Unit 4 Music Performance Learning Aim A

BASIC SKILLS AUDIT

I have been "playing" bass for around a year and a half but I started properly playing around a year ago when my brother got a new bass and gave me his old one. Since then I have learnt how to play many things. I can't remember all of them but the ones I can remember off the top of my head are: Hysteria by Muse
Sister Hate and Discord by The Living Tombstone
Rainbow Factory by Wooden Toaster
Song 2 by Blur
Whole Lotta Love, Kashmir, and another one I can't remember the name of by Led Zepplin
Hell's Bells and (the intro to) Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap by AC/DC
The James Bond Theme
The Legend of Zelda Theme
Blackadder Theme
Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes
The Chain by Fleetwood Mac
Come Together and  Day Tripper by The Beatles
No Sleep Till Brooklyn and You Gotta Fight by the Beastie Boys
The Power Of Love by Huey Lewis
Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple
Iron Man by Black Sabbath
American Idiot, Hitchin' A Ride and Welcome To Paradise by Green Day
A Short Bass Battle Riff from Scott Pilgrim
Indiana Jones Theme
I Am The Doctor by Murray Gold
Bombtrack by Rage Against The Machine
Maxwell Murder by Rancid
The Beginning Of The Skyrim Theme
A song I can't remember the name of by the Scissor Sisters
Sunshine Of Your Love by Eric Clapton
Billie Jean by Micheal Jackson
The Imperial Death March

I know more but I can't think of them right now and most of these (excluding Sister Hate, The Imperial Death March, Blackadder Theme, You Gotta Fight, Power Of Love, American Idiot, Hitchin' A Ride, Seven Nation Army, Welcome To Paradise and Maxwell Murder (apart from the insane solo) are just riffs or part of the song that really stood out or there wasn't a tab online for the entire song. I have also written a couple of short riffs of my own. I also know how to play a couple of things on guitar these are:
War Machine, Thunderstruck, Back In Black and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Intro) by AC/DC and Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life by Monty Python.

I am currently having Bass lessons I started them around 3/4 of the way through my first year playing bass, I'm mainly self taught but the lessons have really helped me. Because of my lessons I can now play walking bass and I'm now trying to learn slap and pop but it's really hard to do. I've never had a grade in bass.

I need to be able to play for a longer amount of time by building up my stamina for playing long bass lines, and being able to slap and pop well and effectively. I also need to get used to playing standing up and improve my confidence for playing for bigger audiences. I'd like to eventually enter House Music and maybe play in the Summer Concert.

Week 1:

This week I started to learn Can't Stop by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I have found a tab and memorised the intro but I haven't started playing it slap and pop yet but I will as soon as my technique has improved. In my lesson I started to learn slap and pop but I still can't do it at all, I have been asked to try and improve my technique and try looking at how other people do slap and pop.

Week 2:

This  week I started to get the hang of slap and pop in my bass lesson by using the sheet pictured above, and I got the hand placement right. In my BTEC lesson I practiced my slap and pop a little bit and tried playing for longer period of time to try and increase my stamina as this seems to have worked so far. I still need to improve my slapping, my popping's alright but my slapping could really do with some work.

 Week 3:

This week I finally got the hang of slap and pop and i'm really improving, I can now do it harder and faster I practice whenever possible. My lessons are going well and Mr Ellis is really helping my technique and playing style.In music I practiced more slap and pop centering on my hand positioning and power, I also tried playing a bit with my brass bass pick I brought in and I was ok at it as it's like picking with my thumb when I started.

Week 4:

I am now majorly improving on my slap and pop technique, i'm nothing like Flea but I doubt I will ever be able to get to his level. In my BTEC lesson I played Can't Stop and finally got the intro/verse line down. I now have the correct positioning and power and i'm improving on my speed. I received a tab sheet from Mr Ellis and it was really easy and I only messed up power-wise once.

Week 5:

Usually I write these entries a week after they happened, but today's bass lesson went so well i've decided to write it here. I have now moved on from doing slap and pop and today Mr Ellis taught me about arpeggios which is playing the notes in a chord as notes instead of all at the same time. I was alright with timing as I returned to the walking bass style and it felt good to get back to a type of bass playing that i'm not brand new to, This technique has also opened loads of doors and given me ideas for how to use arpeggios in songs and bass lines myself.

