Adam Nitti - Intervalic Approach

 

  The Intervallic Approach

 By  Adam Nitti

 

Contents Contents

Major Scale Scale Based Intervals Intervals ................... ...................33 Intervallic Sightreading......................... Sightreading.................... ..... 8 Making Patterns Patterns Musical Musical .................... ....................13 13

 

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Major Scale Based Intervals This time around we'll look at different ways of playing intervals  that are built into the major scale. Before we do that, however, let's  talk about the major scale in general, to gain a clearer understanding of the theory behind it. If you have ever taken any music classes or studied any music  theory books, chances are you have been introduced to the term, "major scale." A scale, in general, is a series of notes that are used  together to create a specific sound or tonality. t onality. The MAJOR scale can be thought of as the basic foundation from which most other scales are constructed. The major scale consists of seven different tones, each separated by either a half step or a whole step. (From here on out, we will refer to these seven tones as SCALE TONES.) A half step spans a distance of two frets on your fretboard, while a whole step spans three. The specific order of these intervals is what gives a major scale its distinctive sound.  All major scales utilize the same scale-building formula in their construction. In other words, the major scale's sound is specifically created by a set order of half steps and whole steps. In the following diagram, W represents a whole step, and H represents a half: scale degree: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 distance: W W H W W W H Every major scale, regardless of what note it starts on, has this same construction.  An INTERVAL is the distance di stance between b etween two notes. They come in all shapes and sizes. The major scale, as we have seen, is composed of intervallic half steps and whole steps. Intervals generally have names that contain a numeric distance, such as a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th. These distances are based on assigning a number to each scale degree, or member note of a scale. For example, let's look at the notes in an F major scale:  

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Notice that the number under each scale degree represents its  placement in the scale. F is the 1st note of the scale, G is the 2nd, 2n d, A is the 3rd, and so on: F G A Bb C D E F 12345671

Each interval's name is based on the distance in scale degrees from  the lowest pitch to the highest pitch. For example:

  Just as the major scale can be thought of as our "default" "d efault" scale, these intervallic shapes can be considered our "default" shapes for 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths, 7ths, and octaves. However, their sounds can be described more specifically with respect to music theory. The  following chart gives the names for the default and modified qualities of intervals of the major scale:

 

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Notice that the number under each scale degree represents its  placement in the scale. F is the 1st note of the scale, G is the 2nd, 2n d, A is the 3rd, and so on: F G A Bb C D E F 12345671 Here are some basic intervallic shapes based on the construction of  the major scale:

 

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 As the chart suggests, intervals of a 4th, 5th, or octave in their default state would be referred to as "perfect" intervals, while intervals of a 2nd, 3rd, 6th, or 7th would be considered "major". Notice that a major interval can be lowered twice before becoming a diminished interval. As we delve deeper into intervallic exercises and combinations, these terms will become clearer and more meaningful. Practice playing these intervals all over the neck, keeping in mind  that the most important thing you can do with these is memorize  their sounds. Intervallic awareness will make you a much more keen player, because your ears will be trained to recognize the actual "shapes" of the sounds you hear. You will then find it easier  to transcribe lines, compose, and improvise more effectively. Have  fun!!!

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Intervallic Sightreading Let's face it. If you want to be a complete musician, you need to be able to read music. I know it's a hassle sometimes, but we need to be  familiar with the language l anguage of music if we wish to speak it. Those of of us who cannot read are forced to be excluded from certain gigs we might otherwise really enjoy. How many of you sweat when the dude on the other end of the phone finishes giving you the gig details and then interjects, "Uh, you can read, right???" What I have  found is that many of us already know kno w the notes on the staff, st aff, but we need a little bit of a jump start to get us sight reading at a reasonable rate of speed. Here is a neat concept I utilize often which can help you when you are in those "on-the-spot" sight-reading situations. However, before I move on, let me stress one major point: THE BEST WAY TO PRACTICE SIGHT  SIGHT--READING -READING IS TO SIGHT  SIGHT-READ AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE. Sounds obvious, right? Well, it's important to understand that your sight reading just doesn't improve overnight. It's a very  progressive process, and that's why you must try to challenge yourself constantly in order to make the task easier. If I don't read  for a long lon g time, ti me, I get rusty. Many of you have also discovered this  for yourselves, and it's no fun knowing you are out of shape! Okay. With all that out of the way, let me now present you with a little shortcut that might give you the confidence to try to tackle  that chart you've been afraid of for so long... It focuses on sight reading using your familiarity with INTERVALLIC SHAPES. The conventional way to read music works like this: 1. You see a note on the staff 2. You associate that note with a pitch pi tch and duration 3. You identify the location of that pitch on the instrument  

