RH - Evaluation: Lesson 7

Complementary Studies: Liam Marley

Pupil: Robert Hamilton
Date: 09/04/08
Evaluating Time: 2hrs


With the introduction of the first song to play along to, Robert had the first chance to get a feel for rhythm and timing. This came in the form of reggae artist Bob Marley’s ’Waiting In Vain’ and enabled the pupil a different insight into different styles of bass playing and rhythms.

Although the lesson was musically driven, in terms of the songs being played, there were practical objectives to be learnt, as in the case of learning open notes. The songs were put in place as stimulation, so the pupil would not just be playing a monotonous pattern for ten minutes and to demonstrate why taking part in the exercise was important.



Lesson Objectives:

1.) To recap on the blues bass lines that we have been working on, these include the basic root to fifth pattern and the bay-on-bass pattern. The newly introduced ‘walking’ bass line, from last lesson, will also be played utilising quarter (crochet) notes and eighth (quaver) notes.

Outcome: Robert seemed to be having problems with remembering structures and patterns during this objective. This was not unusual considering he was being asked to remember three different bass lines – the basic root to fifth blues pattern (Figure 1), the bay-on-bass pattern (Figure 2) and the ‘walking’ bass pattern (Figure 3). Although they all involved the same arrangement of C, F and G, each bass line contained three different patterns, (refer to Figures one, two and three below). Once one pattern was attempted and played, that pattern was in Robert’s head. This pattern was then fixated in his mind, causing turmoil for the next pattern, as he would repeatedly revert back to the previous pattern after relaxing into the new one.

This problem occurred mostly with the ‘walking’ bass line, where the pupil would begin playing the frets 3, 2, 5, 2, on the A string. When a chord change would occur Robert would mix up his fingers up and would get confusing with which bass pattern he was playing. With the problems the pupil was experiencing the ‘walking’ bass pattern in the eighth note length form was aborted and the pupil just stuck with the quarter note form, as not too complicate matters.


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

(Figure 1 –the first four bars of a basic root to fifth bass pattern)


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

(Figure 2 – the first four bars of the bay-on-bass pattern)


G -|---------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
D -|---------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
A -|---------------2--------5--------2---------|--------------2--------5--------2--------|
E -|-----3---------------------------------------|-----3------------------------------------|

(Figure 3 – a ‘walking’ bass pattern using quarter note lengths)


2.) To have the pupil playing along to part of a song or the entire song, whether it would be the actual bass line or a simplified version.

Outcome: During this objective a brief history of tablature was given, followed by an explanation of how this form of musical representation is transcribed. Robert had already come across this form of sheet music before but was unaware that the numbers stated on the string lines represented the frets of the bass.

With this explained the reggae bass line of ’Waiting In Vain’ was demonstrated. Robert was instructed to just play the root notes first so he was able to grasp the simple blues like arrangement of G♯ and C♯. It was decided that Robert was probably unlikely to be able to play the actual bass pattern due to the fast changes from the root note to the second interval, i.e. G♯ to B♭ and the C♯ to the E♭. However it was crucial that he played the rhythm of the song so he could gain more experience with grooves and rhythms from different genres of music, so he simply played the root note without losing the rhythm.


**’Waiting In Vain’ tablature**



3.) To introduce the use of open notes being utilised in conjunction with fretted notes.

Outcome: This objective did not actually affect Robert as it was first initially thought. As Robert was having difficulties from time to time with his right plucking hand and the coordination between the two hand forms, he was not expected to be able to play the fret and open string notes in succession.

However Robert seemed to grasp this task well, with very little fret mishaps occurring. Robert did seem to revert back to his early style of one finger plucking, where he would only utilise his right index finger to pluck the strings. There is nothing crucially incorrect with this technique as it mimics the use of a plectrum of pick, used mostly by guitar players but by some bass players. The Motown legend James Jamerson used this technique when playing and his index even managed to earn the nickname “The Hook”, as stated by Wikipedia, 2008.

This style does have its drawbacks, compared with the use of two plucking fingers. Robert demonstrated this drawback when practicing the riff to ‘Smoke On The Water’ by Deep Purple, (as ‘Molly’s Chambers’ was too fast at this moment). He began to speed up part of the riff, which eventually he could no longer play due to the speed limitations of a single plucking finger.