Play what you sing?

[Chinchano]

I talked to a bass player and he told me when it comes to improvising, fills, etc that it's better to play what I sing in my head. Instead of playing a pattern and then deciding if I like it or not. Do some of you approach your playing that way? If so do you learn the basic progression and then sing it to yourself adding what you think sounds good to play?

 

[Mushroo]

Hi, are you saying you don't know what your bass lines will sound like, or whether they will sound good, until after you play them and listen back? If so, that is definitely a skill I would work on practicing a little bit each day.

A great exercise for practicing this skill is to listen to recordings of singers, and create "call and response" improv in between the lines of the song. So they sing, "Those falling leaves..." and you play "shoo bee doo be doop" and they go "drift by my window...." and you respond "beepy deepy deepy doodle" and so forth.

(edit) I realized I didn't answer your question specifically, about how widespread is this method of thinking: In my experience, yes, every great musician I've ever met has had the ability to visualize or "sing in their head" what they are about to play, before they play it, and evaluate whether or not the musical idea will sound good. This is a fundamental skill in any endeavor, for example successful athletes will often mentally pre-visualize their routines before an important competition.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

Mushroo is talking about is step two (or eight depending where you are now) IMO we all start out with pattern bass lines, i.e. R-R-R-R then R-5-R-5 then R-5-8-5, then start getting the correct 3 and 7 into the mix R-3-5-b7, etc. Step "2" is what Mushroo talked about. But instead of echoing the melody you play with the melody. I'm not there yet in that I'm not doing that in public, however messing around with Internet videos I've been know to give it a try.

Mushroo's use of Falling Leaves is a great example. I would have used Happy Birthday. You'll have more fun with Falling Leaves.

I play rhythm guitar in a band where the bass will hitch-hike on the melody; blending the ole root/five with melody and chromatic walks in his bass line. Again step two. Something to work toward.

Love to play next to him so I can watch what he is doing...

 

[Chinchano]

Thanks guys. I'm really just talking about improvising like solos or fills. As far as basslines I feel I have that down well but when it comes to adding flavor in things that's where the "sing in my head" before I play it slow me down.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

For fills or runs I look for bass clef standard notation on the piece and get an idea from that. Course finding bass clef standard notation on the Classic Old Country and Praise songs I play is hit or miss. I've purchased several Praise song books just for this reason.

"The Best Praise & Worship Songs Ever" by Hal Leonard has the bass clef shown. The Best Praise & Worship Songs Ever: Piano, Vocal, Guitar: Hal Leonard Corporation: 0073999338843: Amazon.com: Books Look for something that says it's for piano and guitar. That should bring up the bass clef with chord names also shown.

 

[LM Bass]

Yes, always.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

You need to watch this

 

[Bassamatic]

I have never had serious bass lessons, so all the theory, patterns, scales, etc. is far above me.

However, I have been playing since the 60's and I play what is in my head. I hum bass lines all the time - with or without music playing - and then play them later.

 

[MrLenny1]

Work off the melody, use that as a starting point then improvise
on that.

 

[Kim Jong Funk]

Watch YouTube videos of Richard Bona (who rules), and you will often see him singing whatever he's playing. In interviews, he says if he can't sing it he can't play it. It takes practice to actively do that, and a solid command of interval knowledge, as well. Much harder than just running patterns up and down the neck.

 

[Chinchano]

Watch YouTube videos of Richard Bona (who rules), and you will often see him singing whatever he's playing. In interviews, he says if he can't sing it he can't play it. It takes practice to actively do that, and a solid command of interval knowledge, as well. Much harder than just running patterns up and down the neck.

I bet! We get so used to patterns on bass that thinking another way takes some real work and patience.

 

[1stnamebassist]

Sometimes I listen to songs and sing what I think would be a good bass line for the song. I don't ever recall trying to play what I have sung but I don't think it would be too much of an issue. Maybe I'll give it a try sometime!

 

[Hahaha]

The old saying is that you should play what you hear, not hear what you play. That simply means that you should hear an idea in your head and know where the notes are to play it, rather than play notes from the scales or patterns that fit the chord and hear what they sound like after playing them.

What I did at the outset to train my ear was simply play the root of any scale, then place my finger on an interval without playing it, sing it, then play it to check my accuracy. After a short while I could hit any of the chromatic notes and know what they sounded like. I then moved to singing two or three note ideas and playing them, and moved to more and more complicated ideas over time.

It's not the most fun thing to work on, but it's very rewarding to be able to hear an idea and instantly know how to play it without having to search for the notes. It boils down to memorizing the sound of the intervals.

 

[Kim Jong Funk]

It's not the most fun thing to work on, but it's very rewarding to be able to hear an idea and instantly know how to play it without having to search for the notes. It boils down to memorizing the sound of the intervals.

Listen to this guy right here.

Practice root to b9, root to 9, b3, Maj3, IV, #4/b5, etc. Then practice going the opposite way: root to V below, root to IV below...

Associate it to a song, perhaps. Root to IV sounds like the beginning of "Here Comes The Bride." Root to VI is the opening line of the Star Wars theme, etc.

Pick out a nice fill that you like (nothing to crazy for starters), and then figure out where the intervals go. Pino Palladino uses 1->6->5->9 fairly often, for example.

 

[Chinchano]

Thanks fellas