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Hey All,
I was contacted offlist by an SG101 member
("Unscheduled Offworld Activation!")* who shall remain
anonymous. I thought I'd share this exchange for the
good of the bass brotherhood on this list.
Note: It should also be pointed out that Carol, like a
lot of us bass players, started out on guitar. She is
*still* a fine guitar player. In one of our lessons,
she played the rhythm guitar changes to "Autumn
Leaves" (using the "infamous" Fakebook) while I played
the walking bass part (on a Rick 4003 no less!)...
* Excuse my Stargate SG-1 reference...
Anonymous wrote:
> I'm just curious, what did Carol Kaye emphasise in
> her
> teaching? I'm a hopelessly mediocre player and keep
> looking for things to help me make little break
> throughs as I go along.
>
Anonymous,
It's good that you're an "inquiring mind that wants to
know"!
Carol's main points would be these:
1. Know your chords, major and minor triads. A major
chord is 1-3-5 (e.g., C is C, E, G). A minor chord is
1-b3-5 (e.g., Cmin is C, Eb, G). Learn their positions
(notes) up and down the neck. For Aug chords, sharp
the 5. For Dim chords, flat the 5.
2. Carol is big on reading music since that is what
the studio musician does a lot. Since I was already an
"advanced" player, that was quickly out of the way and
we worked on reading complex, syncopated rhythms.
Reading rhythm notation whether a bassline or
drum/rhythm guitar pattern is important as it lets you
lock in with the band and understand the underlying
rhythm of a song. If you know item #1 above and
understand rhythm notation, I think you can function
very well as a bass player even if your note reading
skills aren't that great. (A lot of bass "charts" have
only chord symbols -- but watch out -- it will often
include some sort of rhythm notation.)
Carol also taught me how to invent and play walking
bass lines and the natural chord sequences in each key
(as well as the construction of each chord). I think,
however, that you'll be on your way to becoming a good
bassist by knowing the above two items.
~ Jonathan
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