Oh FFS. If you can play in one key you can play in them all. The pattern is the same. It’s just a matter of knowing when you can grab an open string and where the most convenient location of the next root note is.
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In all keys?
- Thread starter stratovani
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I used to practice in a similar manner. The one thing I did different is I put more weight towards practicing the harder keys. To me 5 or more accidentals is where it starts getting difficult. As a string player, I was used to playing in sharp keys, so I spent a little extra time studying flat keys.
But what about songs that only make sense to be played in the lowest possible position on the neck? 24K Magic, a crap song, is something the wedding band I played in would do often. you need open Eb notes, so I tuned down rather than play it all up higher on the neck. I did not want to get a five string. Bought one of those Digitech Drop pedals for random half step down stuff as opposed to retuning. We also played “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” which singers do in Eb up to the original F#. That one is easy to play wherever since it is synth bass I think.
If you’re getting the gigs you want, you’re doing it right. If you ever want to play a theater gig, or a cruise ship, you may have to reconcile yourself to the fact that you probably won’t make the cut.
Do what you love and love what you do.
Do what you love and love what you do.
Are you for real or are you just trolling us? I know this will probably sound harsh, but this is some of the dumbest stuff I've ever read, and I've read EVERY Harry Potter Book.
In all keys? Sure, and upside down and backwards while you’re at it. Seriously tho, it shouldn’t make any difference to the player... unless you have perfect pitch, it’s all just relative anyhow.
JeezyMcNuggles
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Yeah, me neither. Maybe when practicing scales and such. But, they're all the same anyway. It doesn't matter where you are on the board. It's the exact same thing. The strings are all tuned the same way. Not like a guitar that has one to throw you off when you're running down the strings. You do it once, slide up and do it again, slide up and do it again. 12 times. Then 12 times the other way. Pretty simple to me.
The key of F# is fairly common with Rock/Metal songs. It's a nice key where a combination of fretted and open strings can be used.
Judas Priest's Another thing coming and Whitesnake's Still of the Night are examples.
Patterns don't change. I rehearse all songs in two positions. One using open strings. One, then, using closed positions. The closed position form never changes. Only the location. And, taking cold calls or learning songs on the fly, any singer could call any tune in any key. Just learning two keys, I know em all.
Instead of learning things in other keys, I think a good exercise is to learn parts using as many open strings as possible. I think that can really stretch you because you have to think about playing the open string as well as figuring out how to stop them from ringing as if you were fretting it.
The opposite is also true. Trying to make closed strings sound open, and still using chord or scale tones built against open strings sound correct is a great exercise. Drop D tunes, for example. I play a 5 string, and do not down tune for songs like Velvet Revolver's Slither, for example.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
It's called knowing your instrument. Most jazz tunes are played in its original key, unless there is a vocalist. But it helps you get better.
It reminds me of a story I was told by an old auto mechanic. He grew up in Greece, and was taught by his father. When he was about 10, his father told him to get the spark plugs from an old diesel on the property. "But father, diesels don't have spark plugs". The father yelled at him and told him to do it. At the end of the day the son returned, and said, "father, I tore the entire engine apart to look, but there are no spark plugs".
"I know", said the father. "But now you know how to take apart and re-assemble a diesel engine".
It reminds me of a story I was told by an old auto mechanic. He grew up in Greece, and was taught by his father. When he was about 10, his father told him to get the spark plugs from an old diesel on the property. "But father, diesels don't have spark plugs". The father yelled at him and told him to do it. At the end of the day the son returned, and said, "father, I tore the entire engine apart to look, but there are no spark plugs".
"I know", said the father. "But now you know how to take apart and re-assemble a diesel engine".
Man this one times like, a million... I used to have a church gig and on Saturday we would play in one key and the next morning for the first service the singer would call the keys exactly like that! In jazz, with a few notable exceptions, it doesn't happen to me that much.
If you ever play a musical book, you probably read a song or phase in all keys, or at least play in just about all keys (including Cb).
I have Hipshot drop D tuners on my P Basses, and for some tunes, I drop it just to see things a different way. Pushes your brain in a way that doesn’t derail the tune at the gig, but it makes something you have done one way seem new. In the wedding band, “Superstition” was usually played in Eb. I dropped the D to get that sweet low open Eb. And while I don’t really like that song, it at least made it more interesting to play. And then when it was in E, a whole other experience.
Irealbook helps too for those on the fly key changes. Singer: “Can you play this song in this key?” Me: “Why yes I can [changes key in app].” : ) Singer: “[At the gig]Can you play “I Want You Back” a half step lower?” Me: “Really? A half step? Is that going to make this that much better for you?”
Or maybe there is key confusion and the tune starts, and no one knows what key it is because some people use “the first chord” as the key, and other people have hypertechnical opinions about what key a song should be. And everyone just sits on their hands except bassists and drummers because we can’t...just stop playing.
Irealbook helps too for those on the fly key changes. Singer: “Can you play this song in this key?” Me: “Why yes I can [changes key in app].” : ) Singer: “[At the gig]Can you play “I Want You Back” a half step lower?” Me: “Really? A half step? Is that going to make this that much better for you?”
Or maybe there is key confusion and the tune starts, and no one knows what key it is because some people use “the first chord” as the key, and other people have hypertechnical opinions about what key a song should be. And everyone just sits on their hands except bassists and drummers because we can’t...just stop playing.
I’ve never heard that advice, since first picking up a bass in 1988.
Transposition is easy on bass. There’s very little benefit to practicing in all keys. Just learn to transpose, generally.
It can be good practice on horns, and keyboards, because each key looks and feels significantly different on those instruments. But on bass, every key looks and feels almost the same. On the fly transposition in bass is as easy as pie.
Transposition is easy on bass. There’s very little benefit to practicing in all keys. Just learn to transpose, generally.
It can be good practice on horns, and keyboards, because each key looks and feels significantly different on those instruments. But on bass, every key looks and feels almost the same. On the fly transposition in bass is as easy as pie.
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I think the whole notion of playing a melody in all keys, in an instrument like the bass, is not the most effective exercise; a melody is made by the relation between its intervals, and not the note it starts from. I’d understand this on a piano or trumpet, but in the bass is just moving your hand along the fretboard.
What should be played in all keys are scales, arpeggios, while remaining in the same section of the fretboard. The idea is that chords come from the combination of scale notes, and they can be built by many scale combinations.
For example, while playing the F major chord you could complement your playing with notes from the scales of F major, Bb major, C major (and their relative minors) A minor harmonic, Bb minor harmonic, F# diminished, and so on, hence knowing your stuff, jazz or not, will make your playing richer, more interesting.
What puzzles me is effort to rationalize and express the self-made decision to limit the learning experience to the bare minimum...that, I fail to understand, specially in music.
What should be played in all keys are scales, arpeggios, while remaining in the same section of the fretboard. The idea is that chords come from the combination of scale notes, and they can be built by many scale combinations.
For example, while playing the F major chord you could complement your playing with notes from the scales of F major, Bb major, C major (and their relative minors) A minor harmonic, Bb minor harmonic, F# diminished, and so on, hence knowing your stuff, jazz or not, will make your playing richer, more interesting.
What puzzles me is effort to rationalize and express the self-made decision to limit the learning experience to the bare minimum...that, I fail to understand, specially in music.
I'm sure the Youtubes and the ole record bins are full of players who didn't work scales. I guess it's the difference between learning some songs and learning to be a musician.
