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Playing Bass in Church
- 1. Playing Bass in Church
- 2. Inspiration
- 3. Bassic Ingredients: Harmony Rhythm Tone Dynamics
- 7. Working on Your Sound
- 8. Dynamics
- 9. Old School: Four chords per bar
- 11. Modern Worship: Four chords per song
- 12. Four Chord Praise Intro: E | E/G# | C#m | A Verse: E | E/G# | C#m | A Pre-Ch: C#m | | A/C# | E/B | | B | Chorus: E | C#m | A | B Bridge(x2): C#m | A | E/G# | B/D# C#m | A | E | B
- 13. Bassic Ingredients: Harmony Rhythm Tone Dynamics
- 14. Background Art Credits Matthijs Quailtaal (guitar): https://flic.kr/p/bnRC7h Jorge Franganillo (music): https://flic.kr/p/ppaAQ Licences: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic
Editor's Notes
- Introduction Who am I? Personal background Musical background Church music background Assumptions Not assuming you can read music – just chord charts Slides available online No need to take notes Any questions, comments, suggestions at any time during the workshop – please ask! Outline – just so you know where we’re going Will discuss some strategies for what you can work on to make you a better bass player, and one who understands who to best serve a congregation through our playing Breakdown: Break down playing bass into four essential ingredients that going into playing bass For each of those ingredients, we’ll discuss how to improve the quality, with some practical demonstrations Then to finish we’ll quickly workshop a couple of songs and test out some of the ingredients that we’ve been discussing (3 mins)
- (3 mins) But first… One of the best ways to become a better bass player: listen to amazing bass players The sounds they make The techniques they use The way they interact with other musicians in the band Riffs they play Beg, borrow, steal Transcribe some of your favourite bass performances MAKE SURE CLIPS ARE ALL STOPPED Some examples Jaco Pastorius – clip: Teen Town Marcus Miller – clip: Power from M-Squared Randy Hope Taylor – clip: Magnetic Ocean Other ways to get inspired lessons Find a qualified teacher Online – Scott’s Bass lessons Great quality videos ranging from beginner to more advanced stuff If you sign up, you do get a fair bit of spam There’s also the option of the paid course, can’t speak to it You can just watch plenty of his videos on YouTube without signing up to anything Record yourself! Great educational experience (7mins)
- (7 mins) This is the main thing I want you to remember Where do these individual categories come from? What is the role of a bassline? The bassline and the melody (think of four-part chorale SATB) define the texture of a conventional piece of music Defines the key – you can totally change the context of a melody, for example by moving from a major to a relative minor key Obviously then, the bass has a fundamental role to play But, in another sense, the bass player plays a supporting role “Mortar between the bricks”, or “Glue that holds a band together” Building a rock-solid foundation your band can build on So the congregation can follow along and sing with confidence In a church setting, bass playing is a bit like the Powerpoint guy Some may never notice you – unless you mess up The bass player has primary harmonic AND rhythmic responsibilities Most other instruments tend to be more one than the other Can’t separate the two in terms of importance Most of the rest of the workshop will be looking at different techniques and ideas that relate to harmonic and rhythmic elements You also need to consider what you sound like – your tone Finally, important to consider dynamics These ingredients add up to make you a good team player on your band Bass player should be solid, reliable – skill level doesn’t matter Don’t need to do anything complicated What follows is a grab-bag of advice for improving the quality of each of these four ingredients - hold on to what’s interesting for you Will end with a couple of scenarios (12mins)
- *rim shot*
- (12mins) Harmonic foundations AKA – what notes are you playing Modes Why are they important? Ie. They give you the notes that you can add in to add variety They define the “sound” or “feel” of every chord in the scale Key of song + chord number = mode Ionian I Dorian II Phrygian III Lydian IV Mixolydian V Aeolian VI Locrian VII Demo – play I, VII, IV, V modes – with drum beat Knowing the important notes in each mode (especially the 1, 3, 5 7 notes) helps you to understand the relationships between chords Demo – show that IV and VII share the 3/5 and 1/3 notes e.g. A -> C#m transitions Blank screen: Slight segue - warmups Even just for a minute or two before your start helps enormously Any repetitious scale or exercise is fine really Preferably something that gets you moving up and down the neck, stop the “anchoring” or “tethering” effect. Will show you what I do for warmups as we discuss those bits Octaves and tenths Simple but effective way to add variety and power (20mins)
