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    Lessons from Mr. Bungle bass player

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    Lessons from Mr. Bungle bass player

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    312 просмотров12 страниц

    Trevor Dunn Lessons

    Загружено:

    AntonijVedernikov
    Lessons from Mr. Bungle bass player

    Авторское право:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Скачайте в формате PDF или читайте онлайн в Scribd
    Отметить как неприемлемый контент
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    Tension & Release MULTIPLICITY by Fant6mas’ Trevor Dunn Maintaining interest within a repetitive line talked about various techniques associated ith dfferenc sles ofbass playing and ilustrated them with excepts fom songs 've recorded with several diferent bands. This ‘month Fm going to focus on one song, believe itor not. In fac, 'm going tale about a song that feature a fairy simple one-bar bas line, butas you will se, the musical possibilities are not constricted by this Instead, they are witwaly mites, “The band is.John Zorn’ Hectic Masada, and despite the frenzied and sometimes chaotic nature of the music, my role asa bassist remainetraditlonal In ocher words, | am laying doven a foundation, rhythmically ‘and harmonically, for melodies and solos to soar above, maintaining areference point, ‘not to mention the feel ofthe song, There fate moments when the seven other members bf the band ae either soloing collectively or playing textually (aonzhythmically), and it {smy responsibility to maintain a reference LE MY FIRST column (Bass Guitar #7)1 point. In these types of seenarios, thymic ot i hharmonie variations on @ recurring line make sense-they have purpose. Without the con- tinuous alliance tothe original bassline Cand melo), whether overty or subconsciously, everything ost exists ina vacuum. Tn moment of multilayered acivity—.g, athythmie elecronies, a guitar drone, asa Solo polyriythmie prcussion—my fist pr trty is rhythm, I need to do my best to let teveryone know where “one” is—where the ‘jee ofthe bass line begins; thats, the oven beat ofthe measure. Now, ff simply repested the original line nore for note, throughout, the muse would become boring for me, the other mascians and the audience. Tm talking stout very basi and fundamental element Inmusi: tension and release. You establish ‘motif (short musical dea) and vary and ‘embellish itby moving away from itand sug gesting other hythms and harmonies (some: fimesto the pointof nearly losing contro), fand then comforeably land back home. Tis fan happen numerous times, with varying Gegrees of intensity, throughout asong or jam. “Thats the concept anyway. ‘Ona recent live recording Hectric Masada) we played a 14-minute version of ‘tune called “Teeufah,” IOURE 1 depicts its composed bass ine. The majority ofthe ‘Masada songbook s based harmonically on couple of diferent Klezmer Jewish folk URE “Taku (ompeer’ wt as ia * dem nctena, QUE 2 C Abava Rab sede URES variation #3 est scice pate eee ad wrt music) sales that are eatenilly modes ofthe hharmonie minor scale, “Tekufah” isin CAhava aba (see FIGURE 2) which isthe fifth mode of F harmonic minor (the Fhermonic minor scale beginning on the fifth, : CDb EP G Ab 'B). The Ahava Raba scales intervallically “spelled” a follows: oot, flat 2 3,4 5 flat 6 fac 7. This scale works well when played over {C7 chord, especially one thatalso includes a flatnine and/or fat 13. (These are known as tered dominant” chords inthe vocabulary faze) This also facifitate a diminished sev fenth chord buileon Db (Db E.G BE). ‘As you can see, the parent Fharmoiic minor scale encompasses avery versatile and exotic sounding harmonic environment, and all ofthese scales, harmonies and theit derivatives ae available for use in this song, sare chromatic passing tones. Infact, I don"t Delieve there aze any wrong notes. Any given pitch canbe justified as long as it conveys a sense of purpose and direction. Referring to my role here in traditional sense, fm thinking in the same way would iflwere creating a walking lin over set of chord changes: Im connecting phrases ina melodic of linear way and maintaining pulse while varying the original ine (in this case, working