Anyone do it this way?

[norvegicusbass]

When I am trying to learn a bassline from ear I sort of sing the bassline and make up words that fit the rhythm so in effect the bassline becomes the melody line and the words help with the phrasing. As you can imagine these songs often result in having wonderful tunes crafted by such masters as Jamerson, Jack Bruce, JPJ et al but bloody awful nonsensical lyrics. Anyone else do it this way? I think learning by ear is very difficult especially as my ears arent what they were when I was younger and picking out the bassline cleanly is very hard for me. I am learning Darling Dear at the moment and I am in the middle of crafting the lyrics which include a bit about a Hobbit going to the dentists! Unless there are easier ways to learn by ear my family have to put up with these bizarre utterences. What strategies have you used to aid learning by ear?

[dmccombe7]

Nope - afraid not.
Little weird.
Would hate to sit next to you at a gig - it would be funny though.
I reckon its not the strangest way to learn songs though. I bet someone else can come up with a weirder trend.

All best
Dave

Edited May 11, 2012 by dmccombe7

[MrTaff]

I can't sing so it wouldn't work anyway, but I've never thought of doing it like it.

[BassBunny]

I don't make up words but DO sing/hum the bassline when trying to learn something. It's a pretty classic way of doing it. But never words.

[MuckedUpFunkies]

Seems a bit of a weird way around things :S Best way I've found to train your ear to learn phrasing and pitching is by using other songs you know the key/pitch of as a reference. For example, you know the first note of "play that funky music" is E so by memorising it you know that when you hear that note its an E.

Edited May 11, 2012 by MuckedUpFunkies

[Len_derby]

It's not the way I do it, but it sounds like it works for you. It would be funny to see some of your words. We could do a 'guess that bassline' competiton.

For learning by ear I find that using reference tunes to work out intervals between notes is useful.
For example, In 'Somewhere over the rainbow', it's an octave leap between 'some' and 'where'.
Minor third (three frets), first two notes of 'smoke on the water' riff.
Major third (four frets) 'Kum by ah'.
And so on.
Works for me.

[EssentialTension]

My words are always something like dee-dah-didly-da.

[BigRedX]

Drummer I used to play with did this. Never noticed until we went into the studio and could hear him "singing" on the overhead mic tracks...

Luckily it wasn't audible with all the other instruments mixed in.

[BassTractor]

To me it seems like a bloody great way to do it. Have never tried though, but was taught to sing along with the different parts while studying organ pieces, to get a feel of the "breathing" of the themes.

best,
bert

[chrismuzz]

I don't do this to help me learn, but I do do it just to be a bit silly. I guess it does help me learn though!

[BassBunny]

Weird, an email from Scott Devine just popped up advocating exactly this.
[url="http://scottsbasslessons.com/improvisation/the-importance-of-melody.html"]http://scottsbasslessons.com/improvisation/the-importance-of-melody.html[/url]

[deepbass5]

Scatting whilst playing to drive the intervals home yes. Sing what you play has always been recognised as a good thing, but odd lyrics no, I would rather learn the actual song so I knew where I was.

[ras52]

I'd forgotten about this but now I'll try it. It was advocated by my piano teacher: apparently there's a standard set of words for the themes of all the Bach Fugues, passed down through generations of teachers!

[steve-bbb]

[quote name='norvegicusbass' timestamp='1336743785' post='1650336']
When I am trying to learn a bassline from ear I sort of sing the bassline and make up words that fit the rhythm so in effect the bassline becomes the melody line and the words help with the phrasing. As you can imagine these songs often result in having wonderful tunes crafted by such masters as Jamerson, Jack Bruce, JPJ et al but bloody awful nonsensical lyrics. Anyone else do it this way? I think learning by ear is very difficult especially as my ears arent what they were when I was younger and picking out the bassline cleanly is very hard for me. I am learning Darling Dear at the moment and I am in the middle of crafting the lyrics which include a bit about a Hobbit going to the dentists! Unless there are easier ways to learn by ear my family have to put up with these bizarre utterences. What strategies have you used to aid learning by ear?
[/quote]

you're in distinguished company - i seem to recall an interview where steve vai describes using a similar process with complex melodic lines

[AttitudeCastle]

Not with lyrics, but I do "sing" my parts and have words for different rhythms like slow triplet crochets are "Strawberry"

So similar I guess!

[norvegicusbass]

So I am weird, not great to be at a concert with, in distinguished company and the keeper of an esoteric knowledge shared by Bach scholars which is all a lot better than my wife and kids call me when I do it I think the lyrics sort of let me work out the correct number of notes in quick sequences where the syllables equate to the individual notes. When learning a piece I often get just an approximation to certain quick little fills which sounds ok but not quite right and most commonly this is due to missing out certain notes ( or even adding misheard notes ). Seems to work for me for difficult passages but I seldom do it all through a song just the tricky points. Incidentally I remember a tale of Paul Mcartney keeping a melody in his mind before he had proper lyrics worked out by way of some ridiculous song about scrambled eggs or something. Would have been a hit regardless.

[Bilbo]

[size=6]FREAK!!!![/size]

[size=6][/size]

[EssentialTension]

I've also used 'blankety-blank'.

[ras52]

[quote name='norvegicusbass' timestamp='1336822911' post='1651542']
Incidentally I remember a tale of Paul Mcartney keeping a melody in his mind before he had proper lyrics worked out by way of some ridiculous song about scrambled eggs or something. Would have been a hit regardless.
[/quote]

Yep, he claims that the first version of Yesterday went "Scrambled eggs, oh my baby how I love your legs".

[Horizontalste]

I'm a hummer

Have been for ages.

[musophilr]

So was Glenn Gould. You're in good company.

My nonsense lyrics are often about my cat. Pussy Pussy Furry Pussy for a bar full of quavers for example. Whatever works ...

[discreet]

[quote name='musophilr' timestamp='1336857668' post='1652123']
Furry Pussy for a bar full of quavers...
[/quote]

Sounds like a good deal.

[ras52]

Forty-three minutes between those last two comments? Come on BC-ers, you're slipping!

[deepbass5]

Intersesting things coming out of this. I do use Mississippi for 16th notes. to keep track in a Bar so Miss - iss - ipp - i Miss - iss - ipp - i Miss - iss - ipp - i Miss - iss - ipp - i
But not funny lyrics, But Ringo has been credited with "would you stand up and walk out on me" as opposed to John offering of "would you throw squashed tomatos at me".

[Lewk]

Jack Bruce, John Paul Jones and John entwistle pretty much taught me to play bass... i picked out everything by ear... even the majority of live at leeds.. by doing so i learnt to improvise.. i also pick up a riff in seconds you learn where notes are and where to put fingers etc...