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Hi, it's
Geoff Chalmers here from discoverdoublebass.com.
Thanks for joining me in another video lesson and today we're gonna be exploring the melody
for Sister Sadie.
I'm gonna be showing you the fingerings that you've...
Well, you've just seen me play it, hopefully, and I'll be showing you how I played it, what
fingerings I used, how to play the lower positions, and how to play it from the thumb position
as well.
So, let's get into the details.
So, the melody is based in the pentatonic scale, really, but with some minor thirds
thrown in.
And that's a very common mixture, that's you'll have this...this bluesy kinda sound that you
get from mixing the pentatonic scale with the blues scale.
And in this instance, it's really just the minor to major third.
And underneath, you've got the guitar and the drums play this kind of answering phrase
to the melody.
So, the melody is...
And the drums and the guitar go...
And that A flat seven to G seven is kind of an answering phrase to the tune, but we don't
need to play that in this instance because it's being played by the members of the band.
Usually, if we were playing Sister Sadie at a jam session, we'd probably just play the
stabs and not the melody.
But I really wanted to teach you a tune so you are learning more melodic content to use
in your solos and it's a lot of fun to play.
So, let's have a look at what the notes are.
G, G, B flat, B natural, open D, E natural to open D, then G to B natural.
This is the answering phrase, then a slight variation.
Now, here it's the same at the start.
G, B flat to B natural, D, E, D, and then it's G, A. And then there's a third variation.
Starts off the same, but now...
And let's have a look at these notes.
E natural to B flat, down to the open G. So, go from the very beginning, but slowly...
So, it's a really cool sound, that major sixth to minor third.
Very bluesy, kind of against the dominant chord.
Really works great.
And then it's this little phase...
So, this is G, and then it's B flat to B, and then we've got this triplet which is G,
F, D, C, B flat.
And the last one, another triplet...
So, it's B flat, D, C, B flat, G, F, G...
It's a really tricky melody to get up to speed, actually.
I found that really hard to get under the fingers.
And I found it useful actually to look at the right hand so I knew exactly what was
going on.
I could articulate those notes.
So, essentially it repeats that whole melody again, so it plays it twice.
And then there's a bridge section, which the chords are C double at 7.
Well, two bars of C7 to two bars of G7, then it's a bar of C7, bar of B flat 7, a bar of
A7, to a bar of A flat 7, and then we start again with the tune.
But, I thought, just to add a bit of interest, I'd put the melody up the octave.
So, if you're happy to work in thumb position, then put it up the octave.
If not, you can just repeat the eight steps that we've already done.
So, let's have a look at the best fingering or the fingering that I prefer.
I actually just start on the E string.
It's G with the third finger on the E string, B flat to B, D, E, D. I use the harmonics
there, G. And then I smudge up to the B natural.
The great thing is the melody all fits into the hand up to this point.
G, E. And now, there's a big shift.
So, it's an E, B flat.
So, you just check your tuning with the open E if you're struggling to get up to that note.
And the hard thing is to get from this D up to the A, and the B-flat which is just across
with the second finger, and we're back to G again.
And the melody is the same, but obviously, we're playing it in thumb position.
So, G, B flat to B, then repeats itself.
G, F, D, C, B flat.
And then it's D, C, B flat, G, F, G.
And that's it.
That's the whole melody all the way through.
So, you know, if you are wanting to learn something that's gonna help you develop your
phrasing, learn some cool new licks that you can apply in your solos, I think this is a
really suitable piece.
And it's a lot of fun to play in a band.
I also found the string crossing quite challenging on that phrase, the...
That's a tricky phrase to get under the fingers.
So, spend some time with it.
Work out the areas that you need to work on and it will really pay off.
So, thanks for watching today.
It's been a bit of a whistle-stop to all of Sister Sadie, just talking it through, note
by note.
I really encourage you to just start playing as many melodies as you can, particularly
jazz standards.
It's fantastic to quote those melodies in your solos, to play them as a melody instrument,
and you know, to learn a kind of repertoire of melodies.
It will make you a better musician and it's a lot of fun to do.
So, keep practicing hard and I'll see you in the next video.