with ts dovnbeat/upbeat dichotomy). One reason there aren't aton of bass solos inthis band is that Tm essentially improvising the entire time. start out keeping my-variations somewhat simple (see FIGURES ‘Sand ), usualy playing the fist par ofthe orginal ine intact. As the tune progresses and the energy buds, geta lite more “squir- relly a8 demonstrated in FIGURE S. “These are fairy simple examples in which Inever venture outside the Ahava Raba sale. “They are, simply pt, Fils that create tension by omamenting or “mnisplacng” the writen line For an example of more complex melodic ‘ideas and variations based onthissame sale, ‘heck out the tan “Lili,” which son the same ise) When playing apiece based on thistype ‘of compositional approsc, Talways go back to ‘the orginal wrizen linea some point, ether on ‘myown acord or atthe behest ofthe composer, and tobe hones, the original is aways in my ‘head. Tow that as ong as'm aware ofthe ‘essence of the song and what the other musi ‘dans are spontaneously desing to play, my ‘variations wil have cnviedon and purpose an willbe intersting. Thats the goal anyway. MULTIPLICITY by Fantomas’ Trevor Dunn Altered States Inside the exotic world of altered scales exotic sounding Ahava Raba sale. Fd like now to diecuss sales that are rela tive to tha one or ust similar enough to be confusing. Allo the scales Pm going to tal. about utilize altered tones, thai, pitches that le outside the usual major/minor key signatures. Before divin into this extended harmony, however, suggest becoming intensely fair with al ofthe modes ofthe major sale (Le Dorian, Phrygian Lydian, fe) and how they relate ro each other. Once {you know al ofthese scales all you have to ois change one or two notes, usualy by one halfstep, and you have an altered scale. ‘You're probably already familiar withthe harmonic minor scale, which ste natural minor ecale with ts seventh degree raised fone haf step. FIGURES 1 and 2show these two parallel scalsin the key of F minor “Like the major scale, bermonie minor has sicrelative modes, each of which is simply reorientation ofthe same seven notes around ‘diferent root. The fifth mode of harmonic mninors the Ahava Raba scale, which we Checked out lasetime. FIGURE 3 depicts the C Ahava Raba sae, the fifth mode of the parent F harmonic minor scale, Notice the interesting sequence of intervals, which Te labeled above the muse for purposes of ‘analysis. This scale is used alotin Klezmer music, as well as other “world music styles, perticulerly those from Eastern Europe and the Middle Fast. ‘By starting the harmonic minor sale on its fourth degree, inthis case BD, you achieve another exotiesounding scale, one thats flo used alot in Hezmer and othe similar Styles, the Misheberakh sale (see LOURE 18). Thi sale may be alternatively reckoned fs the Dorian mode with a raised fourth—in ther words, an altered Dorian mode. Ihave {ndcated the pattem of interval between ‘he note heads. ‘As with any scale, Izecommend learn- ing these i all keys. So for every harmonic rinor scale (there are 12) you have a rela: tive Ahava Raba and Misheberakh. Thae’s 36 sales! Moving ono a completely different harmonic world, take alook athe another sale you alo may already be friar, with ‘melodie minor scale, shown herein the key fF (gee FIGURE 5) ike harmonic minor, LE [MY LAST column {introduced the FPGURE 1 Fnatural minor sale FIGURE? F harmonic minor scale FIGURES C Ahava Rab sale BASSAS FIGURE 4 Bb Misheberah sale = pp elSe, el FIGURES F melodie minor sale FIGURE 6 I diminished whatetone sale FAGURE7 K whole half diminished scale SS FAGURES E whole-tome sale ie | Sa S| EE this sele is also an altered version ofthe tural minor sale, In this case, itis ikea paral minor with raised seventh and sat. (Gemay algo be thought of asa major scale ‘vith minor thd). The modes of melodic rminor stale ae truly wonderful and complex bur eake a while to absorb, so be patient if you. ont hear" them at fist. Familiarize youself with the sound ofeach scale. Learnt ist in tone octave and then, when you feel comfort able, in ewo octaves. "The seventh mode of melodie minot— beginning on its seventh degree—is2 ‘hauntingly beautifl scale, one thats used extensively ver dominant seventh chords injenz and provides a multitude of altered tones. Ths eae is called the “diminshed- ‘whole tone sale or sometimes simply an tered sale (see FIGURE 6). By laying an F diminished-wiole tone eae over a simple 17 chord you wind up with the folowing: root, b9, #9, maj, #4, #5, 7 And ifthat’s hot an ovetioad of information check this out the diminished-whole tone sale is a hybrid of foo other scales!