Next Level Bassist Musicality Issue

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John Patitucci Groove and Inspiration How does one begin to think musically? What is at the foundation of musicality? And how do we as bass players tap into that, especially when our role is most often to support other lines in the music? Sound Sound is the starting point of our whole discussion. If our sound isn’t beautiful and singing, then we’re going to have a hard time selling everything else. You need to tailor your sound to the music you’re making - you’ll have times you need to be robust and step out, and you’ll have times to be really intimate and quiet. I tell my students to write down what things make up a “beautiful sound” in their own opinions. Draw on singers and other instruments that have beautiful sounds and incorporate them into your bass sound. Think about what you want to sound like. A lot of people never even take the time to do that. They think it’s only in the strings or the setup, or “I’ll finally get that great bass and sound good.” It’s not about the right mic, or the right amp - it’s in your hands, your heart, your soul, your mind, your ears before it ever gets to your hands! A lot of this has to do with your ability to just pull sound out of the instrument. I always say, “Don’t go for expediency, go for sound.” If you have to shift to get the lyrical phrase you want, do that instead of going across the strings to make it easier. If you have to play rapidly, find the fingering that’s going to make it happen with a great tone! Learn all the different ways to finger things but make sure that sound is the first priority. If you’re playing in a group where you need to pull a big sound, you may need to bring the strings up to be able to pull a little harder, rather than going for the easy way out. Make all your decisions based on getting the most out of your instrument. Today, there is a big move in the direction of lower and lower string heights. I run into a lot of players whose setup is really low, and I have to ask them what would happen if they had to play really loud - the top just doesn’t vibrate as much with lower string heights, and with pizzicato it’s particularly hard to get that big sound. The sweet spot is different for every single bass out there too! Experiment at different heights and see how this affects the quality of your sound. Make the decision of how your bass should be set up on what your musical needs are - you should always be able to pull a robust sound no matter what - and find what makes you most capable of playing your best. I think any serious discussion of sound could take weeks, and it’s something that will need constant attention, especially as you grow more aware of rhythm and harmony. As bass players, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that we are musicians first and foremost! The more aware you become of the total musical picture around you, the more decisions you’ll make about your sound. This is one of the most important perspectives I think a double bassist of any genre can adopt. Think like a composer It’s important for bass players to avoid getting too “into the bass” - one of the reasons we spend all this time practicing is to build our technique and to learn how to play anything we want. Technique isn’t just about speed, or about playing more notes faster. You need to have the taste to know when to use it, how to use it, and how to use it expressively rather than mechanically. There are a lot of people that can really get around the bass, but all the flexibility in the world doesn’t add up to anything if you can’t tell a story and move somebody. When you don’t concern yourself with executing notes, you can make choices and start to express ideas and feelings. We have such a great power as bassists - our input can change the direction of the music within one beat or one pitch. It’s quite a responsibility. 12 NOV/DEC 2013 NEXT LEVEL BASSIST
This applies even in strictly classical music that’s all written down. Even with historic traditions and a lot of indications of how you should interpret a piece, you’ll have more success in those pieces if you’re aware of how your part fits into the greater whole in terms of rhythm and harmony. I think you play a lot differently if you know the colors that are being achieved by the whole ensemble, rather than focusing on trying to play the bass well. Rhythm and the groove One of our most important duties in every ensemble is to create, sustain, and control the rhythm of the music. I get my students to play some drums. I don’t care what kind of music you play, whether it’s in an orchestra, in chamber music, jazz, or funk - if you want to play music all the time, you need to spend some time playing percussion, where each limb physically keeps time. Too many musicians spend most of their lives inside their heads, playing too cerebrally. It’s important to have contact in your body with what rhythm is! There are different ways to give yourself accountability for rhythm. There’s the metronome of course, and setting it to pulse on different beats is a great start. Try setting it to play on every different beat in the bar. When you’ve mastered that, try to click once every two bars, every four bars, even once for a whole chorus of 12 bar blues! That’s a tough one, because you have to stay in the pocket with very little feedback or information. Playing along with records and working on drums can add to the depth of groove understanding. Dizzy Gillespie said in every style of music, there’s a quarter note. What defines the style and interpretation is what’s inside that quarter note. What’s the most important thing in that quarter note? In jazz, it’s a triplet, and you need to know that this reaches back to African 6/8 rhythms. In my teaching, we talk about the abakua rhythm: Score Score 6/8 6/8 Rhythmic Rythmic Independance Independence Exercise Exercise Danilo Perez Danilo Perez & 8 6 CLAP œ ‰ œ ‰ œ œ ‰ œ ‰ œ ‰ œ J œ ‰ œ ‰ œ œ ‰ œ ‰ œ ‰ œ J . iano STEP Left Right ? 8 6 j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ . 5 & œ ‰ œ ‰ œ œ ‰ J œ ‰ œ ‰ œ œ ‰ œ ‰ œ œ ‰ J œ ‰ œ ‰ œ . 9 ? & ? 13 & ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ . œ ‰ œ ‰ œ œ . ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j . œ ‰ œ ‰ œ œ œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ œ ‰ œ ‰ œ J ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j ‰ œ ‰ œ ‰ œ J ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ œ ‰ œ ‰ œ œ ‰ œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ œ ‰ œ ‰ œ œ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ J œ ‰ œ ‰ œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ œ ‰ œ ‰ œ J . . . 4 3 4 3 ? . j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ j œ ‰ ‰ NOV/DEC 2013 NEXT LEVEL BASSIST 13
Page 1 and 2: | musicality | Groove and inspirati
Page 3 and 4: Publisher’s Note Asking a musicia
Page 5 and 6: The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra D
Page 7 and 8: ?# ° ¢ play arco or pizz. q = 18
Page 9 and 10: What does it mean to play musically
Page 11: PHOTOGRAPHY: JEFF GRASS ORCHESTRAL
Page 15 and 16: Bard College Conservatory of Music
Page 17 and 18: the San Francisco Opera, and he had

Next Level Bassist Musicality Issue

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