Bass Magazine – Issue 4 2019

52 BASS MAGAZINE ; ISSUE 4 ; bassmagazine.com

Avery Sharpe

BOW ’N’ HUM

AS

he travels through the

history of African-Amer-

ican music on 400: An African

American Musical Portrait, Av-

ery Sharpe stops at a key point in

the development of the bass. In the

second half of “Blues and World

War II” he pays homage to the pio-

neering bow-and-hum-along style

of Slam Stewart. Sharpe’s 32-bar

Rhythm-changes head makes for

a pitch-perfect introductory les-

son to singing along with your

bowed acoustic bass or plucked

electric bass. Example 1 shows

the head as heard at the 6:01

mark. Avery offers, “When Slam

Stewart hummed along with his

bass, he used a sort of nasal na,

na sound an octave higher than

the bowed note. Another noted

bow-and-hum bassist from the

same era, Major Holley, had a

deeper voice and used the sylla-

bles ba, de, do, sa, and a little bit

of ze, in unison with the bowed

note.” (Holley and Stewart record-

ed two albums together: Two Big

Mice in 1977 and Shut Yo’ Mouth

in 1981.) “I use sort of a ze and zo

sound an octave higher than the

bowed note. Use whatever feels

comfortable for your voice.” If the

key doesn’t suit your vocal range,

don’t hesitate to transpose to a

more suitable key. Also, note the

half-steps and chromatic move-

ment in bar 4 and the bridge (let-

ter B) — good training for your

voice and your ear.

Bb Gm7 Cm7 F7 Bb Gm7 Cm7 F7 Bb Bb7Eb Ebm

335 57 335 55543 335 57 10

A

7

Bb Gm7 Cm7 F7 Bb F7 Bb D7

8731353108 753777 7 6797

B

19 G7 C7 F7 Cm7

Repeat to letter A

& take second ending

F7

© 2018 Avery G. Sharpe. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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