—the halfwhole diminished (Gee FIGURE 7) and the whole-tone (FIGURE £8) If youlook closely athe diminished whole tone scale (FIGURE 6) youl notice thatthe fist ive notes alernate half steps and whole steps and notes four through eight are whole steps apart "Why on Barth, you may be asking your: self, dol as bass player, need to know al of this altered scale mumbo jumbo? For stat ‘ers, ifyou are at al intrested in improvising ver chord changes in say, jazz context, or you just want tobe able to paint particular hharmonie landscape, this stuff is essential. Secondly, ae a composer or performer, this knowledge provides you with that much sore material to work with, enabling you to explore more interesting sounds. Even if ‘you're not incerested in jazz and all its com plexites, these scales are full of harmonic Colo, as well as something Lm quite fond (of dissonance. MULTIPLICITY by Fantémas’ Trevor Dunn Carry Stress in the Jaw Analysis of a melody HIS MONTH, Ive wanscribed ase son ofthe song "Carry Stress inthe Jaw” from Mr Bungle’ Diso Volante record (Warner Bros, 1995). Notonly this tune a good example of my witing and playing rye, but ils inchudes examples of some of the musical took ve dscusted in ou astcouple ofessons, Tbe referring to few af the sales Tirodiced you to in he past, 50 ifyou arent fannie vith them, check ourprevous ses JGURE 1 depicts she song'smain theme, ‘which was writen as a 32-bar unison melody for base and vocals that shouldbe performed vera four-bar bas ostinato (repeating fig tre) tha’ actully played by gultsr and bar tone saxophone inthis case. FIGURE 2 shows this repeating phrase. Though fairy chro mati, this ostinato line essentially implies an Ab7bS tonality. The line sounds rhythmically deceptive because I don’ play beat onein every ar except he first. "The highly chromatic melody in FIGURE 1 posses though various chords, butt is ul mately rocted in an Ab dominant seven ha ‘mony. The melody s phrased against he four barbase figure. (Every fourth bars marked with a double br tne, and Tv indicated the phrases of the melody with brackets) [Although itsfaily simple fom a compost tional standpoine—a four barline based on ‘one chord-—1ve tented iin away (with chro maticism, altered tones, and uneven phrasing) that obecures is simpli. In this way create tension, which reflects the theme of the jt. originally wrote the ostinato figure and improvised overt find scales and harmonies ‘that ied. was ery interested in che interval Jicrelatonship between the melody and the bass figure as kindof polytonl counterpoint For instance, inbar 6, beat fur, play an Ab note inthe melody over he low in tebas gure, essentaly creating an Fminor harmony. Butin bar 14 the melody note isan A narural, which changes he harmony to Fajr. Note the var {ed assonment of incervalsbetween the melody ‘notes throughout the entire excerpt “The it phrase ofthe melody (bars 4-9) is slmost entirely based onthe A at diminished ‘whole-tone sale (ADA BCD EGE), which, as youmay real om ou previous lesson ismade Lpof the same seven notes asthe Amelodic minorscale (ABCD EF# G#).Inbars 12-14 outline an Aaug? chord (ACH FQ), which ‘comes from the A whole-ane scale (AB C# Di FG), From are17 through 21 the melody is ‘yerychtomatc, and itealy oniy makes sense “Carry Stress in the Jaw" tome hse and we ey) 288 Nea) intervalclly. use notes from the Chalf-whcle diminished sale (CDbD# EF# GABE) in bars 22nd 28 and the Fal whole diminished seale (F Gb G# ABCD Eb) inbars 25 and 26 “Thefinalsicbars fellow an ascending Anatual minor seale (ABCD EF G) in machine gun tke bursts of 16h notes, with avelterted F# note added asa ehromatie passing tone. EES aa ee) ASPECIAL GUITAR ERENDS Ca aia Pea MULTIPLICITY by Fantomas’ Trevor Dunn Rhythmic Mind Games An introduction to polyrhythms and hemiola ‘ot more musical birds with one stone, so this month Fé ike wo present some cook exercses/drils signed to introduce you to polyshythm while improving your technical dexterity. highly recommend using 2 ‘metronome as you do these exercises, and that you tap your foot on every downbeat This ‘will keep you from inadvertently changing the rythm and help you internalize them. Probably the simplest and most familiar ofall polyehythms ste ripet, where the beats subdivided into three nots of equal duration instead of two. Set your metronome toaslow tempo, sy, 60 beats per minute, and alternate between playing two evenly spaced notes per beat (eighth notes, also known as eta oun tents in or nde, Ecfisaredbetvean te gar dbs pa “STINKFIST” “The chorus of “Stinks” is another oo! ‘example of driving 16th-note syncopation oupled vith an unusual meter, in this ease 6/4 (FIGURE 3) Here Chancellor and Jones lock in shythmically, using upbeat 16th notes and ties to obscure downbeas to create what isessenilly a succession of doted-eighth- tote thythns over the fist ive beats of bars 113. The results seven heavy, evenly spaced accents played over the course of five beats. “This is an example of what's known as pobrhytim. Inbar 4 the tension-building dbotted-ighth motifs incerrupred after three beats and resolves satisfyingly with a four Deatold in bars. “LATERALUS” “The transition from the Tong crescendo [volume buildup] in the beginning of Lat feral” to the song's frstchorus exemplifies ‘Too's masterfil superimposition of conver ing shythms end meters (FIGURE 4). As the intro gets underway, behind Jones initia cighth-note guitar line, Chancellor's bass faces in witha two-beat pulse in 4/4, playing precisely aniculatd eighth-note rplets that fully absorb the listener. When the chorus Tics in at bar Sof FIGURE 4) the tempo inereases, but what we have is more than just ‘random tempo change, 2s there is actually ‘precise method to this thythmie madness: ‘What was the span of two quarter notes ia ‘the into becomes fll measure of3/4 at the ‘chorus. in other words, what would be quar ter-note triples at the original tempo have ‘ow become stright quarter notes atthe new {empo, This sa great technique for smoothly ‘changing tempos and tying together different rif ideas within song. ‘Bass Guitar columnist Trevor Dunn, & co-founder of Me. Bungle, has played with John Zor, Fanti, the MeWvins, and many ‘others; he has recorded five albums as leader FIGURE 1 “Forty-Six & Two,” riff at end of first chorus @) xcs) fae Ee Pe lounge) a ———— SSS eee fata ett wl FIGURE 2 “Forty-Six & Two,” shifting meters bridge riff (5 ee =P ee iS SSS Sp ey FIGURE “Stinkfist” chorus (19 ‘Maderatly Slow 4 = 87 SOS a srs UROL OS ESF [rrp at SS re Saar PURE 4 Lateral” ramon tom nro tchorus Mott 2 =i a one : ; it T ea Sern ay tr ile ence peers g aster as 5 Ce cS - EELS | Sa What’s Nine is Yours MULTIPLICITY by Trevor Dunn of Fantémas Dissecting 9/8 meter, part 1 ON TINUING OUR exporion ot Ce toed odd err tsi ety exp wha we've covered inthe previo wo clus Weve ken s/4 5/8, fn 7/and woken tum dove tsar frou of eat nero tomake em ease {Stet and ply bur aot elp der Sands pvasing As pointe ony onan Jue cofuans lo meters can be acd tconbinaos of groupof ce thee eats in 7h nan ros todiee quar oes Wh eee 7/8 19/8 hcewo-and te oe groupe ay be cig noes or combinaons ofeignh note odguaner ote er cntaiing five bests ay be broken don ino net way 209 0¢ Bid anderenbeat ees en Despit Ghee ways 21243 3024 0720942 Burmete cmp ine ant ay oe Organzdin over groupings hat are more como ac ete so any alates that geng breakup iy analy over teruplealesone Theor gong takaboothe ve nee commen ways 9/8 iphmed FOURE shows meld apg based nein 9/8 tate phrased 2624243, withempina on the ine hi i na {Treinen dneothe pan, hereare tomiderd downbeat Thine onde ie ity eal he ote cng ogee: For the Caner odin bar 3, youcan bare your Index nger a he ti eth sameway sin lager wou Tou 2 showsthe fist vo bar of the prevustine notated ina colt frome wey arf flowed by Darof 4. youheadtheline played and Sid pw how it wae wate you mig come up with etherof tee neato. The fw prasngs do fc ie beens, ewever: ply Fl@Ume 2 sss» aight ue note ule Capped with your 00) Snayoutuseower far fe notes inbar allen te eight ee upbeat fa the 9/Bversion enGURE thee ntes al on downbeat, Aso hele eighth fetes RGURE 2 oe pe na aye feces eat