Posts
Tricks of the Trade
In this beginner lesson we’ll learn a few basic techniques for both the rhythm and lead guitarist. They are hammer ons, pull offs, slides and bends.
By: debo
Topics: guitar columns, soloing and improvisation
Before moving on with leads, it’s important that we all get on the same page regarding guitar “tricks.” Today we’ll look at the four most basic ones, go over some examples and also take a look at how they can be used as fills for rhythm players. We’ll also continue to play Bob Dylan’s Knocking on Heaven’s Door to death (no pun intended). I’d also like to note that if you’re really interested in this topic, you owe it to yourself to spend some quality time at the Guitar Lesson pages here at Guitar Noise. I can’t begin to tell you how much there is there to look through.
Some things come quickly to some people. Students who cannot tell the difference between 4 / 4 and 3 / 4 time will be able to flawlessly perform a complex riff. A guitarist who has no trouble fingering complicated chords will struggle to play a descending bass line. We all approach learning things differently and how easily we can grasp something does not always translate into how quickly we’ll incorporate it into our playing, if we ever do.
The techniques or “tricks” that we’ll examine today are hammer-ons, pick-offs, slides and bends. Just how quickly you catch on to these – which come easily and which require a bit of work – is, as always, up to you. But that really is the secondary lesson. What I hope to do is show you how the rhythm guitarist or solo performer can also make use of these four techniques – generally considered solely as tools of the lead guitarist. And how, by adding these tricks to your playing, one can add new depths to one’s style.
Oh yes, lest we forget:
These files are the author’s own work and represents his interpretation of the song. It is intended solely for private study, scholarship or research.
The Amazing Second Fret
Let’s take a really quick look at the lower end of our fret board – the first five frets, shall we? For most guitarists, this is where ninety percent of one’s playing occurs. One of the reasons the guitar is tuned the way it is (as well as why so much guitar music is written in the keys you all know so well), is to give the player (relatively) easy access to all the notes in any given scale. Granted it’s not as easy as it is in the bass (as you can read in Dan Lasley’s great article on the subject (Bass for Beginners # 1), but it’s still not like trying to stretch your hand an octave-and-a-half on a keyboard. Since Knocking On Heaven’s Door is in the key of G major, we’re going to concern ourselves with only the notes in that scale:
Okay, there are two important things to note here: first, the fifth fret is, except on the G string, always the note of the next open string. You already knew this because this is how you tune your guitar, right. On the G string, it’s the fourth fret that sounds the next open string. Why is this important? Well, if you want to run a G major scale (or a natural E minor), you can now pretty much stay on the first three frets. The only note beyond this short range of movement is the F#, which is on the fourth fret of the D string. You’ve drastically cut down on the amount of area for your fingers to cover which in turn will allow you to be quicker. See?
This is why it pays to think ahead about these things…
The second thing to notice is how full of useable notes the second fret is. And this is almost always the case in whichever key you might want to play in. Really. And once you are in on this “secret, ” hammer-ons and pick-offs become a breeze. In the first position, anyway. And that’s where we’re concentrating our energies today.
A hammer-on is done exactly as it’s said. Strike an open string (use the G or D to start) and after you strum it, tap a finger solidly onto a fret, just as you would if you were fingering a chord. You should hear two distinct notes, one following the other, if you’re doing it correctly. If we do this on the open G and hammer on the second fret, it would look like this (in notation and tablature):
This is an incredibly useful tool to have when strumming patterns where you have to hold a chord a while. For instance, say you were playing a song that had several measures in a row of E minor. Instead of a straight strum or even a rhythmic strumming of all six strings, you could do something like this:
That adds a little more fun and interest to the proceedings, doesn’t it? Now a quick bit of advice – you have to hammer on the string harder than you might think, but not as hard as you might think either. That’s really helpful, huh? A good way of practicing this technique is to simply tap on the string without strumming it first. If you can produce a clean note that sustains itself while your finger is on the fret, then you’re doing fine. If not, don’t worry. As I explained earlier, some things take time for different people. Keep at it and it will come. And while you’re practicing, be sure to practice your hammer-ons using each of the fingers of your neck hand. At some point you will need to (or wish you could) use this device with your pinky and ring finger as well as with your index or middle finger. So get used to using it now. And while you’re practicing this way, whether you want to or not, you will also be learning pick-offs.
Pick-offs, as you already know or have guessed, are also literal-named. Do a practice hammer-on (no strum). Now take the tapping finger away. You should get another sounding of the open string. This is the easy way.
Now let’s try the hard way. Place your finger on the second fret of the G string. Pick or strum the string with your strumming hand. This will sound the A note. Now pull your finger off. It’s not as easy to produce that second note, the open G, is it? If you’re lifting your finger straight off the string, you will not get much of a sounding of the open G. What you need to do is pull the string when you’re removing the finger and the best way to do this is with a slightly downward motion. Basically what you are doing is “picking” the string with the finger on the neck. Yes, this takes a bit of practice for some people and a bit more for others. The musical notation for a pick-off looks like this (and we’re using our A to G example again):
The pick-off can also be used as a rhythmic fill, much in the same way as the hammer-on. Here’s another E minor strum, this time with pick-offs:
Once you get yourself familiar with the notes on the second fret, you can have a lot of fun. And you don’t have to be in the key of G all the time. So many first position chords (and their respective scales) make use of the notes found on the second fret that it becomes a challenge not to go overboard with hammer-ons and pick-offs. Here’s an exercise you can use to practice both techniques using the key of C:
You’ll find that if you maintain the basic chord shapes, hammering-on and picking-off with the fingers that would normally be on a given fret for a particular chord, the technique is more natural and it will become second nature for you to use these as part of your rhythm patterns. This is yet another way how guitarists develop an individual style.
The Equally Amazing D Major Chord
One of the easiest examples of using hammer-ons and pick-offs as rhythm techniques can be demonstrated with the use of a first position D major chord (”…it’s an ordinary D major chord – one that you might find around the house…”). Start with a simple D major, then hammer-on your pinky on the third fret of the high E (first) string.
This is a D sus4. Then do a pick-off to return to D again and then pick off what ever finger you use to cover the second fret of the E string. This gives you a D add9. Finally, hammer-on back to the original D chord again.
I can’t begin to tell you how many songs use this particular progression or how many people use it (or variations of it) whenever they find themselves strumming long expanses of D major chords. But it’s a pretty good way to develop your little finger and get it into the action.
Another good exercise to develop the little finger is to play a D major chord and hammer-on the fourth frets of the D and G strings like this:
Again, this can be (and is) used in numerous songs. It’s up to you to experiment with where and how you want to use it.
Sliding Through The Bends
The two other techniques we’re going to cover are slides and bends. Again, they’re self-explanatory. Sliding up or down to a note in a lead creates a distinct tone, which some people call jazzy and some call mellow. Usually a guitarist will start his or her slide two frets away from the target note. I’ve heard longer and shorter slides. And you don’t only have to slide a single note. Two well-known examples of this technique are the opening riff from the Beatles’ Revolution and the second lead acoustic fill in Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. Here are the standard notations for slides and bends:
Bending strings in one of those things that can take time to learn. I absolutely hated bending strings for the longest time because I just couldn’t do it. Do it well, I should say. Then one day while listening to a group at a club I really watched the guitarist and saw this guy using two or three fingers to bend strings. That was a big turning point for me.
When you bend a string, you actually push the string in towards the center of the neck (if it’s one of the first three strings). By bending, you are altering the pitch of the string, making it higher than normal. How much higher depends on how hard you bend. Normally a bend of a half-step is done but some guitarists bend notes up a full step. On the Dire Straits song Down to the Waterline, Mark Knopfler does a solo that includes a bend of a step-and-a-half. Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd will throw in a few of these “super-bends” into his solos as well. It takes a lot of practice and not just on the fingers. Your ears have to be able to discern the interval you want to achieve in your bend. Yes, it’s just another shining example of why it equally important to practice your listening as well as your playing. If you can’t discern the intervals you’ll never know whether your bends are in key or not.
A favorite blues/rock trick is to bend on one string while playing the “end note” on the adjacent higher string. I call this a “unison bend,” but, as always, there are more names for it than are worth going into. This effect is probably best recognized as the one Jimmy Page uses at the end of the solo on Stairway to Heaven. Again, if you take a moment to think about it, you’ll find that it’s easiest to perform between the G and B strings (since the interval between these strings is smaller than the intervals between the others).
Filling In The Blanks
I’ve always thought that the reason blues guitar is almost always in vogue is because this style of playing appeals to the would-be lead player in every guitarist. Typical blues songs are done in what is known as call-and-response. The vocalist will sing a line (call) and the guitarist (and of course they can be the same person) will follow that up with a short lead (which is usually called a fill). This fill is the response.
This call-and-response mode of playing extends way beyond blues, not only in terms of musical styles but also in terms of musical history. Pop, rock, country, metal and world music is full of examples of it. Go back to the early classics of Cream or come forward in time to Dire Straits. Here in the shining new millennium you can pick almost any song of the latest Santana album and you will hear it.
And it’s waaaaaaaayyy older than you think. While I was visiting Marrakech last year I had the pleasure of listening to traditional Berber music. While I couldn’t decipher a single word, I found that I was already intimate with the style. The narrator would chant a phrase or a number of phrases and then he play a burst of music on the rbab. This music predates much of “modern” Western civilization, so you can see that, while we’d like to think we’re hip to the next big thing, we’re actually just the latest to jump on a very long bandwagon.
Because a typical response is usually less than a whole measure long, it’s a great place for a guitarist to hone his or her skills with the various techniques that we’ve been discussing today. You may not believe me, but it’s really a relatively short step from handling these fills to coming up with leads.
I want to close our session today by revisiting Knocking On Heaven’s Door, only this time we’re going to look at it as an exercise in call-and-response. Basically, I’m going to go through the sequence of the first verse and chorus and add some fills. Each fill occupies the last two beats of the phrase (okay, really one and three quarter of a beat…) and, to make matters even more interesting, each of the first four fills that I’ve laid out deals (primarily) with one of our four techniques covered today. The fills in the chorus are mix-and-match – just whatever came off the top of my head. And yes I know (thank you very much) there hasn’t been anything on the top of my head for ages. Please note that to make things easier on myself I’ve based most of my “responses” on the chord forms that I’m playing and that I always end up back on that trusty G chord which begins the next phrase.
You could go on playing this sequence for hours and keep coming up with different ideas. And that’s essentially the point. Give yourself room to experiment. See what you like, what comes easily, what needs work. The very least that will happen to you is that you’ll spice up your rhythm playing. The optimum goal, of course, is that you’ll start getting ideas and seeing how you can apply this to other music, including your own stuff.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Bass for Beginners # 1
Introduction
It sometimes seems that no one else besides you wants to play the bass. Bass players are often perceived to be less important than the vocalist, drummer, and lead guitarist. We once opened for a southern rock band that had several guitarists, and I could tell that the bass player used to be a lead guitarist. He had been “demoted” to bass because the original musician had left the band. I could tell by the way he held the guitar, by the shape of his hands, and by his attitude, that bass was not his true calling.
In reality, a bass player has to have an entirely different attitude about the music. A bass player doesn’t have to be flashy or loud, but a band can not survive very long with a weak bass. Bass players have to be stable, since they build the rhythm “foundation” of each song. The bass player and drummer will determine whether your band is mediocre, good, or great. The other musicians will determine if your band is creative, fun, energetic, or talented.
Remember: while it is typical for a band to have at least 2 6-string guitars, and as many as 4 or more, and while you will see quite a few bands that have two keyboardists or even two drummers (or a drummer and several percussion players), it is extremely rare for a band to have more than one bass player.
Getting Started
Recently, there have been more books and other guides for bass players, but they seem to take a long time to get to the real goal, playing in a band. Often the bass line is not charted anywhere and you’ll have to make it up as you go along. I hope my future notes will help you become prepared to play with your band as quickly as possible. Whenever you listen to music, try to pick out the bass line. Play it in your head, in whatever key you want. You can be the first air-bass guitarist on your block!
Another problem with the bass is that it is hard to practice. As a beginner, it may be difficult to create enough notes to make a song. Be patient and remember that you only have to play one note at a time. If you have a good ear, you can practice with recorded music, but it is often too fast, or not in the same key as is written. When you can, practice with a rhythm guitarist, who can give you the “musical environment” needed to learn a new song.
A Bass is not two-thirds of a 6-string guitar:
The bass is a totally different instrument. You should recognize the important similarities, but don’t get caught up trying to correlate the two. The 6-string guitar is played using hand shapes and forms, followed by scales and keys. The bass is more about patterns and relationships between the notes (followed by scales and keys). For example: if the music calls for a C-chord, and you play a C (3rd fret, A-string), all of the important notes are close by. The lower 5th (G) is right next to the C on the E-string, the upper 5th (G) is just 2 frets up on the D-string, and the octave C is right next to that on the G-string.
This relationship holds for all chords on all strings: The upper 5th is 2-up one string over, the octave is 2-up, two strings over, and the lower 5th is same fret one string lower. Here it is again in C:
And here it is if you tried it in Eb (Eb is the 6th fret on the A string):
Now obviously, if you’re playing a low G-chord (3rd fret E-string), then you can’t play the lower 5th, and if you play a higher G (5th fret D-string) then you can’t play the octave. So a simple way to decide which G to play, is whether you want to go up or down from the root.
Note, if you play G (E-3), C (A-3), G (D-5), and C (G-5) all at once, you have the bottom of the 6-string guitar’s “4th form C bar-chord”. Many guitarists know all of the chords and forms, but don’t understand the notes and theory that is contained under their fingers.
While the 6-string guitarists hand often changes shape, the bass player’s fretting hand is almost always in the same position, covering one fret per finger. Some people may have trouble with the wide fret spacing at the top of the neck, but you can adjust. You can almost always play an entire song without moving your hand at all – but it’s more fun when you do!
The important part of all of this is that the bass player almost never cares what key you’re playing in. You can almost always slide up the neck, or over one string, and all of the relationships will remain the same. There are some cases where a change of key can really mess up some fancy melody or a sophisticated slapping thing that needs to use open strings, but in general, you can make it work.
Unlike the 6-string, there is no anomalous tuning of the strings, they are always tuned in fourths (a 6-string has a 3rd between the G and B strings). In fact, most 5 and 6 string basses stick with the 4th tuning, adding either a B on the low end, or a C and possibly and F on the high side.
Rhythm
The bass is always considered part of the rhythm section, along with the drums and rhythm guitar. Together, their main job is to keep time and to set the style of the song. Sometimes, the rhythm guitarist is playing counter-beat, and the drummer is counting a straight four, and it comes down to the bass player to set the style. Rhythms can be boring, even fast ones. Be careful that you don’t lose your concentration and get sloppy.
Bass for Beginners # 1
Introduction
It sometimes seems that no one else besides you wants to play the bass. Bass players are often perceived to be less important than the vocalist, drummer, and lead guitarist. We once opened for a southern rock band that had several guitarists, and I could tell that the bass player used to be a lead guitarist. He had been “demoted” to bass because the original musician had left the band. I could tell by the way he held the guitar, by the shape of his hands, and by his attitude, that bass was not his true calling.
In reality, a bass player has to have an entirely different attitude about the music. A bass player doesn’t have to be flashy or loud, but a band can not survive very long with a weak bass. Bass players have to be stable, since they build the rhythm “foundation” of each song. The bass player and drummer will determine whether your band is mediocre, good, or great. The other musicians will determine if your band is creative, fun, energetic, or talented.