Week 6:

In my bass lesson this week I continued my work on arpeggios and gained a sheet to work off of to better my understanding of arpeggios and how they work .

In my Friday music lesson I spent half the time looking for an iPad with Youtube connection, but once I had found one I continued working on Can't Stop, adding the intro to my repertoire and perfecting the main riff.

Week 7:

This week in my music lesson I recorded the main riff to Can't Stop.

This piece is very out of time, however this is due to me making small mistakes and hesitating which caused me to go out of time, however I played the notes correctly, I had the intonation correct and I correctly played the riff from Can't stop.

Week 8:

This Friday Rebecca, Monique and I went into a portacabin to practice Billie Jean, We decided it was not the right song for us and we decided to not carry on the ensemble. I am now going to either try writing my own song or going back to Can't Stop. In my bass lesson I continued work on arpeggios and Mr Ellis wrote a bass riff for me that uses arpeggios and makes me have to use my little finger so I can train it up and make it stronger so I can use it to play more complicated bass lines.

Week 9:

This Friday I kept working on Can't Stop but I decided that I want to change me song, partly due to my disliking of slap and pop but mainly due to me suspecting my tab to be incorrect. Due to this I did not record. In my bass lesson I continued my work on the riffs that Mr Ellis wrote for me the previous week.

Week 10:

In my bass lesson I started learning bass scales and,despite not having a music lesson, decided I want to learn how to play and sing the song "In Too Deep" by Sum 41, I believe this will be a challenge due to the fact I have never before successfully managed to play bass at the same time as singing.

Week 11:

In my bass lesson I continued with my scales and I started doing 2 notes per beat, 3 notes per beat and 4 notes per beat, and in BTEC music I started In Too Deep and recorded the very first bit of the first verse

I think my timing needs alot of improving, and a metronome may help, also I need to learn more of the song so it has a bigger impact rather than just having 6 notes played, and i'd also like to start singing as I play.

Week 12:

In my bass lesson I continued using scales and started to experiment with them playing the g major scales only the notes on one string starting on the E then going on the A, D then G strings. In my music lesson I continued In Too Deep, and improvised a part of the verse as it didn't sound right on the tab, however due to complications, I was unable to play along with the song so I still have no idea whether it was correct or not. I have set myself the task of learning the rest of the song over Christmas.

Week 13:

As this is the last week of the term, we don't have a music lesson this week, However I have had a bass lesson with Mr Ellis. In my bass lesson I continued the scales and played through them once, then I was given a simple song chord progression, and was tasked with using the root notes and scales to make a bass line for the progression, I have come up with the chorus and bridge and I will be writing the chorus for prep.

Evaluation:

In the last 3 months of music I feel I have advanced in my bass skills, one of my reasons for this is that I  have learnt slap and pop, and even though i'm not that good at it, I feel this is a good addition to my repertoire as skills as 3 month ago I didn't even know it existed. Another thing I have learned which improves my skills is both arpeggios and scales, They help me as they provide me with 2 methods which can help me write bass lines of my own. The final, and probably one of the most useful, thing that I can now do is stretching. Before my bass lessons started I only used 2 fingers. 3 months ago I used 3 but I still didn't like using my little finger, due to it's weakness and how it bent at an awkward angle when I put pressure on it. However I have now started using all 4 of my fingers when playing, which makes playing a lot easier and opens the door to a lot more songs. However there are some things I wish to improve in my bass playing, one key thing I want to improve is my timing and speed, this is so I can play faster and more complex pieces, and play slower pieces with the correct timing so I can play with other people and stay in time.

Video Evaluation:

In my video I played the song In Too Deep, Originally I planned to sing as well as play but, due to time constraints, I was unable to do this as I have been unable to practice it and therefore I am unable to and I feel this brought down my performance, however I am proud of what I have done as I have had some issues in my music with things like IPads and cables so was forced to learn the majority of this song at home which I feel has gone well. In this video i think my stage presence was OK but sadly I was unable to learn the song off by heart I was forced to have the tab in front of me which i feel was restrictive of what I could do as it seems that i am unable to play a song without tab in the video. I have learned the song correctly and played it well,  and I feel that I have been very dedicated to this as i wouldn't accept just a riff in my performance, however there was times in the recording in which I would mess up, and this would make my timing go off, and distract which would cause me to go off track and it can take me a while to get back to the flow i originally had.