Rob MacKillop

Good. I've created a Study Group for the book here: Please have a read and join in if you can.

This group is open to anyone interested in Danny Ziemann's book on harmony and the bass - either upright or bass guitar. Of course, having the book will be pretty much essential. I found my copy on Amazon, but hopefully they are elsewhere too. There is a PDF download on Danny's website: https://dannyziemann.company.site/Topics-in-Jazz-Bass-Vol-1-Harmony-PDF-p115962438 "Supplemental audio" can be found on www.dannyziemann.com - front page, just above the images of the book covers, for which you have to submit your email address. Note: There is no tab in the book. It is pretty much purely centered on Walking Bass. There is a second volume which discusses soloing, but it's advised we work through volume 1 first. If some of you have already started the second book, you might want to start a Study Group thread for that. The point of a Study Group is to have a few people focus for a while on one book or topic, to help each other out, no grandstanding, no competition, just a willingness to help each other improve. So, to get the ball rolling, here goes: The Harmony book starts with a harmonically simplified view of a major key. Instead of thinking of seven different chords - I ii iii IV V vi viidim - with all their related arpeggios, we can view it simply as - I V7 I V7 I IV V7 I - So in the key of G that gives G D7/A G/B D7/C G/D C/E D7/F# G. In Danny's Example 2c (page 9) I think he missed out a slash note. The 5th chord is G, but should be G/D? Pages 11 and 12 provide two patterns. Pattern 1 starts with first bass note articulating the scale: G in Bar 1, A in Bar 2, B in Bar 3. Pattern 2 has those notes up an octave, but displaced to the third beat of each bar. On page 10 Danny distinguishes them, Pattern 1 having the harmonic movement in the bass, Pattern 2 having the harmonic movement in the melody. This is something I'm not 100% clear on. I understand what he is saying, but I think the awareness of why will come through practicing the arpeggios. So, right now I haven't gone further in the book. I'm practicing the arpeggios on page 11 and 12, which is just the two Patterns in all twelve keys. Having a 5-string bass, I'm including the 5th string in possible versions. Once you see a couple of shapes for each pattern, it is of course easy to move them up and down the fingerboard. Playing in the open-string positions had me using my brain more - I've only had a 5-string bass for a couple of days. I've also glued the two Patterns together, but Danny doesn't ask us to do this. He might have his reasons not to, but I can't help doing it! He goes on to doing the same with minor keys, and then discusses some resolution issues with descending versions. But I haven't got that far yet, just getting accustomed to pages 11 and 12. So, anyone want to join in? Any comments at all?

Here’s a link to his two “Topics” books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Topics+in+jazz+bass&i=stripbooks&crid=2ICN4CIZC6MKH&sprefix=topics+in+jazz+bass+%2Cstripbooks%2C113&ref=nb_sb_noss I’ve just started on the Harmony book, which I find interesting right from the start. I don’t want to race through the books, just get things embedded as I go. If enough people are interested - say four or more - we could create a post called STUDY GROUP: Topics in Jazz Harmony by Danny Ziemann and people can chip in with thoughts, ideas, experiences, maybe record sound files and/or videos, help each other out. It’s a popular thing to do on the jazz guitar group I frequent.

Danny Ziemann is a world-class jazz bass player, both upright and bass guitar. He is also a first-class educator. I have his “Topics in Jazz Bass” books, Vol.1 on Harmony, Vol.2 on Soloing. I’ve just started Volume 1, and get a great vibe from it. This guy knows his stuff, and how to teach it. He has a further two books called “Low Down 1” and 2. It would be good if a few of us wanted to have a Study Group here on his books. You can see an introductory video to his course on Discover Double Bass here: https://discoverdoublebass.com/danny-ziemann I don’t play double bass, but Danny told me in an email his books are aimed at both instruments. I play a fretless Godin A5 Ultra, but any 4-string bass will do, fretted or fretless.

Will do, DS. Never heard of them.

Sorry to see you go, Hell, as I’ve just got to know you from your helpful comments and recommendations in a DB thread. I had a c.40-year career as a lute and historical guitar player, but due to illness I gave up a couple of years ago. The overwhelming feeling I had was one of relief! Finally, no more demands, no more stress! It was the best thing for me then. Now I’m turning to bass playing - something I’d always done on the side - and not in any professional sense, just for relaxation and exploration. May you be as happy in your new adventures as I am in mine.

Overlooked that. Thanks!

Thanks for all the quick responses. Much appreciated. Isn’t BC just for bass sales? Oh, I’ll probably use eBay, as I’ve bought and sold in the past, and have a 100% satisfaction figure (sounds rude!).

I have a few non-bass instruments I want to sell, and was wondering if people still sell on eBay, Reverb, or elsewhere? Which is the most reliable?

Yes, I noticed he had a 5-string bass. First string at C? Strathclyde Concertos - that's right. I saw the first performance of number 7. I loved it, but most of the audience seem to have lost the ability to move their arm muscles to clap at the end.

The Tiny Desk concert by Renaud Garcia-Fons starts with some radical bow playing. Thanks for the suggestion.

You guys are a great help. Thank you!

I’ve been making a list for myself, very similar to the above. This has, for me at least, been an interesting discussion. I’d like to hear more bowing too, irrespective of the genre. A bowed double bass is a most powerful sound.

I will, FF4, but with trepidation. I’m not a fan of looping. But I’ll give anything a chance.

Cheers, itu. Sounds like film music.

To my shame…no. But I’ll fix that 👍

Thanks, Hell! I’ll follow them up.

Oh, I’m a big fan of Charlie Haden - going back forty years. I’ll look out for the others. I like the DB concerto by Hans Werner Henze, and attended the first performance of the DB concerto by Peter Maxwell Davis. I like that area between contemporary classical and experimental jazz.

Really digging Anders Jormin tonight. A real antidote to the sliding harmonics brigade, with their array of sound controllers. Jaco was brilliant, a real revolutionary, but his influence is reaching a dead end - not his fault. I was in a conversation with a student of composition at an English University, and he was moaning that the composition teachers were more interested in texture than ideas. Similar situation. Give me an acoustic instrument like a DB or acoustic guitar. There’s a resonance that really reaches places electric instruments cannot reach. I know: what do I know 🤪 Each to their own. 😀

Will do!

Thanks for that, Chris. I just skipped through it just now as it’s past my bedtime, but I’ll give it a proper listen tomorrow. Sounds intriguing.

Yeah, that’s not going to happen. I’m happy doing what I’m doing. But I’m more interested in this thread about solo bass albums, what people listen to, or think of the genre, what to look out for.

Looks like there's a "Beatles Bass" behind it.

Then I know the shop. Pass it fairly frequently. Will give it a look. Not that I would consider buying it, even if I had the money.