Remember: while it is typical for a band to have at least 2 6-string guitars, and as many as 4 or more, and while you will see quite a few bands that have two keyboardists or even two drummers (or a drummer and several percussion players), it is extremely rare for a band to have more than one bass player.
Getting Started
Recently, there have been more books and other guides for bass players, but they seem to take a long time to get to the real goal, playing in a band. Often the bass line is not charted anywhere and you’ll have to make it up as you go along. I hope my future notes will help you become prepared to play with your band as quickly as possible. Whenever you listen to music, try to pick out the bass line. Play it in your head, in whatever key you want. You can be the first air-bass guitarist on your block!
Another problem with the bass is that it is hard to practice. As a beginner, it may be difficult to create enough notes to make a song. Be patient and remember that you only have to play one note at a time. If you have a good ear, you can practice with recorded music, but it is often too fast, or not in the same key as is written. When you can, practice with a rhythm guitarist, who can give you the “musical environment” needed to learn a new song.
A Bass is not two-thirds of a 6-string guitar:
The bass is a totally different instrument. You should recognize the important similarities, but don’t get caught up trying to correlate the two. The 6-string guitar is played using hand shapes and forms, followed by scales and keys. The bass is more about patterns and relationships between the notes (followed by scales and keys). For example: if the music calls for a C-chord, and you play a C (3rd fret, A-string), all of the important notes are close by. The lower 5th (G) is right next to the C on the E-string, the upper 5th (G) is just 2 frets up on the D-string, and the octave C is right next to that on the G-string.
This relationship holds for all chords on all strings: The upper 5th is 2-up one string over, the octave is 2-up, two strings over, and the lower 5th is same fret one string lower. Here it is again in C:
And here it is if you tried it in Eb (Eb is the 6th fret on the A string):
Now obviously, if you’re playing a low G-chord (3rd fret E-string), then you can’t play the lower 5th, and if you play a higher G (5th fret D-string) then you can’t play the octave. So a simple way to decide which G to play, is whether you want to go up or down from the root.
Note, if you play G (E-3), C (A-3), G (D-5), and C (G-5) all at once, you have the bottom of the 6-string guitar’s “4th form C bar-chord”. Many guitarists know all of the chords and forms, but don’t understand the notes and theory that is contained under their fingers.
While the 6-string guitarists hand often changes shape, the bass player’s fretting hand is almost always in the same position, covering one fret per finger. Some people may have trouble with the wide fret spacing at the top of the neck, but you can adjust. You can almost always play an entire song without moving your hand at all – but it’s more fun when you do!
The important part of all of this is that the bass player almost never cares what key you’re playing in. You can almost always slide up the neck, or over one string, and all of the relationships will remain the same. There are some cases where a change of key can really mess up some fancy melody or a sophisticated slapping thing that needs to use open strings, but in general, you can make it work.
Unlike the 6-string, there is no anomalous tuning of the strings, they are always tuned in fourths (a 6-string has a 3rd between the G and B strings). In fact, most 5 and 6 string basses stick with the 4th tuning, adding either a B on the low end, or a C and possibly and F on the high side.
Rhythm
The bass is always considered part of the rhythm section, along with the drums and rhythm guitar. Together, their main job is to keep time and to set the style of the song. Sometimes, the rhythm guitarist is playing counter-beat, and the drummer is counting a straight four, and it comes down to the bass player to set the style. Rhythms can be boring, even fast ones. Be careful that you don’t lose your concentration and get sloppy.
Bass for Beginners # 1
Introduction
It sometimes seems that no one else besides you wants to play the bass. Bass players are often perceived to be less important than the vocalist, drummer, and lead guitarist. We once opened for a southern rock band that had several guitarists, and I could tell that the bass player used to be a lead guitarist. He had been “demoted” to bass because the original musician had left the band. I could tell by the way he held the guitar, by the shape of his hands, and by his attitude, that bass was not his true calling.
In reality, a bass player has to have an entirely different attitude about the music. A bass player doesn’t have to be flashy or loud, but a band can not survive very long with a weak bass. Bass players have to be stable, since they build the rhythm “foundation” of each song. The bass player and drummer will determine whether your band is mediocre, good, or great. The other musicians will determine if your band is creative, fun, energetic, or talented.
Remember: while it is typical for a band to have at least 2 6-string guitars, and as many as 4 or more, and while you will see quite a few bands that have two keyboardists or even two drummers (or a drummer and several percussion players), it is extremely rare for a band to have more than one bass player.
Getting Started
Recently, there have been more books and other guides for bass players, but they seem to take a long time to get to the real goal, playing in a band. Often the bass line is not charted anywhere and you’ll have to make it up as you go along. I hope my future notes will help you become prepared to play with your band as quickly as possible. Whenever you listen to music, try to pick out the bass line. Play it in your head, in whatever key you want. You can be the first air-bass guitarist on your block!
Another problem with the bass is that it is hard to practice. As a beginner, it may be difficult to create enough notes to make a song. Be patient and remember that you only have to play one note at a time. If you have a good ear, you can practice with recorded music, but it is often too fast, or not in the same key as is written. When you can, practice with a rhythm guitarist, who can give you the “musical environment” needed to learn a new song.
A Bass is not two-thirds of a 6-string guitar:
The bass is a totally different instrument. You should recognize the important similarities, but don’t get caught up trying to correlate the two. The 6-string guitar is played using hand shapes and forms, followed by scales and keys. The bass is more about patterns and relationships between the notes (followed by scales and keys). For example: if the music calls for a C-chord, and you play a C (3rd fret, A-string), all of the important notes are close by. The lower 5th (G) is right next to the C on the E-string, the upper 5th (G) is just 2 frets up on the D-string, and the octave C is right next to that on the G-string.
This relationship holds for all chords on all strings: The upper 5th is 2-up one string over, the octave is 2-up, two strings over, and the lower 5th is same fret one string lower. Here it is again in C:
And here it is if you tried it in Eb (Eb is the 6th fret on the A string):
Now obviously, if you’re playing a low G-chord (3rd fret E-string), then you can’t play the lower 5th, and if you play a higher G (5th fret D-string) then you can’t play the octave. So a simple way to decide which G to play, is whether you want to go up or down from the root.
Note, if you play G (E-3), C (A-3), G (D-5), and C (G-5) all at once, you have the bottom of the 6-string guitar’s “4th form C bar-chord”. Many guitarists know all of the chords and forms, but don’t understand the notes and theory that is contained under their fingers.
While the 6-string guitarists hand often changes shape, the bass player’s fretting hand is almost always in the same position, covering one fret per finger. Some people may have trouble with the wide fret spacing at the top of the neck, but you can adjust. You can almost always play an entire song without moving your hand at all – but it’s more fun when you do!
The important part of all of this is that the bass player almost never cares what key you’re playing in. You can almost always slide up the neck, or over one string, and all of the relationships will remain the same. There are some cases where a change of key can really mess up some fancy melody or a sophisticated slapping thing that needs to use open strings, but in general, you can make it work.
Unlike the 6-string, there is no anomalous tuning of the strings, they are always tuned in fourths (a 6-string has a 3rd between the G and B strings). In fact, most 5 and 6 string basses stick with the 4th tuning, adding either a B on the low end, or a C and possibly and F on the high side.
Rhythm
The bass is always considered part of the rhythm section, along with the drums and rhythm guitar. Together, their main job is to keep time and to set the style of the song. Sometimes, the rhythm guitarist is playing counter-beat, and the drummer is counting a straight four, and it comes down to the bass player to set the style. Rhythms can be boring, even fast ones. Be careful that you don’t lose your concentration and get sloppy.
Bass for Beginners # 1
Introduction
It sometimes seems that no one else besides you wants to play the bass. Bass players are often perceived to be less important than the vocalist, drummer, and lead guitarist. We once opened for a southern rock band that had several guitarists, and I could tell that the bass player used to be a lead guitarist. He had been “demoted” to bass because the original musician had left the band. I could tell by the way he held the guitar, by the shape of his hands, and by his attitude, that bass was not his true calling.
In reality, a bass player has to have an entirely different attitude about the music. A bass player doesn’t have to be flashy or loud, but a band can not survive very long with a weak bass. Bass players have to be stable, since they build the rhythm “foundation” of each song. The bass player and drummer will determine whether your band is mediocre, good, or great. The other musicians will determine if your band is creative, fun, energetic, or talented.
Remember: while it is typical for a band to have at least 2 6-string guitars, and as many as 4 or more, and while you will see quite a few bands that have two keyboardists or even two drummers (or a drummer and several percussion players), it is extremely rare for a band to have more than one bass player.
Getting Started
Recently, there have been more books and other guides for bass players, but they seem to take a long time to get to the real goal, playing in a band. Often the bass line is not charted anywhere and you’ll have to make it up as you go along. I hope my future notes will help you become prepared to play with your band as quickly as possible. Whenever you listen to music, try to pick out the bass line. Play it in your head, in whatever key you want. You can be the first air-bass guitarist on your block!
Another problem with the bass is that it is hard to practice. As a beginner, it may be difficult to create enough notes to make a song. Be patient and remember that you only have to play one note at a time. If you have a good ear, you can practice with recorded music, but it is often too fast, or not in the same key as is written. When you can, practice with a rhythm guitarist, who can give you the “musical environment” needed to learn a new song.
A Bass is not two-thirds of a 6-string guitar:
The bass is a totally different instrument. You should recognize the important similarities, but don’t get caught up trying to correlate the two. The 6-string guitar is played using hand shapes and forms, followed by scales and keys. The bass is more about patterns and relationships between the notes (followed by scales and keys). For example: if the music calls for a C-chord, and you play a C (3rd fret, A-string), all of the important notes are close by. The lower 5th (G) is right next to the C on the E-string, the upper 5th (G) is just 2 frets up on the D-string, and the octave C is right next to that on the G-string.
This relationship holds for all chords on all strings: The upper 5th is 2-up one string over, the octave is 2-up, two strings over, and the lower 5th is same fret one string lower. Here it is again in C:
And here it is if you tried it in Eb (Eb is the 6th fret on the A string):
Now obviously, if you’re playing a low G-chord (3rd fret E-string), then you can’t play the lower 5th, and if you play a higher G (5th fret D-string) then you can’t play the octave. So a simple way to decide which G to play, is whether you want to go up or down from the root.
Note, if you play G (E-3), C (A-3), G (D-5), and C (G-5) all at once, you have the bottom of the 6-string guitar’s “4th form C bar-chord”. Many guitarists know all of the chords and forms, but don’t understand the notes and theory that is contained under their fingers.
While the 6-string guitarists hand often changes shape, the bass player’s fretting hand is almost always in the same position, covering one fret per finger. Some people may have trouble with the wide fret spacing at the top of the neck, but you can adjust. You can almost always play an entire song without moving your hand at all – but it’s more fun when you do!
The important part of all of this is that the bass player almost never cares what key you’re playing in. You can almost always slide up the neck, or over one string, and all of the relationships will remain the same. There are some cases where a change of key can really mess up some fancy melody or a sophisticated slapping thing that needs to use open strings, but in general, you can make it work.
Unlike the 6-string, there is no anomalous tuning of the strings, they are always tuned in fourths (a 6-string has a 3rd between the G and B strings). In fact, most 5 and 6 string basses stick with the 4th tuning, adding either a B on the low end, or a C and possibly and F on the high side.
Rhythm
The bass is always considered part of the rhythm section, along with the drums and rhythm guitar. Together, their main job is to keep time and to set the style of the song. Sometimes, the rhythm guitarist is playing counter-beat, and the drummer is counting a straight four, and it comes down to the bass player to set the style. Rhythms can be boring, even fast ones. Be careful that you don’t lose your concentration and get sloppy.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
How To Transcibe Music
Transcribe! slow down music software is one of my favorite software "aids" in helping me cop my favorite licks off cd's or mp3's. I also use it to figure out those 'hard-to-hear" chords.
My students get the benefit of Transcribe! slow down music software too.
For example. They have a song they want to learn. Mostly they expect me to transcribe it for them and then show them how to play it. Amazing... they expect "me" to do the work they should be doing! But I don't work that way. It's my job to teach them "how" to do that for themselves, not do it for them! But that's where Transcribe! music slow down software comes to the rescue.
I just load their track into Transcribe! slow down music software and loop a bar or two for them to learn. The thing is though, I can slow it right down to half or even a quarter (or less) of its original speed. Having it go so slow, and looping it over and over, gives my students time to "hear" the notes, learn to sing or hum them, and then learn to play them. (I might just give them a tip by saying it's based on the Em pentatonic in the 8th position for example.)
Learning to "hear" what notes are being played is a daunting task for anyone developing their ears. But Transcribe! helps enormously. But don't make too much of a habit of using it. Learn to rely on your ears. Learn to sing everything you play. See Play Guitar by Ear.
Here's an article on "How to Transcribe" by Andy Robinson of Seventh String Software, inventors of Transcribe! slow down music software.
1. What Does it Mean to Transcribe Music?
What I am talking about here is the process of working out how to play and/or write out a piece of music starting with just a recording of the piece - a commercially released CD perhaps. We would usually be talking about non-classical music as most classical music can be obtained as printed music.
You will also hear classical musicians speak of "transcribing" to mean adapting a piece of music written for one instrument to be played on another. Thus when John Williams plays Scarlatti sonatas (originally written for keyboard) on the guitar, these would be called "transcriptions" although he didn't need to work them out from a recording because you can buy the published sheet music (for keyboard) in a shop. Non-classical musicians don't often use the word this way because they customarily rearrange music for their own combination of instruments all the time anyway.
The effort involved in transcribing music from recordings varies enormously depending on the complexity of the music, how good you ear is and how detailed you want your transcription to be. If you merely want to write down the chords to a very simple song then if your ear is good you may be able to scribble them down in real time while the music is playing. At the other extreme if you are attempting a detailed transcription of complex music then it can take hours to transcribe a single minute of music.
By the way, "the dots" is an abbreviation meaning the written-out music, because of the visual appearance of written music as dots on a stave.
2. Why Transcribe Music?
Often, it's because you want to play a tune but you don't have the dots for it, you only have a recording. Of course you might start by looking for the dots (if it's a jazz tune try the Fake Book Index) but if you can't find them what are you going to do? Also, even if you can find the dots they will often be a disappointment when compared to the version you've been listening to and enjoying. Good players will usually make more out of a piece than the standard published dots will show, so you will have to listen to the recording to find out what they're doing. I'm talking about reharmonisation, embellishing chords, added figures and riffs, good bass-line movement, voice leading, etc.
Jazz musicians regard transcribing as an important educational method. Jazz has a strong emphasis on listening and improvising. Transcribing other people's improvised solos is good for improving your ear and also for gaining insight into the musical ideas they use.
There are also quite a number of professional transcribers around. For instance, if you buy the sheet music for a popular song then this music will often have been transcribed from the record by a professional who works for the publisher.
3. Prequisites
As far as your own musicianship is concerned we could say that there is only one prerequisite which is the ability to tell whether your transcription is right or wrong when you play it and compare it to the original. The extent to which you really can't tell is the extent of possible inaccuracy in your transcription. As long as you can tell, you can keep working at it until your transcription sounds right. How long this takes depends on your ear. If you are having difficulty figuring out the chords then it might be they are too complex for you. Don't despair however. Some people seem to develop a good ear very quickly but I think most people can develop a good ear in time as long as they keep working at it. I think that it's very important to play a chordal instrument (piano or guitar) in order to understand chords and recognise their sound. When I was starting out, a 7#9 chord sounded to me like a pleasantly scrunchy sound but I wouldn't have a clue what the chord was. After a few years playing the guitar and using such chords, an association develops in the mind between playing a 7#9 and the particular flavour of the sound that comes out. Now when I hear someone play a 7#9 I recognise it immediately as an old friend. I think that almost anyone can learn this kind of familiarity with chords but for most of us it doesn't happen by magic and it doesn't happen overnight, it's the result of years of playing, practicing, listening and indeed transcribing.
