Big-Band-Bass-John-Clayton 1 PDF

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS HAPTER

I.

CHAPTER

II.

CHAPTER

III.

PagP

CHORDS

4

OUIZ...

CHABT READING: ASTABTING GUTDE STYLES ENCOUNTERED

.......... t 0 .. ........ t l ........ 14

.

swtNc.

....

14

Memberc..........

3g

Leamingto Play í n theSwingstyle..

Blues...

... THEJAZZWALTZ..... ROCK . . LATIN.. Bocsa Nova Samba . Beggre.. SOLOS . BASS LTNES GETTINGA"NATURAL''SOUND. MORE ON CHORDS 9ü, llth and t3th Chords . TheTuo Beat

CHAPTER I V. CHAPTER V. CHAPTER VI. VI .

Divising Formulas for Determining Chord Non€ordal Tones

CHAPTER VIII.

CHAPTEB I X. CHAPTER X.

..

. Diminished Scales MTSCELLANEOUS ..... Sampl amplingo ingoÍÍ a chan... CleÍ leÍ s. '. Give the Chart a Chance A Word on Major/Minor ln Addition DTSCoGRAPHY RAY BRoWN REFERENCE Scales and Chords

CHAPTER VII.

'

.... ...

....... t 6 ..,... 1l ....... 21 .....24 .......... 25 ...........27 .,.. 2t ....... 29 ...... 29 ...... 3() ....... 32 ........33 ..... u ........... 34 ...... . 39 ..........,10 .

........... 42 ......... 43 ...'...43 ........... 44 ...... 45 ...... .[ 6 ........46 ........ 48 ...,.,'.., ,,'..,

BASS CHARTS (From the album "Hate To See You Go")

........

5í

52 53

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

..

.

JOHN CLAYTON, born August 20,1952, has made great musical strides in the past years.

A list of the professionals with whom he has worked would be too extensive to list here. He has studied with Ray Siegel, Ray Brown, Carol Kaye, Abe Luboff, Murray Grodner and Eugene Levinson. ln 1975, he received his Bachelorof Music in Double Bass from

lndiana University. At age 19, he was the bassist for Henry Mancini on the television series,

"The Mancini Generation." He worked for two years with the Monty Alexander Trio. John has played in many professional big bands and now tours with the Count Basie Orchestra.

 

3

PROSPECTUS The things that one learns and retains come, mainly, from experience. The purpose of

this book is t o present some of the more common situations with which a bassist will -have to cope when reading Big Band music (of course, much

will apply to other musical

styles and situations encountered). The purpose is to also persuade the bassist to do his

own research, especially in regards to stylistic influences and aural development (too many bassists know only how t o read and have underdeveloped ears). t wllt talk about certain approaches to solving problems most often

of the solutions at your disposal. as are available to

I

encounterd.

These

will be SOME

strongly advise you to learn from as many souroes

you.

DEDICATION This book is dedicated, first and foremost, t o my firct musical inspiration. This person was feeding music into my soul while I was nestling in the womb.

.

Thanks, Mom. secondly, this book is dedicated t o those who have given me inspiration in my post-womb days. To name a few: Jeffery, Janine, Joseph, Jerome, Jennifer, Joy,

John Sr., Ray & cil and

rineke. And to

those not mentioned (you know who you

are).

Many thanks to all of those who contributed the bits and pieces that make up thas

book. Your aid was immeasurable.

pnvrisht @.ts78 by STUDlo 224,- clo CPP/BELWlN, tNC., Miamí, Miamí, Florida 33014 lnternational Copyright Secured ú .a -r" -r" Ü.c.Á. All Rights Rererved  

4

CHAPTER

I

CHORDS This is probably the most important section of the book. Many (and I mean MANY) bassists don't have the understanding of the basic chords that they must know.

Learn this section. Listen to what each chord sounds like while playing

it. The

ef|exess to play the notes of a chord when purpose of learning this is t o condition your Í ef|exe

you see and/or hear the chord. For the sake oÍ creativity in bass Iine construction, later you won't need to play ONLY the notes (chordal tones) of a given chord. However, by that time, when you see a QJ, you'll "hear" what it should sound like. diÍ fe fere rent nt l have vertically categorized the chord types' Please make special notice of the diÍ ways that these chords will appear (example:

Q

is also written as

left it up t o you t o complete the section on diminished chords.

us hear the chordal tones

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CHORDS

outz 1. Fill in

the notes belonging to each chord. The root should always be on the down beat.

