Alien guidance

OK, I admit it - I often use instruction from people and sources dedicated to other instruments, including (gulp!) guitar. As the matter of fact, on of the most influential instructors whose material and direct guidance I have had the pleasure to experience over the past few years is Dana Rasch. For those who have heard of the legendary, but now defunct, Grove School of Music it will be easy to understand the quality of teaching involved, when you have in mind that Rasch used to be the head of the guitar program there, and the author of the cult-status instructional package titled Beyond Chops. 

Well, that package was published 35+ years ago and is still a benchmark, but the author chose not to rest on his laurels, and decided to further expand and improve his teaching approach. Over the years, he developed several programs that deal with various aspects of musicianship as it applies to guitar, but I would say that his flagship series is Visual Guide Tones, which is also the title of his website. And  guess what? It works great on bass! 

Essentially, the author uses the highly graphic nature of the instrument to help players in seeing how numerous music principles and concepts are manifested on it. In this particular program, Rasch uses five shapes of all the scales that form harmonic sources in modern music and than maps them over the fingerboard, while using the methods of string pairs, string sets, melodic contour, U-turns, sequences etc. to work on several dimensions of instrumental proficiency at the same time. You will develop technical command, left and right hand coordination, fretboard familiarity, ear-hand coordination while working on it, so it is completely appropriate that another user called it the "unified method".

Over the course of 11 (eleven) levels, Rach takes you on a thorough, step-by-step practical study that starts with pentatonic, goes through major, follows by melodic minor scales, and a whole bunch of other topics along the way. Each level consists of minimum 2 DVDs worth of video (download/stream) - one is a lesson and the other practice video(s) - as well as mp3 backing tracks and PDF notes where applicable. All in all, the instruction is very clear, as the author does a lot of talking when explaining the material, and he doesn't cut any shortcuts. And yet, if you have any questions, he is quite accessible via email and actually responds to your inquiries. 

Now, the first three levels deal with pentatonic scales, and just going through this part of the program helped me immensely in developing the above mentioned elements of musicianship. The first level stays in one key/tonality, the second has you shift between two, and the third - between three. With that in mind, if you understand the material in Level 1, it is possible to skip either 2 or 3 on your way up, depending on your previous level, although I still recommend taking each step, for the benefit of other insights and advice shared along the way. 

When it comes to direct application of the material from the course, very early I was able to put it to great use in coming up with bass fills and runs very spontaneously and with ease, even in the sections of fingerboard that had previously been "behind the horizon" for me. This is how I worked on the material a few years ago.

 Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that I also reached for his other programs in search of developing other areas of musicianship, in particular his Chord Melody and Composition series, as they really offer excellent way to work on one's understanding of harmony and related concepts (voice leading, arranging, transposition etc.) in a deep and systematic manner. Depending on your interests and priorities, you may want to check out his other stuff, too. Speaking of which, over the past couple of years, Rasch had discount/sales around Black Friday period, so it might be a good idea to check the store at that time. 

Remember how I mentioned that Dana Rasch was very accessible? Well, after asking for permission to use the pictures, we agreed that if any of the readers of this blog contacts me with some proof of purchase from his website, I will send you the PDF document I had made a few years back, that makes it easer to map the material on the first Visual Guide Tones levels on the neck of the bass, for 4-string and extended range instruments! 

Excavating the nuggets - chord tone study 2

Well, this article was written a couple months back, but was out for just a couple of days before being withdrawn. The reason is that the author of the reviewed books pointed that they had been unavailable for a while, and new editions have appeared in the meantime. And the changes were not just about the looks, but the progression of steps in the overall practicing approach have been modified as well (for the better, IMHO). I wasted no time ordering the new ones, so here is the updated version! 

the oldies

In the previous post you could learn something about the benefits of working on chord tones as the means of making progress on the instrument. This time, I will point you to what, IMHO, is the best starting point on this path - the books written by Phil Mann. He happens to be a phenomenal instructor, and you can find more about his bio and professional work as a bassist on the man's website.

Mann's approach to the subject is very thorough and done in a step-by-step manner, which means easy to understand and follow, although you WILL HAVE to put in the work, no doubt about it. He intends to cover the material through a series of book, and so far two have come out:

Vol 1. An Excavation of the Humble Triad

Vol 2. The Transcendence from Intent to Implementation

So, the first volume, as you may have guessed, is concerned with the triads that serve as the foundation for all other harmonic structures in music. Mann offers the theoretical fundamentals as they pertain to the material in the book, and then proceeds to the treatment of the topic - major, minor, diminished, and augments triads. Each chord quality is shown and practiced in all of its inversions, and at one point the major triad is also run through its permutation, but once you get the idea other qualities ought to be put through the paces, too. The major, minor and diminished structures are then done as two-octave studies; and finally, melodic applications are demonstrated on two staple chord progressions (ii-V-I and I-IV-V). Whew, a lot of stuff! 

the foundation

The material is presented exquisitely well presented through standard notation and tablature, where the latter format is necessary, i.e. to lay out the structures on the fingerboard. In the melodic applications, however, the tablature is (rightly) omitted, so you can work on your own options on the instrument. 

Before moving to the next book, I will briefly offer a personal insight. When isolated, any of the triads can be drilled in on of two ways - vertically or horizontally. Take them as two-string shapes and go though the cycle of fourths either in a chosen 5-fret section on the fingerboard (vertical), or with the bottom note on a single string (horizontal).

The second volume deals with tetrachords, i.e. 7th arpeggios, which are four-tone structures, and the approach follows the same overall path as with triads. Mann tackles the ones found in diatonic major and minor tonalities, i.e. major, minor, dominant, and minor 7b5.  Naturally, there is more work to be done because there are more inversions to address, but if you had done diligent work with the first book, this one should not be a problem. 

the challenge

However, the 7th chords are not covered in as much detail and as small incremental steps as the triads in book 1. And there is a good reason... The second half of this volume is where the really musical effort takes place, or if you so prefer - where the rubber meets the road. Namely, Mann gives a brief but practical explanation of the II-V harmonic progression and why it is important, as taken from the bridge of Rhythm Changes, and then goes into the application of various shapes and forms of 7th chords previously covered over this ubiquitous harmonic device. This segment is done in both major and minor tonalities, again. He first does it with the shapes in the "as is" option, so you can develop the understanding of the overall harmonic form and get your ear to recognize the function of each chord used; and then gets to what is probably the main point of the method - voice leading! 

Why is this important? Well, because in a real musical situation you (hopefully) want your lines to be smooth and not sounding like mere exercises. However, in order to get there, you DO need to have the exercises firmly under your belt, or, even better, under your fingers and in your ears. The foreword to the book, written by Matt Bokulic, addresses this gap between the purely academic approach to practice and creative expression in performance, while Mann himself states very convincingly in the book that while the early material may be "[...] initially tedious to comprehend, the concluding results will be enthralling - as you'll be able to convey and incredibly efficient portrayal of Gershwin's Rhythm Changes [...] and all in the full knowledge that your skill set can easily be implemented in hundreds of subsequent compositions". 

The last section of the book moves to the implementation of the material, and your newly found command of it, over the harmonic structure of a typical jazz blues form in all keys. Again, there is a lot of work to be done over a long time, but you will be comforted by the knowledge that you are on the right path, following a proven method. 

If you would like to get some sense of Mann's teaching style, he has several videos freely available on his Youtube channel, and this one is on the topic of major scale harmonization in triads:

All in all, having seen his courses on the Scott's Bass Lessons portal, articles in Bass Player and after perusing these books, Phil Mann is one of my favorite bass teachers out there, and I really look forward to his future contributions in the field.