Academics & The Arts Articles

Article / Updated 08-12-2022

One way to extend the length of a note when playing the piano or keyboard, and make it look a little fancier, is through the use of a dot. A dot on any size note or rest makes that note or rest last 50 percent longer. Dotted half notes A quarter note lasts one beat, a half note lasts two, and a whole note lasts four. You can see that you’re in need of a note that lasts three beats. Probably the most common dotted note in music is the dotted half note, which gets a total of three beats. This note gets a lot of use in 4/4. In 3/4 time, it takes up the entire measure. Check out these dotted half notes in action and how to count them. Dotted quarter notes When you add a dot to a quarter note, you get a great hybrid note that lasts for one and a half beats. Because of its length, the dotted quarter note is commonly paired with an eighth note in order to finish out the second beat. Dotted eighth notes The dotted eighth note equals one and a half eighth notes, or three sixteenth notes. It takes four sixteenth notes to make one quarter note (or one beat). So, a dotted eighth note is often paired with a sixteenth note to make a full quarter note beat. In this combination, the normal eighth note beam connects the two notes, and the sixteenth note gets a shortened second beam. Get some practice reading and playing some dotted notes in Book II, Chapter 5, Audio Track 19. Work on developing the kind of flexible counting system. You count only quarter notes in the first measure, then count out eighth and sixteenth notes for the measures that require that type of breakdown. When you’re out of the rough in the last measure, you can go back to counting quarter notes. Just make sure you keep the beat steady! “Swanee River” is a classic example of both dotted quarter notes and dotted eighth notes. Listen to it until you get the feel of the rhythm.

Article / Updated 08-12-2022

When you understand note values and ways to extend those values with ties and dots on the piano, you can expand your rhythmic range with some fancy ways to divide, delay, anticipate, and swing note values. After all, you live in a world filled with rhythm, and most of the music you hear day in and day out is surprisingly rhythmic. As you check out the following examples, tap your foot along to the examples. Even when you don’t play a note right on the beat, you won’t lose the beat. Triplets love chocolate Most notes divide a beat neatly by some factor of two. But every now and then, you may want to divide a beat into more than two eighth notes but less than four sixteenth notes. That means playing three notes per beat, aptly called a triplet. The most common triplet pattern is the eighth-note triplet, which looks like three beamed eighth notes. To help you spot these triplets quickly, composers add a little number 3 above (or below) the beam. A popular variation on this triplet pattern is the quarter-eighth triplet, which looks like (get this) a quarter note and an eighth note but with a little bracket and a number 3. You can hear an example of these triplets in Book II, Chapter 5, Audio Track 13 before you try to play them yourself. To count these triplets, tap your foot and say “1 trip-let, 2 trip-let” or (if you like food metaphors) “choc-o-late” for every beat. The most important point is to divide the beat into three equal parts so each syllable gets its fair share. Now try playing the triplets. Keep thinking “choc-o-late” until you’ve gotta take a candy bar break. You can make triplets using other note values, too, but you probably won’t have to play them for a