for tou cold 0 snp ake cure borlne nti igure and cone he 2 whole thing as one ber of 9/4 Another comman way to phrase 9/8 8 34242420r2/8+3/4, with three eighth notes athe beginning ofthe measure, 35 ustrated in FIGURE 5. Thisline sa lite bit tricky because three quarter notes are never played outright, which leaves some room for only snvolves the writen par, butalso what else {is going on inthe music. The drum part, the gular par etc, al affect how the ine gets phrased, FIGURE 4 is another example of line with an eighth-note pulse that incor porates a3+2+2+2 phrasing scheme Tye ale thrown in ther odd meters that we've covered inthe previous two les: sons, namely 7/8 and 5/8, with the meter ‘changing in every bar. Before you freak out, 4¢ HEAR IT ONLINED wwuigultarworld.com/lessons notice thacbats 2 and 4 are simply truncated versions ofbare 1 and 3. Inbar 2, wo eighth notes are subtracted from the end of the phrase, changing ito 3+2+2. In bar 4 four tighth notes are lopped of, resulting in 3+2. Before playing this igre, Irecommend clap ping the rhythms slowly while tapping your foot on every eighth note and counting the sroupings outloud. When that feels comfort able set Your metronome toaslow tempo and gradually build up rhe indicated tempo. These lines are mind benders and chop-bast ers burbreaking them down to smaller roup- {ngs wllhlp you gta fel for hem. (Divide ‘and conquer!) Once you Team toear the unique Pirasing ofeach example willstarto fel natu ra... andthe next ime you gt called fora Mace donian power pop si, youl be ready m= d=20 Fea) URE )=20 7 cara) hr or bnarist SSeS fae MULTIPLICITY by Trevor Dunn of Fantémas Be Fruitful and Subdivide Taking odd meters to musical extremes JN MY LAST fev columns Ive covered odd meters and showed you how ba containing five or more beats ean be hmetically broken down into easily ‘digestible components, an approach like tocall “the land of 1-2, 1-2-3." This month, Pd like to demonstrate how Tve applied this strategy to some challenging music I had to leara recently. “The gig was with master Japanese drummer Yoshida Tatsuya and his highly progressive band Korekyojinn (you may know Yoshida from his other band, Ruins) As was the case when Tid a gig with the Melvins afew months ago, | didn’t have ‘uch time to learn the musi, and that reant making the most of my practice efforts, What was different chis time ‘was that Yoshida has all of his muse written out, and yet there was stil some interpreting for me to do. Whether | actually made my own markings on the page of “re-notated” chings in my mind, Thad to interpret the music in a way that made the most sense to me so that I could Tear i quickly FIGURE 1is # line similar to one in ‘Tatsuya's “Arabesque” and is written as single bar in 29/8 meter! So what do do when Isee a bar of 29/87 Itake a deep breath and relax because I know that it really has to be simpler than it appears. Since the concept of 29/8 Is way too much information to take in alla once, ! played the line repeatedly until figured out how tobreak it down, and FIGURE 2is what | came up with. I discovered that while the entire line is one long phrase that spans 29 eighth notes, t may alternatively be ‘conceived as three back-to-back phrases that are then subdivided even further. Inthe original version ofthe line (CHIGURE 1), it’s difficult to tell where the ‘upbeats and downbeats ie, making it very easy to get lost. Inoticed that che phrasing pattern spanning the first six quarter notes repeats and could be written in 6/4 ‘Additionally saw that each 6/4 bar could be broken down further and phrased 2 + 2 ++ 2, three virtual bars of 2/4 (indicated by broken lines in FIGURE 2). The next thing I did was change each GS to Ft, making it easier to think of coming from E Finally, a shown in FIGURE 2, the last part ofthe ine is more easily understood land counted asa bar of 5/8, phrased 2 +3 (wo eighths plus three eighth). "FIGURE 3s @ bar in21/8 similar to onein “Tetsuya "Doldrums,”" and FIGURE 4 shows iy preferred notation ofthe same line, with counting prompts included asa guide. For se, the real pulse liesin the groupings of cighth notes that clearly define che phrasing. ‘Again, [spotted a repeated section that

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