Date: 18/02/08 (J Kosminsky)
Planning Time: 2hrs
Lesson Time: 1hr
Lesson Footage:
(1O MINUTE VIDEO FOOTAGE OF THE HOUR LESSON)
During this lesson the pupil’s bass knowledge will be tested and developed further with the use of familiar techniques and practices. These will be tested to see how much the pupil has learnt over the past eight lessons, as both encouragement and pressure are needed to challenge the pupil so that progression can occur. However the pupil will also have some fun playing along to a new song, which will challenge the pupil but is within their capability.
Lesson Objectives:
1.) To develop the pupil’s finger and hand forms by practicing the chromatic and octave exercises.
2.) To develop the pupil’s fret board knowledge by testing their comprehension of bass notation.
3.) To learn and play along to the practice material of ‘The Ballad Of John and Yoko’ by The Beatles.
4.) To explain the music theory behind fifth interval notes so the pupil fully understands this subject. After this the pupil will be demonstrated how the use of both fifth and eighth (octave) interval notes can adapt and develop a bass line.
Introduction:
The pupil will be asked how he/she thought the previous lesson had gone and whether they are anxious about anything during this week’s lesson. After this the lesson ahead will be explained with some aims set so that the pupil has specific goals to reach.
Lesson Material:
1.) So that the fingering techniques for both hand forms are not neglected while learning and playing new songs, time will be taken to analyse the pupil’s performance and progression, with feedback being given when necessary. The first stage of this objective will be for the pupil to practice the chromatic, i.e. finger per fret, exercise so they can practice their fret placement and warm up their joints, (refer to Figure 1).
G -|---------------------------------------------------------3---4---5---6-------|
D -|---------------------------------------3---4---5---6-------------------------|
A -|---------------------3---4---5---6-------------------------------------------|
E -|--3---4---5---6--------------------------------------------------------------|
------1----2---3---4---1---2---3---4---1---2---3---4---1---2---3---4------
-----------------------------Fingers used to fret notes-----------------------
(Figure 1)
The second exercise consists of playing through the dotted note octaves on the instruments first two strings – the E and A string, as shown in Figure 2. This should be practiced using the fourth finger to fret the octaves, as in Figure 2 and then the third finger once the pupil feels comfortable doing so. As a continuation from the last lesson, this objective will aid in stretching the pupil’s finger reach and their visual association of the octave pattern. Although these exercises may seem repetitive and boring to the pupil, they are necessary for finger and hand coordination development.
G -|-------------------------------------------------------5---------7---------9---------11---|
D -|--------5----------7----------9---------11------------------------------------------------|
A -|--------------------------------------------------3---------5---------7---------9----------|
E -|--3----------5----------7----------9-------------------------------------------------------|
-------1----4----1----4----1-----4----1----4-----1-----4---1----4---1----4----1----4----
------------------------------Fingers used to fret notes-----------------------------------
(Figure 2)
2.) Instead of the pupil being asked to name all the notes on the fret board, string by string, for this section the pupil will be asked to locate specific notes. This will not be an easy task to complete, as out of all the eighty-four notes that the bass is capable of emitting, only seven of these are E notes. Although this is a very intimidating objective to carry out, it will have the pupil concentrating on the fret board and learning the layout.
The pupil is not expected to name all of the seven E notes, only the first four, with the first two being on the E string. The pupil will be encouraged to count to the notes if necessary, as this will get the pupil learning other notes, helping to burn a map of the fret board in the pupils mind.
3.) To keep the pupil interested and focused a Beatles song will be introduced. ’The Ballad Of John and Yoko’ was chosen because of its blues song arrangement, which fits in well with the bass patterns that have been learnt so far. The bass line is the backbone of this track and consists of third, fifth and sixth interval notes to create the blues bass pattern.
With the tempo of the track being too quick for the pupil to attempt the song first time round, they will be instructed to learn the patterns and arrangement on their own first and at a steady pace. Once the pupil is able to play necessary bass parts they will have an attempt at playing along with the song.
**’The Ballad Of John and Yoko’ tablature**
4.) A more in depth explanation of fifth interval notes will be described during this lesson so a better comprehension can be gained. This will begin by explaining that an interval note ‘is the distance between two notes’ and ‘are always counted from the lower note to the higher one, with the lower note being counted as one’, as stated by ThinkQuest, 2008. The pupil will then be introduced to the eight interval notes that can occur, as shown in Figure 3 below.
(Figure 3 – gathered from www.thinkquest.org)
NOTE: With the unison interval note being the root note.
Using the bass guitar and a major scale, the intervals will be demonstrated and explained, with the focus on the fifth interval note, explaining that it is simply the fifth note away from the root note in a scale – do re mi fa sol la ti do.
Once the pupil has understood the subject of interval notes, the fifth and eighth (octave) interval notes will be used in conjunction with the basic blues bass line to adapt and ‘jazz’ it up.
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