Familiarity with the musical style is one of the biggest factors in making it easy to transcribe. If you have played lots of music in the same style as the piece you're transcribing then you'll find it much easier to understand what they're doing. An anecdote : when I was about 15 and knew almost nothing I tried to transcribe Charles Mingus's "Jelly Roll" from the album "Ah Um". Listening to it now it's perfectly obvious that it's a blues (14 bar as far as I remember) but I didn't know that then. I listened hard to what the piano player does, thinking that would tell me what the chords are. What I didn't know is that in this kind of music, jazz piano players typically play all sorts of notes with the right hand which don't obviously belong to the chord. If the basic harmony at some particular point is, say, C7 then almost any note except B can be used to construct a harmony which might work in this style. If you don't understand this then trying to work out the chords from the pianist's right hand is a recipe for disaster (I should have started with the bass line). My final result had the melody correct but the chord symbols I came up with were totally wrong and unusable. I'm not suggesting that it was wasted effort though. You have to accept that your first efforts will be of doubtful value but we all have to start somewhere and if you persevere you will improve.
As far as equipment is concerned, obviously you need a means of playing the recording to listen to it. Some ways are easier than others for the purpose of transcribing and every transcriber has their own favourite way of working. Here are my views.
· Vinylacility, very difficult to play from a specific point in the piece and a steady hand needed for lifting the needle and putting it back down again without damaging the record. This was transcribing for heroes. On the other hand if you had a player with 16 RPM speed you could slow the music down for the fiddly bits. Some players (the Garrard 401 for instance) allowed fine control over the speed, useful for tuning adjustment.
· CassetteI considered this to be a big step forward, and used a Walkman quite heavily for the purpose. Advantages : portability, the tape counter which although inaccurate does give some idea of where you are, and the easier start/stop/rewind controls. You could listen to the same bit again by briefly pressing the rewind button while in play mode which was very handy. Slow down was no longer possible but if I really needed it I would copy to my two-speed reel-to-reel machine then copy back to cassette at half speed so my cassette tape would then have two versions, one of them full speed and the other half speed.
· CD/MiniDiscFinally the digit was discovered (in the Peruvian jungle at the far end of the Andes) and tamed. These devices give accurate timing indication for the first time so you really can find any given point reliably. The more expensive models will also loop and some even permit tuning adjustment and speed adjustment. If you choose the right model then these are excellent transcription tools.
· Computer Software - Transcriber's AssistantsThese days pretty much all desktop computers are capable of recording and playing audio and there are various computer based player programs intended to help you transcribe music. You may be aware that we (Seventh String Software) sell one called Transcribe!
· The features offered by such programs are limited only by the imagination of the program designer (and of course by what is technically possible). It is usual to be able to set multiple loop points, adjust tuning and slow down the music without pitch change. Transcribe! also offers a feature which is as far as I know unique in such a program, which is to display a spectrum analysis of any chord or note you select, as a wavy line over a piano keyboard graphic. The peaks in the line identify the tones present, so helping to identify chords.
· The most ambitious programs attempt to actually do the transcribing for you, processing an audio file and outputting MIDI or musical notation. I admire their courage in making the attempt, but my impression is that they are not really all that useful. On music where multiple notes are being played at the same time by multiple instruments (i.e. almost all music!) they make so many mistakes that it's difficult to see them as useful for serious purposes.
This document is a discussion of how to transcribe music regardless of what device you use for playing the music on.
4. Transcribing
First try to get hold of the dots! Some people will tell you you shouldn't because transcribing is "good for you". I certainly agree that transcribing is good for you but if you are at all active musically then there will always be things you want to play for which you can't get the dots, so I think you should save your transcribing time and energy for those. Also, as I mentioned above, if you are listening to a recording you like then the chances are that the sheet music will not show the nice things the musicians are doing which make the recording special. So you will still end up doing some transcribing, but the dots may help as a starting point.
Map out the structure of the piece - verse, chorus, middle section and so on. Even if you don't intend to transcribe the whole thing it's often useful to have a complete map because if the chords are unclear to you at some point then if you know that the same thing happens elsewhere in the piece then you could listen to it there - it may be clearer second time. So listen through the whole thing making a note of what happens where. For instance if you're using a CD player then you could list the sections on a piece of paper with the start time of each section taken from the CD player's display so you can find it again. On Transcribe! or other software which has this capability, you would place markers.
If necessary then adjust the tuning of the playback to match your instrument. If the playback device you are using does not permit this then you may instead be able to adjust the tuning of your instrument to match the piece. By the way, some people recommend transcribing without any instrument in your hands, by the use of pure ear-power. That's great if you can do it but this document is aimed at less experienced transcribers. I would recommend having a guitar or keyboard handy and constantly checking your transcription by playing along and asking yourself if it sounds right.
Now it's time to start transcribing. This is rather like doing a jigsaw. When you do a jigsaw you start with the easy bits. Once enough of these are done then you can hope that the hard bits will fall into place. In the same way, start your transcription with the things you can hear easily. That usually means any prominent single-note instrument (including vocal). Hearing the inner voices of a chord is hard so don't start with that. Start with the melody. Loop it a phrase at a time and play along until you find the notes. Write them down and move on. Then tackle the bass part. If it is murky or unclear then try raising its pitch - Transcribe! and other programs will allow you to raise the pitch by an octave without speeding the music up. This can give the bass part much better definition. The bass part is crucial when you come to figure out the chords because bass players frequently play the root of the chord, or else the 3rd or 5th, so knowing the bass part gives huge clues to what the chord is. Also remember that if in doubt you should listen to other points in the piece where the same sequence occurs, to get a second opinion.
Write down any other prominent riffs and backing figures in the same way.
Now start on the harmonies. This is the hardest part so again we pick away at it bit by bit. Pick out whatever single notes you can hear in the chords - often the top note of a chord is easier to distinguish so write down whatever notes you can hear in any of the chords. Often "voice leading" is used in harmony - this is where you hear a prominent note (a "voice", but not necessarily vocal - could be any instrument) in the harmony, which moves to the next note above or below or stays the same when the chord changes. These are usually easy to hear so work them out and write them down. When you've picked out as many specific notes as you can then you try to identify the chords. This is where your experience and your knowledge of the musical style you're dealing with make a big difference. If you are experienced in the style then you will know what kinds of chords and chord progressions are likely. The bass line, melody line and top line of harmony that you have already worked out will narrow the possibilities right down and you can try out the possible chords on your instrument to see what fits. On the other hand if the chord is an altered dominant and you don't know what an altered dominant is then it won't be so easy, though you may still be able to find something that works even if you don't know what to call it. A useful technique to get further clues is to try playing single notes on your instrument, when the chord comes in the track. Try a C, does it fit? C#? D? When you find a note which fits, perhaps it belongs in the chord. Transcribe!'s spectrum analysis feature is also useful here.
The approach just described assumes that your transcription will include chord symbols but of course sometimes you will be aiming for a complete note-for-note transcription of the performance. In this case it's up to you to listen closely for each note! It can still be helpful to think in terms of chords, to help understand what is happening.
Here's a tip (courtesy of Charles Alexander) for determining the correct key that a piece is in. This often causes confusion because although for many pieces the first chord is also the key, there are many pieces where this is not so. You should look instead at the end of the piece. Play up to the end then whistle a "shave and a haircut" ending like this (written here in C major) :
Whistle it in whatever key sounds right for the piece. The last note of the "shave and a haircut" ending is the key of the piece. This works for major keys. For minor keys I think it's usually true that the starting chord of the melody is the key, unless the title contains the word "Autumn" (Autumn Leaves, Autumn in New York). However just because a piece starts on a minor chord doesn't mean it's in a minor key - for instance "It Don't Mean A Thing" starts on G minor but is in Bb major, as the "shave and a haircut" test reveals.
Here's a tip for determining rhythmic values of fast notes. Suppose someone plays two notes quite quickly, "duh-duh" and you're asking yourself are they eighth notes? Sixteenths? Part of a triplet? The answer is to tap your hand in time with the quarter-note pulse of the piece and sing along with the "duh-duh" notes but extend them to an endless sequence at the same speed "duh-duh-duh-duh...". Then all you have to do is count how many fit into a quarter note. Two? then they're eighth notes. Six? then they're triplet sixteenths. For more complicated phrases learn the phrase so you can sing it accurately, then sing it on your own with your hand tapping the beat (switch off playback) then get slower and subdivide the beat by tapping your hand more rapidly. When you subdivide the beat into small enough pieces then you will find every note of the phrase will be on one of the subdivisions so by noting how many subdivisions per quarter note you are tapping and which subdivision each note falls on, you can work out the rhythm.
Finally, here's a heretical suggestion. If the purpose of your transcription is to perform the piece yourself then remember that it isn't necessary for your transcription to be totally accurate. If there's something complicated going on and you just can't figure it out, remember that it's always an option to just make up something else to play at that point! As long as it sounds good, who's going to complain?
About Bass Technique
Technique Is About Adapting
No one was physically born to play bass (or any instrument but voice for that matter). As a bass player you are adapting your hands and body to this musical instrument. A musical instrument is designed the way it is because of 1) the sound it needs to create, coupled with 2) the average human body in mind. The technique to play it lies somewhere in-between the two.
In my opinion, there is no single, correct way of playing the bass — only better and worse ways. Rigidly thinking there is only one way to play the bass can really stunt you as a bassist and crush the development of an original voice. Just because something works for one bassist doesn’t make it so for all of them.
Results of Bass Technique
While there are no "correct" ways of playing the bass guitar, what does exist are correct results of playing the bass guitar. It needs to sound and feel good. How you accomplish those results is up to you. If you find a way to achieve those results by throwing rocks at your bass, more power to you! (Maybe practice that with someone else’s bass first.)
Thinking about the results end of things gives you creative freedom to experiment. Try things your own way. Try things the way other successful bassists before you have.
Why do so many great bass players sound so different from one another? The most revered bassists rarely sound exactly like any other bassist you can point to. If you examine the bass technique of many of the greatest bass players, you will see each has a different approach than the other. Often times he or she has a wildly different approach. And, it is often this different approach that brought about his or her greatness or uniqueness.
If you look more closely at these great bassists you will notice there are a lot of common results from all of their different bass techniques. It is these results we need to pay attention to and figure out various ways to accomplish them — whether we copy the techniques of other bassists, or blaze our own path.
Studying bass technique is about examining the better and worse ways of producing good bass-playing results.
Be Deliberate
You should deliberately choose the bass techniques you use for the results they produce. A big mistake, especially for the self-taught, is to choose what comes easiest. The path of least resistance doesn’t always work so well. Some results are going to be hard to achieve. You’re going to have to work at it. When people listen to you play they don’t care how easy it is for you. They only care about the results of your bass playing. Does it sound good? That is what should determine the bass techniques you use.
The Goals of Bass Technique
In my opinion, these are the 4 main bass technique goals from which good bass technique will flow:
Goal #1: Avoiding Injury and Musician Health Problems
The most important goal of your bass technique is to avoid injuring your hands, back, ears, or anything else that may arrest your ability to play bass. You want to play bass for the rest of your life. Your bass technique must support this goal or you are doomed to a very short career.
Goal #2: Clarity and Good Tone
Each note you play should ring clearly with a full, pleasing tone. That means:
· No unwanted buzzing
· No unintentional muffled, or muted, notes
· No unwelcome open strings ringing in the background
· No unintentional harmonics, and
· No other accidentally produced extraneous noises
It is quite a tall order, but you have to learn to control all of these aspects of the bass guitar. Notice I say unintentional a lot here. These are all valid sounds the bass guitar can make. Make sure you are making them intentionally.
Goal #3: Efficiency/Economy
I tell students all the time I want them to be lazy when they play. You should use the least amount of effort possible to produce the desired results. This will help you play more quickly, more accurately, and more comfortably for longer periods of time.
Early on this is difficult. Your attention is divided and you’re just trying so hard to play something. With time and practice, things will become more and more effortless. But, you must develop a relaxed technique by consciously working on and thinking about it. You need to make a habit of being relaxed. It takes work to not work so much!
Goal #4: Accuracy
You need to develop accuracy with where you place your fingers, your tone, and your rhythm. It’s important to know exactly what is about to come out of your fingers. If you don’t know what to expect from your playing, you will lack confidence as you play. That lack of confidence will translate into some shaky bass playing.
Accuracy comes from a lot of patient, mindful practice. Early in your playing you will have a lot of problems with consistency. Time and experience are your greatest teachers.
About the Bass Technique Lessons
As I said earlier, there are better and worse ways of accomplishing all of these goals and results I’ve outlined. In the forthcoming bass technique lessons, I will show you ways I approach accomplishing these bass-playing goals and results. I’ve taught these techniques to hundreds of bass students with much success. Mainly, it is the logic behind each bass technique I want to convey. I don’t want you to take my word that these are the ways to play bass. They aren’t. They are just some ways that work pretty well for me and might for you.
Breaking Bad Habits
Even if you’ve only been playing bass for a couple of months, you’ve already developed some playing habits. If you’ve developed some bad ones, here’s what I recommend to help fix them:
Stick to the Unfamiliar
Take a break from playing anything you may have already learned to play on your bass. If you play things you are familiar with, you will quickly jump back into your old bass playing techniques. It will be easier to adapt new techniques to new, unfamiliar exercises, basslines and patterns. Once you’ve gotten better with the new bass techniques, it will be easier to go back and apply them to the music you were playing before.
Avoiding songs you often play can be difficult if you currently play in a band. You will have to make an extra effort to work on your band’s songs applying the new techniques you want to develop.
Slow Down
If you’ve been playing for a while, you’ve built up some facility to play things quickly. You need to slow things down and pay attention to what your hands are doing. The faster you go, the more likely you will jump back into your old habits and make mistakes. Pace yourself with a metronome. There's no shame in working at things slowly.
Get Feedback
Watch yourself in a mirror. Point the neck of the bass at the mirror so you can see the reflection of your plucking hand and, at the same time, you can see your fretting hand. If you want more feedback try recording yourself with a video camera. That can be very eye opening!
Overall, just be patient with yourself. Always try to learn things correctly as soon as possible. The more you delay, the harder it will be to change later.
Holding The Bass
How you hold and support your bass guitar is very important and should not be over-looked. Poorly holding your bass will negatively influence all other bass technique.
Strap In
You should use a guitar strap 100% of the time when you play your bass. The strap is an essential part of your bass technique. Your strap should hold your bass for you. Your hands shouldn’t be doing any of the bass holding or balancing. Your hands need to be free to play. I can't emphasize enough that you should always be using a strap!
Purchase a very comfortable strap. You, your back and your shoulders will be glad you did.
Bass Height
The strap should comfortably hold your bass somewhere above your hips and below your collarbone. Most people have it belly button level. Everyone is a bit different. Experiment.
Try to adjust your bass so that it sits at the same height whether you are sitting or standing. If you sit while practicing and stand while playing, this will help you play just like you practice. Being consistent is a big part of learning to play bass well.
The Cool Factor
You will see a lot of people letting the bass hang around their ankles thinking it looks cool. Don't. It doesn’t look that cool and you will cause yourself many back problems, technique problems and hand injuries. Eventually people will think it’s cool how well you play bass.
