Mel Bay Study Group

 "The Ultimate Folk Guitar Song Collection"
by Jerry Silverman

Bass Runs

Key of A minor, cut time
"The Bonnie Ship, The Diamond", p. 11

Ultimate Folk Checkpoints: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 

MEL BAY Checkpoints: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12 

After   "The Principles",the  metronome is the most important practice tool you can use.

Used as shown in " The Principles", it will increase your rate of progress faster than anything else.

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  These lessons are based on this book...

Ultimate Folk Guitar Song Collection

Bass Runs: Key of A minor, cut time

"The Bonnie Ship, The Diamond", p. 11

The first thing to notice here is that a lot of folk songs are written about boats! I guess that is like a lot of rock songs being written about cars.

Moving from sociology to music, let's notice the time signature here. The "C" with the line through it means "cut time". 4/4 becomes 2/2, the half note get one beat and there are 2 beats per measure. That is the feel of the song even though it is written in 4/4 time.

If you don't understand this, don't worry, my upcoming "Beginners Path: Chords and Rhythm will make all of this clear. Suffice it to say that your foot will be tapping 2 beats every measure as you play this, instead of 4. When you listen to the midi's below, you will see what I mean.

On page 49, you will see some information that reinforces the material on Mel Bay CheckPoint #8 on the key of A minor. One important addition is the introduction of the Dorian Mode. This is essentially another type of minor scale (mode is interchangeable with scale). The special sound of the Dorian mode comes from the 6th note being raised.

So, that is why you see the F# popping up in this song. F is the 6h note of the A Natural Minor scale, so we raise it to F# i this Dorian based song. In addition, the melodic minor pops up in the measure before the first ending, with the presence of the E7 chord, which contains the G# (which is used in the bass run).

In the 3rd measure we have something interesting, "contrary motion" between the melody and the bass run. The melody notes are going up on beats 3 and 4, and 1 of the next measure, E, F#, G. The bass notes are going down at the same time, G, F#, E. This produces a very satisfying effect, used often in music.

Here are some further tips:

Hold 1 and 2 on their notes when switching from the Aminor chord to the C chord.

Hold 2 on its note from Aminor to Eminor.

On C to E7, place 1 and 2 while maintaining arm weight and the Heavy Arm with the 3rd finger.

Remember to play the melody as well as the accompaniment.

Hear a midi file of the song...

Fast  Melody Fast    Melody Slow   Accompaniment Fast    Accompaniment Slow

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