putting it all together.doc

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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Whenever I work with a student interested in improving their technique, I like toutilize playing exercises that use actual musical components, such as scales orarpeggio forms. Using this method, a player is able to further develop his/her ear byassociating the shapes played in each exercise with a particular sound that can beused in a variety of musical contexts. In other words, they are learning to associate aparticular visual cue with an auditory one. Most players who have been playing for a

while have already begun to develop a comfort zone based on familiar shapes andpatterns that they have worked on in the past. However, we cannot count on theseshapes and patterns alone to expand our ability to express ourselves on ourinstruments. Memorized patterns are simply a starting point in our development asplayers. They are really nothing more than structures that assist us in recalling aparticular sound that is compatible in an harmonic environment. Subsequently, if welearn the pattern only, but dont learn its sound and function, we are only becomingfamiliar with its structure on the fingerboard. Personally, I like to think of patternssolely as ear training devices. We learn how a particular set of notes sounds orfeels as we repeat it over and over again in exercised form.

Our freest form of musical expression on our instrument occurs when we are notthinking mathematically about what to play, or recalling a shape that we havememorized; instead, it happens when we finally abandon all thinking, and allowwhat we are feeling to influence the notes we choose. Obviously, this is quite anidealistic goal to try and achieve if we dont take the time to recognize what notes orphrasing methods accurately reflect our feelings! So, the challenge then becomeshow to connect our shapes and patterns with a spontaneous and honest form ofmusical expression. The solution is very simple in concept, but it takes a significantamount of time to master: Let WHAT YOU HEAR guide what you play. Statedanother way, it can be summed up like this: Work at making EVERY possible

combination of notes, shapes, sounds or patterns so familiar to you that you are ableto predict the sound of any note BEFORE it is even played.

This is where our technique practice using musical components comes into play. It isnot enough to simply memorize the pattern, itself. We need to learn the SOUND of thepattern. For example, lets say we were going to play a one octave C major scale in anexercise, playing the notes ascending and descending as shown in Ex. 1:Ex. 1

Fig. 1 shows a shape we might use to play this exercise for 4 string, 5 string, and 6string bass:

Fig. 1

As you play Ex. 1, notice that it has a particular sound and character to it. This is thesound of a one octave major scale, and if we were to simply move our hand position,we could likewise play another major scale starting on a different root note. Eventhough our placement and the actual pitches played would change with our hand


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position, the tonality and basic sound of the exercise would remain the same, inaddition to the pattern, itself. Now try playing Ex. 1 again, but this time try singingalong with the notes as you play them. If you have heard a major scale played severaltimes before, you may already be familiar with its sound, and as a result, are alreadyable to sing this exercise without hearing it first. If you are not as familiar, try tomemorize the actual sound of the scale, using the exercise to help you learn thesound of each individual note. Youll want to work this to the point where you can singit or hear it in your head without the help of your instrument. This is a very simple

implementation of the concepts I had presented earlier. From here forward, use anyand all patterns you learn as ear training exercises, as well. The more complicated theexercise, the more challenging the ear training becomes, but it ultimately results in aplaying approach that does not sound like you are simply piecing together severalcompatible patterns and exercises.

Now that you know how to practice technique more effectively, lets continue withsome workouts for your hands based on a slightly more elaborate version of our basicmajor scale pattern. For this lesson, we will use a reference fingering for the Ionianmode, which is the major scale pattern based off of its root. In order to extract asmany notes from a single hand position as possible, we are going to use a three note

per string approach for each of the following exercises. The fretting hand fingeringsfor these patterns on 4, 5, and 6 string bass are labeled on each fret block diagram inFig. 2a-2c:

Fig. 2a

Fig. 2b

Fig. 2c

For this lesson, we will present 3 different types of exercises that utilize this 3 noteper string approach. (Each example shown is for 4 string bass, but you can applythem to 5 or 6 string bass by changing your starting position and adding as manynotes as necessary.) As you practice each one, remember to keep your hand positionand fingering as shown in Fig. 2.

1. Ascending/Descending in a single positionThis is the most basic of the exercises, but it takes on a new level of difficulty whenwe follow strict 1-2 alternate picking with the plucking hand in both directions. In thisexample, we start with the lowest pitched note in the pattern (the root of the G Ionian


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mode) and play through the pattern to its highest note. We then descend through thepattern back to the root and start over again. Ex. 2 shows this exercise applied to a 4string bass, starting at the 3rd fret, E string. Plucking hand fingering is providedunderneath the staff. (For the fretting hand fingering, refer to Fig. 2a-2c.)