Posture
Your mother was right — sit or stand up straight. You shouldn't be leaning back in a chair or hunching over as you play.
Angle of the Bass Guitar
Hold your bass guitar at about a 30-degree angle. You will notice if you hold the bass perfectly level your plucking hand/arm is forced upwards while your fretting hand/arm is forced to reach down and around more and at a bad angle. This can cause a lot of posture problems and forces you to bend your wrists more. Sharply bent wrists lead to carpal tunnel syndrome. By angling the bass guitar you help straighten out your wrists, straightening your back, and leveling your shoulders.
Don't underestimate the importance of how you hold the bass guitar.
Plucking
The following is just the text from the above bass technique tutorial in case you don't have Flash 7 installed....
About the Plucking Technique Lesson
This is just one perspective on how to pluck the strings of the bass. As I pointed out in my article about bass technique, there is not one right way. But, there are better and worse ways. As a student of the bass you should seek as many perspectives as you can find. There are as many ways as there are players. Experiment with your own ideas, too. What follows is a combination of what I've learned from others and things I've discovered on my own.
I will explain the reasoning behind all the technique I show here. The reason is almost always that it sounds better. You should judge this for yourself. Another common reason for these techniques is it is more efficient and will be easier in the long run...
Finger Numbering
Unlike on piano and some other instruments, on bass your fingers are numbered:
· T = thumb
· 1 = index finger
· 2 = middle finger
· 3 = ring finger
· 4 = pinky finger FingernailsYou will need to keep your fingernails trimmed short to avoid your nail catching the string. (Unless, of course, you like the sound of it.)Avoiding Hand InjuriesKeep your wrists as straight as possible to keep from getting carpal tunnel syndrome and other nasty hand injuries. Most musicians don't discover they've injured their hands until after 10-20 years of playing. By then it's too late. The damage is done. And, it will be difficult to break those old habits. Just because it doesn't hurt now, doesn't mean it won't later.Relax Your HandLet your plucking hand hang limp. This is the natural shape of your hand. Keep your hand in that loose, relaxed shape as much as you can. There's no need for tension...Alternating FingersTo develop plucking speed and efficiency, it is important that you use at least two fingers to pluck. Most people use their index (1) and middle (2) fingers and alternate them. Using two fingers is half the work for each finger. Always do as little work as possible. Using two fingers is sufficient for most playing styles. Work on consistently alternating your fingers 1-2-1-2 (or 2-1-2-1). It doesn't matter on which finger you start. It might be a good idea to be able to start on either one. Just don't use one finger for a while, then the other, or one finger by itself. It might seem easier in the beginning to use one finger, but you will quickly hit a ceiling and you will have learned a very hard habit to break...Where to PluckYou will discover the bass guitar has a wide range of tones depending on where, along the string, you pluck. Plucking nearer to the neck offers a fatter, warmer tone. Plucking nearer to the bridge of the bass provides a brighter, more percussive tone. As you develop, you will become more comfortable with moving your plucking hand around to access these different tones. In the beginning, I recommend finding one place and staying there while you develop other, more important plucking habits...Positioning Your ThumbPlace your thumb on the face (not on top) of your pickup closest to the neck. Let your thumb linger just above the E-string. You will see why shortly. On most bass guitars this should put your plucking fingers in a central position between the neck and the bridge. You should get a good, all-purpose tone from your bass in this area.Muting the StringsPlaying the bass requires about as much work keeping the strings quiet as it does getting the notes to ring out. Most of the time you only want one string ringing at a time. That means on a 4-string bass you have 3 strings to keep quiet. You can't just let open strings ring freely in the background. This will muddy up your sound and often create some unwanted dissonance. You should strive to have control over every sound that comes out of your bass. This requires you to develop a solid string muting strategy...Muting with the ThumbYour thumb will be sliding down to help mute the E-string whenever it is not being played. To be efficient, you will want your thumb as close to the E-string as possible. That's why you want to keep your thumb on the face of the pickup. It will be much easier to slide your thumb down to mute the string. If you're on top, your thumb has to hop. You only need to lightly touch the E-string to mute it. No need to waste energy pushing on the E-string...Plucking MotionWhen you pluck the string your finger should roll over the top over the string. Most beginners and converting guitar players have the tendency to pull out away from the strings. This results in a very thin, scratchy tone. You will get a meatier, bassier tone by rolling over the string. It is much like the stroke of a paintbrush. Your plucking finger should follow through towards your palm, or to rest on the next string below the one you are plucking. There's no need to pluck very hard. Let your bass amplifier do the work. That's what it's for. Your fingers aren't amplifiers! Developing a light touch is a very important part of developing speed and accuracy...Follow-Through MutingAfter plucking a string, follow-through with your plucking motion letting your plucking finger come to rest on the string below. Letting your finger rest on the string below mutes that string. As you pluck using alternating fingers, one finger is plucking while the other one is muting. This is essential to keeping the strings quiet. Use this same motion for plucking on each string.Yet More Muting...As you ascend the strings (going from the fattest string to the skinniest) or skip strings, you will find you can't mute them all with these techniques alone. There are two solutions I show students: (1) use another finger to help with muting or, (2) use your thumb to mute more strings. Let's look at these two solutions...Ring Finger MutingThe technique I prefer uses your ring finger (3) to mute the A-string whenever you are plucking on the G-string. This is the only time you'll need it on a 4-string bass. Your ring finger (3) just needs to lightly touch the A-string to keep it from ringing. Placing your ring finger on the A-string every time you switch to pluck the G-string may seem awkward at first. With practice the motion will become automatic. When you are plucking the G-string the muting will be as follows:
· E-string is muted with thumb (T)
· A-string is muted with ring finger (3)
· D-string is muted with plucking fingers (1 or 2) landing on the D-string Wandering Thumb MutingAnother popular way of muting the bass strings is what I call the Wandering Thumb Method. Instead of leaving your thumb on the E-string, your thumb moves up the strings muting them. This is very useful to develop especially if you play, or plan to play, 5-string or 6-string bass. Either string muting method is effective. You will have to decide which you prefer and stick with it. If you are just starting or trying to change some old habits, it will be strange and frustrating no matter what. Practice slowly and accurately. It will come. When plucking the G-string with this method the muting will be as follows:
· E-string is muted with thumb (T)
· A-string is muted with thumb (T)
· D-string is muted with plucking fingers (1 or 2) landing on the D-string Bass Plucking VideoNow, watch the video and see it all put together.Bass Plucking ExercisesNow that you have an idea of what to do, you need something to practice! Follow the link below for bass plucking exercises which work on these basic techniques. Remember to play slowly and accurately. Don't rush through this stuff. You use it in everything you play! You are practicing every song you will ever play. bass plucking exercises
View from the Bottom...
The figure below shows a major scale as you would play it on a bass guitar. The bottom line is the low "E" string, and the top line is the "G" string. Think of the neck as being turned on its side, facing you, with the end of the neck being at the left-hand side of the diagram. The numbers in the middle of the neck represent the number of the fret. The first few numbers at the bottom of the figure represent which fingers should be holding the string down, and the exes represent the rest of the scale. The first note played in either a major or minor scale is always the tonic. In this case the tonic is A. The seven notes of any scale are numbered as such, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, with 8 being the tonic, just an octave higher. It is important to notice that in this diagram, the numbers in the diagram DO NOT correspond to the numbers in the scale, they are fret and finger numbers.
Referring to the numbers in a major scale, it's important to notice that the third and fourth notes and the seventh and tonic notes are a half step apart, all the other notes are a whole step apart. To better illustrate what I'm talking about in a theoretical sense applicable to music across the spectrum, there is a site that shows the musical staff of a major scale here.
Below is a diagram of an A minor scale. Notice how it differs from its major counterpart: the second and third notes of the scale are a half step apart this time, along with the fifth and sixth notes of the scale. There is also a musical staff diagram of the A minor scale here.
For full diagrams of every bass scale regardless of the tonic, click here. For full diagrams of guitar scales, click here. Remember, because the four strings of the bass and the first four strings of the guitar are commonly tuned to the same notes, a bass scale and a guitar scale will involve the same fingering for the first eight notes or so. That's a big reason why scales are dealt with in the bass section of this site -- it is more economical in terms of space and it covers most of the same material.
Transcribe! slow down music software is one of my favorite software "aids" in helping me cop my favorite licks off cd's or mp3's. I also use it to figure out those 'hard-to-hear" chords.
My students get the benefit of Transcribe! slow down music software too.
For example. They have a song they want to learn. Mostly they expect me to transcribe it for them and then show them how to play it. Amazing... they expect "me" to do the work they should be doing! But I don't work that way. It's my job to teach them "how" to do that for themselves, not do it for them! But that's where Transcribe! music slow down software comes to the rescue.
I just load their track into Transcribe! slow down music software and loop a bar or two for them to learn. The thing is though, I can slow it right down to half or even a quarter (or less) of its original speed. Having it go so slow, and looping it over and over, gives my students time to "hear" the notes, learn to sing or hum them, and then learn to play them. (I might just give them a tip by saying it's based on the Em pentatonic in the 8th position for example.)
Learning to "hear" what notes are being played is a daunting task for anyone developing their ears. But Transcribe! helps enormously. But don't make too much of a habit of using it. Learn to rely on your ears. Learn to sing everything you play. See Play Guitar by Ear.
Here's an article on "How to Transcribe" by Andy Robinson of Seventh String Software, inventors of Transcribe! slow down music software.
1. What Does it Mean to Transcribe Music?
What I am talking about here is the process of working out how to play and/or write out a piece of music starting with just a recording of the piece - a commercially released CD perhaps. We would usually be talking about non-classical music as most classical music can be obtained as printed music.
You will also hear classical musicians speak of "transcribing" to mean adapting a piece of music written for one instrument to be played on another. Thus when John Williams plays Scarlatti sonatas (originally written for keyboard) on the guitar, these would be called "transcriptions" although he didn't need to work them out from a recording because you can buy the published sheet music (for keyboard) in a shop. Non-classical musicians don't often use the word this way because they customarily rearrange music for their own combination of instruments all the time anyway.
The effort involved in transcribing music from recordings varies enormously depending on the complexity of the music, how good you ear is and how detailed you want your transcription to be. If you merely want to write down the chords to a very simple song then if your ear is good you may be able to scribble them down in real time while the music is playing. At the other extreme if you are attempting a detailed transcription of complex music then it can take hours to transcribe a single minute of music.
By the way, "the dots" is an abbreviation meaning the written-out music, because of the visual appearance of written music as dots on a stave.
2. Why Transcribe Music?
Often, it's because you want to play a tune but you don't have the dots for it, you only have a recording. Of course you might start by looking for the dots (if it's a jazz tune try the Fake Book Index) but if you can't find them what are you going to do? Also, even if you can find the dots they will often be a disappointment when compared to the version you've been listening to and enjoying. Good players will usually make more out of a piece than the standard published dots will show, so you will have to listen to the recording to find out what they're doing. I'm talking about reharmonisation, embellishing chords, added figures and riffs, good bass-line movement, voice leading, etc.
Jazz musicians regard transcribing as an important educational method. Jazz has a strong emphasis on listening and improvising. Transcribing other people's improvised solos is good for improving your ear and also for gaining insight into the musical ideas they use.
There are also quite a number of professional transcribers around. For instance, if you buy the sheet music for a popular song then this music will often have been transcribed from the record by a professional who works for the publisher.
3. Prequisites
As far as your own musicianship is concerned we could say that there is only one prerequisite which is the ability to tell whether your transcription is right or wrong when you play it and compare it to the original. The extent to which you really can't tell is the extent of possible inaccuracy in your transcription. As long as you can tell, you can keep working at it until your transcription sounds right. How long this takes depends on your ear. If you are having difficulty figuring out the chords then it might be they are too complex for you. Don't despair however. Some people seem to develop a good ear very quickly but I think most people can develop a good ear in time as long as they keep working at it. I think that it's very important to play a chordal instrument (piano or guitar) in order to understand chords and recognise their sound. When I was starting out, a 7#9 chord sounded to me like a pleasantly scrunchy sound but I wouldn't have a clue what the chord was. After a few years playing the guitar and using such chords, an association develops in the mind between playing a 7#9 and the particular flavour of the sound that comes out. Now when I hear someone play a 7#9 I recognise it immediately as an old friend. I think that almost anyone can learn this kind of familiarity with chords but for most of us it doesn't happen by magic and it doesn't happen overnight, it's the result of years of playing, practicing, listening and indeed transcribing.
Familiarity with the musical style is one of the biggest factors in making it easy to transcribe. If you have played lots of music in the same style as the piece you're transcribing then you'll find it much easier to understand what they're doing. An anecdote : when I was about 15 and knew almost nothing I tried to transcribe Charles Mingus's "Jelly Roll" from the album "Ah Um". Listening to it now it's perfectly obvious that it's a blues (14 bar as far as I remember) but I didn't know that then. I listened hard to what the piano player does, thinking that would tell me what the chords are. What I didn't know is that in this kind of music, jazz piano players typically play all sorts of notes with the right hand which don't obviously belong to the chord. If the basic harmony at some particular point is, say, C7 then almost any note except B can be used to construct a harmony which might work in this style. If you don't understand this then trying to work out the chords from the pianist's right hand is a recipe for disaster (I should have started with the bass line). My final result had the melody correct but the chord symbols I came up with were totally wrong and unusable. I'm not suggesting that it was wasted effort though. You have to accept that your first efforts will be of doubtful value but we all have to start somewhere and if you persevere you will improve.
As far as equipment is concerned, obviously you need a means of playing the recording to listen to it. Some ways are easier than others for the purpose of transcribing and every transcriber has their own favourite way of working. Here are my views.
· Vinylacility, very difficult to play from a specific point in the piece and a steady hand needed for lifting the needle and putting it back down again without damaging the record. This was transcribing for heroes. On the other hand if you had a player with 16 RPM speed you could slow the music down for the fiddly bits. Some players (the Garrard 401 for instance) allowed fine control over the speed, useful for tuning adjustment.
· CassetteI considered this to be a big step forward, and used a Walkman quite heavily for the purpose. Advantages : portability, the tape counter which although inaccurate does give some idea of where you are, and the easier start/stop/rewind controls. You could listen to the same bit again by briefly pressing the rewind button while in play mode which was very handy. Slow down was no longer possible but if I really needed it I would copy to my two-speed reel-to-reel machine then copy back to cassette at half speed so my cassette tape would then have two versions, one of them full speed and the other half speed.
· CD/MiniDiscFinally the digit was discovered (in the Peruvian jungle at the far end of the Andes) and tamed. These devices give accurate timing indication for the first time so you really can find any given point reliably. The more expensive models will also loop and some even permit tuning adjustment and speed adjustment. If you choose the right model then these are excellent transcription tools.
· Computer Software - Transcriber's AssistantsThese days pretty much all desktop computers are capable of recording and playing audio and there are various computer based player programs intended to help you transcribe music. You may be aware that we (Seventh String Software) sell one called Transcribe!
· The features offered by such programs are limited only by the imagination of the program designer (and of course by what is technically possible). It is usual to be able to set multiple loop points, adjust tuning and slow down the music without pitch change. Transcribe! also offers a feature which is as far as I know unique in such a program, which is to display a spectrum analysis of any chord or note you select, as a wavy line over a piano keyboard graphic. The peaks in the line identify the tones present, so helping to identify chords.
· The most ambitious programs attempt to actually do the transcribing for you, processing an audio file and outputting MIDI or musical notation. I admire their courage in making the attempt, but my impression is that they are not really all that useful. On music where multiple notes are being played at the same time by multiple instruments (i.e. almost all music!) they make so many mistakes that it's difficult to see them as useful for serious purposes.
