Pupil: Robert Hamilton
Date: 02/04/08
Evaluating Time: 2hr
This sixth lesson acted as a refresher for the pupil, enabling them to hopefully be ready for the next lesson, which will have the pupil playing a song or part of a song. The objectives in this lesson repeated previously taught objectives so that a summary of what has been learnt could be compiled and understood.
During this lesson the pupil managed to put into practice the subjects learnt from the previous five lessons. These all went generally well, with expected problems with the fret board knowledge. The final objective – an adaption to the blues bass line, was hard to grasp, due to the additional notes and frets, while the pupil’s attachment to the basic blues bass line made it hard for them to learn a new pattern.
Lesson Objectives:
1.) To recap on the anatomy of the bass, asking the pupil to name as many parts as they are able. Do they know how the sounds are formed and which parts do what job?
Outcome: Robert was able to name all but one of the external components of the bass guitar. The internal parts were far too technical for him to expect to know and learn. Robert confidently work his way through the parts of the bass but when it came to the nut, he was unable to put a name to the part. This knowledge will aid Robert when maintaining his instrument, as he will be able to know what parts do what action.
2.) To recap and persist with the pupils fingering techniques, where their fingers are placed on the fret board and how much pressure is applied to the strings to form a note. Does the pupil know how to change from one fret to another efficiently as well as from one string to another?
Outcome: When asked, Robert was able to explain how to correctly hold the bass guitar. He was also able to describe how the bass should be played – resting the thumb behind the neck of the bass for support, while the four fingers strike the strings at individual frets in a chromatic fashion (one finger per fret). He was reminded to fret the notes in the centre of the fret as not to cause any fret resonance or buzz that would be audibly unappealing.
Robert’s finger technique was off to a good start, he was plucking the notes a little softer with his right hand, as in previous lessons they were being plucked far to hard and this was causing mistakes and hesitations in his playing. There was a definite improvement with Robert’s right plucking hand, he was beginning to ‘walk’ with this hand rather than pluck the string with just one finger. The third finger on the pupils left fretting hand also improved, as the pupil was instructed not to neglect any finger.
3.) Refresh the pupil on both fifth and eighth interval notes, making sure that the pupil understands the basics behind theses notes and that they know where they can be found on the fret board.
Outcome: The pupil fully understood how to find a fifth interval note from a root note, however the rule to find one – three frets a across and two strings down, (refer to Figure 1) was not explained properly and tended to confuse the Robert. The three fret rule consisted of placing the first finger on the root note, e.g. G and counting three frets across but one fret is including that root note G, while the two strings down, also counts the string that the root note is on. However Robert was counting three frets from the root note, which would obviously take him to a note that was a half step out.
(Figure 1)
Once this was resolved Robert was asked to play an octave or eighth interval note, however he required help finding this particular note on the fret board.
An example of how these two interval notes are used was given in the form of the song ‘Otherside’ by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as a lot fifths and eighths were utilised in the creation of this bass line.
4.) The pupil should hopefully know by now a handful of notes (usually between the first and fifth frets) as the aim for this lesson is to get the pupil to go through and name the position of each note on the bass from the open string to the twelve fret on all four strings.
Outcome: The notes of the open strings, E, A, D, G, were required to be known first and Robert managed to name them all. This then progressed onto the naming of all the notes, with Robert’s confidence and knowledge on the E string, these notes were named quickly and correctly. However once it come down to the A string, the pupil began to struggle and started to forget in which order the musical notes ran in.
5.) Previous taught bass lines will be covered again, from the basic blues bass line which uses a root to fifth note pattern (as shown in the diagram below) to the reggae bass line which utilises both fifth and eighth octave notes to create a groove.
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--------|
Outcome: The first two patterns – the basic blues and bay-on-bass, bass lines, were not a hindrance as they once were, as these were played with a fairly steady rhythm and flow.
However due to the number of activities that were covered in this lesson, there was not enough time for Robert to go through and practice a reggae style bass line. However one briefly was demonstrated to him. This was done in the pattern of a basic blues bass arrangement, using fifth and eighth interval notes, to show to him that most reggae bass patterns consist or utilise fifth and eighth interval notes.
6.) An adaption of the previously played blues bass line, that will become useful to the pupil as a bass player, will be introduced during this lesson.
Outcome: With Robert’s impressive progression with the blues bass lines, he was then taught the evolving bass pattern from that, which is the walking blues bass line. This was demonstrated to the pupil, while the pupil then attempting to play the pattern. This pattern was considerably more difficult than the two, as there was not only more note coverage but also fret coverage too. The pattern was new and would therefore take a while to learn.
Towards the end of the lesson, Robert was shown the benefits of playing and learning the blues bass line, using a selection of songs. This genre of bass patterns will enable the pupil to get to a comfortable stage where he will eventually be able to play a number of Beatles songs.
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