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She-Ra's Shed

#241
Tuesday's Log

Ear Training
  • Transcription - 60
    • Billie Jean by MJ
      • This is such a challenging bassline to play for some reason. Just this relentless driving rhythm. I probably just have to get it in my hand.
    • All About dat Bass by Meaghan Traynor
      • FUN was had here
    • Cold Sweat by James Brown
      • Only got the first part down. Will do the rest tomorrow

Electric Bass
  • Pentatonic modes - 3:00
    • Ab: consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional, matrix+directional+4-note

Notes:
  • I'm at 90 bpm on all the scales now, when doing just note-by-note. At 75bpm for doing 4-note stuff.
  • My fingers are sore. I am gonna take it a bit easy tomorrow. Plus I have a dentist so I'll probably only get to maintain.

237/10k
 
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#243
Wednesday's Log

Electric Bass
  • Pentatonic modes - 60
    • E: consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional, matrix+directional+4-note

Notes:
  • Dentist today for two fillings so I got home late and tired, so I took this opportunity to take it a bit easy (slower bpms and less practice) because I've been driving pretty hard for the past few days and my hands were sore.
  • I need to work/focus on my right hand technique a bit because these exercises have me moving in a weird way and I'm curling it too much at the top of a descending run, instead of moving the whole hand as it descends.
  • I also wanted to take a moment to reflect on the past month's worth of work: I've been HEAVILY practicing the pentatonic and its modes. And by heavily I mean nearly exclusively. There've been ups and down with it but I'm SO much more comfortable on it now. I'm definitely curious as to where these lessons with Anthony will take me but, I'm trusting him and just doing what he's telling me, despite my very strong desire to go through many many things. I won't lie and say it's exciting: it's often not. It's not boring, because, until now, it's been pretty challenging so there was always a difficulty curve that I was climbing. But yeah, I'm definitely getting my fill of pentatonic. Also, I will say my finger independence and facility has gone through the roof with these exercises - at least in comparison to before.
  • @instrumentalist Honestly, it was a LOT easier that I thought it'd be. It's basically a pattern repeated throughout the whole song and it doesn't change much. Nevertheless, it's silly fun to play!

238/10k
 
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#244
You might enjoy the song Crush by Jennifer Paige. The verse is pretty standard (although if you're working on basic timing and syncopation, could be good training) and the chorus makes good use of pentatonic walks. Also, bonus - it makes use of your five-string (albeit in a specific context, at a specific part).



I'm a fan. (Always liked that song, somehow, when I was young. I dunno, it just kind of works.)

Another song you might like in the vein of a "relentless driving rhythm" might be Hercules by Aaron Neville. I personally love this song and the bassline in it, and everything else, really, but this is also a great use of rhythm and pentatonics. This one is simple, but really grooves.



I'm DEFINITELY a fan. :D

Keep it up! I'm basically only here these days for your progress and Oddly's jam thread.
 
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#246
Thursday's Log

Ear Training
  • Transcription - 60
    • Hercules by Aaron Neville
    • Reaching 2 Much by Anderson .Paak
      • Only took out the first bit - tomorrow will do more
Electric Bass
  • Pentatonic modes - 30
    • E: consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional, matrix+directional+4-note

Notes:
  • Took the Yamaha to work today and I got to practice at lunchtime. I will not count that time as I'm mostly practicing in the lunchroom while talking to folks, so I'm not focused. But I am picking one thing and just working on getting it under my fingers absentmindedly.
  • Was very low energy and exhausted today when I got home. So I just did a short bass session.
  • Anthony had to cancel our lesson today - something came up. We will have to reschedule for another day.
  • @juggahnaught Thanks for the suggestions. Hercules is super fun to play. I took it out pretty quickly and just sat on it for a bit. It's satisfying to play. Crush is not really up my alley (but it is catchy! this is the first time I'm hearing it lol), but I'll take it out as well because that's always a great exercise.
  • @Stumbo You are right. I need to learn to pull back a little. I'm just overeager and that's difficult to keep in check sometimes.

