iconic Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 (edited) As the title says....is it simply roots 5ths? Many thanks for any tips Edited April 22, 2013 by iconic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 I played quite a bit of Americana (which is very similar to bluegrass) & most of it is Root - 5th, but there's plenty of scope for variation. If you know blues, it helps a lot. A lot of it has the same type chord sequences & you can use the blues R 3 4 5 type runs & you can even get away with some more complex stuff & some fills at the end of verses. I miss playing it actually. Here's some bad recordings of my old band... [url="http://www.myspace.com/bigroomgb/music/songs/so-damned-36101205"]http://www.myspace.com/bigroomgb/music/songs/so-damned-36101205[/url] [url="http://www.myspace.com/bigroomgb/music/songs/atlin-36101868"]http://www.myspace.com/bigroomgb/music/songs/atlin-36101868[/url] [url="http://www.myspace.com/bigroomgb/music/songs/you-walked-down-36101544"]http://www.myspace.com/bigroomgb/music/songs/you-walked-down-36101544[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBod Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Listen to the good players (Mark Schatz, Todd Phillips, Edgar Meyer (!)) they can all play...but keep it simple 98% of the time. Go back to the early recordings and listen to how to all fits together. Time is all - even on root/fifth, a fast tune can be a real workout. Think of the bass as a 'tuned drum' and it makes a lot more sense. Think about strings, softer floppy strings can give you a warmer tone and make life easier for percussive styles, but are acoustically quieter and have to be adapted to. Learn all the banjo jokes you can...there's never enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 I've been playing on the Americana scene for the best part of 10yrs now. The R5 R5 R5 cheeky run formula covers a lot of tunes but there is more to it than the jokey references to that. That said 99 times out of 100 the trick is to keep it simple. If you play upright bass or have a P bass with flats with this the key to the sound. A lot of nonsense is spoken about needing certain amps but the trick is to keep it sounding old school. I've borrowed Fender, Peavey, GK & all sorts of amps and generally the tone fits right in. A bit of foam under the bridge too sounds great. All that said, if you have a Jazz or an Aria bass or something different don't worry, roll back the tone a little and play closer to the neck and you'll get closer to the sound. Probably don't need an active pickup but again it really doesn't matter if you have that. I played at Bob's Picking Parlour in South Carolina a couple of years ago and these days those boys just show up with whatever they can get their hands on. In terms of note choices I obviously stay largely around the pentatonic but feel free to put little flavours of everything from chromatic notes to rockabilly and it makes it more interesting for both the player and the song. Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iconic Posted April 22, 2013 Author Share Posted April 22, 2013 Many thanks guys, useful stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Check out some of the Alison Krauss and Union Station Stuff. The bassist in that band is superb,as are the rest of 'em to be honest. You could do a lot worse than cop some of his lines Bud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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