PPP Proudly Present Another Phucked Phreak Production ************************************************************************* *708/945-3665** **Saturday April 20, 1991** **Vol #14* ** ** * Learning Rock Bass - The Excalibur Method (PT.1) * ** ** * Written By: Excalibur * ** ** * CopyMUCH 1991 (M) Phucked Phreak Productions * ************************************************************************* --> Yah, so I/we skipped #13. It's an unlucky number! :) "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibitting the free excercise thereof; or abbridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Goverment for a redress of grievances" Under the above Law set forth in the First Amendment To The Constution Of The United States Of America, The Author releases this work into the pubic domain for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. **INTRO** Ok, one of our fellow PPP members knew I played bass. I've been playing for about six years now. Anyway, he wanted to learn to play bass, also. One day, he made a casual post asking me "how to tune the damn thing." Well, my reply was about 5k worth. It made his head spin or so he says. Anyway, a dude named WiseGuy said, "Why don't you put some gphiles out on the subject?" Yah, why not? So, here it is: part one of my bass expertise all typed up and put into electronic form. Nifty, eh? Party on, dudes. **VOL # 14** I am going to go out on a limb here and assume that if you are reading this file, then you must know what a bass is... and, of course, HAVE one. If anyone is interested, I can put out a file detailing different types of bass guitars, amps, pedals, and other equipment. But, for now, get out yer bass, plug it in, and read along. Tuning - not a Japanese love song. You do NOT want to tune from another instrument unless you have perfect pitch. Best thing for you to do is to get an electronic tuner from the music store..make SURE it will work for bass.. ask them. Sometimes they are custom made for six string guitars. Secondly, if you are poor like me, walk into your local musical instrument store, and ask for a tuning fork in the key of A... that is, if you cannot afford an electronic tuner. I tune with a tuning fork all the time. I will explain. The four strings, from top (lowest sound) to bottom (highest sound), that is, the top of the neck, toward your face, and the bottom of the neck, toward the floor, are: E, A, D, G. Hit the fifth fret on the first three strings, and it will give you the next highest string note, but at a boomier sound, i.e. hold the fifth fret on the E string, and it will be an A note, same as hitting the open A string, but it will sound bassier because of the bigger string. So you will be able to finger the notes on the fret board, I will explain this. The notes forming a scale on each string follow a pattern. This is true for ANY MAJOR scale (not minor, or any of the other seven scales) and ANY note you start with. The pattern is: whole step, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half, where a whole step is movement up the neck of two frets, and a half step is movement up the neck of one fret. Here is a simple C Major scale. Try it. It should sound nice and normal. Each string is numbered. E=1, A=2, D=3, G=4. Fret progression for Cmajor scale, string/fret: 2/3, 3/0, 3/2, 3/3, 4/0, 4/2, 4/4, 4/5. Notes played respectively: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. You could also play this entire scale on the second string only, following the pattern I told you about above. Just start on 2/3 and follow the pattern, staying on the same string: W, W, H, W, W, W, H. It should sound exactly the same as the above multi- string scale Now that you know where the strings and notes are (yes, this IS leading to something), I can tell you how to tune your bass. Put your finger on the 3rd string (the D string) right DIRECTLY ABOVE the 7th fret. Do NOT press down on the string, but instead, just barely touch it by resting your finger lightly on the string. Pluck the string with your other hand. You should hear a pleasant "ding" sound... like a bell. That is the A harmonic (don't ask... it doesn't matter right now). While that note is ringing, bang your tuning fork against something hard, like your knee... or your head, to get a good ring out of it. Hold it above that third string near a pickup so you can hear it all through your amp. The sound from the fork, and the sound from the string should be exactly the same. Listen closely.... and tune your bass, SLOWLY, until the sounds match. If the note is close, but not perfect, you will here a funny sound when the harmonic and tuning fork are ringing together. It sounds like "wawawawawawawa." The faster the wa's, the farther away you are from the true note. Turn your machine head slowly until the wa's get slower... then stop all together. The harmonic and the tuning fork will then be in perfect synch and the third string will be tuned. Now, put the tuning fork down. Hit the harmonic on the 7th fret of the fourth string, let it ring, and hit the harmonic on the 5th fret of the third string and let it ring. Follow the same procedure with the wa's, but DON'T RETUNE THE 3rd STRING! Tune the fourth string to MATCH the third string. When that's done, go to the 7th fret of the 3rd string and the 5th fret of the 2nd string and follow the same procedure, tuning the 2nd string to match the third string. Then use the same procedure for the 1st string by hitting the harmonic on the 7th fret of the 2nd string and the 5th fret of the 1st string. Now your bass is tuned. However, as I have said, NO ONE tunes from other instruments such as keyboards unless they have perfect pitch... and not many do. At any rate, if you do get an electronic tuner, it is pretty self explanitory, but I never trust the things. Also, keep in mind that you should NOT, under any circumstances, "tighten" your bass strings to tightly. The strings are very strong, and the neck is also, but "tight" strings will certain put undue stress on the neck and the nut (that little part at the top of the neck where it is attached to the head... the WEAKEST part of the entire bass as all the stress is put there... be careful.. one bang in the wrong place, and bammo.. detached head). Now, go back and try that CMajor scale. It should sound perfect. At any rate, so endeth your first bass lesson of the Excalibur method. That'll be $7.50 please. These are the basics. I suggest you print this stuff out, and keep it... hang it up somewhere near your amp, stuff it in your bass case... it's good reference. ========================================================================= Addendum -------- [:Board...:] For Sale [:Number..:] 127 of 128 [:Subject.:] stuff [:To......:] all/major havok [:From....:] Excalibur (#155) [:Date....:] April 17, 1991 @ 05:05:11 PM [:Bytes...:] 253 MH says: Excalibur, why do I get the sinking feeling that you wear a black leather studded collar, and tote a bullwhip wherever you go? Excalibur sez: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me. Thanks for the compliment. [:Next :][: B2 #127 of 128 :] ************************************************************************* To get the latest PPP releases, or, if you'd like to join our writing staff, give this board a call: The Cage BBS/AE 708-945-3665 9600 Baud/24 hours . . . and leave some email to user #155. These are temporary headquarters right now. Look for status updates in future Phucked Phreak Productions releases. -eof ************************************************************************* ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????