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4. You play the note for the length of its duration 5. You move on to the next note and start over at #1, above  Although not a very scientific explanation, the steps I have mentioned pretty much exemplify5 the The mastery of steps 1 through willchallenge make youof asight-reading. great reader. However, in my opinion the concept of identifying pitches with a specific location on the instrument is one of the most challenging, when faced with it in real time (i.e., in a performance situation). Here is where a knowledge of intervallic shapes can give you a great advantage. Let's first identify some basic intervallic shapes on a staff that you should be familiar with:

Each interval's name is based on the distance in scale degrees from  the lowest pitch to the highest pitch. For example:

2nd: C(1) D(2) 3rd: C(1) D(2) E(3) 4th: C(1) D(2) E(3) F(4) 5th: C(1)D(2) E(3) F(4) G(5) C(1) etc. These intervallic distances correspond directly to intervallic shapes on your bass. Here are some intervallic distances based on the major scale: (In the following figures, the lowest line is the lowest pitched string on your bass.)

 

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Using intervallic shapes, you can play the correct pitches by instead identifying them as a series of intervals. The music is interpreted in terms of distance within Using method, you take the following stepsa scale to setpattern. yourself up this for accelerated reading: 1. Identify the key signature for the piece of music 2. Choose a scale pattern within that key that includes all of the notes in the selection 3. Read the piece intervallically based on the notes included in your hand position (If you encounter accidentals, simply modify the interval by raising or lowering the pitch specified by the accidental) Okay! Now let's try to demonstrate the entire process, from start to  finish. Here's a musical example that we'll use to tie all of this stuff  together:

Step 1: Identify the key signature In this case we have three sharps, so the key center is A major or F# minor.  

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Step 2: Choose a scale pattern that includes all notes in the selection To do this, we need to first identify the lowest and highest notes in  the selection to figure out the total range. In this one one,, the lowest note  played is an F# 2 octaves below middle C, which is the 2nd fret E string (or 7th fret on a low B string). The highest note is an F# an octave higher (the pitch equivalent of 4th fret D string, 9th fret E string, etc.) Since A major/F# minor is the key center, it would be best to choose  from any of the A major-based modes (A Ionian, B Dorian, C# Phrygian, D Lydian, E Mixolydian, F# Aeolian, or G# Locrian).  Any one that includes all of the notes in the selection would be sufficient. Let's use F# Aeolian for our example. Our fingering for our hand position would look like this, with the lowest note in the  pattern lined up with the lowest F# in the piece (2nd fret E string, etc.):

Fortunately, there are no accidentals, so we can stay completely within our chosen scale pattern when playing the selection. selection .

Step 3: Read the piece intervallically Now you will play the pitches as a series of intervals, from left to right. Here's the information as it corresponds directly to the notated music:

 

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Described verbally, the intervallic reading of the first eight notes would go like this:

1 Start

F#

2

3

4

up a up a 3rd 3rd

A

C#

5

6

7

down down up a a 3rd a 2nd 3rd

up 2nd

A

G#

B

C#

8 down a 2nd

B

Note: For you theory buffs, keep in mind that these intervals are generically generically named, and therefore NOT ASSUMED to be major or  perfect intervals. They are played with respect to the Aeolian mode, and that is why I haven't specified their qualities. This allows the method to be compatible with all scales. The rest of the music would be completed like this:

Keep in mind this method is much more difficult to use if you are dealing with large numbers of accidentals, chords, or very large intervallic jumps within the music. I have found that this concept seems to work great with things like walking bass lines or other linear patterns. Once again, this is a method designed to assist you in your sight reading; do not use this method to completely replace conventional methods!