This document is a discussion of how to transcribe music regardless of what device you use for playing the music on.
4. Transcribing
First try to get hold of the dots! Some people will tell you you shouldn't because transcribing is "good for you". I certainly agree that transcribing is good for you but if you are at all active musically then there will always be things you want to play for which you can't get the dots, so I think you should save your transcribing time and energy for those. Also, as I mentioned above, if you are listening to a recording you like then the chances are that the sheet music will not show the nice things the musicians are doing which make the recording special. So you will still end up doing some transcribing, but the dots may help as a starting point.
Map out the structure of the piece - verse, chorus, middle section and so on. Even if you don't intend to transcribe the whole thing it's often useful to have a complete map because if the chords are unclear to you at some point then if you know that the same thing happens elsewhere in the piece then you could listen to it there - it may be clearer second time. So listen through the whole thing making a note of what happens where. For instance if you're using a CD player then you could list the sections on a piece of paper with the start time of each section taken from the CD player's display so you can find it again. On Transcribe! or other software which has this capability, you would place markers.
If necessary then adjust the tuning of the playback to match your instrument. If the playback device you are using does not permit this then you may instead be able to adjust the tuning of your instrument to match the piece. By the way, some people recommend transcribing without any instrument in your hands, by the use of pure ear-power. That's great if you can do it but this document is aimed at less experienced transcribers. I would recommend having a guitar or keyboard handy and constantly checking your transcription by playing along and asking yourself if it sounds right.
Now it's time to start transcribing. This is rather like doing a jigsaw. When you do a jigsaw you start with the easy bits. Once enough of these are done then you can hope that the hard bits will fall into place. In the same way, start your transcription with the things you can hear easily. That usually means any prominent single-note instrument (including vocal). Hearing the inner voices of a chord is hard so don't start with that. Start with the melody. Loop it a phrase at a time and play along until you find the notes. Write them down and move on. Then tackle the bass part. If it is murky or unclear then try raising its pitch - Transcribe! and other programs will allow you to raise the pitch by an octave without speeding the music up. This can give the bass part much better definition. The bass part is crucial when you come to figure out the chords because bass players frequently play the root of the chord, or else the 3rd or 5th, so knowing the bass part gives huge clues to what the chord is. Also remember that if in doubt you should listen to other points in the piece where the same sequence occurs, to get a second opinion.
Write down any other prominent riffs and backing figures in the same way.
Now start on the harmonies. This is the hardest part so again we pick away at it bit by bit. Pick out whatever single notes you can hear in the chords - often the top note of a chord is easier to distinguish so write down whatever notes you can hear in any of the chords. Often "voice leading" is used in harmony - this is where you hear a prominent note (a "voice", but not necessarily vocal - could be any instrument) in the harmony, which moves to the next note above or below or stays the same when the chord changes. These are usually easy to hear so work them out and write them down. When you've picked out as many specific notes as you can then you try to identify the chords. This is where your experience and your knowledge of the musical style you're dealing with make a big difference. If you are experienced in the style then you will know what kinds of chords and chord progressions are likely. The bass line, melody line and top line of harmony that you have already worked out will narrow the possibilities right down and you can try out the possible chords on your instrument to see what fits. On the other hand if the chord is an altered dominant and you don't know what an altered dominant is then it won't be so easy, though you may still be able to find something that works even if you don't know what to call it. A useful technique to get further clues is to try playing single notes on your instrument, when the chord comes in the track. Try a C, does it fit? C#? D? When you find a note which fits, perhaps it belongs in the chord. Transcribe!'s spectrum analysis feature is also useful here.
The approach just described assumes that your transcription will include chord symbols but of course sometimes you will be aiming for a complete note-for-note transcription of the performance. In this case it's up to you to listen closely for each note! It can still be helpful to think in terms of chords, to help understand what is happening.
Here's a tip (courtesy of Charles Alexander) for determining the correct key that a piece is in. This often causes confusion because although for many pieces the first chord is also the key, there are many pieces where this is not so. You should look instead at the end of the piece. Play up to the end then whistle a "shave and a haircut" ending like this (written here in C major) :
Whistle it in whatever key sounds right for the piece. The last note of the "shave and a haircut" ending is the key of the piece. This works for major keys. For minor keys I think it's usually true that the starting chord of the melody is the key, unless the title contains the word "Autumn" (Autumn Leaves, Autumn in New York). However just because a piece starts on a minor chord doesn't mean it's in a minor key - for instance "It Don't Mean A Thing" starts on G minor but is in Bb major, as the "shave and a haircut" test reveals.
Here's a tip for determining rhythmic values of fast notes. Suppose someone plays two notes quite quickly, "duh-duh" and you're asking yourself are they eighth notes? Sixteenths? Part of a triplet? The answer is to tap your hand in time with the quarter-note pulse of the piece and sing along with the "duh-duh" notes but extend them to an endless sequence at the same speed "duh-duh-duh-duh...". Then all you have to do is count how many fit into a quarter note. Two? then they're eighth notes. Six? then they're triplet sixteenths. For more complicated phrases learn the phrase so you can sing it accurately, then sing it on your own with your hand tapping the beat (switch off playback) then get slower and subdivide the beat by tapping your hand more rapidly. When you subdivide the beat into small enough pieces then you will find every note of the phrase will be on one of the subdivisions so by noting how many subdivisions per quarter note you are tapping and which subdivision each note falls on, you can work out the rhythm.
Finally, here's a heretical suggestion. If the purpose of your transcription is to perform the piece yourself then remember that it isn't necessary for your transcription to be totally accurate. If there's something complicated going on and you just can't figure it out, remember that it's always an option to just make up something else to play at that point! As long as it sounds good, who's going to complain?
About Bass Technique
Technique Is About Adapting
No one was physically born to play bass (or any instrument but voice for that matter). As a bass player you are adapting your hands and body to this musical instrument. A musical instrument is designed the way it is because of 1) the sound it needs to create, coupled with 2) the average human body in mind. The technique to play it lies somewhere in-between the two.
In my opinion, there is no single, correct way of playing the bass — only better and worse ways. Rigidly thinking there is only one way to play the bass can really stunt you as a bassist and crush the development of an original voice. Just because something works for one bassist doesn’t make it so for all of them.
Results of Bass Technique
While there are no "correct" ways of playing the bass guitar, what does exist are correct results of playing the bass guitar. It needs to sound and feel good. How you accomplish those results is up to you. If you find a way to achieve those results by throwing rocks at your bass, more power to you! (Maybe practice that with someone else’s bass first.)
Thinking about the results end of things gives you creative freedom to experiment. Try things your own way. Try things the way other successful bassists before you have.
Why do so many great bass players sound so different from one another? The most revered bassists rarely sound exactly like any other bassist you can point to. If you examine the bass technique of many of the greatest bass players, you will see each has a different approach than the other. Often times he or she has a wildly different approach. And, it is often this different approach that brought about his or her greatness or uniqueness.
If you look more closely at these great bassists you will notice there are a lot of common results from all of their different bass techniques. It is these results we need to pay attention to and figure out various ways to accomplish them — whether we copy the techniques of other bassists, or blaze our own path.
Studying bass technique is about examining the better and worse ways of producing good bass-playing results.
Be Deliberate
You should deliberately choose the bass techniques you use for the results they produce. A big mistake, especially for the self-taught, is to choose what comes easiest. The path of least resistance doesn’t always work so well. Some results are going to be hard to achieve. You’re going to have to work at it. When people listen to you play they don’t care how easy it is for you. They only care about the results of your bass playing. Does it sound good? That is what should determine the bass techniques you use.
The Goals of Bass Technique
In my opinion, these are the 4 main bass technique goals from which good bass technique will flow:
Goal #1: Avoiding Injury and Musician Health Problems
The most important goal of your bass technique is to avoid injuring your hands, back, ears, or anything else that may arrest your ability to play bass. You want to play bass for the rest of your life. Your bass technique must support this goal or you are doomed to a very short career.
Goal #2: Clarity and Good Tone
Each note you play should ring clearly with a full, pleasing tone. That means:
· No unwanted buzzing
· No unintentional muffled, or muted, notes
· No unwelcome open strings ringing in the background
· No unintentional harmonics, and
· No other accidentally produced extraneous noises
It is quite a tall order, but you have to learn to control all of these aspects of the bass guitar. Notice I say unintentional a lot here. These are all valid sounds the bass guitar can make. Make sure you are making them intentionally.
Goal #3: Efficiency/Economy
I tell students all the time I want them to be lazy when they play. You should use the least amount of effort possible to produce the desired results. This will help you play more quickly, more accurately, and more comfortably for longer periods of time.
Early on this is difficult. Your attention is divided and you’re just trying so hard to play something. With time and practice, things will become more and more effortless. But, you must develop a relaxed technique by consciously working on and thinking about it. You need to make a habit of being relaxed. It takes work to not work so much!
Goal #4: Accuracy
You need to develop accuracy with where you place your fingers, your tone, and your rhythm. It’s important to know exactly what is about to come out of your fingers. If you don’t know what to expect from your playing, you will lack confidence as you play. That lack of confidence will translate into some shaky bass playing.
Accuracy comes from a lot of patient, mindful practice. Early in your playing you will have a lot of problems with consistency. Time and experience are your greatest teachers.
About the Bass Technique Lessons
As I said earlier, there are better and worse ways of accomplishing all of these goals and results I’ve outlined. In the forthcoming bass technique lessons, I will show you ways I approach accomplishing these bass-playing goals and results. I’ve taught these techniques to hundreds of bass students with much success. Mainly, it is the logic behind each bass technique I want to convey. I don’t want you to take my word that these are the ways to play bass. They aren’t. They are just some ways that work pretty well for me and might for you.
Breaking Bad Habits
Even if you’ve only been playing bass for a couple of months, you’ve already developed some playing habits. If you’ve developed some bad ones, here’s what I recommend to help fix them:
Stick to the Unfamiliar
Take a break from playing anything you may have already learned to play on your bass. If you play things you are familiar with, you will quickly jump back into your old bass playing techniques. It will be easier to adapt new techniques to new, unfamiliar exercises, basslines and patterns. Once you’ve gotten better with the new bass techniques, it will be easier to go back and apply them to the music you were playing before.
Avoiding songs you often play can be difficult if you currently play in a band. You will have to make an extra effort to work on your band’s songs applying the new techniques you want to develop.
Slow Down
If you’ve been playing for a while, you’ve built up some facility to play things quickly. You need to slow things down and pay attention to what your hands are doing. The faster you go, the more likely you will jump back into your old habits and make mistakes. Pace yourself with a metronome. There's no shame in working at things slowly.
Get Feedback
Watch yourself in a mirror. Point the neck of the bass at the mirror so you can see the reflection of your plucking hand and, at the same time, you can see your fretting hand. If you want more feedback try recording yourself with a video camera. That can be very eye opening!
Overall, just be patient with yourself. Always try to learn things correctly as soon as possible. The more you delay, the harder it will be to change later.
Holding The Bass
How you hold and support your bass guitar is very important and should not be over-looked. Poorly holding your bass will negatively influence all other bass technique.
Strap In
You should use a guitar strap 100% of the time when you play your bass. The strap is an essential part of your bass technique. Your strap should hold your bass for you. Your hands shouldn’t be doing any of the bass holding or balancing. Your hands need to be free to play. I can't emphasize enough that you should always be using a strap!
Purchase a very comfortable strap. You, your back and your shoulders will be glad you did.
Bass Height
The strap should comfortably hold your bass somewhere above your hips and below your collarbone. Most people have it belly button level. Everyone is a bit different. Experiment.
Try to adjust your bass so that it sits at the same height whether you are sitting or standing. If you sit while practicing and stand while playing, this will help you play just like you practice. Being consistent is a big part of learning to play bass well.
The Cool Factor
You will see a lot of people letting the bass hang around their ankles thinking it looks cool. Don't. It doesn’t look that cool and you will cause yourself many back problems, technique problems and hand injuries. Eventually people will think it’s cool how well you play bass.
Posture
Your mother was right — sit or stand up straight. You shouldn't be leaning back in a chair or hunching over as you play.
Angle of the Bass Guitar
Hold your bass guitar at about a 30-degree angle. You will notice if you hold the bass perfectly level your plucking hand/arm is forced upwards while your fretting hand/arm is forced to reach down and around more and at a bad angle. This can cause a lot of posture problems and forces you to bend your wrists more. Sharply bent wrists lead to carpal tunnel syndrome. By angling the bass guitar you help straighten out your wrists, straightening your back, and leveling your shoulders.
Don't underestimate the importance of how you hold the bass guitar.
Plucking
The following is just the text from the above bass technique tutorial in case you don't have Flash 7 installed....
About the Plucking Technique Lesson
This is just one perspective on how to pluck the strings of the bass. As I pointed out in my article about bass technique, there is not one right way. But, there are better and worse ways. As a student of the bass you should seek as many perspectives as you can find. There are as many ways as there are players. Experiment with your own ideas, too. What follows is a combination of what I've learned from others and things I've discovered on my own.
I will explain the reasoning behind all the technique I show here. The reason is almost always that it sounds better. You should judge this for yourself. Another common reason for these techniques is it is more efficient and will be easier in the long run...
