Jeff Berlin and Metronomes

As some of you may know, the monstrously talented and legendary electric bass player Jeff Berlin is very outspoken against the metronome as a learning tool.

Recently on myspace, he brought out his arguments against the metronome. Friend him on myspace if you want to read them for yourself.

In my opinion, he is extremely gifted and had never found a personal use for a metronome, so he therefore decided they are useless. Mere mortals like myself disagree. Below is my reply to Mr. Berlin.
___________________________________________________________________

Granted, there are many people all over the world who have developed great time and musical feeling without metronomes.
In the history of music and its practice, the metronome is a relatively new innovation.
These facts alone, while true and compelling for what they are, do not mean metronomes are useless or harmful.
I was fortunate enough as a child to have a piano teacher show me how to use a metronome as a constructive practice aid, NOT as a crutch to support bad time. She showed me how to use a metronome to pick apart and master technical passages, bridging from playing them out of time toward playing them in time, first slowly, then gradually up to performance tempo, with FEELING and CONFIDENCE and AUTHORITY every step of the way.

The metronome gives me a means to scrutinize my technical problems and turn those problems, ultimately, into the effortless coordinated action which results in music.
In other words, after playing arpeggios on the changes of Giant Steps out of time, I played them at 40 on the metronome. Then 42. Then 44. It helped me figure out exactly what was getting in my way at any particular moment so that I could stop and fix it.
I think this method of metronome practicing has also helped me with fluid, lyrical, out-of-time playing as well. This is because interpretive "pushing and pulling" of time can be done with more freedom from technical blocks. I am not tempted to "slow down for the hard parts" in a performance situation (like so many of my students do and have to be trained out of).

Further, I know of no instances where practicing with a metronome has harmed anyone's musical development.

Finally, for as many good musicians with great time and feel (like you, Mr. Berlin) who have not used or needed the aid of a metronome in their development, there are many more who resist the metronome and trot out all the arguments about how "it kills the feel" and is "too mechanical" and "has no soul" etc. when it is obvious to me that they are in denial about their own deficiencies and, rather than confront them, criticize and dismiss possibly helpful tools out of ignorance, fear and personal insecurity.

These same people often resist things like learning to read music, scales, and arpeggios. You may know someone like this. To put it bluntly, these people say "I play from the heart" so that they can continue to SUCK and not feel internally conflicted about it.

Come on. You know it's true.

I credit the metronome for valuable assistance in my technical development. Simply because you have never used or felt the need for one, Mr. Berlin, does not mean it did not help me. It did.

OK I'm done now.

BTW I saw you give a clinic in about 1990 when you were endorsing the Peavey Pallaedium bass. Watching you up close showed me that I had to use my RH thumb as a floating mute to keep the open strings under control. Thank you very much -- that realization alone made a huge improvement in my playing. I got to talk to you a bit and you were very cool. I appreciate it to this day.

Guess how I practiced that technique and got it completely internalized?

WITH A METRONOME!

So I will continue to disagree with you on this point.

OK now I'm really done.

You play an electric bass!

So touch the strings lightly, turn your amp up, and let the power company in your area do the work.

Gary Willis talks about this a lot and even uses a thing called a ramp to keep from digging in too hard.

That's all for now.

Love,
Andy

Modes of the major scale and minor scale types explained

>Hi andy, my name is J., i'm from --------... i took one lesson from you over
>a year ago but unfortunately could not continue due to financial reasons...
>hopefully there will be more in the future... anyway.. i was just wondering
>if you could help clear something up for me.. it pertains to modes...and i
>know how much you love them...lol
>
>what is the difference between major and minor modes?
>
>arent all modes (ionian, dorian, phryigian, aeolian, lydian, etc) just
>variations of the major scale, making them MAJOR MODES. If i begin with
>ionian on C and proceed to play dorian on D, phyrigian on E, and so forth...
>i will have played thru all the notes in the key of C major...correct??
>
>however, would the "key of A minor" be the key of "C major" simply because
>they are relative?
>
>or are there an entirely different set of modes for playing in a minor
>key...?
>
>and where do harmonic and melodic minor scales come into play? would these
>be considered modes of the minor scale... or major.... and can you replace
>the 6th degree mode (aeolian) with a harmonic minor scale... or would this
>not fit as affectively as the natural minor
>

