wal4string

[quote name='SisterAbdullahX' post='1072231' date='Dec 29 2010, 10:36 PM']...And how lovely does Tom Barney's ESP sound?[/quote] Thanks for that, I never knew either.

Andy Fraser was still a teenager when he wrote and played bass on this classic Dad Rock track. I have included a howto guide to the high riff. This how Andy Fraser plays it, infact its the only way on a 4 string. Not 100% as the record but everything is there.

The 1975 track from the band War. A bit of fun to start the week. Always makes me smile anyway. Here is a uTube link to the track. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUT46ZR5CC8&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUT46ZR5CC8...feature=related[/url]

James Jamerson's bass line of Bernadette by The Four Tops. No jokes about throwing bills on the fire please. (Burn a debt)

From the Alanis Morissete album Jagged Little Pill. Flea tunes his bass down a semitone which is quite common, but a bit of a pain if really, as in this track where the song relies on playing the odd open string, so simply playing down a fret is not the answer. So to avoid the need to tune bass down a semitone I have written the part up and retuned the track instead. The You Oughta Know.zip is the MP3 of the recording so music and transcription now in same key. Forgive me if it sounds a bit phased. [b]Note.[/b] You will need the transcription and the zip file to play along in the same key.

I am sure the following has already been covered by the Major but I will put my thoughts forward. When it comes to starting to learn reading music and knowing where the notes are on a bass it can often be a case of over looking how logical everything is. I would suggest to begin by learning the one octave scale of C major, a finger a fret with no open strings. Play the scale in what is known as the 2nd position, this is when your 1st finger is placed over the 2nd fret of the bass. To play the first note of the scale play the C using your 2nd finger on the 3rd fret on the A string (the 3rd string, 2nd thickest one) next play the D with your 4th finger on the 5th fret on the same string. The next note E is played with your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the D string. The F your 2nd finger on the same string and the G your 4th finger on the same string. Move up to the top string and play an A with your 1st finger, then play a B with your 3rd finger and finally an octave C with your 4th finger. If played correctly and your bass is in tune you should be able to hear if right by hearing the Do,Re,Me etc. scale. Practise until you can play this even with your eyes closed and remember the note names C,D,E,F,G,A,B and C. Now when completely comfortable with the above play the same scale of C again only this time start in the 7th position, first finger over the 7th fret, now play the scale of C again with exactly the same fingering as in the first exercise, 2nd finger on the 8th fret of the E string (bottom/thickest string). What you will play are the exact same notes as you played in the first exercise and if both exercises where written down/transcribed they would look identical. Also practise playing from the top note down. When it comes to learning notation and how to remember what the lines and spaces are, forget every good boy deserves a favour etc. The staff consists of 5 lines and spaces and if a note to be played is higher or lower than this range then what is known as ledger lines are used. So as a starting point remember if a note is written on one ledger line below the staff, this is the note of E, your open bottom string on the bass. And a note written on one ledger line above the staff is a C. This is also the same octave C in the above exercises, the C played with your 4th finger. There are only 7 note names to remember and they are A,B,C,D,E,F and G. So if we where to write down the notes on a staff knowing that an E is written on one ledger line below an F is written underneath the staff a G is written on the bottom line, an A in the next space up etc. When it comes to learning notation and syncopation I remember looking at the bass line for Whole Lotta Love by Zeppelin and seeing how difficult it looked transcribed even though easy to play, I then found very similar syncopation in other pieces and with a bit of work was soon on my way. Don't get me wrong it is not always easy but it is always enjoyable. I hope this little nugget helps and just remember its not rocket science and if you get half as much pleasure playing as I have then you are in for a good time.

[quote name='bobbass' post='993775' date='Oct 19 2010, 04:03 PM']Here are a few I've taken down, not all finished but enough in there. [attachment=61787:P_Y_T.pdf][/quote] Thanks for the uploads.

Macca on form here playing melodic bass to a tune which is very simple but with the added time signature changes not so. Of course only for educational purposes only. Wow! Just watched a video on uTube closely [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1Y3PlmwnRM&NR=1"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1Y3PlmwnRM&NR=1[/url] and its George on bass and my transcription is wrong, rather than a hammer on he is playing a slide for the D to E and A to B, the same as John Paul Jones does on Ramble On etc.. Doh!

