Perfect! That's exactly what this video is supposed to be about. While making it, I discovered some things about my own tendencies as well that give me food for thought and fodder for practice.
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Double Bass New jazz bass video tutorial series
Perfect! That's exactly what this video is supposed to be about. While making it, I discovered some things about my own tendencies as well that give me food for thought and fodder for practice.
Great video Chris,
I like the book chapter format - really works well with this theory-heavy type of video. Very thorough and i lliked it when you took time to expand on the written text with extra little insights.
I would have liked to hear you play the examples against a chord track. I think the consonance/dissonance would be easier to hear.
You should post this over on the bass guitar instruction thread. As this edition is mainly theory it could be applied to BG really easily. I bet the guys over there won't know what they're missing.
Many thanks,
Looking forward to your next posting.
I like the book chapter format - really works well with this theory-heavy type of video. Very thorough and i lliked it when you took time to expand on the written text with extra little insights.
I would have liked to hear you play the examples against a chord track. I think the consonance/dissonance would be easier to hear.
You should post this over on the bass guitar instruction thread. As this edition is mainly theory it could be applied to BG really easily. I bet the guys over there won't know what they're missing.
Many thanks,
Looking forward to your next posting.
Thanks for the feedback! I thought about that, but then thought that I might just obscure the bass by putting a chord track with it.
As a moderator and site admin, i try to be really careful about not trying to appear spammy in regard to posting about the series, so I try to keep my comments to this thread (as I would ask other posters doing the same sort of thing to do). Other members would be free to share anything that they find pertinent on the other side, though.
So far, the feedback on the theory format has been pretty positive. If that continues (and I hope it does), then I could see doing quite a few more videos like this. On the one hand, I hate to make the videos so slow, long, and long winded, but on the other, there's a lot to be said for going into things in depth, which I don't see a lot of in online educational material. I think that now that I've figured out how to include video time links in the description that drop you directly to a particular place in the video when you click on them, this longer more in-depth format might actually be viable and serve both audiences. Time will tell!
One thing interesting about hearing someone else approach the different methods for playing lines is you can hear how busy it is. It's not a nit pick on the video but just an observation. If there isn't a lot of contour then the line sounds really busy. Is there's too much contour it starts to either sound bland or too nebulous because it doesn't outline the changes well. I'd like to see you do a future video looking at ways to not just get this stuff under your fingers, but how you apply it to a playing situation, esp with a soloist.
I find that repeating notes or even pedaling in places during a solo does a lot to help create a groove that develops tension with an eventual release by the soloist. That's what's so great about doubling notes. I also like to cop Milt Hintons walking sometimes - he creates a rocking feel and just bounces between two notes. An alternate way to double up.
Certainly one thing that I find lacking among all the videos being created for bassists as a whole, there isn't much dedicated to interacting or locking with other players. Techniques and strategies to lock with the drummers time, a compers chords, or ways to interact with the soloist. Food for thought, maybe a future video series?
I find that repeating notes or even pedaling in places during a solo does a lot to help create a groove that develops tension with an eventual release by the soloist. That's what's so great about doubling notes. I also like to cop Milt Hintons walking sometimes - he creates a rocking feel and just bounces between two notes. An alternate way to double up.
Certainly one thing that I find lacking among all the videos being created for bassists as a whole, there isn't much dedicated to interacting or locking with other players. Techniques and strategies to lock with the drummers time, a compers chords, or ways to interact with the soloist. Food for thought, maybe a future video series?
Huy - no worries. Nitpick away! It's the only way I'll learn something new. I think of all of this stuff as basics to be mastered and transcended much in the way that grammar and syntax are an underlying part of language that we no longer think about when we speak. Interacting with other musicians is conversational and requires an intuitive and fluent grasp of language. Just as a child cannot fully engage in conversation on an adult level because of limited vocabulary and experience with symbolic language, it's difficult for a beginning player and a master level player to have a conversation that is equally satisfying for both. But as learning players, we can all work to improve our language skill sets much in the same way that athletes become better at their skills by highly targeted exercise. That's the idea, anyway.
I think the ideas for videos about interaction are really good, and I hope to get to those at some point (would be fun to do a couple of bass and drum videos with Mike Hyman). But for now, I want to try to keep covering basics to build up to that so that the series allows for a progressive experience.
