Arabic Bass

hey im new to the site

ive been playing bass for about 2 weeks now, but it was a little easier to pick up since i'd been playing guitar fora bout 3 years.

i just wanted some information if anyone had some on the topic.

basically ive been learning some arabic scales on my bass, and i was wondering if anyone had some sites or some books to recomend for sorta putting these scales to practice, ive been listening to alot of arabic music all my life since im half arab, and ive seen some utube vids on arabic bass. so if anyone has got any good sites or tabs or something! ur input would be realllly nice . thanks.

Post a Vid of what you mean "Arabic" bass Im curious.


(Im also half arab, although you wouldnt know it from looking)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in2bfpZ1J2k

this is a good example of like slightly more medolic arabic bass, but im trying to go for something more rythmic, something for vocals, and sorta fusion of rock bass line and arabic music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbX7Vw1ZQ5c
or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wae5Vm2EuMA

(i kno these arent traditional, more pop but yeah, just the style of sound if u get what i mean)

something more like the tune in this, something someone could sing to..... but for the bass. I think the first one has a bass.

i dont think i could be shredding out arabic bass solos and stuff but something a little more simple

i guess really at the end of the day, im trying to emulate something close to the kinda stuff u would find being played on an oud or the buzuq

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpDaAKpYxVY

so i guess i should rephrase the question.

is there any sites where i could easily like maqam's for the oud BUT transfer or at least attempt to transfer them on to my bass. I cant read music so thats a problem :/

Hrmmm, well Im not gonna be of much help in this department but I definitely think you should keep looking because that first video sounds awesome, Completely different from alot of other stuff you hear out there. If I find anything Ill link you ASAP and if you have any links to those Arabian Scales you should link me .

arabic scales

http://www.studybass.com/tools/chord-scale-note-printer/

this site is good, look up scales then put your root and click arabic scales and it will show you. After questioning some relatives about maqam (arabic mode) the said basically u have to listen to it by ear, so i need to grab some cd's and just listen basically to the rhythm of the song, so here is another cool site for free clips.

http://maqamworld.com/

its good if u can read music but has short clips which u can download of different maqam's

http://arabicguitar.com/en/

this is a site for arabic music BUT for the guitar, so i was thinking combining the notes played on these songs for practise with the maqams. then eventually move on to some stuff on the arabic scale.

for the moment i want some bass lines, but at the same time im writting music for the guitar >.> so this is gonna be hard for me.

if theyre any more stuff ill post here

This is great! Really, really interesting stuff dude!

Its brilliant to see a whole new perspective on playing. Really enjoying these.

ok a little break-through (so quick )

basically i was looking for a popular arabic instrument, find the sheet music, transfer it to tabs for the bass. The 5-string Oud fits in well, although u might have to change the tuning on your bass. so ive found a programme which can turn notes into tabs (im not sure how to do it yet but thats what it says on the label so its worth posting)

http://www.brothersoft.com/power-tab-editor-download-66566.html

so the next thing on my list is sheet music for the oud >.> where the hell im gonna find that, im not sure but if i find some ill post it straight away.

(as soon as i posted this i found some sheet music for the oud http://www.brianprunka.com/oud/index.htm so yeah i guess its a little experimenting now.)

also i would like to bring this guy to your attention

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g93odzEUXg8

cheb khaled does french-arabic pop and does a nice western instrument intergration with something with a little arabic feel, but im looking for something a little more traditional.

thanks d man

http://www.melody4arab.com/songs/en_view_songs_1718.htm

here is another site, free downloads of arabic music (dont even need to download the site has a player), its about listening the rhythm of the song, its all about rhythm. Most of the music is arabic rock bands and encorperate bass and mixture of traditional instruments like cheb khaled, its great , just wish i had the tabs for these songs :'(

i found out recently u can use pretty much any scale, my uncle used normal scales for his maqam on his guitar, so im gonna try experiment between arabic scales and normal ones.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=CDB66C6FE5977E91&search_query=american+crescent

OOOH this documentary i found on al jazeera shows the relationship between traditional arabic music and blues from america O_O with slavery and using the maqam used for the quran (islamic holy book, its sung using maqam used in traditional arabic music also) cuz of 1/3 of the slave being muslim, its an interesting watch either way, thought it was worth putting up either way.

ok i ask a guy on youtube who seems to be next to the only guy who has done something like this.

basically this require a little music theory.

basically most western music has half steps and whole steps (like u find on a fretted instrument) but arabic music, tends to had 1/4 steps and 3/4 steps and all that, becuase they dont use fretted instruments normally, do not worry cuz theyre is some maqam which has only 1/2, whole, and whole 1/2 steps and all that. so...

http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/theory/theory.htm

this site is good for brushing up on your music theory

http://maqamworld.com/maqamat/hijaz.html

this is a link to maqam world, to the hijaz page which has a couple of maqams which can be played on fretted instruments.

have a little go do be afraid to post anything even if its music certain feeling to it or anything cuz the only thing that will do is help people become a better musician and whatnot.