while, at least not until you start jamming with your local drum circle. It’s worth remembering, though, that with any triplet rhythm, 3 = 2: Three quarter-note triplets equal two quarter notes (two beats), and three sixteenth-note triplets equal two sixteenth notes (half a beat). You play three notes (equally) in the time you would normally play two notes of the same value. Swing and shuffle time The beat may go on and on, but music can be quite dull if every note you play is on the beat. By changing up the rhythm a bit and playing some notes off, around, or in between the main beats, your playing takes on a whole new life. For example: The swing beat. Listen to this swing beat in Book II, Chapter 5, Audio Track 14 while you look at the four measures of music below. The music track plays the eighth notes with a swing beat. The notes are the same, but the rhythm has a slightly different, swingin’ feel. Instead of straight eighth notes played as “1-and, 2-and,” you hear a long-short, long-short rhythm. The most accurate way to notate this swing rhythm is with a quarter-eighth triplet. But rather than write a ton of triplets, the composer gives you a big heads up along with the tempo indication above the first measure by telling you to “Swing,” either in plain English or with a little symbol like this one. When you see the swing notation, you should play all the eighth notes in the music as swing eighths. You can still count them as “1-and, 2-and, 3-and, 4-and,” but the notes on the beats are longer and the notes off the beats are shorter. The best way to understand the swing beat is to hear it. So popular is this classic American rhythm that it has its own type of bands and dance moves. Listen to some of the music of the big-band era, like the Duke Ellington Orchestra or the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. They really had the whole world swingin’. You can always try to play a song with swing eighths right now. Shuffle feel has the same long-short swing eighths as swing time, but the shuffle beat is more readily associated with rock and blues-style music. A shuffle feel is characterized by a heavier beat than swing, which is lighter on its feet. Check here to play a song with a shuffle feel. Syncopation One of the most common forms of playing off the beat is a little rhythmic concept called syncopation. To understand syncopation, you have to know about downbeats and upbeats. Start tapping your foot to a moderate 4/4 beat, and count eighth notes “1-and, 2-and, 3-and, 4-and.” Your foot goes down on the downbeats and up on the upbeats. Downbeats are the beats that are normally emphasized in a song. But through the miracle of syncopation, you emphasize some (or all) of the upbeats instead. You play those notes a little bit harder, or louder, than the others. For example, the note normally played on beat 3 is played on the upbeat before, and this anticipation naturally emphasizes the upbeat and creates syncopation. Here is a two-measure melodic phrase written first to emphasize the downbeat on beat 3, and then transformed into a syncopated rhythm, with the arrows showing the point of emphasis on the upbeat, on “and” before beat 3. You can hear how syncopation works with a well-known melody. The track plays the opening four measures of the classic song “After You’ve Gone” first without any syncopation, and then with syncopation. Keep your foot tapping the beat throughout the entire eight measures and notice the emphasized notes on the upbeats (when your foot is up). The arrows mark the syncopated notes.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 08-12-2022

