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Hi Johannes,
This is a great idea! I will do a One Shot lesson on this as soon as I can! In the mean time, play along to some of the practice loops with just your left hand shuffling. But bear in mind, that is implicitly somewhat difficult. You’ll probably notice that when you add your right hand playing the chop that the LH shuffle will get easier to play. They naturally work together. (This is also true when you switch hands.)
This, no doubt, will be discussed in the above mentioned one shot.
Keep on …..BUBBLIN!
MattHi Jonathan,
We’ve been in touch through Email. Thanks for pointing out that slight mistake on Basic Theory course, lesson 3. I’m fixing it now!
I hope you saw my email saying that the Organ Course 1 dives very very deeply into playing the BUBBLE. There’s a little about it on Piano Course 2 but you generally do not play the bubble on the piano. Check that organ course and let me know what you think!
MattSorry for the late reply Rem,
The whistle bubble is played exactly as the ‘classic’ bubble but it’s really about the right hand chop that’s being played while the left hand is bubbling…so it is a bit confusing. But it is for sure a ‘thing’ a certain sound that you will hear on some reggae tracks out there. There is a good example on the curated play list – Tribute to the Marytr’s by Steel Pulse. Give that a listen. I hope this helps!
Hi Brad,
Bienvenu! I wish I spoke more French. I had a great time on tour with Groundation for 2, 5 week tours last Summer and Fall. The French fans are AMAZING! Hit me with any questions you may have, or just post here on the forum.
Bubblin,
MattHI Remy,
No there are not any rotor speeds that are more ‘reggae’ than any others. The speed of the rotors, on a real leslie depends on the WEIGHT of the top horn and lower rotor. The rotor, is made of plywood in most cases and larger, therefore heavier so it speeds up and slows down slower than the very light weight horn on the top. So those speeds are rather random. Sometimes the digital settings have the lower rotor speeding up too fast, but in my opinion it’s not that worth stressing about. Hope that helps!Hi Aaron,
Your experience is par for the course I assure you! It can take some adjustment to not flair the elbows, but you do notice how no experienced players do that. It’s all about getting your thumb to swing under the second finger with a lot of flexibility. It’s one of the natural movements of the thumb. Mess around with it in slo mo and you’ll see what I mean. Also the third finger comes over the thumb and that is a lot easier of a motion that you may think. Again work with it slow motion being totally relaxed and soon you’ll see how easy it is to move your hand in this manner. Your elbow will be completely left out of the picture before long.
Sure we could do a lesson or two if you want. Hit me up on email.
Practice well!Hi Aaron,
Knowing chords and the SCALES that go with them will help you understand VOICELEADING, which I talk about a bit on the Basic Theory course. This is basically what is happening with horn lines over a few chords: voiceleading – that is the most smooth motion from one chord to another. When you’ve identified the top line and have a nice little melody happening, the other voices (or horns as it were) below that line will follow voiceleading ‘rules’ that allow them to move along with the top line melody in a smooth fashion.Another thing that you can do is, when listening to a horn line, try to work your ear so you can hear the notes of the instruments that are BELOW the top line, in otherwords, the harmonies. This is an ear training exercise and the more you do the better you will get. You can also train your ear to hear just say the bass lines, or the rhythm guitar, or some inner keyboard part.
In the next week or so I’ll be posting a new One Shot on ‘switching hands,’ that is, playing the chop with the left hand and bubbling/playing lead lines with the right. I have three tunes on this and I’ll write out charts that have all the parts so you can see how they line up.
Next up: the RIDDIMS projecct. That’ll take a bit, but you’re getting me inspired to take it on!
Play on,
MattHi Fletcher,
I’m a little confused. What specific video are you referring to? Are you talking about playing jazz walking bass lines on piano? I certainly can show you how to do that. Let me know!Matt
GREETINGS Remy, Will and Fletcher,
THANKS FOR POSTING!
Fletcher: so glad we made the GROUNDATION connection! Ethiopia, now that’d be amazing. At the moment there are no plans to tour there as far as I know. I believe we will be touring Cali this Summer and most likely we’ll be in San Diego…and LA for sure.
REMY and WILL: I’m sorry that I do not speak French! I had to copy your posts into Google translate to understand what you are saying. At some point I know I’ll have to get all the video lessons translated into a few other languages but as I’m in the process of adding more and more content (in English), it will be some time before I can figure out how to best get them translated. Please feel free to hit me up with any questions you have either here on the forum or via email: vibes@artofreggae.com
BIGGUP!
Aaron! Great topics. I actually have a growing Finale document (that’s notation software if you don’t know) that has many of the famous riddims on it. It only has the bass line and chord changes as many if not most of them don’t have a little horn line or vocal line. Although, I could be wrong on that! (Many of them do have a horn line and/or vocal line.) I want to transcribe as many of the ‘Riddims’ as there are (probably nearly impossible to get them ALL) and make a One-shot lesson or even a full course on them. But I’m seeing that I have to included the horn lines. Aaaah, more work!
As for learning the horn lines, what’s your specific issue? You have trouble hearing the exact notes? First thing to do is get the top line, often played by trumpet (if it’s a three part line, say with tenor sax and trombone). That’s usually the easiest line to hear. Play it on your keyboard or bass. Then, because we’re talking about pretty basic chords (major and minor triads) you can usually figure out the other lines that are below the top line by toying around with playing a chord tone below the top line. Use your ear to hear if it sounds right. If you’re very unfamiliar with major and minor triads, you’ll need to brush up on them and doing it on a keyboard is the best way. The Basic Theory course will dial you into that well. (I’m working on the tech issue!!)
Hi Aaron,
Sorry for the late reply. One other member has had the same issue and TODAY 12/27/22 I’m working with my back end tech support to resolve this issue. I see you sent me an email as well. I’ll respond to that now!
Matt
Sorry for the late reply Phillip! I’ve been pretty hard core on the road with Groundation: a 5 week tour in Europe over the summer, just completed a 3 week Cali/Hawaii tour and next week we take off for another 5 weeks in Europe! Anyway THANK YOU for your response and I’m glad you’re digging the Tuff course. I do plan to do a piano/keyboard one-shot that looks at that relationship from the viewpoint of the keyboard. The two instruments are really one when locking together on the chop! Keep on Skankin!
Hey James, sorry for the late reply. The end of the semester (at Berklee) took place and I was in Brazil with Groundation. Too busy! I think this is a great promotional video. It’s tight, gives a great ‘tour’ of your sound and has a vibe. But yes, I wish I could hear your keys betta! Has it gotten you any gigs??