Ex. 2

The plucking hand alternate fingering is probably the most challenging part of thisexercise. Most of us have a tendency to rake the strings on the descending portion.(Raking is when the same finger is used to sound 2 consecutive notes.) As I hadmentioned earlier in a previous article, try not to rake at all when you are workingwith exercises that call for strict alternation. This way you will develop fullindependent control over both techniques and will be able to always choose the bestapproach for each situation.

2. Sub grouping scale fragments in a single positionSub grouping is when we break down a larger form or pattern into smaller pieces thatcan be played or approached individually. In the case of scale patterns, it is helpful topractice playing smaller fragments in order to break away from a purely linear way ofrehearsing, such as shown in Ex. 2, above. Ex. 3 demonstrates a way of sub groupingthe notes in our G Ionian pattern starting with a 2 note grouping and then increasingthe size of each fragment by one note as the exercise progresses. This continues inan ascending and descending fashion until the complete 3 note per string pattern isplayed ascending and descending at the end of the exercise.

Ex. 3

As the exercise moves along, pay close attention to the sound of each sub groupingas they get larger and larger, until ultimately you reach the top of the fingeringpattern and then descend back down to the root. Now put your bass down and look atthis exercise again. See if you can sing the exercise without the help of your bass.Look closely at the shape of the exercise on the staff. Notice how the placement ofthe notes on the staff visually parallels the step-wise movement of the pitches onyour fingerboard. Its okay if you cant see this right away. It takes some time to be


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able to sight sing effectively. But now you hopefully see how to make theconnection between sight and sound, and as a result, your practice efforts will bemuch more fruitful. You will start to hear this type of scalar movement on your own asyou work through other types of shapes and exercises. As in Ex. 2, dont ignore theplucking fingers strict 1-2 alternation as you work through these sub groupings!

3. String skipping in a single positionString skipping exercises involve scalar movements that do not move across adjacent

strings, as is the case with Ex. 2 and Ex. 3. Instead, they require us to make jumpsacross wider string distances with both the fretting and plucking hands. This approachpresents its own set of challenges, however. For example, it is harder to deal withplucking hand string muting when the hand is busy hopping across the strings. Thebest way I have found to deal with this problem is to utilize a movable anchor with theplucking hand. (You can get more information on this if you will refer to my August,2001 article.) You will also find that it is slightly more difficult to achieve consistencyin tone when your plucking hand is having to reach farther distances to pluck certainnotes. Crossing strings requires a slight change in hand position, and you have tocompensate for this change in feel. Ex. 4 demonstrates one way of using stringskipping to play through our G Ionian scale pattern.

Ex. 4

Notice that each consecutive 3 note grouping corresponds to a single string takenfrom our 4 string scale pattern in Fig. 2a. In other words, in Ex. 4s ascendingmovement we first play the 3 notes from the E string, followed by the 3 notes fromthe D string, followed by the 3 notes from the A string, and then finally the 3 notes

from the G string. The descending motion is simply the reverse. Once again, strict 1-2alternation from the plucking hand is of utmost importance in this exercise in order tofurther develop consistent and accurate plucking hand technique.

As with all technical exercises, you want to start very slow and then move your wayup to more challenging tempos. Take care not to allow yourself to become carelesswith any of the fretting hand fingerings or plucking hand alternation. Your disciplinewill pay off immensely. Also keep in mind that these 3 examples are just a tinysample of the countless ways in which you can expand your approach to practicingscale patterns. If you are already familiar with the rest of the major scale modal

fingerings, you have probably already figured out that you can apply these exercisesto them, also. For the purposes of this article I wanted to choose examples that wereeasy to play but also unique enough to inspire some hybrid approaches of your own. Ihope that they have opened some doors for you and have helped to add somethingfresh to your practice routine. Obviously, these approaches shouldnt end with themajor scale. You will want to expand your practice routine to include other scales andforms in all positions on the bass neck and in all keys. Finally, allow me to stress onemore time how important it is to sing these exercises as you learn them! Yourdisciplined technique practice, combined with your attention to ear training willcontinue to bring you closer and closer to mastery of your instrument.

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