This week I didn't get to play as much as I would have liked too, because I had a lot of things going on. However, I did bring my bass into class on Wednesday to practice the riffs I learned from last week.
In class, I was just going over the riffs, and Mr. Barker was talking to me about music, and he showed me a few things. At first, he asked me some questions to see what I knew about the different notes on the fretboard, and the strings in general. After he explained some general rules on locations of the same notes, he asked to play my bass. When he did he played his song for the food drive which I really liked. at home on my own time I even tried playing it myself based on the notes I heard him play. Later in the week on Friday night, my dad showed me the riff to Black Sabbath's song N.I.B. I was able to get the first phases of the bass riff down without issues, because they were pretty simple movements and were in the same area. My dad also showed me a new technique called "bending." for the second phase of the riff. instead of sliding a few frets up, he showed that you could bend the note you started on up to the same pitch as the frets above, making it easier. After getting the first three phases, then came the fourth phase. This part of the riff I found especially difficult to keep up the rhythm with. It goes from fret 5-7 on the E string, 5-7 on the A string, and 5 on the D string. The riff plays these relatively quick, with 3 strikes of the pick, once on each string, on the 5th fret. To play the 7th fret, my dad explained another technique called "hammering" which is playing a note without plucking the string. Along with "N.I.B." I also learned the bass riff to "Who Knows" by Jimmie Hendrix on the Band of Gypsys album. I really enjoyed learning this one, because playing this same riff over and over just sounded very smooth and pleasing to my ears. When he showed me this, we listened to the album so I could get a good understanding of the song and how the group played together. Later on today, (Saturday) my dad plans to show me the riff to "Come Together" by The Beatles.
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Welcome to my blog! This is the first week of Genius Hour, and I am going to be learning the bass guitar for the next twelve weeks. Bass has always interested me, and I've looked up to Flea, (Red Hot Chili Peppers) John Paul Jones, (Led Zeppelin) and Geddy Lee (Rush) in terms of music. I will admit that I had started a little early, before the semester started even. This is because I really wanted to learn and my dad had a bass to show me a riff, which was the opening to "Dazed and Confused" by Led Zeppelin. For a little background, my dad is a musician and has his own band. He plays guitar and has a bass for recordings, which is why he can show me how to play. I have been saving up for my own bass, because I wanted my dad to be able to teach me where both of us can play together. Last Saturday I had the opportunity to buy my very own bass. We took a trip to WCU to visit my sister, and we went downtown to the local music shop, In Your Ear Music Emporium. They had a Cort PJ bass, (I had never heard of it) which I played it and fell in love with instantly. I decided to name the bass Earl, because when I first saw it, I couldn't read the brand "Cort" printed on the headstock, and me and my mom looked at each other and both said "Earl?" at the same time. After bringing the bass home, I couldn't put it down. Over the course of this week, my dad would periodically pop in and teach me a new riff, and so far he's taught me the riffs to "Dazed and Confused," "How Many More Times," "Sunshine of Your Love," "25 or 6 to 4," and "With or Without You."
I am excited to continue to learn this instrument and the many riffs there are to play and make my own! |