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a bass line using only chordal

tones. Use roots on the down beat only when it

helps in constructinq smooth bass lines.

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20

PROGRES RESSI SION. ON. I T I S A MUST FOR THE BASSIST. MEMOBIZE MEMOBI ZE THE BLUES BLUES PROG Using the knowledge that we now have about blues progressions, we are able to put together

the pieces of our puzzle.

1. our key signature is 1 flat. We are in the key oÍ F majqr.(if of D minoi, "D minor" would be written above the staff).

2.

We were in the key

Our time signature indicates that the piece is tn 414.

3. "Walk"

tells us that the style is Swing.

4. "Blues"

tells us what the chord changes will be Í or 1 chorus.

5. "2 choruses" indicates that

we should play the blues progrcssion twice

(i.e., there are24 measures between Letter

A and Letter B).

 

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Many, many variations exist. These, in Í act, are variations on earlier blues progressions. There may be times when the blues progressions you play may be extended (16 measures instead of

l2

measures, for example); or, it may contain only 3 chords----the 17, lV7 and

V7, as illustrated in the following example. 1 chorus

of 12 bar blues in the k34j.1p..1pgig

 

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it : Perhaps illustrating the above this way helps you in memorizing it:

T1

t r7

T,II T,

T1

E1

You may also be required to play 1

a

Mg

blues:

chq '$ of 12 bar blues in the key of C minor:

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17

BLUES There will be occasions when you get a chart that reads something like:

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h lÍ r lwau wau < '

Beí Beí ore you can walk the blues, you must learn the most often used chord progressions. They are being found more and more in bass books these days (not t o mention other instruments. . . . . .guitar, piano, et.al.). key ooÍÍ C major: |chorus oÍ 12 bar blues in the key

 

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I t is generally

god

practice to "lay down" the time (play quarter notes)

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adding

"drops," triplets, etc', so that the band has an understanding oÍ exactly wherc the time Í eel is. You are preparing a foundation upon which the rest oÍ the band plays, After you sense that the band is sure oÍ where the time feel is,

it is generally o,K. t o throw in other

notess Í or t he rhythmic figures (with some bands, the bassist may have t o play quarter note

duration of the song. With other bands, it may take only one measure). Also, unless a th e sp spec ecial ial efÍ efÍ ec ectt is desired, play quarter notes more on the legato (long} side than on the

staccato (short) side.

LEARNING TO PLAY I N THE SWING STYLE diÍ Í erent rent methods oÍ learninq how to play this There are diÍ

style. Here

is one that is taught:

Find a recording of a blues (or a song that you know the chords to) that is in t he swing feel. The tempo should range Í r om medium to slow. Ascertain the key. Listen carefully to what the bassist is doing. lf you wish, write out the chords being used. After MANY listenings (at least 10), play along with the recording. You may be required to re-tune your instrument to the recording. The volume oÍ the recording should be such that you can hear what you are doing AND What the rhythm section on the recording is doing. lí they don't physically get in the way oÍ your playing, headphones can be helpful. When playing, listen for the choice oÍ notes that the original bassist is using; if you like them, play them along with him whenever possible. lf you have some ideas that you done, try them. All oÍ this should be doneyou think go well with what is being notice immediately ií WlTH THE REcoRDlNG' lf done properly, you'll done on the recording' ractio tionn of a beat ahead or behind what was are a Í rac Double bassists and fretless electric bassists should make left hand adiustments when needed to retain good intonation (play your instrument with your ear as well as with your technique). Concentrate on lockino in to what has been done. When you are in a similar environment, you will be able t o play this style with little or no problem. Perhaps you'll notice mistakes made by th e bassist on the recording. Ear-mark them and avoid making the same mistakes.

This method is suggested for learning the feel for any style oí music. ln the chapter on SOLOS (Chapter lV), I have explained and outlined the above technique for learning solos and transcribing bass lines.

 

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14

CHAPTER

III

STYLES ENCOUNTERED SWING ln order to capture the swing feel, you must familiarize yourself with

it.

This is done

by listening; absorbing this feel into your ear and conscience. Playing along with records is the second important step to

truly understanding this and other styles

as

well (and, of

course, it is important to eventually get some experience working with other musicians). I won',t

attempt to define swing. I will, instead, try to explain what is expected of a bassist

who must play in this style. The quarter note

(

J) I

is the

important metric unit here. You create a bass line within

the chords by playing, basically, quarter notes.

TechnicallY,

it is simple. ln glancing at a piece of music, if you mainly see quarter notes, you can usually assume that it is in the swing style.

Swing style:

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