .
Learning something is easy, applying it is the hard part. What i have learned and understood over the years as to what defines a bass player is how he or she thinks and applies what he or she knows knows.
Good bass playing and bass lines is about making the right choices about what to play from what you know for the situation your in.
Sure we can play the sh** out of something and use all the tricks, information and technique we know, but that does not make it right or even better. The very people we are playing to do not understand music, the know what the like and don't like and there options are good or sh**( rather than like or dislike) only the small few in this world that are musical can make the decision of like or dis-like.
I played some Hadrien Ferud to my niece who is 20yrs old and asked her what she thought. "thats sh**, why do you listen to this wierd stuff, what wrong with good music like The Feeling" was her reply.
If i played for bands whose whole purpose and intent was to make music for musicians i would be poor. Take a concert of say 100,000 people, i think you would be lucky to find 5% that understood the music they were listening to. With a potential 95% of that audiance loving it and wanting to buy the music, merchandice, etc that where the money is, not in being musically clever to impress the 5%.
Its how you apply it that matters not how you arrive at the conclusion...thats your business.
And once again I'm reminded of why I never took music theory too seriously. A two day argument about whether the interval from C to A is rightly called a minor third or three semi-tones? What a complete waste of time. Nobody anywhere in the history of humankind ever made better music because they called it one thing instead of another.
No, you're right. Although, while this conversation has been beyond ridiculous, I don't see why having an intense interest in how music works is bad.
Its not an argument, the points were made and settled long ago. It seem some people don't get the points being made or have an dislike of music theory and seem to think that being childish is the way to post answers. I am laughing away at some of the idiotic proposels put here. I can see in my minds eye, them standing at a record store counter with the "20 greatest rock songs ..ever album" arguing that its not LOL.
It's all a matter of perception on the same thing.
I've played gigs where people talk in scale degrees, others intervals, some semitones and some simply note names "we'll take it from F to G... ok, now we'll try it in A...". Likewise when learning a riff on the fly sometimes I'll get the info as notes, sometimes as simply frets, other times have it shown to me. I'll tell them what works best for me to learn and they'll communicate what works best for them to explain. Somewhere in that we find what works for both and we'll go from there and play.
What this all points out that in order to be a good musician who plays with many, many other ensembles you need to be flexible and adapt to the situation at hand. I don't think I would have gotten too many more gigs or had my name and number passed around between other musos if I'd argued the semantics of naming an interval at a gig at every turn because I'm being stubborn about it.
Different strokes for different folks. If you know what each other are talking about, then it (almost always) doesn't really matter.
I've played gigs where people talk in scale degrees, others intervals, some semitones and some simply note names "we'll take it from F to G... ok, now we'll try it in A...". Likewise when learning a riff on the fly sometimes I'll get the info as notes, sometimes as simply frets, other times have it shown to me. I'll tell them what works best for me to learn and they'll communicate what works best for them to explain. Somewhere in that we find what works for both and we'll go from there and play.
What this all points out that in order to be a good musician who plays with many, many other ensembles you need to be flexible and adapt to the situation at hand. I don't think I would have gotten too many more gigs or had my name and number passed around between other musos if I'd argued the semantics of naming an interval at a gig at every turn because I'm being stubborn about it.
Different strokes for different folks. If you know what each other are talking about, then it (almost always) doesn't really matter.
But this all started from someone who didn't understand what a relative minor was and the answer was to go 3 semitones below the key or root note.
Answering "3 semitones" or 3 half-steps or 3 frets get the job done. Answering " a minor third" assumes knowledge not in evidence, i.e.. that E2dagurl knows what a minor third is. If she did know what a minor third was, no harm no foul.
/thread
Answering "3 semitones" or 3 half-steps or 3 frets get the job done. Answering " a minor third" assumes knowledge not in evidence, i.e.. that E2dagurl knows what a minor third is. If she did know what a minor third was, no harm no foul.
/thread
The easiest way to do it is just follow two easy patterns on your bass.
Start at C on the A string (No #'s) then move up a fifth to G (1 #)
If you move up a fifth you get D (2 #'s) on the seventh fret of the G string. But instead of playing it on the G play it on the A string. Which is technically moving down a fourth.
Keep this pattern going. Start at C move up a 5th then down a 4th up a 5th then down a fourth as you move up the neck you can count the number #'s in that key from 0 at C to 6 at F#
Then for fourths just do it backwards. Start at C on the seventh fret (No flats) . Move up a fourth then down a fifth then up a fourth then down a fifth. This will bring you back down the neck. You can count the number of flats as you go. 0 at C to 6 at Gb
Thats all I bother taking from the circle of fifths and fourths a convenient way of determining key.
Start at C on the A string (No #'s) then move up a fifth to G (1 #)
If you move up a fifth you get D (2 #'s) on the seventh fret of the G string. But instead of playing it on the G play it on the A string. Which is technically moving down a fourth.
Keep this pattern going. Start at C move up a 5th then down a 4th up a 5th then down a fourth as you move up the neck you can count the number #'s in that key from 0 at C to 6 at F#
Then for fourths just do it backwards. Start at C on the seventh fret (No flats) . Move up a fourth then down a fifth then up a fourth then down a fifth. This will bring you back down the neck. You can count the number of flats as you go. 0 at C to 6 at Gb
Thats all I bother taking from the circle of fifths and fourths a convenient way of determining key.