If you want to speak with your Brazilian neighbor, friend, or business associate, knowing the basics of Portuguese can help. Find out how to recite the Portuguese alphabet, how to ask simple questions and carry on a conversation, and how to show enthusiasm for what you're experiencing. The following helps with speaking formally, conjugating verbs, and pronouncing some of the trickier words in the Portuguese language.

Article / Updated 08-12-2022

In music, a time signature tells you the meter of the piece you’re playing on your piano or keyboard. Each measure of music receives a specified number of beats. Composers decide the number of beats per measure early on and convey such information with a time signature, or meter. The two numbers in the time signature tell you how many beats are in each measure of music. In math, the fraction for a quarter is 1/4, so 4/4 means four quarters. Thus, each measure with a time signature of 4/4 has four quarter note beats; each measure with a 3/4 meter has three quarter note beats; and each measure of 2/4 time has two quarter note beats. Please keep in mind that 4/4 meter doesn’t mean that each measure has only four quarter notes. It means each measure has only four beats. These beats may contain half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, rests, whatever the composer wants — but all note and rest values must combine to equal the top number (or numerator) of the time signature. Common time: 4/4 meter The most common meter in music is 4/4. It’s so common that its other name is common time and the two numbers in the time signature are often replaced by the letter C. In 4/4, the stacked numbers tell you that each measure contains four quarter note beats. So, to count 4/4 meter, each time you tap the beat, you’re tapping the equivalent of one quarter note. To hear an example of 4/4 meter, listen to, “A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight” in Book II, Chapter 3, Audio Track 6. Notice how the beat pattern of 4/4 meter creates an emphasis on beats 1 and 3, which are downbeats (although beat 1 has the strongest emphasis). Beats 2 and 4 are upbeats. In many rock, R&B, and hip-hop songs, the upbeats are accented — this is commonly known as a backbeat. As you listen to the track, tap your foot on 1 and 3 (the downbeats), and clap on 2 and 4 (the upbeats). Feel free to check out the sheet music as well, right here. Although you may not know the notes of the staff yet — it can’t hurt to look at the music as you listen, to get a feel for it if nothing else. It’s also fine to simply tap your foot on the downbeats and clap on the upbeats. Waltz time: 3/4 meter In the second most common meter, 3/4, each measure has three quarter note beats. Of course, this still doesn’t mean that only quarter notes exist in this meter. You may have one half note and one quarter note, or you may have six eighth notes, but either way, the combination equals three quarter note beats. In 3/4 meter, beat 1 of each measure is the downbeat, and beats 2 and 3 are the upbeats. It’s quite common, though, to hear accents on the second or third beats, like in many country music songs. Another name for 3/4 meter is waltz time because of the down-up-up beat pattern used for waltzing. Listen to this example of 3/4 meter, “The Beautiful Blue Danube” in Book II, Chapter 3, Audio Track 7. Notice the emphasis on beat 1 of each measure. Tap your foot on the downbeat, and clap on the upbeats. You could say that 3/4 was probably composer Johann “Waltz King” Strauss’s favorite meter. March time: 2/4 meter Chop a 4/4 meter in half and you’re left with only two quarter note beats per measure. Not to worry, though, because two beats per measure is perfectly acceptable. In fact, you’ll find 2/4 meter in most famous marches. The rhythm is similar to the rhythm of your feet when you march: “left-right, left-right, 1-2, 1-2.” You start and stop marching on the downbeat — beat 1. Check out this good example of 2/4 meter in Book II, Chapter 3, Audio Track 8. It’s a famous dance by Jacques Offenbach called “Can Can.” Feel free to march or “do the Can Can” as you listen. 6/8 time If you notice that a time signature of 6/8 doesn’t have a “4” in the bottom (denominator) position, you’re no doubt already thinking that it can’t be a meter based on quarter notes. If you’re thinking that it might be a meter based on eighth notes, you’re right. 6/8 meter is a grouping of six eighth notes per measure. Like the waltz, beats in 6/8 meter are grouped in threes, but there are two groups. 6/8 has an added down-up beat pattern on the first eighth note of each group — beats 1 and 4. Showing the emphasis using italics, you count a measure of 6/8 with one count for each eighth note beat, as follows: One, two, three, four, five, six. Beat 1 is a stronger downbeat than 4, so this beat pattern can feel like two broader beats (down-up), each with its own down-up-up pattern within. Here is an example of 6/8 meter in Book II, Chapter 3, Audio Track 9. Tap your right foot on beat 1, tap your left foot on beat 4, and clap the upbeats (2, 3, 5, 6).

Article / Updated 08-11-2022

Double your pleasure when you double your bass line (musical phrase) with someone else, usually the guitar player or the keyboardist. Unison is very popular in hard rock and progressive rock styles, but it was also used much earlier by Paul McCartney in tunes such as “Day Tripper” (where he doubles the guitar line) and the more subtle “Drive my Car” (he doubles the guitar on that one as well). In playing in unison, you mirror the exact same musical phrase that one or more of your bandmates is playing, so it’s a really good idea to get together before a gig or jam to rehearse the phrase, note for note, matching each other as closely as possible. Some other unison lines include the famous Led Zeppelin song “Black Dog” (bass and guitars play in unison), as well as the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” (bass and piano play the unison line on that one). You can also check out AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long;” listen to the bass doubling all the hits of the guitar chords. Here, in Chapter 14, Audio Track 114, is a song that requires a unison accompaniment, so get together with one of your bandmates and learn the line, note for note. The effect is a wall of sound played in perfect agreement. Well, as they say, the band that plays together, stays together (or something like that).

