sonofabass.com

3Sep/100

But I’m here to tell ya…there’s somethin’ else….

There's got to be more to life than just music...right? Could there be? Well, there is and it's totally alright with me. My wife and I are about to embark on a new venture; VR photography. Ok, to be totally accurate, she is the real photographer. I'm just a who knows how to push a few buttons on a computer. You know, a click here, a click there?

No, of course I'm not about to put music aside. Not by a long shot. I just realized that I don't really have a "hobby" or a lot of non-music related things that I dig so here's my chance to not only try something new and different for me but to also have something else to share with my wife.

Click on the panoramic photo and you'll find our first round of "experiments". I'm looking forward to diving into something new.

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10Aug/100

Prince of Egypt

Well, here we go again, another musical. This one looks like it's going to be just as fun as the last. i must admit that although I really love 'sheddin' and being on stage getting into "all things funky", cuz that's where my heart is at, I also really enjoy doing musical theater! I never thought that I'd feel that way but, hey, never say never.

This is tech week for Neighborhood Church of Castro Valley's production of "The Prince of Egypt" which opens on Aug 13th. I'm looking forward to it!

"In the epic story of one man’s inspiring struggle to lead his people out of slavery, “The Prince of Egypt” brings the story of Moses, one of history’s greatest heroes, to life. The Prince of Egypt is the 2010 mid August summer musical offered by Neighborhood Church of Castro Valley, a much loved community and family theater event celebrating its 26th anniversary this year. The Prince of Egypt is a Broadway-style musical featuring spectacular Egyptian-themed sets, makeup and costumes, along with a full choir and live orchestra with a cast of well over a hundred actors, singers, dancers, and musicians."

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29Jul/100

“Halie!”

Tonight is the opening night of the Cal State University production of "Halie!" , a tribute to Gospel legend, Mahalia Jackson. I must admit, I was a bit worried at first for various reasons that are better left unsaid but I'm really looking forward to it!

Jeaninne Anderson is completely awesome in the role of Mahalia Jackson. Recent Berklee grad, Marcus McCauley is the musical director and I my man, Altoris Levar is behind the kit so it should be a mighty good time! The show is running for only three nights and one matinee showing so there's not a lot of time mess around.

While trying to find some research and inspiration I came across this clip of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahalia Jackson as she leads a crowd in singing "Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho". It is truly, truly amazing to watch. It's hard for me to watch with a dry eye, to be honest. Not tears of sadness but tears of joy.

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18Jun/100

visualizing groove part 2

Hopefully you’ve had a chance to dig into Visualizing the Groove Part 1 . Again, just to be clear, the concept of using the ruler as a visual representation of time is borrowed from one of Anthony Wellington’s lessons on Victor Wooten’s Groove Workshop DVD. I'm a huge fan of the way that Anthony explains things.

In this post I’m going to use standard notation and one note ; “A”. You can use any note that you like.

I’ve included two handwritten examples showing how standard notation looks compared to the yardstick concept.

I would suggest getting a paper and a pencil (with a good eraser) and start experimenting!

One “trick” when reading standard notation is to not get overwhelmed by a bunch of notes. See the beats first. As you become comfortable with how each subdivision feels it will become easier and easier.

Groove Concepts 1:

The first four systems show different permutations of beat 1. Play through each one as needed until you’re comfortable.
The second four systems utilize each of those same permutations on beat one and in other places within the bar. Play each one until you feel comfortable.

Here are some audio examples in the same order as they are in on the pdf.

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15Jun/100

visualizing groove part 1

I’m sure that you’ve heard how important it is to grasp concepts behind the licks you learn. This makes it much easier to create your own grooves. In this case, let’s take a look at visualizing groove. Well, in this post we're really just exploring time a little bit. Nothing fancy, no polyrhythms or anything like that. Just the "simple" stuff that you encounter on paying gigs. ;- ) The aim here is to become comfortable enough to feel and acknowledge – visualize if you will - any subdivision of a beat at any given time. Trust me… what may even seem “boring” to some at first will become more and more fun, and challenging as you explore the possibilities.

Before I continue; let me acknowledge that the way that I am going to begin explaining this comes from one of Anthony Wellington’s lessons on Victor Wooten’s Groove Workshop DVD. I thought that it was brilliant how he explained this concept using a diagram that he called the “Yardstick of Time and Groove”.

Remember that the goal is to become comfortable with each subdivision so that you can acknowledge it without thinking about it. This is a great way to visualize rhythm and can also serve as sort of a primer for learner how to read standard notation. (DO NOT BELIEVE THE HYPE – You should learn to read music if you don’t already. If you’re going to be any kind of serious musician you are going to be able to open more doors if you can read - Period.)

Anthony uses a diagram that looks like a ruler for this exercise. (please forgive my pitiful artwork)

Set your drum machine to a medium tempo.
Use a pencil with a good eraser or a white board because you’re going to make a ‘tick mark’ underneath each line where you want to play a note. Any note will do.
You don’t have to keep writing tick marks once you become comfortable. Just feel.

1. Play each down beat individually until you are completely comfortable. That could mean for four bars you may just play beat 3 of the bar until it becomes comfortable. I know that they are just down beats but be honest with yourself. And play them short (the equivalent of a 16^th note)

2. Play each up beat individually ….

*It’s ok to just hang onto one sub-division until you just know how it sounds. For instance, if you have trouble feeling the “and of beat three”, just loop the one bar pattern and play only on the “and of beat three” until it becomes second nature. Remember - writing your name didn’t come automatically –you had to practice writing it one letter at a time.

3. Play the “e” of each beat individually. Are you detecting a pattern? Same rules as 1 and 2 apply here.
4. Play the “a” of each beat individually….
5. Play through this one bar pattern and displace the note that you play each time until you come full circle and then do that in retrograde!

Example: (the bold indicates what subdivision is played)

II: 1 e+a 2 e+a 3 e+a 4e+a :II

II: 1 e+a 2 e+a 3 e+a 4e+a :II etc….

6. Then, in retrograde: rest until you hit the ‘a’ of beat four, the ‘and’ of beat four, the ‘e’ of beat four, the downbeat of beat four, the ‘a’ of beat three….

example 1 (the video/audio are out of sync)

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11Jun/102

Here we go…

I've been a bit absent as of late. Life has a funny way of just sneakin' up on ya, doesn't it? All is good - just busy trying to take 'it' to the next , or at least another level.

sonofabass.com finally has a look and feel that I like and my goal this summer is to stay consistent with content; thoughts on bass, bass players, music and , well, whatever happens to come to mind. I got inspired to use a blog format after watching "Julie & Julia"...wait, my WIFE was watching it....I was just in the room ! (ok, I kinda watched it) .

Maybe my wife and my mom will be my only subscribers. lol who knows. I just need a place to ramble, thank ya very much! So.....here we go.....

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9Jun/103

“Anything” PAL – Van Hunt

I guess I should put something up here so this clip from a few months back should do. The best teacher is music itself and I still love playing along to my favorite records when I can. This is "Anything" by Van Hunt - seriously funky....