Many Thanks.

Fagen goes Latin.

[quote name='civictiger' post='1026155' date='Nov 16 2010, 06:11 PM']Okay, so im looking at this piece of music, and im unsure how this is actually played. I did some research, and basically its the opposite to Staccato if I am correct, whereas stacatto is where the note is played for shorter than the physical note.. and vice versa with this being longer, not shorter.. now this makes so sence to me, as surely it would just be a note with an added tie note to increase the value? the only other explanation I can think of, is that once staccato is played, this then tells you to stop playing staccato on that note from the point it is written, much like accidentals carry on for the end of the bar unless there is a natural symbol to tell you to stop the accidental values any info on this point would be really useful for me.[/quote] To my knowledge it means to play the note for its full value, the same as a horizontal line written above the note, thats how I have always played it and never been told I was wrong.

[quote name='Simon' post='1025819' date='Nov 16 2010, 01:14 PM']This is available directly from my site: The Bassment?! [url="http://www.thebassment.info/artists/steely_dan.html"]http://www.thebassment.info/artists/steely_dan.html[/url][/quote] The file has your web address on the bottom of the pages. Great transcription. One I wish I had done. As I type this I see that 44 members have downloaded the transcription which shows not all are aware of your great site.

[quote name='Lenny B' post='1025377' date='Nov 16 2010, 12:26 AM']Nice work, great line - double thumbs-up![/quote] Thanks for the kind words.

Zep II classic John Paul Jones bass line. Yet another sight reading exercise as J.P. hardly ever seems to play the repeated phrases the same twice you really need to be aware of playing the notes as written and not presuming because it's gone before I can do that. The lines he plays after the guitar break are so right and sit perfectly, even though the use of panning was overdone (but it was 1969). If you have lived a sheltered life and have never heard this track check this utube audio [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3HemKGDavw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3HemKGDavw[/url] Bemused, I just checked the uTube link was working OK (which it is) and spotted the Red Hot Chillies cover of the song on the same page, I think Flea should be sent a copy of my transcription, need I say more? If this gets enough hits I will consider posting my transcription of "What Is and What Should Never Be" also from Zep II.

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='1024900' date='Nov 15 2010, 05:33 PM']I had a similar idea for an iPad - would work great sitting on your music stand. Never got round to do anything about it.. and I haven't got an iPad either! (And to be honest, I'd rather be playing than coding when I'm at home!)[/quote] No coding involved, just Sound Forge for the Audio, Photoshop for the images and Camtasia to produce the short movie to creat a web page with Flash playback controls. Maybe takes half an hour tops.

Thanks guys for the answers. I have learnt something new, I would just have gone to View/Properties. Just checked on a PC it's Shift/Alt+P. I have also started creating what I call an invaluable practice tool. I am sure I am not the first to do this kind of thing. Basically it's a file which plays the backing track/song while turning the pages of music automatically on my laptop. It's a shame the files are so large otherwise I would gladly share on Basschact.

Great list of songs, its just a shame some ar so hard to read.

[quote name='ped' post='1023019' date='Nov 13 2010, 11:43 PM']Did the fish bite your man hose?[/quote] Very good. Nothing wrong with my bass, it's great for learning scales. No, for some reason I can't upload the file. Correction, I can upload it but it doesn't appear.

Try playing your riffs at a slower tempo but with a metronome. Then slowly add BPM as you become more comfortable with your playing, this will make sure you keep good time/groove. I went the other way, first bass and then the flute, I was shocked when my tutor told me my timing was all over the place.

At last got the upload to work. No popping here, just gaffer taped thumbing. Except of course for the Intro/Outro. Different versions of this song, but its all here you might just have to juggle the bars to play along to your recording. Note: I will find it interesting to see how many downloads this receives compared to the Kid Charlemagne I posted.

[quote name='steve' post='1022675' date='Nov 13 2010, 05:41 PM']weird, it worked this time, must've been an eddy in the space time continuum. anyway, I gots it now, thanks very much [/quote] Possible, or, your Flux Capacitor was low on Gigawatts. Just a thought.

[quote name='steve' post='1022572' date='Nov 13 2010, 04:22 PM']I can't download the file for some reason[/quote] Not sure why, just tried it using Internet explorer, all is fine.