239.5/10k
 
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#248
Friday's Log

Ear Training
  • Transcription - 30
    • Crush by Jennifer Paige
    • Valerie by Amy Winehouse
      • Wanted to get this down. I'll finish the Anderson .Paak song tomorrow
Electric Bass
  • Rhythm exercises - 10
    • SBL groove ex
  • Pentatonic modes - 30
    • Ab: consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional, matrix+directional+4-note

Notes:
  • So I did a purchase today: I signed up for the 26 Week Technique Accelerator Course from SBL. I don't know if it's worth it, but I've been wanting to take an in depth look at technique for a bit now, and thought this was the perfect opportunity. It has a 30 day money back guarantee, so I'll do the first three weeks and then decide whether or not to stick with it or drop it. If I do decide to go through with it, I'll write up a proper review so other people will get more information about it. I found little online that's actually informative regarding it. It works out to about $8 per lesson per week, so, price wise, it may end up being a great deal. The reason I was sold on it was that it propeses to walk you through a ready made curriculum that progresses in difficulty, and, being a relative beginner, I have trouble setting up a good progression for some of the tasks I'm tackling, leading to me feeling like I'm sort of spinning in circles not accomplishing much. This, like the lessons with Anthony, should be a nice move forward.
  • Took it easier again today. Played most of my repertoire today the whole way through not skipping any part of any song - I apparently know about an hour and a bit of music. Cool!

240.5/10k
 
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#250
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#251
Saturday's Log

Electric Bass
  • Repertoire - 60
    • You Never Can Tell by Chuck Berry
    • Black Tambourine by Beck
    • Back to Black by Amy Winehouse (relearn)
    • You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC
    • House of the Rising Sun by The Animals
    • Crosscut Saw by Albert King (relearn)
    • Hold On by Alabama Shakes
    • Come Together by some obscure inde band named The Beatles (relearn)
    • Knockin' on Heaven's Door by Bobby D
    • Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man
    • Purple Rain by Prince
Notes:
  • Still being a bit burnt out on the heavy exercising of the past month, today I decided to do a musical day. As it's not straightforward, dedicated practice, I'm not counting it for the full 5-6 hours I was on the bass today, I'll just count if as one hour. Anyway, I learned a ton of songs today (for me) and worked at getting them down. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say, man... I just love playing music.
  • Also, @juggahnaught - I take it all back, Crush is pretty darn fun to bop along to on the bass and, even if I normally wouldn't like the song, I totally enjoy it now. Especially the chorus. So thanks!
  • I have another funish day planned for tomorrow, but I am going to start bringing exercises back in.
  • I also have a treat hopefully for myself/everyone tomorrow, so stay tuned! I hope I can make it work.

241.5/10k
 
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#252
adudenamedruby said:
Also, @juggahnaught - I take it all back, Crush is pretty darn fun to bop along to on the bass and, even if I normally wouldn't like the song, I totally enjoy it now. Especially the chorus.
Click to expand...

It's funny, because at first, I kind of liked the song as a pop song but it was never my thing. Then, as I was learning bass, I rediscovered that song and now I really like it for the reasons you stated - big fan of the rhythmic interplay between all of the instruments. It's the classic 90s pop sound.

adudenamedruby said:
I'm sure I'm not alone when I say, man... I just love playing music.
Click to expand...

You can't see me but I'm grinning like an idiot right now. This is really what it's about!
 
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#253
Sunday's Log

Electric Bass
  • Rhythm - 30
    • SBL ex
    • Phrase shifting ex
  • Pentatonic modes - 2:00
    • Ab: consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional, matrix+directional+4-note
Notes:
  • Did more playing around today as well, running through everything I know for fun.
  • Today I had a bit of an... experience. I went to Long & McQuade to pick up a cable and popped by the bass section to see what was new since.... last week. Haha. Well, an FBass was new and it was $4.5k which is crazy! But I picked it up just to see what it was like. If I ever get a custom bass, I can tell you right now, it'll be an FBass. I've... it was... sublime. It was a work of art. It was like someone reached into my dreams and plucked out the most comfortable bass possible and put it in my arms. I don't know I could feel so good about an object. Anyway. I bought my cable and I left. The feeling of that bass is gonna haunt me. I might start a little savings project over the next four years or so and maybe put aside money for a custom bass? I don't know. I'm shook though.
Bonus:

I've been recently thinking about progress snapshots and how they're a nice thing to do every once in a while to look back on as I move forward in my bass playing. For my six months snapshot, I decided I wanted to work on one of my favourite songs, Preciso Me Encontrar, made famous by Cartola in '76. Becasue this video is meant to be somewhat representative of where I am in my bass journey, I did not practice before shooting it. I did not "compose" a solo beforehand. I did work out a bassline last night, when I sat down to learn the song. This was the second of three takes, not having played bass at all earlier in the day. I'm pretty happy with how it came out overall. I hope you enjoy.



