Attention! I am Moving!

Attention! I am Moving!
To http://astraptomusic.blogspot.com/
Because I am phasing out the immature username "fernsareourfriends" and introducing the username I've been integrating since February, Astrapto. I just need to switch Facebook (if that's possible) and YouTube.
Follow me on Twitter. Be grateful I'm not switching to Wordpress.
Thank you, the three people that may have read a post!

Right-Hand Shortcomings

So over the past year I've thought a lot about right-hand technique for the bass. When I started playing in Bikers' Church, I realized that I always descended strings with my index finger, and always ascending strings with my middle finger. Hammer-ons and pull-offs raking with my index finger came easily and unconsciously for me. Rapid three note per string ascending scales while plucking every note are difficult for me because I can't seems to ascend with my index finger automatically. I don't have the muscle memory in that regard required to play at high speeds. The basic three-finger galloping came easy, but the sixteenth notes were harder. Billy Sheehan, Alex Webster, and John Myung repeat 321 in a polyrythm of sorts, but that requires automation and flies into chaos if you try to think about it. I think that it would take a ton of practice to not have to think about string skipping at all while using that method. Alex says to practice it until you can't tell the sonic difference between finger, which pretty much means build up a comparable callous on your ring finger. I have yet to do that. I need to try playing with 1 and 3 more, because John Myung suggested doing that on his VHS that I watched on YouTube. No wonder he practices for six hours a day; he practices one thing with an infinite variety of variations (redundant language) like left and right hand fingerings.
I started using the Steve DiGiorgio/Sean Malone method (both fretless metal bassists, although Sean is a composer and Phd) for sixteenth notes, which is 1232. I started with 3212, but that got old. In between this technique and the 321 approach, I tried 123 repeating like Stephen Fimmers (or it could be 132, I shuld check YouTube). Firefox isn't spellchecking for some reason, as you have already detected. Before all that, I tried Matt Garrison/Hadrien Freud/modern jazz virtuoso version, which uses the thumb and first three fingers. Honestly, I prefer 4321, but it becomes a problem because of varying tone and string tension within the last few inches of the string. Also I'm practicing double-thumbing, but only so I can use it in metal. I don't even call this slap, and I don't like the way Victor and Marcus use it. After three tracks on a Marcus Miller CD I got from the library, I was sick of "slap" bass. Speaking of which, I'm not even gong to try to slap publicly (good thing I proofread!) anymore, because I don't hold my thumb parallel to the string. I did this so I could do some muting, but it looks like I'll just do left-hand muting.
Just for fun: I can play decently with a pick, but I can pick way faster using a fake pick like Bernard Edwards.
So that's that. I think I'll work on sixteenth note triplets using double-thumbing and all fingers. Also I'll work on using 23, 24, 2343, 431, and 124.
Boring post for non-bassists.

Jazz

So as it turns out, I'm a n00b at jazz. My teacher is the best in the area, and he's teaching me jazz. He talks about how he never wants to play the same thing twice, and being "free" and improvising everything in a set structure. I just have the wrong mindset. I like progressive metal, where you manipulate the structure and play the same thing every time, note for note. You could have a jamming section, of course, but all the harmonies, unison riffs, overlapping time signatures, dense chords, and dynamics are static. Dynamics are static? You play the song pretty much the same way every time. Because when you've got four time signatures and two keys happening at once, you don't decide to play out of time, or go into thumb position, or do tri-tone subs. But with jazz, oh no, you better play the song different every time, just keep spewing out ideas like a never ending fountain that never freezes up from boredom or nervousness. That's where my problem is; sure, give me five minutes and I'll make a sweet walking bass part that doesn't always land on roots and that uses little motifs and that creates a flowing line, but I will play that part every single time I play the song. If I want to get freaky, I'll add additional passing chromatics or muted upbeats. For Frog & Toad, I wrote out the lines where I just had slashes. I played those lines all eight shows, and they were awesome. But today when Ed busted out "My Funny Valentine" and said "Walk to this (n00b)", I definitely was just playing roots and fifths and I was lucky if I hit a chord tone on the beat, let alone make a fluid line. Registration for the spring semester is soon, should I take jazz band? I do not wish to be a n00b. And I will be. I was just utterly defeated my my lack of mastery today. It was pathetic. Jazz is not how I think, I'll find the best way to play a passage, then play it the best way every time until I think of a new best way. Floundering over and over? No, thanks, I'll prefer to sound good then "fresh."

Pillar

So Pillar released a new album in September called Confessions. I got it from the library a couple of days ago. I've this band ever since hearing "Fireproof" on a Christian rock compilation and buying the special edition of Where Do We Go From Here. When The Reckoning and For The Love of the Game came out, I was surprised. For my favorite bands back in 2005 or so, which were Steven Curtis Chapman, KJ-52, Switchfoot and Relient K, I couldn't wait for new albums and checked for news all the time. But for bands that didn't mean too much to me, like Pillar, I'm surprised when I come back later and their discography has changed. Kind of like Kutless. They released To Know That You're Alive without my knowledge, and upon hearing it I was very happy that the average tempo seemed to exceed 100 bpm. Anyway, I liked The Reckoning a lot (I waited for the special edition of that, too) but was hugely disappointed with The Love of the Game. The album art looked cool, but it made me think that "The Game" meant being a gladiator. What kind of a title is that? It's supposed to be secret appeal-to-secular-market code for "The passion of the pursuit of Jesus Christ", but it sounds more like a documentary by Valeisha Butterfield to me. Well anyway, the "passion" part of the non-title sticks out disproportionatly, since almost all the songs are just tailor-made to pump up the crowd when playing live. I mean just look at the lyrics for "Turn It Up" (largely sampled from other artists in a Portnoy-esque manner): "Turn it up/Throw your hands in the air/All the people everywhere/Let me hear you say/Woah, oh, oh, woah, oh, oh/Yeah, Yeah" Genius, right?
When a band says stuff like "throw up your (rawk) fist" or "Whoooaaaaa" incessantly for the crowd to participate and feel happy (DragonForce), "Everybody jump" or some reference to "tonight" meaning "a concert" , they are eliminating room for them to improvise on stage. What if you don't WANT to have everyone "get crazy" at a certain part? Too bad, you've been playing this song for years and those are the lyrics everybody knows. In case you weren't already tired of playing the same songs on tour year after year, feel free to undercut yourself by scheduling spontaneous moments. My worship team schedules spontaneous prayer in services all the time. Anyway, Confessions has nothing too special on it. I don't like the ratio of metal to ballads, and "Shine" sounded like a cover even before I checked who wrote it. The bassist and drummer have gone off, perhaps to restart Seven Places. That's a bummer, because Lester gave the band a lot of personality. "Kal-el" I didn't like right off the bat because on the pretension involved in naming yourself after Superman (besides, who needs a stage name in Christian rock?). After seeing the Reckoning DVD and playing some of his parts, I grew to like him. Oop, there he goes, off with Lester to focus on Stars Go Dim. Maybe they'll win some Doves that way. So much for metal, you guys. So much for skill.
I leave now to type "homework". Actually I just typed it. So now I'll go complete it.