Finger Numbering
Unlike on piano and some other instruments, on bass your fingers are numbered:
· T = thumb
· 1 = index finger
· 2 = middle finger
· 3 = ring finger
· 4 = pinky finger FingernailsYou will need to keep your fingernails trimmed short to avoid your nail catching the string. (Unless, of course, you like the sound of it.)Avoiding Hand InjuriesKeep your wrists as straight as possible to keep from getting carpal tunnel syndrome and other nasty hand injuries. Most musicians don't discover they've injured their hands until after 10-20 years of playing. By then it's too late. The damage is done. And, it will be difficult to break those old habits. Just because it doesn't hurt now, doesn't mean it won't later.Relax Your HandLet your plucking hand hang limp. This is the natural shape of your hand. Keep your hand in that loose, relaxed shape as much as you can. There's no need for tension...Alternating FingersTo develop plucking speed and efficiency, it is important that you use at least two fingers to pluck. Most people use their index (1) and middle (2) fingers and alternate them. Using two fingers is half the work for each finger. Always do as little work as possible. Using two fingers is sufficient for most playing styles. Work on consistently alternating your fingers 1-2-1-2 (or 2-1-2-1). It doesn't matter on which finger you start. It might be a good idea to be able to start on either one. Just don't use one finger for a while, then the other, or one finger by itself. It might seem easier in the beginning to use one finger, but you will quickly hit a ceiling and you will have learned a very hard habit to break...Where to PluckYou will discover the bass guitar has a wide range of tones depending on where, along the string, you pluck. Plucking nearer to the neck offers a fatter, warmer tone. Plucking nearer to the bridge of the bass provides a brighter, more percussive tone. As you develop, you will become more comfortable with moving your plucking hand around to access these different tones. In the beginning, I recommend finding one place and staying there while you develop other, more important plucking habits...Positioning Your ThumbPlace your thumb on the face (not on top) of your pickup closest to the neck. Let your thumb linger just above the E-string. You will see why shortly. On most bass guitars this should put your plucking fingers in a central position between the neck and the bridge. You should get a good, all-purpose tone from your bass in this area.Muting the StringsPlaying the bass requires about as much work keeping the strings quiet as it does getting the notes to ring out. Most of the time you only want one string ringing at a time. That means on a 4-string bass you have 3 strings to keep quiet. You can't just let open strings ring freely in the background. This will muddy up your sound and often create some unwanted dissonance. You should strive to have control over every sound that comes out of your bass. This requires you to develop a solid string muting strategy...Muting with the ThumbYour thumb will be sliding down to help mute the E-string whenever it is not being played. To be efficient, you will want your thumb as close to the E-string as possible. That's why you want to keep your thumb on the face of the pickup. It will be much easier to slide your thumb down to mute the string. If you're on top, your thumb has to hop. You only need to lightly touch the E-string to mute it. No need to waste energy pushing on the E-string...Plucking MotionWhen you pluck the string your finger should roll over the top over the string. Most beginners and converting guitar players have the tendency to pull out away from the strings. This results in a very thin, scratchy tone. You will get a meatier, bassier tone by rolling over the string. It is much like the stroke of a paintbrush. Your plucking finger should follow through towards your palm, or to rest on the next string below the one you are plucking. There's no need to pluck very hard. Let your bass amplifier do the work. That's what it's for. Your fingers aren't amplifiers! Developing a light touch is a very important part of developing speed and accuracy...Follow-Through MutingAfter plucking a string, follow-through with your plucking motion letting your plucking finger come to rest on the string below. Letting your finger rest on the string below mutes that string. As you pluck using alternating fingers, one finger is plucking while the other one is muting. This is essential to keeping the strings quiet. Use this same motion for plucking on each string.Yet More Muting...As you ascend the strings (going from the fattest string to the skinniest) or skip strings, you will find you can't mute them all with these techniques alone. There are two solutions I show students: (1) use another finger to help with muting or, (2) use your thumb to mute more strings. Let's look at these two solutions...Ring Finger MutingThe technique I prefer uses your ring finger (3) to mute the A-string whenever you are plucking on the G-string. This is the only time you'll need it on a 4-string bass. Your ring finger (3) just needs to lightly touch the A-string to keep it from ringing. Placing your ring finger on the A-string every time you switch to pluck the G-string may seem awkward at first. With practice the motion will become automatic. When you are plucking the G-string the muting will be as follows:
· E-string is muted with thumb (T)
· A-string is muted with ring finger (3)
· D-string is muted with plucking fingers (1 or 2) landing on the D-string Wandering Thumb MutingAnother popular way of muting the bass strings is what I call the Wandering Thumb Method. Instead of leaving your thumb on the E-string, your thumb moves up the strings muting them. This is very useful to develop especially if you play, or plan to play, 5-string or 6-string bass. Either string muting method is effective. You will have to decide which you prefer and stick with it. If you are just starting or trying to change some old habits, it will be strange and frustrating no matter what. Practice slowly and accurately. It will come. When plucking the G-string with this method the muting will be as follows:
· E-string is muted with thumb (T)
· A-string is muted with thumb (T)
· D-string is muted with plucking fingers (1 or 2) landing on the D-string Bass Plucking VideoNow, watch the video and see it all put together.Bass Plucking ExercisesNow that you have an idea of what to do, you need something to practice! Follow the link below for bass plucking exercises which work on these basic techniques. Remember to play slowly and accurately. Don't rush through this stuff. You use it in everything you play! You are practicing every song you will ever play. bass plucking exercises
View from the Bottom...
The figure below shows a major scale as you would play it on a bass guitar. The bottom line is the low "E" string, and the top line is the "G" string. Think of the neck as being turned on its side, facing you, with the end of the neck being at the left-hand side of the diagram. The numbers in the middle of the neck represent the number of the fret. The first few numbers at the bottom of the figure represent which fingers should be holding the string down, and the exes represent the rest of the scale. The first note played in either a major or minor scale is always the tonic. In this case the tonic is A. The seven notes of any scale are numbered as such, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, with 8 being the tonic, just an octave higher. It is important to notice that in this diagram, the numbers in the diagram DO NOT correspond to the numbers in the scale, they are fret and finger numbers.
Referring to the numbers in a major scale, it's important to notice that the third and fourth notes and the seventh and tonic notes are a half step apart, all the other notes are a whole step apart. To better illustrate what I'm talking about in a theoretical sense applicable to music across the spectrum, there is a site that shows the musical staff of a major scale here.
Below is a diagram of an A minor scale. Notice how it differs from its major counterpart: the second and third notes of the scale are a half step apart this time, along with the fifth and sixth notes of the scale. There is also a musical staff diagram of the A minor scale here.
For full diagrams of every bass scale regardless of the tonic, click here. For full diagrams of guitar scales, click here. Remember, because the four strings of the bass and the first four strings of the guitar are commonly tuned to the same notes, a bass scale and a guitar scale will involve the same fingering for the first eight notes or so. That's a big reason why scales are dealt with in the bass section of this site -- it is more economical in terms of space and it covers most of the same material.
CARING FOR YOUR PIANO.
We at Piano & Keyboard Centre have prepared this information page especially for YOU, the owner of a piano manufactured in Europe, Japan, China, Korea or North America. It will answer questions you may have on how to maintain your piano in its original beautiful condition. Your piano is an investment that will give you and your family many years of pleasure.
It can be the centre of your home, a lasting source of fun and entertainment.
Your piano is an intricate musical instrument encased in a beautiful cabinet. It needs and deserves intelligent care.
Your piano is a complex blending of many diverse raw materials. There are more than 9,000 parts in the key and action combination alone. If you were to analyze the materials in your piano, you would find top quality wood of many species, iron, steel, copper, brass, plastics, wool, cotton, various adhesives, etc. Piano strings are known as the "Blue Chip" of the steel industry. They represent the highest development in steel wire and only a few mills are capable of manufacturing them. Remember that there are more than 200 strings in a standard piano and that their combined tension exerts a pull of better than eighteen tons! These strings bear upon the sounding board by means of wooden bridges and a system of reverse bearings that practically lock the strings and board together. Each of these strings must be kept at the proper tension or it will be off pitch and produce an inharmonious tone. In other words, your piano will be OUT OF TUNE!
It will take some time for your piano to become thoroughly settled and adjusted to the atmospheric conditions in your home. This is true of all makes and models. Therefore it is of special importance that your piano receive proper service during the first year after purchase.
During the first year it is advisable to have your piano tuned at least two times. In the following years have it tuned as often as necessary, but a minimum of once. For your information, a concert pianist has his piano tuned before each performance. The frequency of tuning depends on the use the piano receives and the conditions peculiar to its location. A piano will stay in tune better if atmospheric conditions remain consistent. Changes from moist air to dry air cause wood to swell and shrink, thus changing the tension on the strings. Keeping the humidity as constant as possible means your piano will need to be tuned less frequently.
Your piano's action must be checked and "regulated" regularly. Do not confuse the words "tuning", which has to do solely with the pitch of the strings, and ''regulating", which has to do with the adjustment of the mechanism by which the string is put into motion.
CLEANING THE KEYSTo clean keys, slightly moisten a soft white cloth with water, to which a very slight amount of mild dishwashing detergent has been added. This method can be used on both the black and white keys, with different cloths. (As black keys may leave some colour). Remember to dampen the cloth only slightly and rub gently. Dry with a soft cloth.
PLACING YOUR PIANO
It can be the centre of your home, a lasting source of fun and entertainment.
Your piano is an intricate musical instrument encased in a beautiful cabinet. It needs and deserves intelligent care.
Your piano is a complex blending of many diverse raw materials. There are more than 9,000 parts in the key and action combination alone. If you were to analyze the materials in your piano, you would find top quality wood of many species, iron, steel, copper, brass, plastics, wool, cotton, various adhesives, etc. Piano strings are known as the "Blue Chip" of the steel industry. They represent the highest development in steel wire and only a few mills are capable of manufacturing them. Remember that there are more than 200 strings in a standard piano and that their combined tension exerts a pull of better than eighteen tons! These strings bear upon the sounding board by means of wooden bridges and a system of reverse bearings that practically lock the strings and board together. Each of these strings must be kept at the proper tension or it will be off pitch and produce an inharmonious tone. In other words, your piano will be OUT OF TUNE!
It will take some time for your piano to become thoroughly settled and adjusted to the atmospheric conditions in your home. This is true of all makes and models. Therefore it is of special importance that your piano receive proper service during the first year after purchase.
During the first year it is advisable to have your piano tuned at least two times. In the following years have it tuned as often as necessary, but a minimum of once. For your information, a concert pianist has his piano tuned before each performance. The frequency of tuning depends on the use the piano receives and the conditions peculiar to its location. A piano will stay in tune better if atmospheric conditions remain consistent. Changes from moist air to dry air cause wood to swell and shrink, thus changing the tension on the strings. Keeping the humidity as constant as possible means your piano will need to be tuned less frequently.
Your piano's action must be checked and "regulated" regularly. Do not confuse the words "tuning", which has to do solely with the pitch of the strings, and ''regulating", which has to do with the adjustment of the mechanism by which the string is put into motion.
CLEANING THE KEYSTo clean keys, slightly moisten a soft white cloth with water, to which a very slight amount of mild dishwashing detergent has been added. This method can be used on both the black and white keys, with different cloths. (As black keys may leave some colour). Remember to dampen the cloth only slightly and rub gently. Dry with a soft cloth.
PLACING YOUR PIANO
VOICING.
Piano hammers are made of a very dense felt wrapped around a piece of wood. The manufacture of the hammer builds forces of tension and compression into it, which creates an elastic striking surface. The nature of the hammer and the way it strikes and rebounds from the string has a lot to do with the characteristic tone of the piano. Over time, and with use, the surface of the hammer gets compressed and flattened, which produces a less and less desirable sound. The piano may seem very "bright" or harsh, and the sound may appear to die away more quickly than when it was new. It may be hard to play quietly. On the other hand, if the hammers are too soft, the piano will produce a "muted" or muffled sound. Both of these situations can be improved by working with the hammers, although in some cases new hammers are a better solution.
Regulation
Regulation refers to adjustments made to the piano action—the keys, hammers, pedals, dampers, and the mechanisms in between. A piano that is out of regulation will often still work, but might be compromised in several ways. The action might not be delivering the player’s full power to the strings. The touch may be unpredictable from note to note, making quiet playing impossible. The hammers might not reset quickly enough for fast repetition, making it hard to play repeated notes and trills. Some notes may not even play in certain circumstances or with a certain touch. A complete regulation should not be required very often for a home piano, but frequent touch-ups help keep the piano playing well.
Piano hammers are made of a very dense felt wrapped around a piece of wood. The manufacture of the hammer builds forces of tension and compression into it, which creates an elastic striking surface. The nature of the hammer and the way it strikes and rebounds from the string has a lot to do with the characteristic tone of the piano. Over time, and with use, the surface of the hammer gets compressed and flattened, which produces a less and less desirable sound. The piano may seem very "bright" or harsh, and the sound may appear to die away more quickly than when it was new. It may be hard to play quietly. On the other hand, if the hammers are too soft, the piano will produce a "muted" or muffled sound. Both of these situations can be improved by working with the hammers, although in some cases new hammers are a better solution.
Regulation
Regulation refers to adjustments made to the piano action—the keys, hammers, pedals, dampers, and the mechanisms in between. A piano that is out of regulation will often still work, but might be compromised in several ways. The action might not be delivering the player’s full power to the strings. The touch may be unpredictable from note to note, making quiet playing impossible. The hammers might not reset quickly enough for fast repetition, making it hard to play repeated notes and trills. Some notes may not even play in certain circumstances or with a certain touch. A complete regulation should not be required very often for a home piano, but frequent touch-ups help keep the piano playing well.
Regulation
Regulation refers to adjustments made to the piano action—the keys, hammers, pedals, dampers, and the mechanisms in between. A piano that is out of regulation will often still work, but might be compromised in several ways. The action might not be delivering the player’s full power to the strings. The touch may be unpredictable from note to note, making quiet playing impossible. The hammers might not reset quickly enough for fast repetition, making it hard to play repeated notes and trills. Some notes may not even play in certain circumstances or with a certain touch. A complete regulation should not be required very often for a home piano, but frequent touch-ups help keep the piano playing well.
Piano hammers are made of a very dense felt wrapped around a piece of wood. The manufacture of the hammer builds forces of tension and compression into it, which creates an elastic striking surface. The nature of the hammer and the way it strikes and rebounds from the string has a lot to do with the characteristic tone of the piano. Over time, and with use, the surface of the hammer gets compressed and flattened, which produces a less and less desirable sound. The piano may seem very "bright" or harsh, and the sound may appear to die away more quickly than when it was new. It may be hard to play quietly. On the other hand, if the hammers are too soft, the piano will produce a "muted" or muffled sound. Both of these situations can be improved by working with the hammers, although in some cases new hammers are a better solution.
Regulation
Regulation refers to adjustments made to the piano action—the keys, hammers, pedals, dampers, and the mechanisms in between. A piano that is out of regulation will often still work, but might be compromised in several ways. The action might not be delivering the player’s full power to the strings. The touch may be unpredictable from note to note, making quiet playing impossible. The hammers might not reset quickly enough for fast repetition, making it hard to play repeated notes and trills. Some notes may not even play in certain circumstances or with a certain touch. A complete regulation should not be required very often for a home piano, but frequent touch-ups help keep the piano playing well.
WHY PIANOS GO OF TUNE.
Humidity changes are the main cause. In humid weather, the piano’s soundboard absorbs moisture and drives the pitch up; in dry weather, the reverse is true. These changes do not affect each string to exactly the same extent, so your piano doesn’t just shift to a higher or lower relative pitch—it goes out of tune.
The great lakes region is particularly prone to seasonal humidity fluctuations. This not only affects the piano's pitch, but can also significantly shorten the life of a piano. It is impractical for most homes to maintain a perfectly stable level of humidity, though keeping the piano away from heat sources, direct sunlight, outside walls, draughts and out of basements will prevent the worst effects. The installation of a humidity control device in the piano itself can protect it from the changes in the surrounding air and is generally cheaper than controlling the environment in an entire room or house. Ask me about prices for installation in your piano.
Tuning
I tune by ear. Aural tuning, as it is called, is and age-old art which uses the ear’s natural capacity to gauge the interference between two closely related sounds. This concrete information is weighed against the tuner’s musical sense. Tuning the piano is not a simple matter of finding the “right” note, because the exact pitches which will work best vary from piano to piano. They are also, to some extent, a matter of personal taste. Whether or not an electronic tuning aid is used, the ear is the final judge. However your piano is tuned, it should sound good to you, and it’s a good idea to find a tuner who can please your own musical taste.
Regular tuning stabilizes the piano at the correct pitch and ensures that each tuning lasts longer—the piano sounds better all the time, even between tunings.
Pitch Adjustment is simply the extra tuning required when a piano has not been tuned for a significant length of time. Changing the pitch a large amount means changing the tension of each string. This has a cumulative effect of changing the shape of the soundboard slightly—which in turn changes the tension of the strings—so that by the time the last string has been tuned, the first string is out of tune again. Often several quick tunings are necessary before fine tuning can be done.
Humidity changes are the main cause. In humid weather, the piano’s soundboard absorbs moisture and drives the pitch up; in dry weather, the reverse is true. These changes do not affect each string to exactly the same extent, so your piano doesn’t just shift to a higher or lower relative pitch—it goes out of tune.
The great lakes region is particularly prone to seasonal humidity fluctuations. This not only affects the piano's pitch, but can also significantly shorten the life of a piano. It is impractical for most homes to maintain a perfectly stable level of humidity, though keeping the piano away from heat sources, direct sunlight, outside walls, draughts and out of basements will prevent the worst effects. The installation of a humidity control device in the piano itself can protect it from the changes in the surrounding air and is generally cheaper than controlling the environment in an entire room or house. Ask me about prices for installation in your piano.