On a more conceptual level, where I'd like to eventually get with the walking line material is to cover enough of the nuts and bolts (like those covered here) to allow the series address what I feel happens when lines become more advanced: the advanced player outlines more strategically, and is not bound to a literal version of the changes like a paint by numbers picture. Rather, they understand the basic story or plot and engage in creative storytelling , maintaining the essence of it while rewriting and elaborating the details (that's my take on it, anyway). In the next video with the analyzed bass lines, there will be some discussion of how some of the more advanced lines were created by internally reharming the changes - omitting some of them, changing others, superimposing material across the sections with static harmony, etc. I'm not sure I can completely explain all of it, but I can give it a try! And of course, all of this is just my own take on it and isn't guaranteed to be "right"; it's just what I hear and understand right now. Ask me again in 10 years....
I think the ideas for videos about interaction are really good, and I hope to get to those at some point (would be fun to do a couple of bass and drum videos with Mike Hyman). But for now, I want to try to keep covering basics to build up to that so that the series allows for a progressive experience.
On a more conceptual level, where I'd like to eventually get with the walking line material is to cover enough of the nuts and bolts (like those covered here) to allow the series address what I feel happens when lines become more advanced: the advanced player outlines more strategically, and is not bound to a literal version of the changes like a paint by numbers picture. Rather, they understand the basic story or plot and engage in creative storytelling , maintaining the essence of it while rewriting and elaborating the details (that's my take on it, anyway). In the next video with the analyzed bass lines, there will be some discussion of how some of the more advanced lines were created by internally reharming the changes - omitting some of them, changing others, superimposing material across the sections with static harmony, etc. I'm not sure I can completely explain all of it, but I can give it a try! And of course, all of this is just my own take on it and isn't guaranteed to be "right"; it's just what I hear and understand right now. Ask me again in 10 years....
Hi Chris,
First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your videos. I recently purchased my first upright, an Eminence 5, and I am wanting to make this my primary instrument. (It sounds great through my rig, and it fits into our space-limited practice/jam studio.)
I am currently studying your first three videos, and they have enabled me to get up to speed reasonably. What I like most is your emphasis on the core muscle groups. I practice and teach taijiquan with my wife. We teach similar principles of opening chest, and then sub-sequentially transferring the motion starting from the shoulder, to the elbow, to the wrist and fingers. (Now I can tell her I am practicing taiji and bass at the same time.)
I hope you'll allow me a suggestion, here. A lot of the newer music instruction book/CDs split different instruments across the two stereo channels (e.g., bass in right channel, other instruments in the left.) You may have already thought about this, and maybe you have other technical constraints. But I am sure I am not the only one who finds this type of effect quite useful.
I am looking forward to further study of your material. Hope to catch up to your most current production in the next month or so.
Thanks again for your well-produced and well-considered videos.
Cheers,
Jeff
First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your videos. I recently purchased my first upright, an Eminence 5, and I am wanting to make this my primary instrument. (It sounds great through my rig, and it fits into our space-limited practice/jam studio.)
I am currently studying your first three videos, and they have enabled me to get up to speed reasonably. What I like most is your emphasis on the core muscle groups. I practice and teach taijiquan with my wife. We teach similar principles of opening chest, and then sub-sequentially transferring the motion starting from the shoulder, to the elbow, to the wrist and fingers. (Now I can tell her I am practicing taiji and bass at the same time.)
I hope you'll allow me a suggestion, here. A lot of the newer music instruction book/CDs split different instruments across the two stereo channels (e.g., bass in right channel, other instruments in the left.) You may have already thought about this, and maybe you have other technical constraints. But I am sure I am not the only one who finds this type of effect quite useful.
I am looking forward to further study of your material. Hope to catch up to your most current production in the next month or so.
Thanks again for your well-produced and well-considered videos.
Cheers,
Jeff
This is exactly what I needed to get me out of my rut (when it comes to walking the A section to Rhythm Changes)! It's great when you think you understand how something works and then all of sudden something/someone makes you look at it in a different way and you realize what you actually were doing was, for lack of a better word, wrong.