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Making Patterns Musical Hello again, folks! This latest installment from my "Deep Thoughts" column will offer some insight on how to become a more melodic player simply by modifying some of our approaches to  practicing scale patterns.  At one time or another, each of us has probably been introduced to a scale pattern. For many of us, the major scale was the first scale we learned on the bass. Here are a couple of fingerings for it:

Here is what a one octave C major scale looks like on a staff in an ascending and descending fashion:

Now play the C major scale, as it appears on the staff. Notice how  the notes connect together in a rigid, orderly, o rderly, and step-wise fashion. Sounds like you're playing an exercise, right? It should. That's because any scale simply played up and down its range is purely  technical in nature. In other words, a scale is like an alphabet. It's made up of several key components that get combined together in different ways to give us unique words and phrases. Each note in a scale is like a letter from the alphabet. Without the scales, we can't communicate musically. However, just as with the English language, the larger our vocabulary, the better we are able to speak! The players with the largest vocabularies posses the most distinct and memorable musical voices. These are the players who have created their own STYLE. All that having been said, the obvious

 

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question becomes, "How do I keep my scale patterns from just sounding like exercises when I use them in a tune???" For most of us, how we practice determines how we play on the gig. If we are continually working on our scales at home by just doing ascending and descending forms like the example demonstrated, above, we are doing nothing but reinforcing that "exercise-like" sound in our playing. Our hands will naturally go for that stale succession of notes that screams out the words "SCALE PATTERNS" to our audience! To break out of that, you need to force your mind and hands to do things they are not used to. By adopting much more unique and creative approaches to practicing your scales, you enlarge your vocabulary and become more spontaneous a player... In order to develop this, however, we need to learn some (you guessed it) NEW patterns! Each of the following exercises can be used with just about any scale or arpeggio pattern. They are categorized into 2 main groups: SEQUENCING exercises, and INTERVALLIC exercises. For each of  these exercises, we'll use a 3 note per string major scale pattern which utilizes the following fingering:

We'll start this pattern on the lowest C note on the lowest string on your bass for each exercise to give us the largest range of notes per  pattern. For example: For 4 string bass: start on the 8th fret of the 'E' string. 5 string bass: start on the 1st fret of the 'B' string. 6 string bass: start on the 1st fret of the 'B' string.

 

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SEQUENCING EXERCISES  A sequence is simply a predetermined number of notes taken from a scale played in order. For example, in a one octave major scale where the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 represent the 7 degrees of  the scale, an ascending pattern for sequenced 4's would look like  this: SEQUENCED 4's: 1-2-3-4, 2-3-4-5, 3-4-5-6, 4-5-6-7, etc. (Notice that the commas separate each sequence of 4 notes played in succession.) On a staff using a C major scale as the example, the same pattern would look like this:

Sequenced musical approaches are very melodic and cyclical in nature, and their focused sound is a result of the smaller distances between notes. Jaco Pastorius consistently utilized sequenced approaches through pentatonic and modal scales in his soloing style. Here's another example using sequenced 3's: SEQUENCED 3's: 1-2-3, 2-3-4, 3-4-5, 4-5-6, 5-6-7, etc. Here is the same example as it would appear on a staff using a C major scale, again:

 

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The sequencing approach gives us the following exercises:

INTERVALLIC EXERCISES Intervallic exercises, as the name suggests, are based on intervals.  An interval is the distance between any 2 notes. These exercises  take a predetermined interval and apply it to each note of the scale, in order of the scale degrees. For example, an ascending pattern for intervallic 3rds would look like this: INTERVALLIC 3rds: 1-3, 2-4, 3-5, 4-6, 5-7, etc. (Notice that the commas separate each interval of a 3rd played in succession.) Here is the same example as it would appear on a staff using a C major scale:

