“He’s a singer from Cuba that I first heard on a Gonzalo Rubalcaba recording entitled “Antigua,’” says Haslip. “The singing is very spiritual, and his chanting is performed in a traditional manner that I believe is called Abaqua, a rare, almost extinct native Yoruban language. I’ve been touched deeply by its passion and emotional quality. It reminds me of my childhood, growing up in New York and all the Latin customs I learned from my father and mother, who were born in Puerto Rico.”
Though it’s a Yellowjackets song, this tune is Haslip’s baby. He programmed the 6/8 drum groove himself, and then proceeded to write a series of eight harmonically dense and slightly amorphous chords (note the repeated use of sus voicings), one for every two bars of the 16- bar form. With that established, he went to work on the bass line, shown in Ex. 1. “I fit an ostinato bass line that was varied to fit the chord changes. I experimented for several days finding just the right combination of notes to fit each chord, also keeping a pulse that somewhat emulates an altered version of an Afro- Cuban montuno groove.”
That’s simplifying it a bit. When Haslip says he chose the notes carefully, he means it. He goes on to explain how the entire line is based mostly on five key notes: C, D, F, G and A. For each one of these notes, he has stored in his brain the following analysis (let’s use the G for example): “G is the perfect 5th of Cm9sus, the major 3rd of Ebmaj9 and Ebmaj9/F (and also the major 2nd of the F bass note), the suspended 4th of Dm9sus, the major 7th of Abmaj9, the 9th of Fmaj9 and Fm9sus, and the major 2nd of Fsus. These five notes are common to all the chord changes, and as you see here, they have a common relationship throughout, creating the ostinato tonal center for the harmony.”
If you’re able to digest all that, now get ready for the challenge of bringing a bass line written on the keyboard onto the neck of the bass guitar, with wide, awkward interval jumps scattered throughout. Haslip employs traditional one-finger-per-fret technique to cover the ground, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. “Hand position is an important factor here. Using all four fingers as well helps. You should have access with all your fingers to cover lines like this. Once you’ve worked on your independence and you feel relaxed playing a figure like this, the execution becomes easier. You can also experiment with finding the best inversion of any bass figure up and down the neck, and then finding the best and most comfortable position for your performance.”
Haslip encourages turning the line into a study of sorts: “It’s a very challenging part to play and would actually make a nice series of interesting exercises. That’s one way to look at this sequence. Practicing them in succession would be good, too, and then also organizing them and understanding the melodic statement, which in turn gets your ear adjusted to the subtle nuance.” Jimmy also mentions the possibilities of alternate fretting-hand fingerings, as mentioned previously. “Playing them in different positions is another study variation. That opens the neck up to other possibilities, and gives you more ammunition in a harmonic sense and just plain old confidence and comfort in playing the same lines up and down the neck— especially close to the nut around the 5th fret, and below and above the 5th fret to the 8th fret.
“Lazaro Ros has since passed away, and I felt the urge to tribute him in some way. This piece was an attempt to honor his presence in the world.” Haslip’s given him at least that, and plenty for bassists to chew on at the same time.
READER’S TIP
FROM CHILLIANDYHere’s a cool way to improve your chops and your ear: Take your band’s set list and learn to play the other instrument’s parts, paying close attention to the melody and how it fits with the kick and snare drum accents. This allows you to understand the song and the bass part’s relationship to the music. As you work at it, your mind will automatically be “playing” the bass line while you’re playing the other musician’s parts. This will help you to make the leap from bassist to bassist/musician.
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