Bass Log Sunday Feb 26th
Worked on the Maj 7th intervals for 5 string bass for about an hour. Not so easy, even with the chart Kai gave me. I made some headway and will soon be able to play it in all twelve keys. Unsure why its difficult to play in other keys besides E, but it is and will overcome that hurdle soon.
Saturday the 25th
Bass Marathon!
It was only Kai and myself with the drum machine for about 2 hours. The concept was to compose some chord changes with the pre-programmed beats, trade solos, then after a short while, add to or change the original structure. He said we could interrupt the song in the middle if a new idea came to mind. I had trouble keeping it together so Kai wrote out what we had come up with on the white board. That helped us both keep it together and easily change the form at will. After a time I was able to solo nicely (according to Kai) and keep the form on bass. He helped by reminding me to play a simple bass line over the form and to keep going back to it after my solos.
These are things I knew already but realized that I have trained myself to lean on the groove and the melody for the form and my bass lines. Bassists are supposed to support the melody and harmony in music, it's what we live for, but to go beyond that into the world of improvisational composition and soloing (they are deeply intertwined BTW) much more is required. What I found works for me is that I must first stick to the groove with simple bass lines then slightly modify the bass lines to outline the changes. When its my turn to solo, it helps to start with simple improv ideas and move to more complex stuff later. In this case there was no melody, a 2 bar (8 beat cycle) drum pattern and a set of chord changes. Good stuff indeed. Can use this with any band but will probably keep it short and simple at first, no more than 8 bars with a medium tempo groove.
Friday the 24th
Home sick with a touch of the flu and a head cold. *sniff*
Sat in bed with my bass and played whole tone scales using a new pattern for the ascending part of the scale. Have to remember to augment (hehe) these scales with different starting points and modification of patterns. Like use some alternate patterns like 1, 3, 2 or 2, 3, 1 or 2, 1, 3 etc. There is always something new to learn and master. Nothing is final in music study.
Thursday the 23rd
No band practice, keyboard player cancelled, the drummer and bass player were sick and the guitar players car was in the shop. Keyboard sub's car was also in the shop. Maybe next time. Might work on some very old Pink Floyd songs, pre Dark Side of the Moon.