New Jeff Berlin Walking Bass book

[GwenOnBass]

A delay in delivery from the publisher because of the storm in the northeast means the books are to be shipped now-ish, according to an email update that went out Monday.

There's reading and there's sight reading, and always seem to me the two are different, but related skills. I recall Tom Tedesco gave us his take on sight reading (at MI). Being able to read the notes takes a back seat to reading the producer's intent, is what I recall he said. He demonstrated with a few bars of music, first played "as written," then played with producer schmooze. Tommy's lessons with us seem to me now more about managing business ....

 

[bobyoung53]

A delay in delivery from the publisher because of the storm in the northeast means the books are to be shipped now-ish, according to an email update that went out Monday.

There's reading and there's sight reading, and always seem to me the two are different, but related skills. I recall Tom Tedesco gave us his take on sight reading (at MI). Being able to read the notes takes a back seat to reading the producer's intent, is what I recall he said. He demonstrated with a few bars of music, first played "as written," then played with producer schmooze. Tommy's lessons with us seem to me now more about managing business ....

I'm not a very good reader, read when I was a kid on trumpet but I could play by ear too well and was lazy which was a bad combination but I think you have to be very good at reading to see beyond the written notes. I can still read but not sight read which is being able to read a sheet of music on demand and play it right the first time or at least with only a minimum of run through first. I know a lot of those good studio players could effortlessly read and give it their own style at the same time. If I were younger I'd practice it and try to improve but if I did that now it would only be for my own enjoyment. I actually was playing around with it a few years ago and should get back to it.

 

[GwenOnBass]

I'm not a very good reader, read when I was a kid on trumpet but I could play by ear too well and was lazy which was a bad combination but I think you have to be very good at reading to see beyond the written notes. I can still read but not sight read which is being able to read a sheet of music on demand and play it right the first time or at least with only a minimum of run through first. I know a lot of those good studio players could effortlessly read and give it their own style at the same time. If I were younger I'd practice it and try to improve but if I did that now it would only be for my own enjoyment. I actually was playing around with it a few years ago and should get back to it.

My older sister was a monster sight reader. She'd play symphony gigs cold (double bass, German bow). Improvisational skills are not unknown in the classical music world, but seems me they are not exactly prized. Interpreting what's written is how classical players land first chair IME.

None of those sight reading skills landed on me. It's just plain old sitting down and studying.

 

[GwenOnBass]

The Jeff Berlin print version is expected in Tuesday's post

 

[GwenOnBass]

The book's introduction concludes with

"The better you can play, the better you will express the art that is within you."
— Jeff Berlin

 

[ErikP.Bass]

I’ve really been enjoying the walking book and have been doing one line a week and it’s definitely paying dividends. I’m at Lesson 11 and and a bit stumped by how the line loops for the repeats. For C7 it starts on the first space C but ends on the B natural after the top line of the staff. I’m curious what folks are doing to loop this. I’ve played around with transposition but am still struggling to make it smooth.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Was making my way through the walking book nicely and put it on the back burner with the start of Ari Cap's 2021 Music Theory for the Bass Player cohort. Picked up JB's Bass Mastery reading course in late January, and follow these lessons parallel to the cohort material.

To my mild surprise I'm a better reader than I give myself credit for. The residue deposited by time on the old gray matter is flaking off, bit by bit.

Pre-ordered Ari Cap's The Pattern System for the Bass Player through her Indiegogo campaign. I believe I've enough time, and focus, for the cohort, the new book, and JB's reading course ... the Walking Bass study is going to be back-burnered for a while

 

[ErikP.Bass]

I just got to Lesson 17 in the walking book and bumped into a theory question. In what context/harmony does a m7(b5)9 exist? I realize anything is possible but I’m curious if there is a scale that this is derived from as most of the previous examples came from Locrian and used a b9. Thank you in advance for your guidance folks!

 

[SuperFunkyPete]

I just got to Lesson 17 in the walking book and bumped into a theory question. In what context/harmony does a m7(b5)9 exist? I realize anything is possible but I’m curious if there is a scale that this is derived from as most of the previous examples came from Locrian and used a b9. Thank you in advance for your guidance folks!

m7b5 exists in all 3 of the most used minor scales and is indicative that there is minor key harmony going on. The natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor all have m7b5 chords, with or without without the extension you noted.

If you harmonise out those 3 scales, you will come to clarity about m7b5 chords in minor key harmony. The really cool thing about minor scales is that the chords can be interchanged or borrowed between scales. You might use the Vdom7 from one as opposed to the Vminor7 from another, the bIIImaj7 from one or the bIIImaj7#5 from another, etc. minor key harmony is really hip.

