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Come hang with some effortlessly cool professional jazz bassists who have a lot to say about music, life, and of course...the bass! Great interviews with legendary artists, funny road stories, playing and practicing advice, listening suggestions, and much more await you on your journey with the Upright Citizens.
Minimalist mindset for base. Hello. Yes. Upright citizens challenge. Not just a a challenge, but on the gig challenges.
Speaker 1:This is serious, people. This is serious. I guess it doesn't have to be on it on on the gig. I wonder if somebody's not quite there yet.
Speaker 2:But if you wanna get out of your comfort zone, yes, absolutely do it on the gig. What do you what do you have to lose?
Speaker 1:There you go.
Speaker 2:But A gig?
Speaker 1:You gotta do I was gonna say in person, shout out, but you have to do it with people. Hello. Anyway
Speaker 2:Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Welcome 1 and all to this, Upright Citizen podcast, by the way, mister Bob DeBoer over there.
Speaker 2:What's up, Ruben? My
Speaker 1:name is Ruben Rogers. Hey, man. I I I my new favorite well, it's not new, but my favorite podcast lately is this,
Speaker 2:You're not gonna
Speaker 1:The Minimalist podcast or something, I think it's called.
Speaker 2:Oh, good. I thought you're gonna say the other one. Yeah. Oh, oh, oh,
Speaker 1:who is it? You'll hear oh, no.
Speaker 2:We'll talk about it later. Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:Anyway, sponsored by Open Studio, by the way, this this podcast. Anyway, I'm really liking this this this, podcast lately. I watched the movie some years ago. You'll you'll go check it out. It's, you know, it's a lot to it, in about minimalism and and and and how people live.
Speaker 1:And and it's just kinda provoking thought to to to kinda like less is more, that type thing. But we're gonna bring it back to the base. Okay? And
Speaker 2:Love it.
Speaker 1:I've been fortunate to to play with the great Diana Reeves in the past year. I'm actually I've been playing with her for over 20 years, but off and on. And lately, we did, we we've been doing, a lot of of the same repertoire. We were on a on a tour for about 10, I don't know, 12 CDs, something like that. And at least this tour, we end up doing almost the same set.
Speaker 1:Right. She kinda got in her flow. She doesn't usually do that, but so this time around, we were doing the same set pretty much for the most part. So I guess I just needed a way to kinda challenge myself, stay engaged
Speaker 2:with music. Uh-huh. Like, feeling in a rut? Are you just trying to find some new ways for inspiration or creativity? Or
Speaker 1:Yeah. Not necessarily anything to do with the music or or or the context or whatever. It was just something I've been thinking about just, especially the repertoire calls for me being able to do this. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2:We would play
Speaker 1:in certain ballads. We play in certain medium tempos, at least in the beginning of the sets, and I could at least be able to, you know, focus and still be creative and, you know, still, you know, have some integrity with the music. And that sound like
Speaker 2:I'm practicing, first of all. You know
Speaker 1:what I mean?
Speaker 2:For sure.
Speaker 1:But, you know, but
Speaker 2:So that's part of the challenge. Right? The challenge, the list that we're about to to list Yeah. Has to be musical.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's about the music. It's about really being music. But
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's just kinda like re reading in in a certain kind of way and see what you can come out cut you know, what can come out of it, basically. Anyway, this
Speaker 2:is not practice.
Speaker 1:Yeah. This is not practice. Do it do it in real time. Do it in real time. And how hey.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir.
Speaker 1:Number 1, walking a whole song with just quarter notes.
Speaker 2:What? Crazy.
Speaker 1:What I'm
Speaker 2:Nobody's done that ever. Nobody wait a minute. Somebody
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, really, and, Drew, that was inspired by PC, Paul Chambers on Giant Steps. And as a matter of fact, when I say Giant Steps, I think it was a lot of the album, not just that song. But if you wanna go and at least listen to Giant Steps, yeah, check it out. He actually plays nothing but quarter notes.
Speaker 2:Love it.
Speaker 1:No no skips. No stipulate ums. No. No. Not not not even pidding.
