JK - Lesson Plan: Lesson 15

Complementary Studies: Liam Marley

Date: 31/03/08 (J Kosminsky)
Planning Time: 2hrs
Lesson Time: 1hr


Lesson Footage:



(1O MINUTE VIDEO FOOTAGE OF THE HOUR LESSON)


With the first three objectives being regurgitations of previous ones, it was important that the pupil was taught some new material. These came in the form of a new song to play, which had a practical purpose of learning more fills, while the last objective introduced the pupil to phrasing techniques, which will help the pupil to eventually gain his/her own style of playing.


Lesson Objectives:

1.) To warm up using the major scales of C, G, D, A, E, and B. However before each scale is played the pupil will be asked to name the sharps contained in each scale without playing them and without referring to the Father Christmas Gave David An Empty Box mnemonic.

2.) To persist playing ‘Cold Sweat’ by James Brown as a form of practice for fills and overall fingering techniques.

3.) To take the new fill theory taught from last lesson and put it into practice on the basic blues bass line.

4.) To introduce ‘Otherside’ by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This song is another practical example of the use of bass fills.

5.) To develop the pupil’s bass technique by introducing music phrases called slurs.


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.) All the major scales learnt so far by the pupil, (refer to Figure 1), will be recapped and ran through during the warm up period. However before each scale is played, the pupil will be instructed to name all the necessary sharps that make up that particular scale. If the pupil is unable to name accidental notes, they will be allowed to refer to the Father Christmas Gave David An Empty Box mnemonic ,as a helpful reminder.



----------------------------1st---2nd---3rd---4th--5th---6th--7th----8th
Scale of C major-----C-----D-----E-----F-----G-----A-----B-----C


----------------------------1st---2nd--3rd---4th---5th---6th---7th----8th
Scale of G major-----G-----A-----B-----C-----D-----E-----F#-----G


----------------------------1st---2nd---3rd---4th---5th---6th---7th---8th
Scale of D major-----D-----E-----F#----G-----A-----B-----C#----D


----------------------------1st---2nd--3rd---4th---5th----6th----7th---8th
Scale of A major-----A-----B-----C#----D-----E----- F#----G#----A


----------------------------1st-----2nd---3rd---4th---5th----6th---7th---8th
Scale of E major-------E-----F#----G#----A-----B-----C#----D#----E


----------------------------1st----2nd---3rd----4th----5th---6th----7th---8th
Scale of B major------B-----C#----D#-----E-----F#----G#----A#----B


(Figure 1)



2.) ‘Cold Sweat’ by James Brown will be played again, so that the fills can be studied and practiced ready for objective three.

**’Cold Sweat’ tablature**



3.) With the time dedicated in both this and last lesson, the pupil should now have a comprehension of what a fill is. After listening to several examples of bass lines with fills, the pupil will proceed to play the basic blues bass line and attempt to add their own fills, using the notes of the major scales. Referring to Figure 2, the blues bass line has three chord progressions, C, F and G. This means that the pupil must know the major scales of C, F and G, as only certain notes can be played for each chord progression (refer to Figure 3).


G-|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|
D-|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|
A-|--3---------------------|--3--------------------|--3--------------------|--3---------------------|
E-|---------------3--------|---------------3-------|---------------3-------|---------------3--------|

G-|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|
D-|---3--------------------|--3--------------------|------------------------|------------------------|
A-|---------------3--------|--------------3--------|--3--------------------|--3---------------------|
E-|-------------------------|-----------------------|---------------3-------|---------------3--------|

G-|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|
D-|--5---------------------|--3--------------------|------------------------|------------------------|
A-|---------------5--------|--------------3--------|--3--------------------|--3---------------------|
E-|------------------------|------------------------|---------------3-------|---------------3--------|

(Figure 2)


----------------------------1st---2nd---3rd---4th--5th---6th--7th----8th
Scale of C major-----C-----D-----E-----F-----G-----A-----B-----C


----------------------------1st---2nd---3rd---4th---5th---6th---7th---8th
Scale of F major-----F-----G------A------B----C#----D-----E------F


----------------------------1st---2nd--3rd---4th---5th---6th---7th----8th
Scale of G major-----G-----A-----B-----C-----D-----E-----F#-----G




(Figure 3)


At this point the pupil will be shown a video (refer to link below), which will demonstrate the purpose and benefits of learning the scales. This video, gathered from Expert Village, 2008, shows how a bass line can be composed and that once a musician knows their scales and they are given a chord progression then they will be able to confidently create a bass line.


**’writing a bass line video’**



4.) Another song that incorporates many fills to ‘jazz up’ a bass line is ‘Otherside’ by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This song has a new fill on every four bars and although is a simple bass line to play, some fills are quite adventurous for a beginner and will take some practice to learn.


**’Otherside’ tablature**



5.) Slurs are described by Wikipedia, 2008, as notes that are ‘played without plucking the individual strings’, while it is stated by Clayton, p. 49, 2003, to be ‘played legato or in the same stroke’. They are types of phrasing techniques and will be the first of many to be introduced.

Phrasing techniques add depth and action to a piece of music and the first two to be taught in this lesson will be a hammer-on and a pull-off. A hammer-on is simply a note that is played and then another note, usually a whole step up the fret board, will be fretted in a hammer like motion but without plucking the string. The whole slur is done with one pluck, which was the first note. The opposite to this is the pull-off, where the first note (i.e. D) is plucked and then a note down the fret board (i.e. C) is sounded by the motion of the note before it being moved off from the string in a pull away motion. The pupil will practice these slurs until they are familiar with the actions involved.