Article / Updated 08-11-2022

Luckily for the bass world, Paul McCartney was one of the lead vocalists in The Beatles, and he learned to take the entire song — melody, lyrics, and all — into consideration. Most people want to hear the melody and lyrics of a song; they don’t want the bass in the way. Sir Paul developed an uncanny feel for when to get busy on bass and when to just support the vocals. The countermelody method for accompanying a song sounds immensely complex, but it’s really very straightforward: Play a simple line when the melody is busy, and get busy when the melody is simple (or even pauses entirely). This method creates a beautiful and effective balance between the high and the low register of the song. A prime example of the perfect interplay between the melody and bass, with the bass as a countermelody, is The Beatles’ song “Something.” (And don’t get into arguing with your bandmates “Hey, let’s play ‘Something.’” “Okay, but what?” Many hours of valuable rehearsal time have been lost on this one.) Listen to the song carefully, and you hear how the bass kicks in when the vocals take a breather. The same holds true for McCartney’s bass parts in “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “Hello, Goodbye.” Other examples are Paul Young’s version of “Every Time You Go Away” (with Pino Palladino laying down an amazing bass part) and Jaco Pastorius’s soaring bass line on Joni Mitchell’s version of “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.” Playing the countermelody on bass as heard in Chapter 14, Audio Track 115 is a highly individualized approach to accompanying a tune. Everyone has a unique way of embellishing a melody, so don’t be shy — get busy, just not when the melody is.

Step by Step / Updated 08-11-2022

The bass guitar, more than any other instrument, is at its best when tightly aligned with the drums. Together, the bassist and drummer develop the powerful grooves that drive the song by constantly listening and reacting to each other. Here are ten classic bass-and-drum combinations (sorted alphabetically by the bass player’s last name) that have enhanced a multitude of songs. Check out Chapter 20, Audio Track 117 to hear brief bass and drummer groove examples in the styles of these masters. However, to get a sense of truly great bass grooves, you need to listen to the original recordings. Go directly to the source and get inspired by the same musicians who inspire me.

Article / Updated 08-11-2022

You want your left hand to cover one fret per finger without causing any undue stress. By using one finger per fret on your bass guitar, you set up your hand to execute almost any musical figure without shifting, or moving your hand position to reach a note. (A figure is an independent and self-contained musical phrase, sort of like a sentence when you're speaking.) Check out this demonstration of left-hand positioning in Chapter 2, Video Clip 1. When you do have to shift your hand, a move of one fret in either direction usually suffices. Follow these steps to accomplish the proper left hand position: Hold out your left hand with your outstretched arm in front of you. Keep your wrist and hand limp. Without changing the angle on your wrist, turn your hand so your palm faces up and your fingers are slightly curved. Position your thumb so it faces your index finger (or the area between your index and middle fingers). Bring in your elbow to the side of your rib cage (without moving your hand) until the neck of your bass is in the palm of your hand. Remember not to close your hand! Place the tip of your thumb on the middle of the back of the bass neck. Make sure that your fingertips are pointing upward. Gently spread your fingers onto the strings, with each finger close to an adjacent fret. Curl your fingers until your fingertips are on one of the strings. Be sure to keep the tips of your fingers close to the frets. Now you're just about ready to press the string to the fret to play a note. Even though you can now fret the desired note, something still has to set the string in motion to produce the actual sound. This is where your right hand comes in.