Here's an example using intervallic 5ths:

 

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INTERVALLIC 5ths: 1-5, 2-6, 3-7, etc. Here it is on the staff:

Intervallic exercises exhibit a much more 'open' sound than the sequences, due to the fact that they utilize larger distances between  the notes. This less-focused sound is very melodic in nature, and makes for some of the most interesting musical ideas. The intervallic approach gives us the following exercises:

Try working these into your practice routine and you will see some really neat ideas begin to take shape in your improvisation. After you developed and mastered of theseSome exercises, you best will wanthave to start blending different some approaches. of your musical ideas will come from hybrid pattern approaches, which mix your scales, sequences, and intervallic patterns together. We'll talk more about that in part 2 of this series. Until next time...have fun, and keep practicing!!! Remember: The idea is to apply these ideas to scales and other musical forms in order to inspire ideas that are more MUSICAL in nature. What you end up playing on the gig is directly related to what you spend your time practicing in the "woodshed." Therefore, it is vitally important to get out of the monotony of a stale practice routine and start to replace old habits with new ideas. Hopefully,  

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 these concepts will inspire some new lines in your bass playing, and give you a little more of o f an edge in your usage of scales. In this installment, I will be introducing some new approaches to working your scale patterns that build off of the sequences and intervals presented to you last time around. NOTE: If you haven't checked out my last article, "Making Patterns Musical, Part 1," you might want to do so before continuing. Part 1 outlines and explains the concepts that evolve into the material provided in this installment.

HYBRID APPROACHES Hybrid approaches combine two (or more) different elements from our sequences and intervals and incorporate them into unique musical patterns. Examples of hybrid approaches might combine 2 different intervallic shapes, 2 different sequences, or even a mixtures of a sequence and an interval into one pattern. They are great to use in your playing, because their abstract and very unique sound.

HYBRID INTERVALLIC APPROACHES Once again, let's use our major scale reference pattern as the basis  for our examples, utilizing a 3 note per string approach to cover as many notes as possible in one position:

Now let's go over an assortment of hybrid patterns which we will use over a G major scale. (Remember that these can be applied to

 

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any other scale or mode; just transfer the fingerings to your new scalar pattern and position.) Note: In each of these exercises, the numbers represent the scale degrees, or ordered positions of the notes in the pattern. Keep in mind that using a 3 note per string approach will give you 12 total notes in a single position for a 4 string, 15 notes total for a 5 string, and 18 notes total for a 6 string bass. These notes are numbered by their placement in a scale.

INTERVALLIC 3rds/6ths In this exercise, an interval of a 3rd is followed by a 6th, and then  the cycle starts over again: 1-3, 2-7, 3-5, 4-9, 5-7, 6-11, 7-9, etc. (Notice that the commas separate each interval played in succession.) Here is the same example as it would appear on a staff using a G major scale:

INTERVALLIC 5ths/3rds In this exercise, an interval of a 5th is followed by a 3rd: 1-5, 2-4, 3-7, 4-6, 5-9, 6-8, 7-11, etc.

 

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INTERVALLIC CONSECUTIVE 3rds The 'consecutive' nature of these types of exercises lies in the fact  that the intervals chosen are stacked. In other words, words , the top note no te of  the 1st interval is the bottom note of the 2nd interval, and so on. In this particular example, a third is stacked on top of a third. Those of you who are familiar with harmonic concepts will notice that this could also be looked at as a triad exercise: 1-3-5, 2-4-6, 3-5-7, 4-6-8, 5-7-9, 6-8-10, 7-9-11, etc.

INTERVALLIC CONSECUTIVE 5ths This is a 5th stacked on top of a 5th: 1-5-9, 2-6-10, 3-7-11, 4-8-12, 5-9-13, 6-10-14, 7-11-15, etc. Note: Many of the following patterns cannot be played in a single 3 note per string position on a 4 string bass. To play them through  the scale, you will have to shift your fingerings.