Speaker 1:I'm talking about just Oh. Bing bing bing bing bing bing bing bing and swinging the mess out of the band. Right? Okay.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. That's number 1. So number 1, walking a whole song with just quarter notes. Just A whole song. A whole Not a chorus.
Speaker 1:No. Not a chorus. Not a chorus.
Speaker 2:Now okay. So number 2. Can I say number 2? Please. Number 2, playing a ballad with just whole notes.
Speaker 1:That stuff.
Speaker 2:I've never done that. I I'll admit. This is this is one I have to Before the before 2025, I will try this.
Speaker 1:Okay. No. Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 2:I did. Or sometimes
Speaker 1:I think I got up to about 80%. Right? And, of course, some of it wasn't really conscious because after a while, I'm like, okay. I wanna be in the music, make sure we react, and whatever. Right?
Speaker 1:But I tried I tried my
Speaker 2:best Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:To have that that constraint and also, you know, bring you know, I I don't know, work on my time in a certain kind of way, you know, making sure that, you know, I'd be intentional about this whole note, let it ring out a certain kind of way. And don't get me wrong. I didn't do this on every gig. I did it pro I was you know, as I said, the night felt that way. The tune was getting, announced, and I was like, alright.
Speaker 1:I think I'm gonna do it tonight. You know?
Speaker 2:But you you you said 80% earlier, and I'm sure the 20% that came after it was inspired by that first 80%.
Speaker 1:Definitely.
Speaker 2:You know? Because you set this tenor. You set this, like, vibe with that kind of, that restraint. Yes. Yes.
Speaker 2:Is integral to this number 2 playing a ballad with just whole notes. So Yeah. It must have influenced the rest of the tune and likely the rest of the band.
Speaker 1:Yeah. No doubt. No doubt. Actually, I I I the pianist, you know, the great John Beasley, he he we had talked about it later, and I I told him a little bit about it. And he's like, yeah.
Speaker 1:I was just noticing you wasn't playing as much. I was I was like, oh, you actually listen to me?
Speaker 2:Oh, okay. I love
Speaker 1:it. Anyway, number 3.
Speaker 2:Number 3.
Speaker 1:Playing a whole song in just first position.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's some discipline right there.
Speaker 1:Okay. Break that down for our our our UC listeners that might not know what we're talking about, mister Bob DePoe.
Speaker 2:So, actually, this is gonna give me a good chance to, bring in some very useful, nerdy base knowledge that I just learned a couple months ago, and I might have actually brought it up here in the podcast, but I'm gonna bring it back up again. We talk about position. So positions. We're talking about the dismantle positions, generally.
Speaker 1:Generally.
Speaker 2:That's what the go to is. Right? That's what people think about. And I was always just, like, completely flustered trying to think, okay, there's half, where, like, if you're on the if you're on the a string Mhmm. If your first finger's on b flat, that's half position.
Speaker 2:Right? Mhmm. The first position is any of the natural notes. Well, I mean, all the positions come from the natural notes on the a string.
Speaker 1:So if your first finger's
Speaker 2:on b natural, that's first position. If you shift up a half step and your first finger's on c, second position. First finger's on c sharp, that's 2 and a half. Right? Mhmm.
Speaker 2:D, 3rd, etcetera, etcetera, up the up the a string, which I think is really cool. So, playing a whole song in just first position means your first finger is gonna be laying over that f sharp on the e string, b on the a string, e on the d string, and a on the g string. Right? And then you have your claw, what we call the claw, second finger that could fall under that, and then 4th finger that can fall under that. Right.
Speaker 2:So doing a whole song in first position Mhmm. Is very restrictive for the amount of notes that you're gonna have available to you.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:So it's gonna force you to think outside of your comfort zone and get outside the box with what your options are. Mhmm. And you're also thinking more, not, up and down the bass, but more across the the neck. So you're thinking in different ways.
Speaker 1:And I think that also once you have certain technical proficiency on your instrument, it's hard to pull it back because almost, you know, automatically you wanna show that off or or you wanna lay into that. Right? So I
Speaker 2:think being
Speaker 1:able to play a whole song just for first position. I mean, hey. I'm realizing it. This goes back to baseline basics. I think I've talked about that.