- (20mins) Rhythmic foundations Essential to creating the feel/groove for a given song When in doubt, the most important two things to fallback on: Keep it simple (want to strengthen the intended framework of a song, not distract people) Hook up with the kick drum! Simple demo – kick drum phrasing Secondarily, phrase with a guitarist to add in some passing notes The rhythm you play can completely change the feel of a song Choose a pattern is appropriate Walking might be appropriate for a swing-style song, or maybe a fun kids song Don’t swing when it’s supposed to be straight Modern chorus – often just looking for eighth-notes Repetition is your friend Any variations you make just to add some style and interest, but should really underscore the solid foundation of what you’re doing 95% of the time Where appropriate, you can add interest by playing inversions or a few passing notes rather than messing with the rhythm too much A few techniques that add rhythm: Slap? OK to add sometimes Subtle pop can be used as an effect for interest, in conjunction with finger plucking Rarely appropriate for wholesale use in church If you move to Harlem, maybe Muted notes Adds some rhythmic interest to a straight groove Don’t overuse – record and listen to yourself If you’re going to use them, keep them tight: when they’re sloppy, they can be a distraction Right-hand damping Good for first-verses, intros, when you want to bring the energy down Not for a whole song – unless you’re in a reggae worship band Slides Signature bass player thing Again, use them sparingly and make them count The main point: get in the pocket! You don’t have to play a lot of notes, or any difficult rhythms Main thing is to sync with the other musicians and nail down the groove Especially the drummer, but even when there’s not a drummer and perhaps older music styles, you still need to nail it! (27mins)
- (27mins) What Your Bass Sounds Like - Tone Bass Settings, Amp settings Passive vs. Active Passive – no pre-amp: roll-off frequencies only Active – pre-amp, usually EQ controls Pots/amp settings Demo with spectrum analyser Each instrument contributes to the overall sound energy the band is creating Start with them all in neutral positions, loop a simple riff and make small adjustments Adjustments should also be appropriate for the style of music Tuning Buy a tuner if possible Manual tuning techniques Harmonics – listen for the shimmering Third fret Demo – how just a little bit of out-of-tuneness can ruin a band’s sound New strings - Or boil your strings! Factors outside your control Trust the sound guy/gal! Develop a good relationship with them Ask them for feedback “Do I sound boomy? Do I sound too clicky? How do I sound in different parts of the auditorium?: Help the sound guy out, especially in situations where the players on stage are largely in control of their foldback Arms race (32mins)
- (32mins) Variation is key to dynamics – e.g. dropping out for a verse, playing sparsely or playing high Make your low notes count! No other instrument brings power to the low-end like you do When you want to add ramping-up to a song, start up high & work down Lateral movement perhaps the single most important technique Also prevents your bass playing from feeling “bland” if you get rooted in one spot all the time Caveat: sense of appropriateness – don’t want to be zipping up and down the fretboard all the time If unsure, then keep it simple, or your band for an opinion Not playing at all Dropping out completely for the first verse/third verse can be very effective Again, exploits the unique low energy that you bring to the band Need to develop the skill of listening To each other instrument in your band Develop an awareness of how much energy should be present at any given point of a song Techniques Octaves - Good technique to add volume and richness during powerful sections RH positions Playing up the neck a nice way to begin ballads Quiet attack, full, round sound, Nice complement with tenths – Demo 6/8 Closer you play to the bridge, more percussive/funky the sound is More energy you want, close to the bridge you might get Remember to adjust your pickup balance to suit (36mins)
- (36mins) Scenario one: You and Mrs. Jenkins on piano Mrs. Jenkins doesn’t read chords – she plays the notes very correctly and rigidly The drummer called in sick because he stayed up too late reading his Bible Today’s first song: All Creatures of Our God and King Classic hymn, written in SATB style As a bass player, how do you tackle this? What sort of sound should you go for? (any suggestions?) What approach should you take rhythmically? What approach should you take harmonically? What approach should you take dynamically?
- Important to pay attention to inversions What are inversions? Simply, triads starting on a different root note Root position, 1st Inversion, 2nd Inversion If you get them wrong, you will clash Demo Play straight through Play with some adding passing notes Play with some wrong notes?? Essentially, we can’t do a lot rhythmically and harmonically But, we can still think of our tone and dynamics to add shape and power (40mins)
- (40mins) Scenario two: A modern worship song – (can you name the genre??) Four chords only (plus a couple of inversions)
- Different examples of what you could do over the same chord progression Things to try: Up high vs. down low Tenths/octaves Passing notes/leading notes Playing up the neck Hook up with the kick drum Phrasing with the piano triplet in the verse (48mins)
- There’s always room to take your playing to another level It’s very common when learning an instrument (or engaging in any creative endeavour) to experience plateaus and/or impostor syndrome Your favourite players sounded terrible when they first started playing Just keep playing and practicing, you will experience break throughs eventually Break the problem down into one of these four categories and pick something to work on: Rhythm I am going to concentrate on listening to the drummer and locking into the kick drum I am going to fight my urge to go all Seinfeld on poor Mrs. Jenkins and just focus on giving the hymns a solid foundation for the congregation to launch their praises on Harmony I am going to use my knowledge of the modes to figure out some nice passing notes between the 4 and 6 chords Tone I am going to try and find a nice rich tone to complement a ballad Dynamics I am going to start up high for the first verse and not hit the low notes until the second chorus (50mins)