Bass etudes

[bluesparky]

To cut a long story short, whilst continuing to further my musical education I came across a piece described as being an etude.

Some dictionary definitions of an etude are:
"a short musical composition for a solo instrument, esp one designed as an exercise or exploiting technical virtuosity"

"a short composition for a solo instrument; intended as an exercise or to demonstrate technical virtuosity"

"an instrumental musical composition, usually short, of considerable difficulty, and designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill."

Is there anything that you guys would consider to be a "bass" etude i.e. a classic piece of bass playing or a bass piece of considerable technical difficulty that you've had to study for ages to master and nail it note-for-note and that you're proud of being able to play - not necessarily in public, but maybe simply for your own pleasure?

It needn't be a universally difficult track that everyone struggles with, just something that you personally have spent a considerable amount of time working on in order to master it.

For me, When I was younger I had a book of Bach's solo pieces by Josquin Des Pres.
After that I spent ages on Jaco's Portrait for Tracy, Led Zep's Lemon Song and then Jaco's Donna Lee.

Currently (once I've taken the Trinity college exam I've entered and finally stopped having to practice YYZ!) I'm looking at the Yellowjackets "Man Facing North". I've always been a fan of the track and I know it's going to be a mission but I'm looking forward to working on it.

I also have a book called "Excersises and Etudes For The Jazz Instrumentalist" by J J Johnson which has a wealth of pieces to have a bash at in future too.

[paul_5]

Teen Town.

[ambient]

I have some Bach inventions from my degree course that are really challenging, but very nice to play.

The Bach chorales are cool too.

[Stuart Clayton]

I've always used etudes or study pieces in my practice and I continue to encourage my students to do the same. For years, things like 'Teen Town', 'Portrait of Tracy' and 'Donna Lee' were a big part of my practice routine (already mentioned), but these days I'm favouring Carol Kaye lines such as 'Hikky Burr' and 'Games People Play'. Also Pat Badger's line on Extreme's 'Cupid's Dead'.

Other good study pieces (in my opinion) include Jamerson's lines on both versions of 'Grapevine', 'I Was Made to Love Her', 'Bernadette' - in fact, the Jamerson list could go on a bit. 'Joe Frazier' by Jeff Berlin is also great as a study piece - a complete roast, but a lot of fun too.

Coincidentally, I've been writing a book of advanced study pieces for bass guitar this year. I realised that I had a bunch of challenging lines that I use to keep my technique in shape, and I decided to turn them into full pieces. If you're interested, you read about the book here: [url="http://www.basslinepublishing.com/coming-soon/advanced-studies-for-bass-guitar.html"]http://www.basslinepublishing.com/coming-soon/advanced-studies-for-bass-guitar.html[/url] - it's being released next year at the London Bass Show.

Stu

[bluesparky]

[quote name='Stuart Clayton' timestamp='1416080571' post='2606739']
I've always used etudes or study pieces in my practice and I continue to encourage my students to do the same. Also Pat Badger's line on Extreme's 'Cupid's Dead'.

Stu
[/quote]

Cupid's Dead - another one for me! I transcribed the middle bit time and time again trying to get the bit where the guitar / bass riff appears to be in a different time signature to the drums.. That annoyed me for pretty much my entire university life!

Edited November 15, 2014 by bluesparky

[bluesparky]

[quote name='Stuart Clayton' timestamp='1416080571' post='2606739']

Coincidentally, I've been writing a book of advanced study pieces for bass guitar this year. I realised that I had a bunch of challenging lines that I use to keep my technique in shape, and I decided to turn them into full pieces. If you're interested, you read about the book here: [url="http://www.basslinepublishing.com/coming-soon/advanced-studies-for-bass-guitar.html"]http://www.basslinep...ass-guitar.html[/url] - it's being released next year at the London Bass Show.

Stu
[/quote]

Yes, I'd seen on social media somewhere you've been working on that. I actually made a note to keep an eye out for the book when it's published.

[Norris]

Frankenstein by the Edgar Winter band. Good warm up exercise too, especially the chromatic run

[Stuart Clayton]

[quote name='bluesparky' timestamp='1416093903' post='2606926']
Cupid's Dead - another one for me! I transcribed the middle bit time and time again trying to get the bit where the guitar / bass riff appears to be in a different time signature to the drums.. That annoyed me for pretty much my entire university life!
[/quote]

I have a transcription somewhere - message me here if you'd like a copy.

Stuart

[bluesparky]

[quote name='Stuart Clayton' timestamp='1416137780' post='2607175']


I have a transcription somewhere - message me here if you'd like a copy.

Stuart
[/quote]

Thanks Stuart, in fact I think I sold the III sides guitar book to you!
I bought the guitar transcription book after being so stumped and annoyed by the particularly awkward bit of the middle section of cupid's dead, the bassline is close enough to work out what I needed!

[Stuart Clayton]

[quote name='bluesparky' timestamp='1416140442' post='2607221']
Thanks Stuart, in fact I think I sold the III sides guitar book to you!
I bought the guitar transcription book after being so stumped and annoyed by the particularly awkward bit of the middle section of cupid's dead, the bassline is close enough to work out what I needed!
[/quote]

Ah, I got that from you did I?! Lots of pencil markings on that section...!

[skej21]

[quote name='bluesparky' timestamp='1416078822' post='2606703']
To cut a long story short, whilst continuing to further my musical education I came across a piece described as being an etude.

Some dictionary definitions of an etude are:
"a short musical composition for a solo instrument, esp one designed as an exercise or exploiting technical virtuosity"

"a short composition for a solo instrument; intended as an exercise or to demonstrate technical virtuosity"

"an instrumental musical composition, usually short, of considerable difficulty, and designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill."

Is there anything that you guys would consider to be a "bass" etude i.e. a classic piece of bass playing or a bass piece of considerable technical difficulty that you've had to study for ages to master and nail it note-for-note and that you're proud of being able to play - not necessarily in public, but maybe simply for your own pleasure?

It needn't be a universally difficult track that everyone struggles with, just something that you personally have spent a considerable amount of time working on in order to master it.

For me, When I was younger I had a book of Bach's solo pieces by Josquin Des Pres.
After that I spent ages on Jaco's Portrait for Tracy, Led Zep's Lemon Song and then Jaco's Donna Lee.

Currently (once I've taken the Trinity college exam I've entered and finally stopped having to practice YYZ!) I'm looking at the Yellowjackets "Man Facing North". I've always been a fan of the track and I know it's going to be a mission but I'm looking forward to working on it.

I also have a book called "Excersises and Etudes For The Jazz Instrumentalist" by J J Johnson which has a wealth of pieces to have a bash at in future too.
[/quote]

Have a look at '60 Melodic Etudes' by John Patitucci. That's a great resource for stuff like this!

[toneknob]

Ology by Living Colour/Muzz Skillings (specifically the melody from 0m34s onwards). I have the tab somewhere and a general feeling of "must get around to learning it one day"