tranmere Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Help! I'm an intermediate bassist playing two Merle Haggard songs next week, Swinging doors in G and Working Mans blues in A. Other than playing the root and 5th , how can I make my bass part more interesting? is there an easy country bass lick to play? or would you add an easy walking bass approach note? Any advice gratefully received. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Working Man has a nice little riff, can't post link from my phone, but top result on youtube is nice Live version. Swinging Doors needs you on the I V all the way, with the odd little run between chord changes. Get yourself into the right mindset for it, concentrate on getting a great tone and getting your notes in exactly the right place, and then enjoy how great you've just made the song, not how elaborate your bass line has been. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acidbass Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 +1 to the above post. Country music rarely requires anything other than the standard Root 5, along with the relevant passing tones between I IV V, II etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Definitely 'less is more' approach required. If you don't get it, you're in the wrong band! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayne58 Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 All good advice above, let the song 'breathe' with nice lazy grooves rather than too many notes would be my input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacey Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Concentrate on remembering the songs. Root fifths 12 bar in different keys and swap around bits, it can get very hard unless you are a huge fan as they all start to sound the same. Far harder than 20 thought grabbing tracks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 (edited) These are just old fashioned country songs so you're best bet is play what they did on the original. You can make the bass lines as interesting as you like but you won't make the lines any better for those songs. Just concentrate on getting the part right. It's not an uninteresting bass line if it's right. Edited April 3, 2015 by chris_b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 [quote name='tranmere' timestamp='1427963295' post='2736272'] how can I make my bass part more interesting? [/quote] More interesting than [i]what[/i]? The original bass lines on the records? Than the templated trad root / 5 country bass line? If you play something 'interesting' the best you can hope for is a cold, murderous stare from the bandleader. The worst you can expect is being ripped limb from limb by enraged elderly men in cowboy boots and Hank Williams t-shirts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojo Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Workingmans got loads of interesting variations in it already, and swinging door needs just to be solid, with those passing notes as others have said. My advice as someone who knows no theory is learn the basic bass pattern and the structure of the song, once you've done that that listen to some of the variations and learn those if possible , but don't attempt to add anything that's not already there ( unless the brief for whole band is to do it differently ). Groove is always talked about with soul and funk, but I think this type of music whilst simple enough, can be ruined easily by over playing and losing time, it's all about the groove on root and 5th Good luck, they are great songs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbayne Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 [quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1428114682' post='2738236'] More interesting than [i]what[/i]? The original bass lines on the records? Than the templated trad root / 5 country bass line? If you play something 'interesting' the best you can hope for is a cold, murderous stare from the bandleader. The worst you can expect is being ripped limb from limb by enraged elderly men in cowboy boots and Hank Williams t-shirts. [/quote] Indeed! i was helping out a friend in his country band once. We doing this song called Jambalaya or something. It alternated between C and G and bored me rigid. I tried to spice it up a bit by using chromatic fills and pushing and pulling the beat. The singer glared at me and shouted "Play It Straight!" I never got asked back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 [quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1428144401' post='2738424'] Indeed! i was helping out a friend in his country band once. We doing this song called Jambalaya or something. It alternated between C and G and bored me rigid. I tried to spice it up a bit by using chromatic fills and pushing and pulling the beat. The singer glared at me and shouted "Play It Straight!" I never got asked back. [/quote] I'm not surprised! Jambalaya has a strong 2/2 feel. Stick to root/fifth for the most part, but some judicious walking can work well behind a solo, especially in smaller outfit where there is not much else going on. In general, 'spicing up' country bass lines does [i]not[/i] improve them as it turns them into something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dadofsix Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Just remember . . . the less your fingers are doing while playing the song, the more time you have to do other interesting things, like checking out, and smiling at, all the pretties who are dancing to the music. It's what keeps me sane when playing country music, sometimes. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.