Article / Updated 08-11-2022

The six-note blues scale is one of the most commonly used scales in bass guitar soloing — and with good reason: It’s comfortable to play, it’s easy to move from chord to chord, and it sounds great. The blues scale is a one-size-fits-all scale, no matter what the chord tonality (major, minor, or dominant). However, as with those one-size-fits-all pieces of clothing, the blues scale doesn’t always give you a perfect fit; you may have to move a note or two by a fret. When you create a solo with the blues scale, it of course will sound bluesy. Let your ears be the judge of which notes you can linger on and which notes you should use as passing tones (unaccented notes that connect two strong notes). It’s just like salt for the soup: When you add the right amount, it’s delicious; when you use too much, you spoil the broth. You need three strings to complete the blues scale for one octave, so start on either the E or A string on the root of the chord you’re playing. However, when you’re playing a bass solo, it sounds really nice if you extend into the next octave and use all four strings of your bass for the blues scale licks. The following steps explain how to play a blues scale. Press the index finger of your left hand down on the root of the chord (on the E or A string) and play the note. Press your pinkie down on the same string and play the note. This note is ♭ó3 (flat 3); it’s one of the blue (slightly dissonant) notes. Press your index finger down on the next higher (thinner) string and play the note. This note is a 4; it sounds fairly neutral. Press your middle finger down on the same string and play the note. This note is a ♯4 (sharp 4); it’s another blue note. Press your ring finger down on the same string and play the note. This note is a 5; it’s present in almost all chords. Press your index finger down on the next higher (thinner) string and play the note. This note is a ♭ó7 (flat 7); it’s usually a cool choice. Press your ring finger down on the same string and play the note. This note is your octave; you’ve arrived at the root again. Three strings. No shifts. The blues scale couldn’t be easier. You can use the notes of the blues scale in any order — not just straight up and down. You also can use the blues scale over any chord: major, minor, or dominant. Use the blues scale tastefully and sparingly; don’t overdo it. Pay attention to which notes sound good for any of the chords. For example, don’t hang on the ♭ó7 when you’re soloing over a major chord; instead, just pass through it and land on the root (that’s just one option). Check out some useful blues-scale licks. A lick, in this case, doesn’t refer to how your dog welcomes you home. A lick is a short melodic phrase you play in a solo — a solo is a succession of licks. You can collect a repertoire of licks from your favorite musicians, and you also can create some of your own. Check out Chapter 7, Audio Track 50 to hear what a blues scale (in A) sounds like, followed by three distinctive blues-scale licks (each preceded by a groove). If you start the extended-range blues scale on the E string, you won’t have to shift. You can also see the scales being played in Chapter 7, Video Clip 18.

Article / Updated 08-11-2022

Bass guitarists can really mix it up with funk shuffle grooves. Funk shuffle (also called shuffle funk) is a hybrid groove style, which means that it combines several elements of other styles — funk, blues, and jazz. When funk, which normally uses straight sixteenth notes, is combined with blues and jazz, which use triplets, the resulting combination is a lopsided sixteenth-note groove (a combination of long and short notes) — a very cool combination. This type of groove is pretty challenging to play, but some useful tricks of the trade can help make it a lot easier. This groove uses only the root (in two octaves) with an added dead note (a note that sounds like a thud). The drums are crucial in this style because they drive the rhythm along in tandem with the bass. You can start this groove with your index or middle finger on the low root (the starting note). This funk shuffle groove uses notes common to both the Mixolydian (dominant) and Dorian (minor) modes. Whoa! This groove fits over both dominant and minor? Yep! In fact, it’s an ambiguous groove. This groove isn’t all that easy to master, but after you get comfortable with it, you can get lots (and lots) of use out of playing it over any dominant or minor chord. In the funk shuffle style, almost all chords are dominant or minor. This funk shuffle includes more notes from both the Mixolydian and Dorian modes; notice the cool syncopation — the way a note anticipates the beat that it’s normally expected to land on. The groove can be used over most chords in shuffle funk tunes (that’s right; it’s an ambiguous groove). Most of the chords are either dominant (Mixolydian) or minor (Dorian). Start the groove with your index or middle finger to keep it in the box (so you don’t have to shift your left hand). As you listen to the funk shuffle grooves in Chapter 9, Audio Track 70, your head should be boppin’ with the beat. The funk shuffle has a much more…well…funky sound than the other shuffle styles. You still have the lopsided shuffle feel but with a lot more attitude. You can also watch this funk shuffle groove in Chapter 9, Video Clip 25. When you’re grooving on a funk shuffle, you can keep going for hours and hours without getting the least bit bored; because of its complexity, a funk shuffle is going to keep you busy. Keep the shuffle funky, “’cause it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.” The quintessential generic shuffle/swing song is a good old-fashioned blues.