Notes From A Bass Guru (Vol. 20, Nov. 11)

"Orchestration Tips For Bass"

A full orchestra is one of the largest and most astounding and epic things the human ear can pick up. But, what most do not know is that to compose music for such a large body of varying instruments is actually a science unto itself entirely! Orchestration goes well beyond simply designating parts to certain instruments or groups of instruments. One must learn to use instruments to compliment instruments that you would like featured, and then take it another step and narrow it down to using some instruments to bring out many varieties of colours as well. As you can tell, each type of instrument brings about colours and textures and timbres all of its own, and then in combination with other instruments, it will take on all new worlds of colours. It is up to the composer to select the instrument that is at the centre of the desired effect, as well as the more difficult task of selecting the complimenting instruments to strengthen what is happening. In this way, all instruments are supporting instruments. But how does bass play into the big picture?

First, one must look at the individual instrument's qualities on their own. A bass has a relatively quiet and powerful range to it, also a limited range. This limited range is very important, as the bottom range alone can only be reached by certain instruments, and not very many. Also, if the lower notes of the overall chord the orchestra is producing is wrong, the whole piece will be in shambles. A bass in the orchestra is best used as a bottom end supporting instrument for this reason: because it can and was designed for this ability. But a supporting role does not stop in this very quaint and simple area. A supporting role must make everyone sound better than they really do, and also bring out the best in all instruments that it supports. Great bassists in all genres, styles, and groups must be able to handle this task! In the orchestra, the bassist must fill in the lower piece of the puzzle as well as bring out the best colours int he instruments playing higher parts than it.

Next, we must look at what other instruments can handle the same range and how they can effect the bass. We have the bassoon in the woodwind section, and the tuba in the brass section. A rule of thumb is that strings and woodwinds have the strongest relationship of all combinations of groups. They just mix so easily, in fact, they mix the best of all! So the bassoon and bass will blend extremely well with little contrast in colour. Just as well, the brass and string sections blend least well, creating much contrast between colours. Brass is the least versatile section in the orchestra, and they are usually used in loud and powerful segments, so the mixture of bass and tuba will be overwhelmingly powerful unless it is meant to be that way. You would generally be very careful in mixing the two, especially if the trombone is already backing the tuba to begin with. In that case, give the bass a different part or rest it. Tuba and trombone can be very very strong and to add the bass will blow the whole low end sky high!

To mix bass with brass, the best choice would be to mix it with french horn, as the horns are the best bridge instrument between the strings and brass. Horns are delicate and poetic as are strings, and they relate best between the groups. If you want to mix bass and the trumpets above or the trombones below, it is best to try to relate to the horns first, and by doing this, bass can colour the trumpets nicely. You will also get a nicer, fuller sound!

Some more tricks with woodwind mixtures are also apparent! First you will want to note that to always back the bassoon all the time can be a bad idea when the bassoon is already doing the job in those situation where the woodwinds are playing alone. Try not to overshadow the bassoon, just let it do its job if the low end is too strong! What you can do though is play a part below or above it slightly to fill in space! Or even play a simple counterpoint line off of the oboes! Mixing with oboes makes for a nasally quality, so make sure this is what you want first.

Bass solos in an orchestra are rare, but when it does happen, it is best to quiet the accompanying parts. Brass can be too strong, so be careful in your employment of brass! Horns may work well to give it a slight brass flavour, and if you'd like some low end brass, use the trombone lightly. But the low end of solo bass parts would be best taken over by the bassoon, as it is a light bass instrument suited for light composition well. You can even designate a second contrabass part at the low end. The rest of the strings should be fairly quiet, if existent at all. The violins and violas may drown your bass solo, so give them a rest. The cello should have a lowend supporting part, if anything at all. And since woodwinds blend extremely well with strings and are delicate, you can be more liberal with the use of those! Just keep it soft.

Now strike it up maestro!,

Mark McAnaney

Notes From A Bass Guru (Vol. 19, Aug. 11)

"Building Technique"

Unless you've been in a coma your whole life, you know that to become a great player, you need to have crisp technique and a full bag of tricks. Everyone who has ever played an instrument knows that some techniques definitely come easier than others. How then can you build your reportoire further?

First off, it can very well be your approach to practicing the technique. If you tend to practice very dryly, just doing your technique in question over and over again until you're blue in the face (and red in the fingers), you will only achieve frustration and boredom. The best way to practice is in a musical way. Throw yourself into a song, an improv will do! When you hear the music in your head, and you come to a part where you feel the new technique you want to work coming right at you, THEN do it! You need to develop technique out of neccessity, not out of technique itself. Let the music teach you! You use technique, never let IT use you!

Think of it this way: In ancient China, several styles of martial arts were developed out of need, because clans and dynastys were constantly at war with one another and people in certain clans wanted to have an advantage over their adversaries. Martial arts were developed out of NEED for them, and so should your techniques that you use to play!

