UreMusic Education

We've all heard the walking bass line in jazz and blues music. It's associated with a relaxed atmosphere and often plays as an accompaniment to a soloist or group of soloists. The basic structure uses a scale to create a foundation and movement through a piece. Combined with the percussion section, the walking bass line allows a performer to help accent the fundamental note and give the piece depth. Often the double-bass player comps the bass line based on a chord progression or notated music. Using a relaxed pizzicato technique, the bass guitar or upright bass players pluck out the lowest line to add definition and structure to a composition. Preparation Before you start writing a bass line, you must know the intervallic relationship of half-steps and whole-steps in both major and minor scale. In a major scale, the intervals spacing adheres to the following schematic: whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half. In this example, a C-major scale has the following notes: C, D, E, F,...

There comes a time in every singer's life in which the magic of music seems to have disappeared. The singer is on stage and the thrill and inspiration that originally drew the performer to the music in the first place just isn't there anymore. The spirit of singing an emotionally charged piece seems to be something that can come and go at a moment's notice. While finding inspiration in every song you sing may be unrealistic, there are techniques vocalists can use to keep their inspiration and spirit strong. Step 1 Start with your technique. Make sure that you can comfortably sing the music. Be honest with yourself: is the song too difficult for you to sing at your current level? If this is the case, put the song aside until you have developed more skill. Look for a vocal teacher to help you improve your technique. If you can't sing the song because of the technique, you will never catch the spirit while singing. Step 2 Memorize the music. In order to attach meaning to a...