Tuning
I tune by ear. Aural tuning, as it is called, is and age-old art which uses the ear’s natural capacity to gauge the interference between two closely related sounds. This concrete information is weighed against the tuner’s musical sense. Tuning the piano is not a simple matter of finding the “right” note, because the exact pitches which will work best vary from piano to piano. They are also, to some extent, a matter of personal taste. Whether or not an electronic tuning aid is used, the ear is the final judge. However your piano is tuned, it should sound good to you, and it’s a good idea to find a tuner who can please your own musical taste.
Regular tuning stabilizes the piano at the correct pitch and ensures that each tuning lasts longer—the piano sounds better all the time, even between tunings.
Pitch Adjustment is simply the extra tuning required when a piano has not been tuned for a significant length of time. Changing the pitch a large amount means changing the tension of each string. This has a cumulative effect of changing the shape of the soundboard slightly—which in turn changes the tension of the strings—so that by the time the last string has been tuned, the first string is out of tune again. Often several quick tunings are necessary before fine tuning can be done.
The great lakes region is particularly prone to seasonal humidity fluctuations. This not only affects the piano's pitch, but can also significantly shorten the life of a piano. It is impractical for most homes to maintain a perfectly stable level of humidity, though keeping the piano away from heat sources, direct sunlight, outside walls, draughts and out of basements will prevent the worst effects. The installation of a humidity control device in the piano itself can protect it from the changes in the surrounding air and is generally cheaper than controlling the environment in an entire room or house. Ask me about prices for installation in your piano.
Tuning
I tune by ear. Aural tuning, as it is called, is and age-old art which uses the ear’s natural capacity to gauge the interference between two closely related sounds. This concrete information is weighed against the tuner’s musical sense. Tuning the piano is not a simple matter of finding the “right” note, because the exact pitches which will work best vary from piano to piano. They are also, to some extent, a matter of personal taste. Whether or not an electronic tuning aid is used, the ear is the final judge. However your piano is tuned, it should sound good to you, and it’s a good idea to find a tuner who can please your own musical taste.
Regular tuning stabilizes the piano at the correct pitch and ensures that each tuning lasts longer—the piano sounds better all the time, even between tunings.
Pitch Adjustment is simply the extra tuning required when a piano has not been tuned for a significant length of time. Changing the pitch a large amount means changing the tension of each string. This has a cumulative effect of changing the shape of the soundboard slightly—which in turn changes the tension of the strings—so that by the time the last string has been tuned, the first string is out of tune again. Often several quick tunings are necessary before fine tuning can be done.
Humidity changes are the main cause. In humid weather, the piano’s soundboard absorbs moisture and drives the pitch up; in dry weather, the reverse is true. These changes do not affect each string to exactly the same extent, so your piano doesn’t just shift to a higher or lower relative pitch—it goes out of tune.
The great lakes region is particularly prone to seasonal humidity fluctuations. This not only affects the piano's pitch, but can also significantly shorten the life of a piano. It is impractical for most homes to maintain a perfectly stable level of humidity, though keeping the piano away from heat sources, direct sunlight, outside walls, draughts and out of basements will prevent the worst effects. The installation of a humidity control device in the piano itself can protect it from the changes in the surrounding air and is generally cheaper than controlling the environment in an entire room or house. Ask me about prices for installation in your piano.
Tuning
I tune by ear. Aural tuning, as it is called, is and age-old art which uses the ear’s natural capacity to gauge the interference between two closely related sounds. This concrete information is weighed against the tuner’s musical sense. Tuning the piano is not a simple matter of finding the “right” note, because the exact pitches which will work best vary from piano to piano. They are also, to some extent, a matter of personal taste. Whether or not an electronic tuning aid is used, the ear is the final judge. However your piano is tuned, it should sound good to you, and it’s a good idea to find a tuner who can please your own musical taste.
Regular tuning stabilizes the piano at the correct pitch and ensures that each tuning lasts longer—the piano sounds better all the time, even between tunings.
Pitch Adjustment is simply the extra tuning required when a piano has not been tuned for a significant length of time. Changing the pitch a large amount means changing the tension of each string. This has a cumulative effect of changing the shape of the soundboard slightly—which in turn changes the tension of the strings—so that by the time the last string has been tuned, the first string is out of tune again. Often several quick tunings are necessary before fine tuning can be done.
Monday, November 9, 2009
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE PIANO?
The piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal. Although not portable and often expensive, the piano's versatility and ubiquity have made it one of the world's most familiar musical instruments.
Pressing a key on the piano's keyboard causes a felt covered hammer to strike steel strings. The hammers rebound, allowing the strings to continue vibrating at their resonant frequency.[1] These vibrations are transmitted through a bridge to a sounding board that couples the acoustic energy to the air so that it can be heard as sound. When the key is released, a damper stops the string's vibration. Pianos are sometimes classified as both percussion and stringed instruments. According to the Hornbostel-Sachs method of music classification, they are grouped with chordophones.
The word piano is a shortened form of the word pianoforte, which is seldom used except in formal language and derived from the original Italian name for the instrument, clavicembalo [or gravicembalo] col piano e forte (literally harpsichord with soft and loud). This refers to the instrument's responsiveness to keyboard touch, which allows the pianist to produce notes at different dynamic levels by controlling the speed with which the hammers hit the strings.
Contents[hide]
1 History
1.1 Early history
1.2 Development of the modern piano
1.3 History and musical performance
2 Moder
2.1 Types
2.1.1 Grand
2.1.2 Upright
2.1.3 Other types
2.2 Keyboard
2.3 Pedals
2.3.1 Standard pedals
2.3.2 Unusual pedals
2.4 Construction
2.5 Care and maintenance
3 Role
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
//
[edit] History
[edit] Early history
See also: Fortepiano and Bartolomeo Cristofori
Grand piano by Louis Bas of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, France, 1781. Earliest French grand piano known to survive; includes an inverted wrestplank and action derived from the work of Bartolomeo Cristofori (ca. 1700) with ornately decorated soundboard.
Early piano replica by the modern builder Paul McNulty, after Walter & Sohn, 1805
The piano is founded on earlier technological innovations. The first string instruments with struck strings were the hammered dulcimers originating from the Persian traditional musical instrument santur.[2] During the Middle Ages, there were several attempts at creating stringed keyboard instruments with struck strings,[3] the earliest being the hurdy gurdy which has uncertain origins.[4] By the 17th century, the mechanisms of keyboard instruments such as the clavichord and the harpsichord were well known. In a clavichord the strings are struck by tangents, while in a harpsichord they are plucked by quills. Centuries of work on the mechanism of the harpsichord in particular had shown the most effective ways to construct the case, soundboard, bridge, and keyboard.
The invention of the modern piano is credited to Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731) of Padua, Italy, who was employed by Prince Ferdinand de Medici as the Keeper of the Instruments. He was an expert harpsichord maker and was well acquainted with the previous body of knowledge on stringed keyboard instruments. It is not known exactly when Cristofori first built a piano. An inventory made by his employers, the Medici family, indicates the existence of a piano by the year 1700; another document of doubtful authenticity indicates a date of 1698.[citation needed] The three Cristofori pianos that survive today date from the 1720s.[5]
Cristofori's great success was in solving, without any prior example, the fundamental mechanical problem of piano design: the hammer must strike the string, but not remain in contact with it (as a tangent remains in contact with a clavichord string) because this would damp the sound. Moreover, the hammer must return to its rest position without bouncing violently, and it must be possible to repeat a note rapidly. Cristofori's piano action served as a model for the many different approaches to piano actions that followed. While Cristofori's early instruments were made with thin strings and were much quieter than the modern piano, compared to the clavichord (the only previous keyboard instrument capable of minutely controlled dynamic nuance through the keyboard) they were considerably louder and had more sustaining power.
Cristofori's new instrument remained relatively unknown until an Italian writer, Scipione Maffei, wrote an enthusiastic article about it (1711), including a diagram of the mechanism. This article was widely distributed, and most of the next generation of piano builders started their work because of reading it. One of these builders was Gottfried Silbermann, better known as an organ builder. Silbermann's pianos were virtually direct copies of Cristofori's, with one important addition: Silbermann invented the forerunner of the modern damper pedal, which lifts all the dampers from the strings at once.
Silbermann showed Johann Sebastian Bach one of his early instruments in the 1730s, but Bach did not like it at that time, claiming that the higher notes were too soft to allow a full dynamic range. Although this earned him some animosity from Silbermann, the criticism was apparently heeded. Bach did approve of a later instrument he saw in 1747, and even served as an agent in selling Silbermann's pianos.[6]
Piano making flourished during the late 18th century in the Viennese school, which included Johann Andreas Stein (who worked in Augsburg, Germany) and the Viennese makers Nannette Streicher (daughter of Stein) and Anton Walter. Viennese-style pianos were built with wood frames, two strings per note, and had leather-covered hammers. Some of these Viennese pianos had the opposite coloring of modern-day pianos; the natural keys were black and the accidental keys white.[7] It was for such instruments that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his concertos and sonatas, and replicas of them are built today for use in authentic-instrument performance of his music. The pianos of Mozart's day had a softer, clearer tone than today's pianos or English pianos, with less sustaining power. The term fortepiano is nowadays often used to distinguish the 18th-century instrument from later pianos.
The modern piano (the pianoforte) was developed from the harpsichord around 1720, by Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua, Italy. His new instrument had a delicate pianissimo (very soft sound), a strong fortissimo (a very loud, forceful sound), and every level in between. The first upright piano was made around 1780 by Johann Schmidt of Salzburg, Austria. Thomas Loud of London developed an upright piano whose strings ran diagonally (in 1802), saving even more space.
[edit] Development of the modern piano
Comparison of piano sound
19th century piano sound
Frédéric Chopin's Étude Op. 25, No. 12, on an Erard piano made in 1851
Modern piano sound
The same piece, on a modern piano
Problems listening to these files? See media help.
For more details on this topic, see Innovations in the piano.
In the period lasting from about 1790 to 1860, the Mozart-era piano underwent tremendous changes that led to the modern form of the instrument. This revolution was in response to a consistent preference by composers and pianists for a more powerful, sustained piano sound, and made possible by the ongoing Industrial Revolution with technological resources such as high-quality steel, called piano wire, for strings, and precision casting for the production of iron frames. Over time, the tonal range of the piano was also increased from the five octaves of Mozart's day to the 7¼ or more octaves found on modern pianos.
Broadwood square action
Early technological progress owed much to the firm of Broadwood. John Broadwood joined with another Scot, Robert Stodart, and a Dutchman, Americus Backers, to design a piano in the harpsichord case – the origin of the "grand". They achieved this in about 1777. They quickly gained a reputation for the splendour and powerful tone of their instruments, with Broadwood constructing ones that were progressively larger, louder, and more robustly constructed. They sent pianos to both Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven, and were the first firm to build pianos with a range of more than five octaves: five octaves and a fifth during the 1790s, six octaves by 1810 (Beethoven used the extra notes in his later works), and seven octaves by 1820. The Viennese makers similarly followed these trends, however the two schools used different piano actions: Broadwoods were more robust, Viennese instruments were more sensitive.
Erard square action
By the 1820s, the center of innovation had shifted to Paris, where the Pleyel firm manufactured pianos used by Frédéric Chopin and the Érard firm manufactured those used by Franz Liszt. In 1821, Sébastien Érard invented the double escapement action, which permitted a note to be repeated even if the key had not yet risen to its maximum vertical position. This facilitated rapid playing of repeated notes, and this musical device was pioneered by Liszt. When the invention became public, as revised by Henri Herz, the double escapement action gradually became standard in grand pianos, and is still incorporated into all grand pianos currently produced.
One of the major technical innovations that helped to create the sound of the modern piano was the use of a strong iron frame. Also called the "plate", the iron frame sits atop the soundboard, and serves as the primary bulwark against the force of string tension. The increased structural integrity of the iron frame allowed the use of thicker, tenser, and more numerous strings. In a modern grand the total string tension can exceed 20 tons. The single piece cast iron frame was patented in 1825 in Boston by Alpheus Babcock, combining the metal hitch pin plate (1821, claimed by Broadwood on behalf of Samuel Hervé) and resisting bars (Thom and Allen, 1820, but also claimed by Broadwood and Érard). Babcock later worked for the Chickering & Mackays firm who patented the first full iron frame for grand pianos in 1843. Composite forged metal frames were preferred by many European makers until the American system was fully adopted by the early 20th century.
Other innovations for the mechanism included the use of felt hammer coverings instead of layered leather hammers. Felt hammers, which were first introduced by Henri Pape in 1826, were a more consistent material, permitting wider dynamic ranges as hammer weights and string tension increased. The sostenuto pedal (see below), invented in 1844 by Jean Louis Boisselot and improved by the Steinway firm in 1874, allowed a wider range of effects.
Other important technical innovations of this era included changes to the way the piano was strung, such as the use of a "choir" of three strings rather than two for all but the lower notes, and the use of different stringing methods. With the over strung scale, also called "cross-stringing", the strings are placed in a vertically overlapping slanted arrangement, with two heights of bridges on the soundboard instead of just one. This permits larger, but not necessarily longer, strings to fit within the case of the piano. Over stringing was invented by Jean-Henri Pape during the 1820s, and first patented for use in grand pianos in the United States by Henry Steinway Jr. in 1859.
Duplex scaling: Treble strings of a 182 cm. grand piano. From lower left to upper right: dampers, main sounding length of strings, treble bridge, duplex string length, duplex bridge (long bar perpendicular to strings), hitchpins
With duplexes or aliquot scales, which was patented in 1872 by Theodore Steinway, the different components of string vibrations are controlled by tuning their secondary parts in octave relationships with the sounding lengths. Similar systems developed by Blüthner (1872), as well as Taskin (1788), and Collard (1821) used more distinctly ringing undamped vibrations to modify tone.
Some early pianos had shapes and designs that are no longer in use. The square piano had horizontal strings arranged diagonally across the rectangular case above the hammers and with the keyboard set in the long side. This design is attributed to Gottfried Silbermann or Christian Ernst Friderici on the continent, and Johannes Zumpe or Harman Vietor in England and it was improved by changes first introduced by Guillaume-Lebrecht Petzold in France and Alpheus Babcock in the United States. Square pianos were built in great numbers through the 1840s in Europe and the 1890s in America, and saw the most visible changes of any type of piano: the celebrated iron framed over strung squares manufactured by Steinway & Sons were more than two and a half times the size of Zumpe's wood framed instruments from a century before. Their overwhelming popularity was due to inexpensive construction and price, although their performance and tone were often limited by simple actions and closely spaced strings.
The mechanism in upright pianos is perpendicular to the keys.
The tall, vertically strung upright grand was arranged like a grand set on end, with the soundboard and bridges above the keys, and tuning pins below them. The term was later revived by many manufacturers for advertising purposes. Giraffe, pyramid and lyre pianos were arranged in a somewhat similar fashion in evocatively shaped cases.
The very tall cabinet piano was introduced about 1805 and was built through the 1840s. It had strings arranged vertically on a continuous frame with bridges extended nearly to the floor, behind the keyboard and very large sticker action. The short cottage upright or pianino with vertical stringing, made popular by Robert Wornum around 1815, was built into the 20th century. They are informally called birdcage pianos because of their prominent damper mechanism. Pianinos were distinguished from the oblique, or diagonally strung upright made popular in France by Roller & Blanchet during the late 1820s. The tiny spinet upright was manufactured from the mid-1930s until recent times. The low position of the hammers required the use of a "drop action" to preserve a reasonable keyboard height.
