jordanmaffettbrooks

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

Did y'all know I can record bass remotely from my home studio? This month I've tracked for Isaiah Rashad, Kembe X, Bosco, Ex-poets and my setup sounds great. No project is too big or small. DM if for details / soundclips. . . . #gandl #ampegb15 #electrodyne #re20 #echoplex #bass #sp1200 (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv2Ua8rFs15/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1mgotxvp6ar5b

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

Helped @6swsh9 w this live video of her song. Love her voice... 🎛 by @pinorsso #lakland #bass into #neveconsole 🤟 https://www.instagram.com/p/BrTgVlSDNX-/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=33xqsxpw59uu

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

We can't thank everyone enough for all the positive feedback we've had on our record. It makes it all worthwhile to know that people are listening and enjoying ❤️❤️ --- Music and bass playing are two of my favorite things, so here's a snippet of me playing "Realize" by Benny Sings https://www.instagram.com/p/Bozfli4lyYR/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1g16lsze42y5m

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

⚡️Too Much Future is out today⚡️ -- "Dusky, measured, sexy" @noisey -- "An odyssey into the sublime" @grimygoods -- "Rich in texture" @earmilk -- (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoSMrvtgK3b/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1pym1gfvdyshb

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

Colin and I made a record. You can stream it now @grimygoods ... We sincerely hope you enjoy ❤️ (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoKaXOCgMQ8/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ekmvv87tpmgw

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

⚡️Too Much Future is out today⚡️ -- "Dusky, measured, sexy" @noisey -- "An odyssey into the sublime" @grimygoods -- "Rich in texture" @earmilk -- (at Joshua Tree, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoSYIW3gAr5/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=z2bekz53jldm

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

Una más playlist!! Thanks @applemusic for adding us to Feels! #feels #applemusic https://www.instagram.com/p/BoaMykTgEaY/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1mpaw63vmf5by

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

Sometimes I gotta vocalize rhythms to get my bass to speak. It’s weird but it usually works. #hunnybee #unknownmortalorchestra https://www.instagram.com/p/BkHI1ONF4JV/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=e2p160q9asms

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

New music out today! 'Still Waiting' premiered on Pop Matters (link in bio) and up on all the streaming platforms. More to come...

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

Some of the first friends I met in college were in town last night, always a treat to play with them! @franklocrasto @joshmease (at Bootleg Theater)

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

Messing w filters : ‘The Bird’ + ‘Swimming Pools’ #andersonpaak #kendricklamar #dj (at Monterey, California)

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

Sometimes I gotta vocalize rhythms to get my bass to speak. It’s weird but it usually works. #hunnybee #unknownmortalorchestra

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

Learned Chic’s ‘Everybody Dance’ in the car today. Rippin! (at Seattle, Washington)

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

What can I say about Lee Fields? He’s a master, an inspiration, and a torch-bearer of all things soulful and energetic.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to accompany him (thanks Jake Silver) and it was as amazing as I thought it would be, and then some.

This was one of the tunes we played…

We sometimes lose sight as an instrumentalist that our primary job is to make the artist we’re there to support sound better. Instead, we tend to focus on ourselves: our sound, our feel, others perception of us. But then when we play with a giant like Lee and we realize we’re not as important as we had thought because he’s carrying the show and he’s incredible, everything else is icing on the cake.

But nevertheless we carry on with our studies and become the best we can be at our instrument. Because after all, they too rely on us for ideas and inspiration, so we better bring our A-game and be ready to play!

In this song I panned my bass a little right, and the rest of the track a little left so you can hear the specifics. The bass on this song is played by the great Nick Movshon, my favorite at this style of anyone out there right now.

For a long time I’ve pondered, worked and often struggled with this type of sound and playing style because (as with my last post) it’s so sound dependent. But Lee told me after a great gig, “You fit right in there, you got that feeling.” So that’s alright I guess!

Keep it up,

JB

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

This is a beautiful song by Benny Sings, it has a great arrangement and feel to it, aided not in small part by the wonderful bass line (and some stellar production to boot). To me the bass here is all about note lengths, phrasing and sound. We can transcribe what Benny did as a starting point but getting to a place where YOU, the player, are satisfied with all three is the ultimate goal. 1) Note Lengths When you listen to any bass part, notice the note lengths. Not only where they begin, but where do they end? What kind of attack and decay characteristics are there? Try to hone in on those types details when you practice. With electric bass especially, sometimes the notes can ring out seemingly forever. That makes the player responsible for choosing when and how to end those notes. which brings us to… 2) Phrasing Listen to how Benny phrases the bass part here. Just beautiful. There’s a lot of room at this tempo, especially with the lack of obvious subdivisions (like in a hi hat for example) dictating the underlying rhythmic current, to put the bass in different places and still have it be technically “correct”. But what feels best? My bass teacher Ben Street used to say (when discussing a jazz two feel) that instead of picturing time and feel as some finite, rigid clicks happening along a grid, to picture a circle, and the bass note 1 and 3 is the top of the circle and the drum’s beats 2 and 4 are the bottom of the circle, and you two together are trying to make the circle as wide as possible. And a wide circle is what we call groove. That all sounds very abstract until you put that visualization into practice, and when you get into that zone you’ll know it! Here Benny’s bass phrases are laid back, but not so much so that the feel becomes cumbersome or dragging. Just enough to make you nod your head. 3) Sound: The ever elusive, always mystifying x factor. These days I’m trying to focus less on tone specifics, and more just on making my playing fit well with the drummer and the band. But sometimes parts and playing are so dependent on what kind of sound you’re getting that day, that they cannot be separated. So I recommend practicing and trying to get your sound to a place where you’re happy with it at home, and so that it works for you in what you’re trying to play. And then having that sound vividly enough in your head that you will be able to replicate it in different rooms and studios and venues, or wherever else your music might take you. Here Benny gets a nice mellow, thick sound, lots of space for bass. I tend to use a light touch and mute my strings with a strip of a mousepad for a sound like this (not too dissimilar to the type of sound Familyman gets on classic Bob Marley recordings) 
Until next time, JB

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

It me, DJ Batman #luthervandross

[jordanmaffettbrooks]

Good juju as I set up shop where Dangermouse made the Grey Album. (at Los Angeles, California)