244/10k
 
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#254
adudenamedruby said:
Sunday's Log

Electric Bass
  • Rhythm - 30
    • SBL ex
    • Phrase shifting ex
  • Pentatonic modes - 2:00
    • Ab: consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional, matrix+directional+4-note
Notes:
  • Did more playing around today as well, running through everything I know for fun.
  • Today I had a bit of an... experience. I went to Long & McQuade to pick up a cable and popped by the bass section to see what was new since.... last week. Haha. Well, an FBass was new and it was $4.5k which is crazy! But I picked it up just to see what it was like. If I ever get a custom bass, I can tell you right now, it'll be an FBass. I've... it was... sublime. It was a work of art. It was like someone reached into my dreams and plucked out the most comfortable bass possible and put it in my arms. I don't know I could feel so good about an object. Anyway. I bought my cable and I left. The feeling of that bass is gonna haunt me. I might start a little savings project over the next four years or so and maybe put aside money for a custom bass? I don't know. I'm shook though.
Bonus:

I've been recently thinking about progress snapshots and how they're a nice thing to do every once in a while to look back on as I move forward in my bass playing. For my six months snapshot, I decided I wanted to work on one of my favourite songs, Preciso Me Encontrar, made famous by Cartola in '76. Becasue this video is meant to be somewhat representative of where I am in my bass journey, I did not practice before shooting it. I did not "compose" a solo beforehand. I did work out a bassline last night, when I sat down to learn the song. This was the second of three takes, not having played bass at all earlier in the day. I'm pretty happy with how it came out overall. I hope you enjoy.



244/10k
Click to expand...

Good stuff. Smooth.:bassist::thumbsup:

I suggest sticking to below the 5th fret until the main vocal/melody breaks.
 
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#255
Monday's Log

Electric Bass
  • Pentatonic modes - 30
    • Ab: consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional, matrix+directional+4-note
Notes:
  • I started practicing today and felt very weird on the bass. After trying to figure out why, I realized that I hadn't noticed but my action had creeped up greatly. So I spent about an hour doing a setup: adjusting the truss rod, setting the string height (I may have set it quite low because it feels crazy (but does not buzz) - I did 3/32" like the Fender manual said), and adjusting the intonation. The bass feels SO much easier to play.... but I'm totally lost on it now. I also realized that my string spacing was off (the distance between E to B was smaller than the other strings - 17mm vs 18.5), so I readjusted my string spacing so they are now equal, but now my fingers don't travel far enough when going B to E. Haha. It'll just be a matter of readjusting over the next couple of days.
  • I'm heading out to a jam tonight to check out what's happening there. Just gonna go sit and listen, not taking my bass with me. If everything's seems good, I may take my bass next Monday.
  • Lesson set with Anthony tomorrow, so I am back to being excited about lessons.
  • @Stumbo, you're absolutely right. In this case, I purposefully chose to go up early because I wanted to solo for more than 10 seconds. After the main vocal breaks, there's basically one short verse and then it fades out and I wanted to have space to go from the solo back into the bassline. It did feel weird to go into a solo in the middle of the verse, however, and that's where I made that mistake which I tried to "cover up" by repeating it and then sliding up into a good note to resolve the dissonance.
244.5/10k
 
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#256
Tuesday's Log
  • Fretboard
    • Eb @ 90bpm - 10
    • Pentatonic modes - 1:00
      • @ 95bpm: consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional
      • @ 85bpm: matrix+directional+4-note
  • Technique & Dexterity
    • Bass Fitness - Part A - 15
  • Groove & Time
    • -
  • Theory
    • Notes @ 90-120bpm - 10
  • Genre Studies
    • -
  • Transcription
    • -

Notes:
  • Had another lesson today: covered methods to learn the neck/notes/instrument. Simple, but straightforward.
  • Also spoke to Anthony at length about practice routine. As a result, and after looking at how I'm going to have to start approaching practice, I'm gonna bring back the style of log that I used at first, but with a bit more clarity this time on how to split & attack things. By writing it down first and splitting it up this way, I can have a plan of attack for a very focused and dedicated practice session on any given day, regardless of how much time I have to practice, be it 30 mins or 3 hours.
  • I'm excited for the technique accelerator to start next week.
  • Last night I went to a jam session. It was interesting to say the least. It was a mix of jam/open mic night. There was a band that played, a lady on the uke, and then a bunch of jams as people would get called up. A few songs were called (Stormy Monday, Hound Dog, Summertime, some blues, etc). So while my repertoire is not hundreds of songs, I want to still be able to play along. Because of this, for a while, I'm going to add a "jam" component to my ear training where I just start playing along to songs I don't know, without stopping them, and try to figure out how to sound ok on it by ear so I'm better prepared. There's no jam next Monday but there will be afterwards. I'm ready to suck on stage and get totally lost. haha. We'll see what happens.
  • My head hurts from last night because I did a dumb thing and forgot my earplugs in my other jacket. It was too loud (why do people insist on setting the level for sound as if the place is totally filled and bodies are absorbing the sound energy when there's only twenty or thirty people in a room of two-hundred!?), even sitting way at the back. I will not forget my earplugs again. Also, I'm thinking of maybe getting some molded musician's earplugs. Hearing is our most important tool as musicians and I'll be damned if I won't protect it!
  • Chores and the lesson meant shorter practice time today.