Speaker 1:That seemed like 20, 30 years ago, but, you know, I talked about that in that. You know?
Speaker 2:Your your your course on open studio. Yeah. It is. Staz baseline basic. Oh, great course.
Speaker 1:Oh, shameless plug.
Speaker 2:I know it well.
Speaker 1:Shameless plug. Shameless plug. What's the 4th one? Alright. What's the 4th challenge?
Speaker 2:Alright. Let me take number 4 then. Mhmm. I love this. Listening to a whole album or 4 tracks attentively without distractions and, you know, not checking your not checking your texts, not looking at the phone, not even acknowledging your significant other when they walk in the room.
Speaker 2:No. I'm just kidding. But really just be just joking. But just really, really being there for the music. So listening to a whole album.
Speaker 2:So this isn't really, yeah. You're not gonna do this on the gig per se, but it's another way to No. To prepare yourself for listening. Yeah. That's the ultimate that's the ultimate message with this number 4.
Speaker 2:Listening to a whole album
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Deeply and attentively.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Now the next one, the next one's fun. What you got, or do you want to talk more about listening?
Speaker 1:No. I
Speaker 2:I like
Speaker 1:this one laying out for 3 plus choruses on a burner on a burner. I mean, I think well, hey, I know you've done it. I've done it. And, frankly, it's great just to take a break too on a burner.
Speaker 2:There is no better time to go get a drink than on a up tempo. Don't just drink. So on a burner, just to be clear, a burner, just uptempo tune.
Speaker 1:Right. Right.
Speaker 2:You know? And and especially, like, during maybe a sax solo or something like that. They're just pianists are always strolling, and this is another way to say it. Right? Pianist not always strolling, but it's fun when they do and they leave a little bit of space.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean? Mhmm. And it's, it seems like we always, as bass players, we always need to play. Mhmm. But the truth of the matter is if we don't play, the bass won't make noise.
Speaker 2:You know? Like, we don't need to play all the time. And that can actually invite in some, maybe, some different, not actually. It's going to invite in some different ways of playing and thinking from the other musicians in the band. And so it's a challenge, though.
Speaker 2:I always man, I picking that right moment to lay out.
Speaker 1:I mean and that's
Speaker 2:And then even more so when to come back in.
Speaker 1:There you go. Yeah.
Speaker 2:What what do
Speaker 1:you My my great friend, Joe Sanders, actually. I've seen him do it numerous times. I've heard other musicians talk about it.
Speaker 2:He'd be like,
Speaker 1:man, Joe, he just be laying out. Just sometimes he might laugh a whole song. I don't know. You know? Put down the bass and just guac up.
Speaker 1:But, you know, I just like it. But it but I feel whenever he does do it, it seems like he's, like, very intentional and feels it in the in the moment. And he's like, this is what the music needs, and I think he always nails it when he does it. You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. Anyway Now I was joking about going to get a drink, and I I don't really don't advocate for that at all.
Speaker 1:No. You're not.
Speaker 2:But the point is the point is if you are strolling or dipping, laying out, whatever you wanna call it, it doesn't mean you're leaving the music. No. No. It doesn't mean you're not staying focused and being attentive. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But we don't always we don't don't always need to be talking. So Right.
Speaker 1:Well, anyway, there there are your 5 challenges, y'all. Upright citizen challenges. Go ahead and get in that minimalist mindset for bass and, and see what you come up with. Alright?
Speaker 2:Try it out. Let us know. Send us an email. Find us on socials, but you can email us anytime, upright citizens podcast@gmail.com. You can address it to Ruben.
Speaker 2:You can address it to me. Yeah. You can voice all your complaints there, suggestions. But, no, seriously, try out these try out these ideas and just see what happens. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Peace. Talk about music.
Speaker 1:Here we go.
Speaker 2:Alright, Ruben. Super fun. Alright, Bob. Alright.
Speaker 1:Peace out, y'all. Peace.