Modern upright and grand pianos attained their present forms by the end of the 19th century. Improvements have been made in manufacturing processes, and many individual details of the instrument continue to receive attention.
[edit] History and musical performance
Main article: Piano history and musical performance
Much of the most widely admired piano repertoire, for example, that of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, was composed for a type of instrument that is rather different from the modern instruments on which this music is normally performed today. Even the music of the Romantics, including Liszt, Chopin, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn and Johannes Brahms, was written for pianos substantially different from ours.
[edit] Modern piano
A schematic depiction of the construction of a pianoforte (Part names are listed in the illustration's file)
[edit] Types
Modern pianos come in two basic configurations (with subcategories): the grand piano and the upright piano.
[edit] Grand
Steinway grand piano in the White House
In grand pianos, the frame and strings are horizontal, with the strings extending away from the keyboard. There are several sizes of grand piano. A rough generalization distinguishes the "concert grand" (between about 2.2 m and 3 m long) from the "parlor grand" or "boudoir grand" (about 1.7 m to 2.2 m) and the smaller "baby grand".
All else being equal, longer pianos with longer strings have larger, richer sound and lower inharmonicity of the strings. Inharmonicity is the degree to which the frequencies of overtones (known as partials, partial tones, or harmonics) depart from whole multiples of the fundamental frequency. Pianos with shorter, thicker, and stiffer strings (e.g., baby grands) have more inharmonicity. The longer strings on a concert grand can vibrate more freely than the shorter, thicker strings on a baby grand, which means that a concert grand's strings will have truer overtones. This allows the strings to be tuned closer to equal temperament in relation to the standard pitch with less "stretching" in the piano tuning. Full-size grands are usually used for public concerts, whereas smaller grands, introduced by Sohmer & Co. in 1884, are often chosen for domestic use where space and cost are considerations.
A grand piano action has a repetition lever for each key. If the key is pressed repeatedly and fairly quickly this repetition lever catches the hammer close to the strings, which assists the speed and control of repeated notes and trills.
[edit] Upright
Upright piano by August Förster
Vertical Piano Action
Upright pianos, also called vertical pianos, are more compact because the frame and strings are vertical. The hammers move horizontally, and are returned to their resting position by springs which are prone to wear and tear.
Upright pianos with unusually tall frames and long strings are sometimes called "upright grand" pianos.
Some authors classify modern pianos according to their height and, to modifications of the action that are necessary to accommodate the height.
Studio pianos are around 42 to 45 inches tall. This is the shortest cabinet that can accommodate a 'full-sized' action located above the keyboard.
Console pianos have a compact action (shorter hammers), and are a few inches shorter than studio models.
The top of a Spinet model barely rises above the keyboard. The action is located below, operated by vertical wires that are attached to the backs of the keys.
Anything taller than a studio piano is called an upright.
Player piano
Toy pianos began to be manufactured in the 19th century.
In 1863, Henri Fourneaux invented the player piano, which "plays itself" from a piano roll without the need for a pianist. A performance is "recorded" onto rolls of paper with perforations, and the player piano replays the performance using pneumatic devices. Modern equivalents of the player piano include the Bösendorfer CEUS and the Yamaha Disklavier, using solenoids and MIDI rather than pneumatics and rolls.
A silent piano is an acoustic piano having an option to silence the strings by means of an interposing hammer bar. They are designed for private silent practice.
The transposing piano was invented in 1801 by Edward Ryley. It has a lever under the keyboard used to move the keyboard relative to the strings so that a pianist can play in a familiar key while the music sounds in a different key.
The prepared piano, encountered in some contemporary art music, is a grand piano which has objects placed inside it to alter its sound, or which has had its mechanism changed in some other way. The scores for music for prepared piano specify the modifications, for example instructing the pianist to insert pieces of rubber, or paper, or metal screws or washers, in between the strings. These either mute the strings or alter their timbre.
Available since the 1980s, digital pianos use digital sampling technology to reproduce the sound of each piano note. Digital pianos can be sophisticated, with features including working pedals, weighted keys, multiple voices, and MIDI interfaces. However, when the damper pedal (see below) is depressed on such an instrument, there are no strings to vibrate sympathetically. Physical models of sympathetic vibration are incorporated into the synthesis software of some higher end digital pianos, such as the Yamaha Clavinova series, or the KAWAI MP8 series.
With the advent of powerful desktop computers, highly realistic pianos have become available as affordable software modules. Some of these modules, such as Synthogy's Ivory released in 2004, use multi-gigabyte piano sample sets with as many as 90 recordings, each lasting many seconds, for each of the 88 (some have 81) keys under different conditions, augmented by additional samples to emulate sympathetic resonance, key release, the drop of the dampers, and simulations of piano techniques like re-pedaling. Some other software modules, such as Modartt's Pianoteq released in 2006, use no samples whatsoever and are a pure synthesis of all aspects of the physicalities which go into the creation of a real piano's sound.
In recent times, piano manufactures have superseded the old fashioned pianola or player piano with new innovative pianos which play themselves via a CD or MP3 Player. Similar in concept to a player piano, the PianoDisc or iQ systems installed in select pianos will 'play themselves' when prompted by a certain file format designed to be interpreted by software installed and connected to the piano. Such additions are quite expensive, often doubling the cost of a piano and are available in both upright and grand pianos.
[edit] Keyboard
Keyboard
Further information: Musical keyboard
Almost every modern piano has 36 black keys and 52 white keys for a total of 88 keys (seven octaves plus a minor third, from A0 to C8). Many older pianos only have 85 keys (seven octaves from A0 to A7), while some manufacturers extend the range further in one or both directions.
Some Bösendorfer pianos extend the normal range downwards to F0, with one other model going as far as a bottom C0, making a full eight octave range. These extra keys are sometimes hidden under a small hinged lid that can be flipped down to cover the keys in order to avoid visual disorientation in a pianist unfamiliar with the extended keyboard. On others, the colors of the extra white keys are reversed (black instead of white).
The extra keys are added primarily for increased resonance from the associated strings; that is, they vibrate sympathetically with other strings whenever the damper pedal is depressed and thus give a fuller tone. Only a very small number of works composed for piano actually use these notes. More recently, the Stuart and Sons company has also manufactured extended-range pianos, with the first 102 key piano. On their instruments, the frequency range extends from C0 to F8 which is the widest practical range for the acoustic piano. The extra keys are the same as the other keys in appearance.
Small studio upright acoustical pianos with only 65 keys have been manufactured for use by roving pianists. Known as "gig" pianos and still containing a cast iron harp, these are comparatively lightweight and can be easily transported to and from engagements by only two people. As their harp is longer than that of a spinet or console piano, they have a stronger bass sound that to some pianists is well worth the trade-off in range that a reduced key-set offers.
The Toy piano manufacturer Schoenhut started manufacturing both grands and uprights with only 44 or 49 keys, and shorter distance between the keyboard and the pedals. These pianos are true pianos with action and strings. The pianos were introduced to their product line in response to numerous requests in favor of it.
[edit] Pedals
[edit] Standard pedals
Piano pedals from left to right: una corda, sostenuto, and sustain pedal
Main article: Piano pedals
Pianos have had pedals, or some close equivalent, since the earliest days. (In the 18th century, some pianos used levers pressed upward by the player's knee instead of pedals.) Most grand pianos have three pedals: the soft pedal (una corda), sostenuto, and sustain pedal (from left to right, respectively). Most modern upright pianos also have three pedals: soft pedal, practice pedal and sustain pedal, though older or cheaper models may lack the practice pedal.
The sustain pedal (or, damper pedal) is often simply called "the pedal", since it is the most frequently used. It is placed as the rightmost pedal in the group. It lifts the dampers from all keys, sustaining all played notes. In addition, it alters the overall tone by allowing all strings, even the ones not directly played, to reverberate.
The soft pedal or una corda pedal is placed leftmost in the row of pedals. In grand pianos, it shifts the entire action, including the keyboard, to the right, so that the hammers hit only one of the three strings for each note (hence the name una corda, or 'one string'). The effect is to soften the note as well as to change the tone. In uprights, this action is not possible, and so the pedal moves the hammers closer to the strings, allowing the hammers to hit the strings with less kinetic energy to produce a softer sound, but with no change in timbre.
On grand pianos, the middle pedal is a sostenuto pedal. This pedal keeps raised any damper that was already raised at the moment the pedal is depressed. This makes it possible to sustain some notes (by depressing the sostenuto pedal before notes to be sustained are released) while the player's hands are free to play other notes. This can be useful for musical passages with pedal points and other otherwise tricky or impossible situations.
On many upright pianos, there is a middle pedal called the 'practice' or celeste pedal. This drops a piece of felt between the hammers and strings, greatly muting the sounds.
There are also non-standard variants. On some pianos (grands and verticals), the middle pedal can be a bass sustain pedal: that is, when it is depressed, the dampers lift off the strings only in the bass section. This pedal would be used only when a pianist needs to sustain a single bass note or chord over many measures, while playing the melody in the treble section. On the Stuart and Sons piano as well as the largest Fazioli piano, there is a fourth pedal to the left of the principal three. This fourth pedal works in the same way as the soft pedal of an upright piano, moving the hammers closer to the strings.[8]
[edit] Unusual pedals
An upright pedal piano
The rare transposing piano, of which Irving Berlin possessed an example, had a middle pedal that functioned as a clutch which disengages the keyboard from the mechanism, enabling the keyboard to be moved to the left or right with a lever. The entire action of the piano is thus shifted to allow the pianist to play music written in one key so that it sounds in a different key. The pedalier piano, or pedal piano, is a rare type of piano that includes a pedalboard, enabling bass register notes to be played with the feet, as is standard on the organ. There are two types of pedal piano: the pedal board may be an integral part of the instrument, using the same strings and mechanism as the manual keyboard, or, less frequently, it may consist of two independent pianos (each with its separate mechanics and strings) which are placed one above the other, a regular piano played by the hands and a bass-register piano played by the feet.
[edit] Construction
Many parts of a piano are made of materials selected for sturdiness. In quality pianos, the outer rim of the piano is made of a hardwood, normally maple or beech. According to Harold A. Conklin, the purpose of a sturdy rim is so that "the vibrational energy will stay as much as possible in the soundboard instead of dissipating uselessly in the case parts, which are inefficient radiators of sound."
View from below of a 182-cm grand piano. In order of distance from viewer: softwood braces, tapered soundboard ribs, soundboard. The metal rod at lower right is a humidity control device.
The rim is normally made by laminating flexible strips of hardwood to the desired shape, a system that was developed by Theodore Steinway in 1880. The thick wooden braces at the bottom (grands) or back (uprights) of the piano are not as acoustically important as the rim, and are often made of a softwood, even in top-quality pianos, in order to save weight. The requirement of structural strength, fulfilled with stout hardwood and thick metal, makes a piano heavy; even a small upright can weigh 136 kg (300 lb), and the Steinway concert grand (Model D) weighs 480 kg (990 lb). The largest piano built, the Fazioli F308, weighs 691 kg (1520 lb).
The pinblock, which holds the tuning pins in place, is another area of the piano where toughness is important. It is made of hardwood, (often maple) and generally is laminated (built of multiple layers) for additional strength and gripping power. Piano strings (also called piano wire), which must endure years of extreme tension and hard blows, are made of high quality steel. They are manufactured to vary as little as possible in diameter, since all deviations from uniformity introduce tonal distortion. The bass strings of a piano are made of a steel core wrapped with copper wire, to increase their mass whilst retaining flexibility.
Cast iron plates of Steinway concert grand pianos, model D-274
The plate, or metal frame, of a piano is usually made of cast iron. It is advantageous for the plate to be quite massive. Since the strings are attached to the plate at one end, any vibrations transmitted to the plate will result in loss of energy to the desired (efficient) channel of sound transmission, namely the bridge and the soundboard. Some manufacturers now use cast steel in their plates, for greater strength. The casting of the plate is a delicate art, since the dimensions are crucial and the iron shrinks by about one percent during cooling.
The inclusion in a piano of an extremely large piece of metal is potentially an aesthetic handicap, which piano makers overcome by polishing, painting and decorating the plate. Plates often include the manufacturer's ornamental medallion and can be strikingly attractive. In an effort to make pianos lighter, Alcoa worked with Winter and Company piano manufacturers to make pianos using an aluminum plate during the 1940s. The use of aluminum for piano plates, however, did not become widely accepted and was discontinued.
The numerous grand parts and upright parts of a piano action are generally hardwood (e.g. maple, beech. hornbeam). However, since World War II, plastics have become available. Early plastics were incorporated into some pianos in the late 1940s and 1950s, but proved disastrous because they crystallized and lost their strength after only a few decades of use. The Steinway firm once incorporated Teflon, a synthetic material developed by DuPont, for some grand action parts in place of cloth, but ultimately abandoned the experiment due to an inherent "clicking" which invariably developed over time. (Also Teflon is "humidity stable" whereas the wood adjacent to the Teflon will swell and shrink with humidity changes, causing problems.) More recently, the Kawai firm has built pianos with action parts made of more modern and effective plastics such as carbon fiber; these parts have held up better and have generally received the respect of piano technicians[citation needed].
Ivorite and ebony keys on a modern Steinway grand piano
The part of the piano where materials probably matter more than anywhere else is the soundboard. In quality pianos, this is made of solid spruce (that is, spruce boards glued together at their edges). Spruce is chosen for its high ratio of strength to weight. The best piano makers use close-grained, quarter-sawn, defect-free spruce, and make sure that it has been carefully dried over a long period of time before making it into soundboards. In cheap pianos, the soundboard is often made of plywood.
Piano keys are generally made of spruce or basswood, for lightness. Spruce is normally used in high-quality pianos. Traditionally, the black keys were made from ebony and the white keys were covered with strips of ivory, but since ivory-yielding species are now endangered and protected by treaty, plastics are now almost exclusively used. Also, ivory tends to chip more easily than plastic. Legal ivory can still be obtained in limited quantities. The Yamaha firm invented a plastic called "Ivorine" or "Ivorite" that mimics the look and feel of ivory; it has since been imitated by other makers.
[edit] Care and maintenance
Main articles: Care and maintenance of pianos and Piano tuning
A piano tuner
Pianos need regular tuning to keep them up to pitch, which is usually the internationally recognized standard concert pitch of A4 = 440 Hz. The hammers of pianos are voiced to compensate for gradual hardening, and other parts also need periodic regulation. Aged and worn pianos can be rebuilt or reconditioned. Often, by replacing a great number of their parts, they can be made to perform as well as new pianos. Older pianos are often more settled and produce a warmer tone.[citation needed]
Piano moving should be done by trained piano movers using adequate manpower and the correct equipment for any particular piano's size and weight.[citation needed] Pianos are heavy yet delicate instruments. Over the years, professional piano movers have developed special techniques for transporting both grands and uprights which prevent damage to the case and to the piano's mechanics.
[edit] Role
See also: Social history of the piano
The piano at the social center in the 19th century (Moritz von Schwind, 1868). The man at the piano is Franz Schubert.
The piano is a crucial instrument in Western classical music, jazz, film, television, and most other complex western musical genres. Since a large number of composers are proficient pianists – and because the piano keyboard offers an easy means of complex melodic and harmonic interplay – the piano is often used as a tool for composition.
Pianos were, and still are, popular instruments for private household ownership. Hence, pianos have gained a place in the popular consciousness, and are sometimes referred to by nicknames including: "the ivories", "the joanna", "the eighty-eight", and "the black(s) and white(s)", "the little joe(s)". Playing the piano is sometimes referred to as "tickli
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