INTERVALLIC CONSECUTIVE 2nds/5ths This is a 5th stacked on top of a 2nd:

 

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1-2-5, 2-3-6, 3-4-7, 4-5-8, 5-6-9, 6-7-10, 7-8-11, etc.

HYBRID SEQUENCING APPROACHES These examples will mix 2 different sequencing ideas together. These ideas are not as abstract sounding as the intervals, mainly because they have more of a scalar approach. They could be thought of as sounding a little smoother than the hybrid intervals. SEQUENCED 5's/3's This pattern utilizes a sequence of 5 followed fo llowed by a sequence of 3: 1-2-3-4-5, 2-3-4, 3-4-5-6-7, 4-5-6, 5-6-7-8-9, 6-7-8, 7-8-9-1011, etc. (Notice that the commas separate each sequence.)

SEQUENCED 3's/4's This pattern utilizes a sequence of 3 followed by a sequence of 4: 1-2-3, 2-3-4-5, 3-4-5, 4-5-6-7, 5-6-7, 6-7-8-9, 7-8-9, etc.

SEQUENCED 6's/3's

 

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This pattern utilizes a sequence of 6 followed by a sequence of 3: 1-2-3-4-5-6, 2-3-4, 3-4-5-6-7-8, 4-5-6, 5-6-7-8-9-10, 6-7-8, 7-8  9-10-11-12, etc.

IMPORTANT: For brevity, each of the preceding exercises has outlined only the ascending versions of the form. However, it is vitally important that you work them in both ascending and descending directions on the bass. To play the descending forms, simply play the patterns backwards from highest range to lowest. You don't want all of your ideas to come out on the gig only going in one direction!

 BI-DIRECTIONAL APPROACHES Notice that in each of the exercises presented so far, each pattern has had both an ascending version and a descending version, moving  from left to right on the staff. Bi-directional approaches mix both ascending and descending movements into both versions, making  for some really neat sounding ideas. This exchange of both ascending and descending movement within a pattern is what I like to call "contrary motion." Here are some examples:  BI-DIRECTIONAL INTERVALLIC 3rds 1-3, 4-2, 3-5, 6-4, 5-7, 8-6, 7-9, 10-8, etc. Notice that each 3rd played is followed by another 3rd moving in an opposite direction. Here is what it looks like on a staff:

 

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 BI-DIRECTIONAL INTERVALLIC 6ths 1-6, 7-2, 3-8, 9-4, 5-10, 11-6, 7-12, etc.

 BI-DIRECTIONAL SEQUENCED 3's 1-2-3, 4-3-2, 3-4-5, 6-5-4, 5-6-7, 8-7-6, 7-8-9, 10-9-8, etc.

 BI-DIRECTIONAL SEQUENCED 4's/INTERVALLIC 3rds 1-2-3-4, 5-3, 4-5-6-7, 8-6, 7-8-9-10, 11-9, etc.

 BI-DIRECTIONAL CONSECUTIVE INTERVALLIC 3rds (whew!) (whew!) 1-3-5, 6-4-2, 3-5-7, 8-6-4, 5-7-9, 10-8-6, 7-9-11, 12-10-8, etc.

I hope you enjoy working through these exercises. Obviously, these are just the and tip ofmix thethem iceberg here. You can up usewith anysome of your favorite approaches together to come really neat  

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sounding musical approaches. One bit of advice, though; don't try  to tackle all of these at once. Focus on only a few at a time, and work on their mastery through ALL of your scales and modes before moving on. Otherwise, you might not see these ideas "rear  their heads" in your soloing ideas quite as quickly as they could.  Be patient, use a metronome, and track your progress daily. The rewards are well worth it!

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-Adam Nitti heads the bass department at the Atlanta Institute of Music. He has recorded or performed with such players as Victor Wooten, Dave Weckl, Mike Stern, and Peter Erskine, and currently has 2 solo CD releases out on Renaissance Man Records. Adam is also a clinician and endorsee for SWR, Curbow, and D'Addario. Check out his official website at: http://www.adamnitti.com. 

 

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