Chris, I can't begin to express my gratitude for these videos. They are all very well produced and have helped me get back into the swing of things since I've come back to the Double Bass after my 7 months hiatus.
Chris, I can't begin to express my gratitude for these videos. They are all very well produced and have helped me get back into the swing of things since I've come back to the Double Bass after my 7 months hiatus.
You're most welcome, and funny, but most of these core muscle concepts came to me through two seemingly unrelated sources:
1) 4 years of Piano lessons with an amazing woman who was half my size but had twice my sound:
2) 4 years of intense Aikido study while still a pianist, which got me thinking about how the same thing was going on in both areas. My recent (and recently ended, due to repeated injuries related to age) studies in Shaolin Kempo and Jiu Jitsu have only reinforced this.
That's a good thought. I don't want to split the channels, but as long as the videos are indexed, I don't see why I couldn't repeat some examples in the future and put piano chords and maybe even soloing over the top to show how they might work in context.
Ant_C - I wouldn't worry about "wrong", just maybe instead think of this stuff as another perspective.
Have been getting some suggestions here and elsewhere about how to make improvements in the future. I like the idea about hearing some of the lines in context - the more I think about it, i think that could be a really useful thing to demonstrate from time to time. But rather than split the channels, I think I'll overdub some piano lines onto some of the bass lines that end up getting built by various methods.
I've been working on the bass line examples vid today and just recorded a piano overdub for the fast rhythm changes line from the intro to the last video. I think it really shows some important things, like how the line is still more about time and feel once the listener's focus is no longer centered on the bass line as a series of notes, but rather as a flow of feel, contour, and momentum under the piano line. Plus, I've long been fascinated by those wonderful Jacob Collier videos where he overdubs various parts in audio and video so you can see and hear them being played. For the line examples video, I'd like to experiment with little two part versions of that - maybe with the bass line alone first, then with a piano line dubbed over the top.
For now, I'm attaching the MP3 of the fast rhythm line with the piano overdub, which I think will be the intro music for the upcoming installment. Thanks for the ideas!
I've been working on the bass line examples vid today and just recorded a piano overdub for the fast rhythm changes line from the intro to the last video. I think it really shows some important things, like how the line is still more about time and feel once the listener's focus is no longer centered on the bass line as a series of notes, but rather as a flow of feel, contour, and momentum under the piano line. Plus, I've long been fascinated by those wonderful Jacob Collier videos where he overdubs various parts in audio and video so you can see and hear them being played. For the line examples video, I'd like to experiment with little two part versions of that - maybe with the bass line alone first, then with a piano line dubbed over the top.
For now, I'm attaching the MP3 of the fast rhythm line with the piano overdub, which I think will be the intro music for the upcoming installment. Thanks for the ideas!
Chris,
You are a good man. I stumbled onto one of your videos last night. Not sure how I missed this, I plan on going through them this week. What a great resource.
Pete
You are a good man. I stumbled onto one of your videos last night. Not sure how I missed this, I plan on going through them this week. What a great resource.
Pete
Thanks, Pete. Am working on the examples video now, trying to work out some logistics. Hopefully it won't take too long!
