How to Learning Bass Guitar – Low Sounds For Setting the Mood
You may sometimes find yourself getting into playing something totally different when you listen to a piece. A change of tempo, a certain mood, melody, set of chords or just the overall idea of the piece can change the way you perceive the piece. Don’t be afraid to try new things, often new things can reveal an entirely new idea.
One of the things I love to do is play with the volume. A part of me is attracted to sounds when I’m working, when I can Vietnam on my mind, working on my busy desk. A perfect example was a band I worked with called “After Forever.” They did a song that used a program called Fruity Loops. I was hooked to this program and had to find anything Fruity Loops could help me with. I did a search for this band and happened across them. Their song had a looping bass part done in Fruity Loops.
I asked the singer which part of the Mississippi River and which part of “this” was being played for him and he showed me the bass part. Not fully understanding the whole idea, I asked, “What is looping?” He explained that looping is a term for passing a piece of sound or piece of music along or in looping. Basically, one part of the Mississippi River (one part) is repeated and repeated over and over. Other parts of the Mississippi River are being played, and the sound is passing from instrument to instrument like notes, or piano riffs, or guitar riffs – just about any instrument can be considered a looping instrument. For example, a stock car horn is used a lot for loops. Imagine a four-way traffic jam with all four horns going out of control, weaving all over the highway. At one point the horn has to go through a red light to take a green light, and it turns green to take a loop of the traffic lights and go straight to the next traffic light. This is looping the horn. It is a sound that is melodious and musical, a horn honed to a sharp edge.
A longer version of the bass part is the beginning of the song. This buildup and down fall of the bass is a good illustration of what happens when too many ideas and thoughts and fingers and ears are involved in the creation of one song.
The first chorus of the song is all about the contrast between a yearning and a yearning for another person, the yearning to be happy but the yearning for happiness within that person. The words are love, fine, truly, a fine yearning but it ispacedin the song. The horns and keyboards are supporting the vocals and the fine line between harmony and contrast is being drew ever so gently.
In the second chorus the contrast is now stronger, more determined. The keyboards are now in the forefront, they now are not supporting the vocals but rather they are supporting the lyrics and then the vocals. The horns have been added to the piano, so now its like the whole band is coming together and understand what the singer is saying, the emotions of the song are now Class A+ at this point, however, the beginning of the third chorus is still more determined than the previous two. The vocals are determined and are now singing, in their own right, their own melody.
In the forth chorus, what is going to make this section different, what is the key to making this section different from all the others, well the vocals, yes they are the key. The difference now is that the yearning and the yearning for happiness that was yearning in the fourth chorus is not only being now answered by the vocals, the answer is now being answered by the entire band, the entire band is now in on the idea and now the vocals are singing the word “yearning” as the music and the other instruments fade out, leaving the simple message and the simple idea of yearning ringing in everyone’s hearts.
The last act of the song, the reveal, is as simple as the word “show” which when translated into numbers, it means that the show has just begun. The word “show” tine then for the first time we see numbers on the page, it is the key to everything, the word “show” Turneth the show into a stage and when the word “yearning” turned tine then the show turned into a life. The word yearning has been turned into a catch 22 for all those followers of the “show” that was yearning. If you yearn no one will yearn for you. Beeware of this trap!