Hi J.,
Your thinking is on the right track. The major scale is also the Ionian mode,
and its relative minor is the Aeolian mode (starting on the sixth degree of its
relative major). A major and its relative minor share the same key signature so
yes, C major and A minor share a key signature, like F major and D minor, Bb
major and G minor, etc.
Harmonic minor is an alteration of the natural minor (Aeolian mode) which raises
the 7th degree to create a leading tone one half step below tonic (root). This
alteration make the V chord a dominant chord (major triad + minor seventh)
instead of a minor seventh chord. It's a stronger chord and makes for stronger
harmonic motion. It's all over 18th century writing (J. S. Bach, etc.) and is
still maybe more common than natural minor. Melodic minor, with its raised 6th
and 7th when ascending, takes this idea a little further. The alterations show
up in written music as accidentals (sharps or naturals not indicated in the key
signature).
Hope this helps,
Andy

http://www.andrewpfaff.com
http://www.myspace.com/andrewpfaffmusic

Onboard Active Equalization

>Hi Andrew .Im a newbie with a spector legend6 Its got
>a tone pump jr 2band active eq with 2 pots .i really
>dont now how to work it i just fiddle with it till it
>sounds good .How do it really work ? D.

Hi D.,
I'm not familiar with your bass so I don't know if the two pots are bass and treble (more common) or level and curve controls (if it's a parametric eq).
If it's the former, then you use it just like any other bass and treble controls. In my experience active tone controls are pretty radical. On my basses with active eq I tend to leave them flat(no gain or cut).
If it's the latter, then you use one control to determine the center point of your eq curve and the other control to cut or boost around that frequency. I think it's unlikely this is what you have though.
Hope this helps,
Andy

http://www.andrewpfaff.com
http://www.myspace.com/andrewpfaffmusic
http://www.andrewpfaff.com/BCTHSmusic

Octave Equivalence

>Andrew,
>
> I have a question for you regarding scales and patterns.
>can you explain to me how you would transition from one pattern to the
>next. I have been playing rock guitar by ear for years and recently
>have gone to the bass but I cant figure out the transition of the
>patterns. The tabs themselves are easy to figure out but like in Hal
>Leonard's Bass method he shows you the patterns (i.e. pattern 1 pattern 2 and
>pattern 3 etc etc) of the same note and scale and they are always not in order
>from the fret on. I am wondering (feel stupid because I years ago took
>theory and harmony and have played for years) if each pattern is actually the
>next step in key structure IE the circle of fifths.
>
>In other words, take a c major Ionian pattern three. The root is at
>the nut, or E then the scale progresses to f, g a b(root) c, etc etc, However
>pattern 1 starts at the c on the 8th fret. Now I understand that this
>is also a c major scale but what I am looking for is what the relationship from
>one pattern to the next is and why would the not be nut pattern as number 1 then
>progressively up from there?
>
>I hope this questions isn't to moronic for you as I really want to learn
>this and get very good at base. I would like to actually learn musically
>so I can join in on anything group playing rather than the head banging noise
>that I have done for years. So any help you have would be great on this
>subject.
>
>Thank you
>
>D. P.

Hi D,
Without actually seeing the book, it sounds like each pattern is a rotation of
the major scale in question (in the case of your example, C major).
The rotation, or pattern, of the scale starting at the nut on E, seems like it
should start on the 12th fret of the E string or the 7th fret of the A string,
because you are starting from the third step of the scale.
While that is logical, the point to remember is that there are only seven letters
in the musical alphabet (ABCDEFG) and they keep repeating octave after octave.
The E at the nut is equivalent to the E at the 12th fret E string or 7th fret A
string (or 2nd fret D string), but sounds one octave lower.
So your book is dropping the register by one octave to make it more convenient to
learn and play.
Hope this helps,
Andy

Shameless plug for the release of my book in e-format

Mode Shapes for Bass (my book) is now available as an e-book for instant download from bassbooks.com. Direct link here.

Shameless plug for my various web presences

http://www.andrewpfaff.com
http://www.myspace.com/andrewpfaffmusic
http://www.andrewpfaff.com/BCTHSmusic

Also, I'm getting into the podsafe music thing. I'm getting carried on podcasts through http://www.podshow.com.

Active or Passive

>Andrew,
>
>
>
>I was searching the internet for an answer to what does an
>Active or Passive bass guitar mean – came across your info in the
>About.com site – can you answer the question? Or could you point me at a
>good source of information on this and other Bass Guitar fundamentals.
>
>
>
>Many thanks
>
>
>
>S.C.

Dear S.,
"Active" and "passive" refer to the electronics in a guitar or bass. An active circuit means the instrument has an internal preamp which is powered by a battery -- usually a 9-volt. These batteries have to be replaced every so often or the signal gets weak and distorted. Passive, on the other hand, is the older and more traditional circuitry which requires no battery in the guitar.
Active and passive electronics both have their pros and cons. If you are shopping for an instrument you will want to try out some examples of both and let your ears be the judge.

Hope this helps,
Andrew Pfaff

andrewpfaff.com