Compiled and written by Bass Player and Music Educator George Urbaszek
www.creativebass.com and www.creativebasslessons.com

Welcome to Creative Bass eMag Number 12

Gigs
My current gigs are mainly jazz and blues with the addition of some funk, groove, soul and pop.

Requests
Recently a colleague asked if I would be interested in recording some blues-based bass loops to make available for purchase over the internet. Apparently there are not many loops available in this genre. He said “Just record what you normally play.”
I would love to take part in such a project, but before I do I need to know if there is really a market for such loops. This is where you come in. Please send an email to me at lessons@creativebass.com with your observations and opinion on this matter. Your help and advice will be greatly appreciated and certainly considered. Thanks for your participation in this mini survey.

First you must consider your budget. This issue can impact considerably on your purchase.

Do you need a better amp very soon, or can it wait a while until you can afford what you want?

Portability – transport and maneuverability are important factors to consider. I prefer to carry smaller, lighter items as opposed to large, heavy items – been there, done that. (If you always have roadies, portability is not an issue for you.)

Sound – This is a major factor and depends a lot on the genres, styles and techniques you play. If you have already identified your (current) favorite sounds, then check out what equipment those bass players are using. Remember, however, as Jaco said “The sound is in my hands.”

Solid state, tube (valve) or a combination of these and other technologies?
The pre amp shapes your tone and can be a stand-alone unit. It can also be integrated with a power amp and/or a speaker cabinet. The latter is commonly called a “combo”.

Watts – There is a common misconception that the speakers should have much higher RMS wattage than the power amp. Often inexperienced bass players and salespeople believe that a 150W amp combined with a 300W speaker is a good, safe and powerful combination. It ain’t necessarily so.

Ohms – A 150W 8 Ohm amp running a 300W 8 Ohm speaker will result in ca. 80W output – not much for bass. Bass requires headroom. When you push the volume and have no headroom you can get distortion and speaker and amp damage.

My advice: Get as many watts as you can in the amp head. 500W – 800W is not unreasonable. This will even work with a 300W speaker cab. Why? Without getting technical, here’s an analogy: A large car with a V8 engine will be purring comfortably at 80MPH, whereas a small car with half the engine size has to work much harder at the same speed. The speaker is being driven very hard with the small amp but is not being pushed at all using the amp with more headroom because that amp is not straining.

If you are not convinced, go to your local music store, plug a 500W speaker into a 50W amp and check out the bass sound. Then plug a 100W speaker into a 1000W amp and compare. (Now we are back to sound.)

Also check out the sound of 8 Ohm cabs versus 4 Ohm cabs as well as manufacturer-approved combinations. As always, let your ears be the judge. I prefer the more saturated sound of 8 Ohm cabs.

EQ – Equalization can be graphic, parametric, semi-parametric, or a variety of combinations. What suits you? Usually shop staff are knowledgeable and will assist.

Compression – Most high-end bass amps have good in-built compressors. A touch of compression is not to be overlooked in your sound. All recordings have a degree of bass compression and it is an excellent asset for live playing too. (All of my lessons are recorded with bass compression. Have you noticed? If not, that’s good.)

If you purchase separate pre-amp, power amp and speakers, you can always mix and match. This is a great way of achieving your ultimate sound. You can try tube/solid state amp combinations with speakers and speaker cabs of various sizes and quality.
Many amp heads now have the option of blending tube and solid state pre-amps. Some do amp simulation (of well-known and successful combinations) too. This will enable you to find out what is most suitable.

My current setup (for the past 12 years) is an amp head containing two 250W power amps plus all the other shbang such as DI with output control, a good compressor, semi-parametric EQ, shelving (graphic) EQ, headphone jacks, tuner and effects in/out plus more. And very importantly, a tube pre-amp. This makes the amp sound better as it warms up. I run both power amps into bridged mono, giving me 600W RMS into a 350W RMS 2x10 speaker cab with an attenuateable horn. The cab can handle peaks of up to 800W.

A note on speaker cabs – 2x10 has approx. the same surface as a 1x15 speaker. Therefore the 2x10 has a similar amount of bass depth as the 1x15, yet a better, faster, clearer response, making it fine for 5-string basses.

Although the info provided above might seem in-depth, it is not really. Many issues have not been mentioned. If you are interested, please write me an email to lessons@creativebass.com and I will address further issues in future eMags.

Today’s Lesson
Transcription Techniques – Part Four

With the guidelines provided in the previous three lessons on Transcription Techniques, you should now be well equipped to follow this lesson and work out further bass lines on your own.

This lesson involves getting the actual bass notes of “I Feel Good” with instrument in hand. Enjoy!

Again, I will be “thinking out loud”.

Listening – This time WITH bass in hand (YEAH!)

Vocalize the central note, the first note of the bass riff.

Pause the CD, hum the note and find it on the fretboard. It is D.

Resume the CD, listen to the first bar of the bass riff. Pause the CD. Vocalize the bass riff.

How many different notes in the first bar? Three. LOW – HIGH – MID = Root – Octave – Seventh (alternating) = D D C# D C# D C# D.

Play the notes to check if OK. Good. Next.

Second bar. The syncopated rhythm (worked out before) uses notes 1 – 8 – b7 – 5 (D – D – C – A) and back to 1 (D) for the beginning of the next bar.

Play the 2-bar riff in one position between the 5th and 7th frets.

Play along with the CD. Fine.

Bar 5 goes to the IV-chord – starts on low G, 3rd fret, E-string – same shape as before.

Bar 7 goes back to the I-chord (D). But wait. It doesn’t go D D – it goes C D. Problem cleverly solved.

Bars 9 and 10 go V V (A A) IV IV (G G) – easy.

The ascending unison line in bars 11 and 12 sounds like it begins with a major triad. Hum it. Yes.

Ah ha, the next note is the flat 7. Of course, it is a dominant 7 arpeggio.

The next note is higher still and seems to “hang” a bit openly. Play a couple of frets up the board. It is E.

The unison line is D F# A C E.

The next verse is the same as the first. Play along from the beginning, just to make sure.

The Bridge is just sax and drums, but I will work out the notes anyway (because they sound so funky and I like the challenge.)

Same root as before (D) with octave, flat 7 and that last note … so cool – the flat 3 (F)

“When I hold you …” descending bass line, sounds like the IV-chord.

Hum it. Play it. With CD. It is the IV-chord.

Bass starts on G, does 2 G’s, 2 F’s, 2 E’s, 2 D’s – times 2.

Goes back to the I-chord – same bass sequence: DD CC BB AA x2

Goes back to the same sequence off the G.

Ends differently – 3 quick notes.

Have another listen. Hum. “Up-to-five” – chromatic from G to A, i.e. G G# A

Back to chorus.
That’s almost it.
Play along from the beginning.
Get the right changes.

The tag is the same as the end of every chorus except for the extended ending.
Let’s have a good listen to that.

It goes up to the 9th and then appears to descend over the minor pentatonic scale.

Let’s check that. Yes, from E to D C A G F D.

Check it out! All notes of the descending run are on the “dots”, the fingerboard makers; this makes it very easy to visualize.

That’s basically it. A few more play-alongs from beginning to end wouldn’t hurt.
Get it tight and have some fun!

That’s it for this edition of the online Creative Bass eMag.
Enjoy!

George Urbaszek
Bass Player and Music Educator
Serving Bass Players Worldwide since 1996