Another way to think of it: Whenever you exercise, be it for strength, flexibility, speed, weight loss, mass building, or endurance, you can never meet your goals if you do not tailor your exercise program to your desires. You need to specifically see yourself as being what you want to become in order to figure out how to get there. Once you are working out, your body has to adapt to what you're doing to it out of need to get itself through the workouts you are doing. Notice, you never once told your body to do anything, you are simply exercising and letting your body do the rest!

I remember a time in my life where I was lucky enough to meet the great Victor Wooten, and at the time I was working very hard on his style of double thumping. I was very very close, as I could do it in short bursts, but it wasn't quite there yet. I talked with him on it and he simply told me a new way of what I thought I knew already, and his advice was to practice it in a musical way (which I always have), but the one way of practice I was missing was that I shouldn't be gearing my practice specifically toward technique, but to the music itself, and when I hear the sounds that this technique will produce, THEN go for it and it will come much easier! He made me think, "all this time, I've been practicing musically but not musically enough, because just having a technique in mind isn't enough. You need to do it because you feel and hear it, and because you need to!" I went home that night and played for endless hours, and it came to me within maybe two days just like that! I had to NEED it, not only want it!! Before that day, I had forgotten the true meaning of "practice in a musical way.' It is a very pure meaning! ALWAYS put the music first, the rest will fall into place! Whatever you hear in your head will make it happen easier!

After all, an oak tree has DNA, the instructions for building a tree. How then, does an acorn know how to grow into a tree without thinking at all? It grows an entire tree because the instructions are there already! The acorn really doesn't have to do anything but what nature intends! So the musician should do what music intends in the same way!

Technically Speaking,

Mark McAnaney

Notes From A Bass Guru (Vol. 18, Jul. 11)

"Music Is An Art, Not A Sport"

After much reflection on my own music career, I remembered an earlier time where music was 100% all about how amazingly technical I can make it, and how technical aspects and music theory were the only real focus of the piece. Speed was very important, as well as technical wizardry and in a nutshell, wankery. I just simply could not understand many musicians I've met that had no desire to learn more and more theory and gain mastery over their chosen instrument. I failed to understand how artists with little to no musical intelligence can manage to release songs that became huge international pop sensations overnight, yet me and many other musicians study endlessly and practice ruthlessly and are barely noticed. All of the practicing, studying, and striving to be the top virtuoso the world's ever seen before never quite held a candle to those thumping, digitally based, theoryless, barely at all musical pieces that have been selling millions of copies out in that cold music world. I realized eventually, that music had become a sport to me, and I've totally lost the art.

I would practice the toughest kind of drills possible to make, I would seek out and read and absorb nothing but the best of books on music and bass, and was always so hard on myself during practice. Others just simply sit down at a computer one day and crank out electronic beats and sing something catchy, and they have a mega hit! Me on the other hand, the best I'd usually get were a room full of compliments about my prowess and musical knowledge, and would even be delighted at answering multitudes of other musician's questions! No hits though, I'm still waiting for that.

Another thing I'd notice, is that when I'd have the luxury of having a listener tell me they loved a particular song of mine, it would always be one of the somewhat simpler ones. Everyone always seems to love the most atmospheric and even catchy ones, yet I have many other songs that are miles ahead in terms of playing ability and complex uses of theories and techniques. So why is this?

I've used one of the words twice already, that is "catchy." What makes a song catchy is its feel, its groove. I have been keeping a tight groove, but when the piece is written in a complex time signature just for the sake of it being a tough time signature, then why do it? Most people do not listen to music for the purpose of seeing fretboard gymnastics for the entire show front to back, they want to enjoy it! They need to feel it! Now here's a question, can you write an insanely technical song that captures everyones attention, even the non-musicians in the crowd (which are the overwhelming majority)? Yes! Absolutely you can! I have done this, but only in more recent times, because I realized later that the song can be very technical and tough for you to play, but it HAS TO STICK TO A FEEL THAT THE AUDIENCE LIKES! If the audience has to pay attention very hard, like you are a professor teaching a music class, and they have no interest in learning and only for listening and letting themselves go, then you will manage to bore them anyway.

The musicians in the crowd will love you for your high skill, that is very true, but there will come a point where the musicians in the crowd will find you to be just a showoff and very vain and soulless if your music contains little more than wankery. Even the most intelligent musicians want to enjoy the art of music, not only the science. An advanced musician balances both very very well. For many years, I thought of myself as a master musician because I had all the technical aspects of my instrument that I cared about at the time very tight, and I knew very very much about music, but still I was not a master, as I had lost the art. I became more of a musical technician, moreso than a musical artist. At this point, I've come to a point in my own musical journey that many do, and that is that you should learn all there is to learn, and master it, and then just play first and foremost! Use your knowledge to make better music, not more athletic music! Use theory to create atmospheres, neat grooves, nice melodies and vamps, and to be able to tie everything together even on the spot, and remember, it only has to work, not be way over the top every single second!