The new video is finally done:
I took the advice of a lot of folks and included contextual playing examples in this one, so all lines are performed once in solo bass format, then after the analysis in duo format either with piano or with a bass solo over the top (doing these "Jacob Collier-style" video overdubs was very challenging, but also a lot of fun!). The timestamps under the video will forward the video to each particular topic as well. I'll copy the topics here for informational purposes:
0:00 Walking bass line audio intro (Rhythm Changes at Q=308)
0:52 Spoken introduction
3:50 Introduction to the Confirmation intro line
4:06 Solo performance of Confirmation intro line
5:00 Analysis of Confirmation intro line
15:20 Duo performance of Confirmation intro line (with piano)
16:07 Introduction to the Confirmation outtro line
17:40 Solo performance of Confirmation outtro line
18:25 Confirmation outtro line analysis
27:17 Duo performance of Confirmation outtro line (with piano)
28:00 Introduction to the Rhythm Changes intro line
29:00 Solo performance of the Rhythm Changes intro line
30:23 Analysis of the Rhythm Changes intro line
42:32 Bass duet performance of the Rhythm Changes intro line
44:02 Spoken conclusion and looking ahead
I took the advice of a lot of folks and included contextual playing examples in this one, so all lines are performed once in solo bass format, then after the analysis in duo format either with piano or with a bass solo over the top (doing these "Jacob Collier-style" video overdubs was very challenging, but also a lot of fun!). The timestamps under the video will forward the video to each particular topic as well. I'll copy the topics here for informational purposes:
0:00 Walking bass line audio intro (Rhythm Changes at Q=308)
0:52 Spoken introduction
3:50 Introduction to the Confirmation intro line
4:06 Solo performance of Confirmation intro line
5:00 Analysis of Confirmation intro line
15:20 Duo performance of Confirmation intro line (with piano)
16:07 Introduction to the Confirmation outtro line
17:40 Solo performance of Confirmation outtro line
18:25 Confirmation outtro line analysis
27:17 Duo performance of Confirmation outtro line (with piano)
28:00 Introduction to the Rhythm Changes intro line
29:00 Solo performance of the Rhythm Changes intro line
30:23 Analysis of the Rhythm Changes intro line
42:32 Bass duet performance of the Rhythm Changes intro line
44:02 Spoken conclusion and looking ahead
Just finished watching this. Took me all day with interruptions. A lot of great, summarized info here, and I think the multimedia presentation does a great job helping me hear the theory musically. Great contribution! Can't wait for the next one!
Thanks, Tom. After meeting you at the camps, I think I can safely say that the material presented in this video likely doesn't have a lot of new information for your purposes, but I hope there was a thing or two of interest. At this point, since I'm being allowed to use this series as an exploration of the new order of "publishing" with regard to my job at the university, the work plan for the series is to begin from the ground up and cover the material from my applied bass syllabus in rough order of the way the basic skills are listed. Soon the very basics will be covered and the series can move on to more intermediate/advanced topics as well, and there will be more freedom to cherry pick topics of interest.
Hi Chris…
Sat. morning and I am working through your great video… I love this stuff!
Hopefully this is constructive, What I am finding frustrating is trying to play the examples on my bass. I have to pause the video and play 2 or 3 lines and then hit play and wait for you to scroll down, then hit pause again to continue the form.
Maybe this was meant more as a lecture format rather than something more interactive.
If you could post the pdf's I could then work through the examples at my own pace.
Again, can't thank you enough for posting this series, just offering my 2 cents!!!
Sat. morning and I am working through your great video… I love this stuff!
Hopefully this is constructive, What I am finding frustrating is trying to play the examples on my bass. I have to pause the video and play 2 or 3 lines and then hit play and wait for you to scroll down, then hit pause again to continue the form.
Maybe this was meant more as a lecture format rather than something more interactive.
If you could post the pdf's I could then work through the examples at my own pace.
Again, can't thank you enough for posting this series, just offering my 2 cents!!!
50bass - I hear you. It was intended as the demonstration portion of what will hopefully eventually be a book/video collection. For now, the plan is to put the transcriptions from this video together with the text/examples form the previous one PDF format, and offer them as a PDF download on my website. These will be free, but I'm waiting for my website redesign to be completed so i can keep track of downloads. Hopefully I'll have all of this stuff together soon!
Hello, I am new to the DB and have watched all your currently available videos. I have thoroughly enjoyed them and have learned a great deal. I have played BG for years so a lot of the Theory material I understood but being new a lot of the technique is currently out of my reach but I am working on it. I have a question for you or anyone who is kind enough to answer. One of the things I am struggling with is left hand position and in particular my thumb. It seems I start out with it in the proper shape as if I am holding an orange as you describe but as soon as I start doing any shifting it always seems to end up pointing straight up which is putting a great deal of stress on my left hand. Is there a practice drill or technique to help this or something I should concentrate on to eliminate the problem. I am not quite sure what the culprit is. My bass seems very well balanced against my body and I don't find myself holding it up with the left hand. I also have a difficult time playing with no thumb at all put when concentrating can play with very little.
Thanks
Thanks
Hi Mr Ralph, here`s some recent discussion about left hand:
How do I "use the weight of my arm" to finger notes?
How do I "use the weight of my arm" to finger notes?
Love your vid Chris. It is so good and so comprehensive. Well done!
