Frank Sinatra's 1964 recording of Fly Me to the Moon became so closely associated with NASA's Apollo programme that it was played on a portable cassette machine aboard Apollo 10 as it orbited the Moon — and again on Apollo 11 before the first landing. Not bad for a jazz waltz.
In this lesson we borrow this beautiful standard to keep exploring semitones and melody on the bass — hearing how the smallest interval in music shapes one of the most-loved tunes ever written.
What you'll learn
- How semitones function inside a real melody, not just an exercise
- Finding the melody of a jazz standard on the bass neck
- Why playing melodies makes you a better bass player, full stop
Start with Semitones and Instant Sharks if you have not met the interval yet, and see Why Play Melodies on the Bass? for the bigger picture.
Want to work up a standard end to end? That is a brilliant lesson project.