246/10k
 
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#257
adudenamedruby said:
...I 'm thinking of maybe getting some molded musician's earplugs....
Click to expand...
Here's a post on my experiences purchasing custom molded earplugs:Hearing Loss and Ear Plugs

I recently came across some moldable silicon ear plugs called Mack's Pillow Soft Silicon Earplugs.

They stay soft and you mold them in your ear each time you use them. They're about the size of 5 stacked nickels. Very reasonably priced. Keep a pair in your car or wherever so you never have to endure too loud music or any type of loud sounds.

They do get grungy after awhile so you just throw those out and use another pair.

What I've found is that if I combine two of them for each ear they can be molded to cover more area and increase the db reduction.

I use them for sleeping. Very comfortabe. You don't even know their there. Changed my life. :thumbsup:
 
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#259
adudenamedruby said:
Tuesday's Log
  • Fretboard
    • Eb @ 90bpm - 10
    • Pentatonic modes - 1:00
      • @ 95bpm: consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional
      • @ 85bpm: matrix+directional+4-note
  • Technique & Dexterity
    • Bass Fitness - Part A - 15
  • Groove & Time
    • -
  • Theory
    • Notes @ 90-120bpm - 10
  • Genre Studies
    • -
  • Transcription
    • -

Notes:
  • Had another lesson today: covered methods to learn the neck/notes/instrument. Simple, but straightforward.
  • Also spoke to Anthony at length about practice routine. As a result, and after looking at how I'm going to have to start approaching practice, I'm gonna bring back the style of log that I used at first, but with a bit more clarity this time on how to split & attack things. By writing it down first and splitting it up this way, I can have a plan of attack for a very focused and dedicated practice session on any given day, regardless of how much time I have to practice, be it 30 mins or 3 hours.
  • I'm excited for the technique accelerator to start next week.
  • Last night I went to a jam session. It was interesting to say the least. It was a mix of jam/open mic night. There was a band that played, a lady on the uke, and then a bunch of jams as people would get called up. A few songs were called (Stormy Monday, Hound Dog, Summertime, some blues, etc). So while my repertoire is not hundreds of songs, I want to still be able to play along. Because of this, for a while, I'm going to add a "jam" component to my ear training where I just start playing along to songs I don't know, without stopping them, and try to figure out how to sound ok on it by ear so I'm better prepared. There's no jam next Monday but there will be afterwards. I'm ready to suck on stage and get totally lost. haha. We'll see what happens.
  • My head hurts from last night because I did a dumb thing and forgot my earplugs in my other jacket. It was too loud (why do people insist on setting the level for sound as if the place is totally filled and bodies are absorbing the sound energy when there's only twenty or thirty people in a room of two-hundred!?), even sitting way at the back. I will not forget my earplugs again. Also, I'm thinking of maybe getting some molded musician's earplugs. Hearing is our most important tool as musicians and I'll be damned if I won't protect it!
  • Chores and the lesson meant shorter practice time today.

246/10k
Click to expand...
1) I’d love to hear more about the log if you have a minute. I haven’t kept a log in ages, been wanting to start up again but need some inspiration! :)
2) I used to go to a couple bluegrass jams, and currently visit my local blues jam. I found each one has a culture and flow, and subsequently a list of favorite songs. But yeah, I’ve added a similar exercise to my practice. Put on a playlist, and try to hang on! It’s a great eye opener, and prepares me for some relevant and real world skills like subbing and backing guest singers.
3) totally agree on the earplugs! Stage (and venue) volumes are way too loud!
 
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#260
Wednesday's Log
  • Fretboard
    • Eb @ 90bpm - 20
  • Technique & Dexterity
    • -
  • Groove & Time
    • -
  • Theory
    • Notes @ 90-120bpm - 10
  • Genre Studies
    • -
  • Transcription
    • -

Notes:
  • Busy day today means no bass. :(
  • @Stumbo Thanks for that. I've been going through that thread for the past few days at work, actually, and there's wealth of information there.
  • @alanloomis1980 Would love to chat about log techniques, hear new things that may be useful, or help to offer the meager tips from what I've learnt over the past six months. I'd prefer to do it over DM, to keep the thread as clear as possible. I've definitely been thinking about doing a write-up on this stuff, what's worked, what hasn't and so on.

246.5/10k
 
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