 

[Bob_Ross]

In what context/harmony does a m7(b5)9 exist?

Your use of the "9" outside of the parenthesis makes me want to clarify exactly what chord we're talking about.
Do you mean a minor seventh chord with a flat five, and a flat nine or a minor seventh chord with a flat five, and a natural nine?

Presuming you mean the former -- which, for clarity I would write as m7(b5,b9) -- think about how you would spell that chord in root position.
Built on a C that would be C-Eb-Gb-Bb-Db ...which may not strike anyone as being immediately derivative of any particular common scale, but if you rotate it down a half step so that it's built on a B natural, and (arguably) maybe take some liberties with enharmonic spellings, it becomes: B-D-F-A-C
...which all come from a bog stock C major scale. It's essentially the diatonic chord built on the 7th degree of the major scale, and it (usually) functions essentially as a dominant chord, with strong gravitational pull back to the tonic.

If you actually meant a minor seventh chord with a flat five, and a natural nine, things get a bit more complicated.

 

[ErikP.Bass]

Do you mean a minor seventh chord with a flat five, and a flat nine or a minor seventh chord with a flat five, and a natural nine?

If you actually meant a minor seventh chord with a flat five, and a natural nine, things get a bit more complicated.

I did mean the minor seventh flat five with a natural nine which is why I was confused. I’ll have to map out the three minor scales to see if I find it in there I guess. I fully follow the flat five flat nine...at least I think I do.

 

[GwenOnBass]

That I'm following this conversation coherently scares me a little

 

[SuperFunkyPete]

I did mean the minor seventh flat five with a natural nine which is why I was confused. I’ll have to map out the three minor scales to see if I find it in there I guess. I fully follow the flat five flat nine...at least I think I do.

I think the extension to the IIm7b5 chord in two of those scales is going to be the b9, not the 9, confusingly...and I made a mistake, the II chord in melodic minor is a straight IImin7, not m7b5.

But for the VIm7b5 in the melodic minor scale, the extension is the 9, I think.

 

[ErikP.Bass]

Thanks @Peter Weil ! That helps to clarify where the chord is derived from. It sounds great against the m7b5 chord to my ears. iReal Pro didn’t seem to like it as a chord entry though...maybe it was how I entered it in.

 

[SuperFunkyPete]

Thanks @Peter Weil ! That helps to clarify where the chord is derived from. It sounds great against the m7b5 chord to my ears. iReal Pro didn’t seem to like it as a chord entry though...maybe it was how I entered it in.

I just tried it out in iReal Pro as well. Cm7b5b9 is not an option for entry!!! I checked on the forums. The program spits the dummy when you try it. Screenshot below...

I had a listen to the 9 as the extension on the IIm7b5 chord. It sounds fine. So whatever the theory is, the 9 as an extension to that chord works fine when it is a ‘II’ chord. Will try out the b9 against the IImin7b5 when I have a keyboard handy.

 

[ErikP.Bass]

The b9 on the chord is what I had been drilling in the weeks previously...so now they both sound good to my ear, just with a different resolution tendency. The b9 seems to want to resolve down to the root and the natural 9 seems to want to resolve up to the b3....at least to my ears. Good stuff!

 

[SteveCS]

...
The really cool thing about minor scales is that the chords can be interchanged or borrowed between scales.
...

Even more cool is that, in fact, nothing needs to be considered 'borrowed'. Since both the major and minor 6th and 7th are diatonic in the minor key, all of the chords that include those notes (ii°, ii, III, III+, iv, IV, v, V, VI, vi, VII, vii°, etc) are all also diatonic.

 

[grocker]

What books does Jeff have? And where can i get them?..

 

[bass12]

What books does Jeff have? And where can i get them?..

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[CallMeAl]

I’ve been eyeing this package for a while now and finally bought/ downloaded it today. Other than 3 attempts to get all the files into one PDF (in the correct order) for my iPad, it was pretty painless

I’ve been working with some of Jeff’s “sample” lines, namely the Bb blues and the Groovin’ High charts. (Some of the 99¢ downloads on the site.) As I’ve been absorbing them, I’m finding them to be very musical, and easy under the fingers. Very natural bass lines.

The final push was re-reading @BrotherMister ’s review (linked on post 4 of this thread). Comments like “being able to play over the same chord for 2 bars or more” and “stating the changes ridiculously well for the band” really resonated with me. So thanks for the review and the push, Brother!

Wish me luck!