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Looks like I’m the first one to tackle this lovely little ditty this month. Enjoy!
Thanks a lot @The_Bumble_Bard! No, it is still the same U-Bass as in all my previous videos where I added bass. I actually do have an electric bass guitar as well, I got that about half a year ago when I realized I really wanted to get into bass playing a lot more, and I thought it is probably better to learn it on an instrument with regular scale length. But of course when I record a duet with Ukulele, I will always resort to the U-Bass, mostly for the looks. In regards to sound and technique the differences are really marginal. Going back and forth between U-Bass and regular electric bass guitar is less of a change than switching between soprano and tenor uke, I’d say.
Making use of the freedom we were given for this month’s challenge yet once more, other than as per the usual I decided not to pick one of the more advanced or challenging selections, but instead I went for an arrangement that gave me the opportunity to work on different areas than technique, i.e. timing, expression, groove and such. Also once more I used the opportunity to further practice my newly acquired bass playing skills. (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay was just perfect for all of that.
Please exclude me from the prize drawing this month. Thanks.
@The_Bumble_Bard Thanks a lot, that’s very kind.
@dianna: Thanks a lot! Yes, the easiest way to record multiple instrumental tracks is using an audio interface, and that’s what I did, pretty much exactly as described here: https://rockclass101.com/ultimate-guide-recording-ukulele/
This is particularly easy when the instruments have a pickup, so instead of using a mike, I can plug them directly into the audio interface. Then I can record each additional track directly by playing it live to what I’ve recorded before, without the need to use headphones. And the audio interface also allows me to add a metronome click, which is of course not audible in the final recording. I was actually shocked how bad I was at just holding a steady beat, just by listening back to my recording along with the click. Definitely a very good practice routine to improve timing.
Proceeding like this means all the audio is already in sync automatically, then I just have to sync it up with the video recorded separately via the phone.As mentioned in my initial posting, I worked on improvising all parts (rhythm, bass, lead) of a simple chord progression borrowed from the Dire Straits song Six Blade Knife. As I’ll be on vacation starting next week for the rest of the month, this is where I am. Still a work in progress, but this has to do for now:
I’ll take the chance this month to explore something I otherwise don’t do enough: improvisation. So instead of doing what we usually do every month, pick a piece, learn to play all the parts, memorize everything, repeat the same thing a million times over again, I’ll do something completely different:
1) Execution: improvise all parts (bass, rhythm, lead) of a simple three chord progression. Come up with as many variations as possible within this very limited frame without sounding wrong.
2) Application: the three chord progression I’ve chosen is Am (four beats), C (2 beats) D (two beats), which is deceptively simple, but also happens to be the chord progression of one of my favorite Dire Straits songs, Six Blade Knife. So I’ll call this the Six Blade Knife jam. I’ll practice all parts separately with an iReal backing track, and then try to put it all together.
3) Evaluation: I’ll record first the bass part, then the rhythm part, then the lead part, and review each part until I’m happy with it and ready to continue to the next one. At the end, I hope to have something that sounds remotely like the Dire Straits song.When trying to decide which song to choose for this month’s challenge, I was going through the list looking for something that would 1) be a decent uke workout 2) still allow me to add a noob baseline 3) help me practice my timing in particular. Johnny B Goode ticked all the boxes, so here you go:
@gi_gi_ Thanks! Looking forward to your rendition.
@The_Bumble_Bard: Thanks! No, that was not in the lesson, but I couldn’t resist. No Star Wars tribute, no matter how small, would be complete without the Imperial March 🙂
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I was excited to see an arrangement for solo U-Bass in the mix this month, and such a cool one at that, so it was a no-brainer to go with the Star Wars theme. It was a lot trickier than it sounded at first, especially for someone still new to bass playing. The biggest challenge was to avoid unwanted noises of all sorts and mute everything all the time that was not supposed to vibrate at that exact moment. And I had real issues with string noises, which you can still hear in the video. So there’s still a long way to go until I get a nice clean bass sound, but practicing this one definitely helped getting closer.
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
I picked concept lesson ep. 8 Bossa Nova for this months challenge, and did all three parts: solo uke, rhythm uke and U-bass. Thanks Andrew for providing the percussion-only backing track. This was truly a 360 degree learning experience of almost Katazumiri-esque dimensions. Not just learning the different parts, each of which posed its own unique challenges, but also learning how to record and put everything together.
Solo uke part was first take btw, which is kinda rare for me, so it deserves to be mentioned 🙂
Here you go:
