Day 1 - Creative Time Workshop
One of the greatest assets to any bass player is their own internal sense of time. Most musicians are not necessarily born with some gift of perfect time. Time is something that needs to be constantly worked on and approached in different ways. In this lesson we are going to talk about time and discuss some creative methods to work on it.
Interpretations of Time
When we talk about having “good time” we are often referring to an individual’s interpretation of time in relation to the genre of music they are playing. Depending on the style of music, there are instances where you should be on the back end of the beat, the middle of the beat or the front of the beat.
An easy way I like to look this is by thinking of time being a bus.
You can ride in the front of the bus, back of the bus or the middle of the bus and regardless of your placement, you are all going to the same destination and are going to get there at the same time. For anyone who has ever been on tours before, there are usually personalities that correspond to the location of where they are on the bus. For instance, the back of the bus is often the louder folks and partiers. The front of the bus is usually the quiet studious type that want to keep to themselves. The middle of the bus is well, somewhere in the middle of that. In my 15+ years of touring, this has ALWAYS been the case. In music, sometimes those personalities are prevalent in our own time and how we stretch and mold it. Just like you may want to be “fashionably late” to a party, there are musical situations were that could apply too.
Creative Metronome Exercises
Hopefully at this point, if you are eager enough to embark on this 4 week course, you have also been eager enough to practice with a metronome. The use of a metronome is a simple concept but often times looked at in an incorrect manor. When we are playing live, our time needs be felt internally. A metronome is a great way to police your own time and keep it in check but ultimately it has to come from within. Let’s look at ways to get yourself off of the metronome and build on your own internal clock.
A Visual Representation
The examples below reflect a simple bass line with the timing slowly pulled out. I recommend practicing a standard or any tune with a walking bass line to try out some of these techniques on your own.
In this example, you have 140bpm with the 8th note subdivision. As you can see, there is no room for intereputation. Constant practice with subdivisions on a metronome is almost counterproductive to building your own internal clock. Now don’t get me wrong, subdivision is great and its a great tool on a metronome but it has to ultimately be felt internally.
This example also shows 140bpm but with no subdivision. In most instances, this is still too much reference for us. That being said, there is nothing wrong with practicing with a metronome giving you every beat, but always cut it in half so you don’t rely on that constant click.
With the met set in half time, this is a great option for practicing any style. If you put the beats on 2 and 4, it is easy to really accentuate the feel and groove.
Now at 35bpm you have very little reference involved, only one click per bar. This is when you really start to realize if you have a strong or weak internal sense of pulse. This is a great way to practice!
Once you get to this level, I recommend feeling the “groove” before you play. Lock in on where those clicks fall and try to sit right on top of it with your playing. This is the ultimate test!
The Take Away…
If you could only get 2 things out of this entire course. Get this, tone and time the 2 most crucial ingredients in playing. You can live or die by both. We have all practiced with a metronome before (or at least I hope). I encourage you to go beyond that. Get creative! Try the different techniques above and come up with your own. You can also try different play along tracks or grooving along with videos online. If you want to learn how the professionals interpret time, transcribe their playing and play along to see.
Every genre requires different sensibilities. Every gig requires different sensibilities. Be confident in your own time so you can fit in to someone else’s.