good luck averyone

ok i found like these beats, not sure if u can call them that, there rhythms i guess, anyway

basically i find pulling my bass strings to these rhythms help me play faster and also eventually move on to using my maqam (hijaz) on them along with a scale hey presto an arabic bass line i guess, well its still experimental but i thought i might share it with someone so i can see what people are coming up with

i got these off

http://maqamworld.com/

epic website everyone, worth having a look at, so here they are

http://maqamworld.com/realaudio/rhythms/samai_thaqil/samai_thaqil_riq.rm

http://maqamworld.com/realaudio/rhythms/aqsaq/aqsaq_riq.rm

http://maqamworld.com/realaudio/rhythms/masmudi_kabir/masmudi_kabir_riq.rm

http://maqamworld.com/realaudio/rhythms/nawakht/nawakht_riq.rm

http://maqamworld.com/realaudio/rhythms/dawr_hindi/dawr_hindi_riq.rm

http://maqamworld.com/realaudio/rhythms/yuruk_samai/yuruk_samai_riq.rm

so yeah these are a funny file type and u will need RealPlayer, if u don't have it, google it

yeah, so im gonna get busy and start practising my rhythm, cuz thats what i suck at atm lol.

gl

lol i was tuning my bass and trying out some oud tunings, i decided to see how tight the e string can go and busted it >.>, kids dont trying oud tuning at home lol

found this band from israel, worth having a look at if ur interested, its quiet heavy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf7i6UB5vGw

another good band which is quiet well known, they put alot of armenian influence in their songs, and middle eastern sounds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHoR_T8-ey4

very first iraqi metal band

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoStWnhfDbg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gj4v7PKTAs

some good sounds






this is a good programme on al jazeera called playlist, they show alot of fusion and interviews with very good bands, things from polish reggae to punjabi metal fusion O_O (its pretty cool, guitar solo+ a flute great sound)

although its not arabic it is in the middle east area (even though punjab is like western pakistan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXDY7oeIodk

punjabi traditional singing (i hear alot of this stuff at mosque, and punjabi flute + all the good isntruments that make a rock band )

if your interested in new music and interesting fusions its a great show, ive learnt quiet alot from it

Ouch, ouch! Embed disaster! For some reason it's ok when I preview the page under this chat box though? Weird.

I'd hope that there would be more heavier and angrier musics coming from from places like Iraq in the next 20 years or so. I just hope they get more of an opportunity to do so. I mean, if there are any people to have something to sing about, it's those guys...

It's interesting to hear this stuff, because I hear elements of system of a down in there, and it MUST be a scale thing that they do also. Thanks for this man, it's cool to see a completely different perspective sometimes.

http://www.911tabs.com/link/?3602529

a s.o.a.d song which is got an amazing bass riff, sounds good also in standard tuning aswell. its got that middle eastern influence so its pretty good to have a look at.

http://www.melody4arab.com/en_view_group.php

ive posted this website before but just wanted to show u guys its also a radio station non stop arabic music its great to get that feel, i love just tapping my bass to the beat and throwing my own notes into it afterwards

i would post a video or too but my webcam is busted and also i cant get the recording software to make me listen to what im playing on the bass >.> so i dont exactly know what i have just recorded untill ive finished it >.>

ok this is a i guess the first piece of real advice im putting on this thread concerning arabic music in general.

most middle eastern instruments ive noticed have alot of drone strings, the indian sitar has like 3-4 and buzuq which is like arabic i think with turkey influences, anyho, if u take a look at a song done by system of a down, spiders, i posted the tab. it shows an example of how u can use drone strings on your bass, ive been trying this alot with arabic scales on string (thank you d man for that vid on scales, i just put arabic scales there and hey presto) so u can use the string directly above the one your pretty much moving around on the fret board, so if u were using the g string u can use the d string as your drone string, but ive found if i playing the scale on the a,d and g strings i can just use the e string as my drone string, u dont even need to know arabic scales, try just moving around the fret board on one string playing some notes. i just strike the drone string with my thumb, this creates like a rhythm and then just play notes with it to create something. Its drone strings are normally used for solo instruments but it makes a pretty kick arse bass line and now im having trouble teaching all the guitarists i jam with arabic scales >.> sigh.... nehow, if i get a webcam and a half decent recording device, ill probaly make some videos and stuff.

so yeah drone strings....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhRHJREV8fk&feature=related

here is an example

basically im transfere this kinda stuff onto the bass for bass lines.

this is an instrument im hoping to get when im going visit some family a religous sites in iraq in iran

its usually have 5 strings, like 2 c and 3 g strings(i dunno why but it sounds amazing, this one has 6 strings so probaly 3 c and 3 g strings) and also the frets on the instrument can be moved around which is uber kwl. its one of the only fretted lute arabic instrument out there accept wierd people who put frettes on ouds which basically turns them into mandolins with either lots of spare strings or a couple of them missing.

so watch a little bit of video and see how he strums all the strings with but puts his fingers mainly on the 3 g strings at the bottom.

bit like playing chords but ur only using 2 strings unless its an instrument like the sitar with like 3-4 drone strings 3-4 melody strings or whatever theyre called and like 12 other strings for show.

so yeah i hope this help someone to create some kwl bass lines or something




i forgot to mention that bassist frank zappa (zomg he iz great) used a similar instrument to the buzuq, he used a Electric Bouzouki which is basically related (its greek counterpart, different scales and stuffs) so yeah its on the 3rd cd of his Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar. u look on wiki for more info not sure which track it is.