Proof that this is true comes right from the very music industry we all as musicians have come to hate. The hits are released according to a formula, which is no longer a secret! That formula is easy to figure out, and most true musicians are purposely avoiding it while being in total denial that such a formula actually works. I hate to admit it, but such a simple formula as this is working to put many artists on the map that are not even really musicians, only good instruction followers. I urge all musicians to improve upon this formula, because the formula is obviously what the people want, so toss in what the true musicians want, trim it to formula, and hopefully this cranks out hits for everybody!

Heres the formula: 1) steady beat (groove) throughout. If you want to change it up, change to a similar one or really build into it, do not just jump into another time signature without setting it up or without reason to do it. 2) Establish and keep a mood/feel throughout, if you want to vary it up, gradually do it, do not choose too many moods for one piece. After all, if you make your piece sound bipolar, the crowd will just find it crazy. (bad joke..) 3) Catchiness! Tie this into the groove category, make it something even your dog can follow without too much trouble. 4) If you use lyrics, make them memorable, if you are of the instrumental nature, write memorable lines that people will be caught onto when it comes back. Repetition and the ability to predict when this catchy line will happen again are a must! Read number four again!

I am not saying that music cannot be written any other way, but if you want your next song to take off it would be wise to implement some of these hard proven formula tricks into it. Virtuosity will get you endless compliments, but only on your skill, and it will be very hard for anyone in the audience to be able to remember exactly what you played. Giving people what they like naturally will make you unforgettable. The next trick from here, is to add some of that skill to the formula, then everyone will see you as a great musician and you will be appealing to everyone. That is the art of music. The art of creating appealing sounds!

Forever grooving,

Mark McAnaney

Notes From A Bass Guru (Vol.17, Apr.11)

"Hindu Scale"

Among the many kinds of scales and modes, I've come across Hindu scale. The flavour of sound you will get from this is almost self-explanatory based on its name. You will get a rich ethnic Hindu sound, great for Indian flavoured music! The best part of this is that it is very easy to learn in that it is very similar to the common major scale (Ionian mode). The only difference is that Hindu scale has a flat 6th and 7th. Thats all! All of the other steps are the same as a major scale/Ionian mode, except that the 6th and 7th are flattened!

Here is a picture of the pattern for the mode:

Interval pattern= Root, Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole.

It seems almost too easy! But, you have to play it with care! You will need to really play those flattened 6th's and 7th's hard and poetically! DO NOT just play them as passing tones or they will lose all of their flavour! Literally ALL of this scales power lies in the flat 6 and flat 7! If you play those as quick passing tones and don't give them special attention, it will just come out sounding like a slightly off major scale. Build your lines off of the flat 6th and 7th, use hard bends and hammerons and pulloffs between them in the middle of your lines. REALLY work those special notes hard! Use of major flat 6th chords are also nice and work well with this kind of flavour! It is all about those special tones!

Yours in Krishna,

Mark McAnaney, Solo Bassist

Notes From A Bass Guru (Vol.16, Jan.11)

"Soloing"

You're at that point in a song where it's time to show your stuff! Also, the pressure is on because you are about to draw in more attention than before, and all eyes and ears are on you. It is up to you to remain interesting enough to hold the listeners' attention and also to keep in harmony with the rest of the ensemble. Your arsenal should be armed with plenty of tricks, but also you should know when less is more and how to add more color to any situation you are in. Here are some tips for just that:

Keep your place, first and foremost! If you get lost, remember that most songs are played in two, four, or eight bar lines, so you are never far from a new phrase beginning!

Play the right notes, and by this I don't mean it in an obvious sense, I mean play the notes you hear in your brain! You are sure to come up with a logically resolving phrase this way. And if you know your scales and modes, you will have more confidence in yourself when it comes to choosing correct tones, as your ears and musical mind will be more in harmony and you will understand more about tone resolution to begin with! When all else fails, move to the tone your ears naturally want to go to.

Keep mind of the chord progression of the song itself too! Listen to the rhythm section, you can choose your notes based on what they are playing. Also, borrow a few licks from any other melodies going on while you are soloing, you may even be able to create a counterpoint melody line as a solo! Point is, LISTEN to the song going on around you, your solo is not just about you!

Use repetition and sequence, it is natural in all music and people are more likely to acquire an interest in something they can remember. Keep your repeated parts catchy and memorable.

Use chord tones to begin and end phrases with. They tend to resolve very nicely and make for powerful lines. Our ears naturally hear chordal tones before any other tones, they just stand out more because they are more closely related to the key tone. This idea is harmonically stable, thus, pleasant and logical!

More tricks to employ to make your soloing interesting:

Use varying dynamics (loud, mid, soft), use the full range of your instrument (high, mid, low), use accents and articulaction and syncopation, hold some notes, use rests, vary up your rhythm, tension and release, find out where any cadences (melodic and harmonic endings) are and employ them, create themes, emphasize powerful and/or pretty tones (7ths, 9ths, #4th, 11th, 13th, for example).

Finally, make your solo go somewhere, never just randomly spin off into your own world and fade away, make it draw to a grand conclusion. It is great to fade and come back strong for effect and variance but, it is best when a solo continues to build up to a climax!

Happy Shredding!,

Mark McAnaney, solo bassist