The heat continued from August, and constant air conditioning was necessary in my apartment in Chiba, Japan. Also, my workplace changed in early September. It used to be a 10-minute bike ride from my home, but now it takes more than an hour and a half by train. Although I have less time to practice, I have more time to listen to music. The music I listen to in the morning after a good night’s sleep feels different from the music I listen to at other times of the day. So I realized some tasks can only be done within a certain time range in the day, even if I had plenty of time. Listening to music may be one of the tasks that may fit the category. Also, practicing the instrument feels much better in the morning.
I have been improving my left-hand form, getting new licks, and doing a solo copy of Brecker’s Nothing Personal Live. Finally, my right hand 3 fingers are no longer tangled and I can concentrate on Lick and chord progressions. Below are the topics that were on my mind in early September.
1 Synesthesia, sounds, and colors of modes, and other variables
2 Joe Henderson’s music (Recorda Me, Isotope)
3 Miles Davis’s choice of notes.
4 How many licks can be digested in how long
5 Gear related (Yamaha silent bass, Phil Jones bass amp x4c)
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1 Synesthesia, sounds, and colors of modes, and other variables
It is fun to describe a sound in another sense like color, scent, or taste. Also, it is interesting that we cannot clarify why this sound fits certain variables. Even if I had a logic to clarify why I chose it, whether it makes sense or not depends on the individual’s hardware preset. I perceived the mode with the following colors.
(I chose it with the Key of C, so the color would be different with another key). In terms of brightness, I perceived the colors from Ionian to Lydian to be rather bright; from Mixolydian to Locrian, there is more tension, and perhaps there is logic built into the brain that connects the dots of darker colors and scale tension.
Similarly, I think Jazz Bass guitar can be compared to Kilimanjaro in coffee, and P-bass to Mandarin. The tight, mid-tones of jazz bass sound like a shallow-roasted, acidic bean like Kilimanjaro, while the mellow, dark sound of P-bass is like the deep-roasted, bitter taste of mandarin. In this bean analogy, the variables of sound and color as well as taste are tied to the sound. The bitterness is dark and the acidity is rather bright.
I like to try to understand music by tying it to some other concept, which is a bit off-topic, but if I use a painting analogy, I see the note as color, rhythm as pattern and shape, and articulation as texture (thin/thickness). I believe I heard that Wayne Shorter and another artist (I forget his/her name) were both painters and shared compositional ideas through their paintings.
2 Joe Henderson songs (Recorda Me, Isotope)
This was the week when I listened to Joe Henderson a lot. I started listening to Joe Henderson after I listened to Inner Urge. However, when I listened for the first time, I felt that intensity was somewhat lacking compared to Coltrane. Perhaps it was the liquid smoothness of the phrasing, but in contrast to Coltrane, it was hard to feel the accent on a single phrase. Joe is one of Michael Brecker’s heroes, and once I started listening to the album with focus I was instantly hooked. The combination of various arpeggio patterns and rhythmic language is phenomenal. Joe’s sense of rhythm is overwhelming.
This week I practiced Recorda Me and Isotope. Such a melodic tune. This was composed by Joe when he was 15 years old. The original of Recorda Me is fantastic, but I like Michael Brecker’s recording from the Steps era. It has nothing but sheer intensity.
3 Miles Davis’s choice of notes.
I rediscovered how good Miles is. I usually took Miles’ greatness for granted. If you think about it, Miles is crazy. I think Miles is the only person who has such a strong sense of self within his world. His world is completely separate from the common world in which other people live. He does not just play fast phrases for ego, but you can feel from his sound that he is always trying to pursue a sound that is not in his head. Since his intention is hidden in each note, there is an overwhelming amount of information hidden in the decoding process. Not only the sound, but also his presentation as a bandleader, his sense of dress, and the way he speaks all converge with Miles’ sound.
This week I was analyzing Miles’ use of Locrian. In Miles’ songs: Four and Solar, there is a phrase that Miles always selects on the DΦ G7 chord (although the chord progression is different in the Realbook, Miles replaces DΦ G7 on Bb7 in Four), and it caught my ear, so I transcribed it, and the darkness of the Locrian to C Resolve was pleasant.
4 How much of Lick can I digest in how long?
I have a huge pile of undigested licks in the corner of my head.
Recently, the amount of music I have been transcribing has not been able to keep up with the amount of music I have been digesting. The amount of licks I decided to practice in a week was too much. I realized that instead of practicing 8 licks in a week in a shallow way, it is better to practice only 2 licks in 12 keys and apply them to various chord progressions. I figured that the latter would result in a greater number of licks being acquired in the long run. If I had a good memory, I might be able to do the first method, and when I try to digest a large number of licks, I can’t upload them into my mind and dissect them into smaller and smaller pieces. Especially with the double bass, memorizing licks with mechanical movements is not only more physically restricted than with the electric bass but also more difficult to cheat because there are no frets unless you memorize the notes in your head. The characteristics of the instrument and the level of proficiency may affect how long and how many licks can be digested. I recall Brecker saying in an interview in his youth that he uploaded one lick to his psyche and then suddenly it would come out in about three months.
5 Gear related (YAMAHA silent bass, Phil Jones bass amp x4c)
I’m getting the Silent Bass I’ve wanted for several years at the end of this month. The set-up of my current double bass is not good, especially since the D and G strings hit the fingerboard and diminish its sustain. This has become more pronounced since I went to a Helicore light gauge. Perhaps the low tension of the strings increased the distance of string vibration and made them hit the fingerboard more easily. This time, when I ordered the silent bass, I asked the luthier who works at Kurosawa Violin Shop(Tokyo) to set it up as low as possible where the string and fingerboard do not buzz by pizzicato. I’m looking forward to testing it. In addition, I bought a Phil Jones X4C bass amp to replace the 10w bass amp I was borrowing from my friend. The specs are 35 watts for a very small amp. It also runs on a mobile battery, so it will be fun to take my silent bass outside and play it.