Need help, suggestions for fills beyond root fifth octave, thanks

[shoulderpet]

Hi all

Am after some suggestions on fills/flourishes for songs, am a reasonably proficient bass player but when it comes to fills and flourishes I tend to fall back on Root, fifth octave or root, 4th, 5th and sometimes I throw in Root and minor 3rd , I think it is fair to say my ambition outweighs my ability when it comes to fills so am after some suggestions for some tasty fills I can use , thanks in advance

[jrixn1]

How about what bluesgrass players call the "G run"?  It (or slight variations thereof) fits everywhere.

Examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDxhugRKZ8g at 1:43

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sIjSNTS7Fs at 1:10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKxodgpyGec at 2:56
 

[shoulderpet]

Thanks I will give that a try

[Guest bassman7755]

On 17/12/2018 at 13:24, shoulderpet said:

Hi all

Am after some suggestions on fills/flourishes for songs, am a reasonably proficient bass player but when it comes to fills and flourishes I tend to fall back on Root, fifth octave or root, 4th, 5th and sometimes I throw in Root and minor 3rd , I think it is fair to say my ambition outweighs my ability when it comes to fills so am after some suggestions for some tasty fills I can use , thanks in advance

Well it sounds like you know where most of the useful notes are already, I mean every other interesting note is only one note away from one already play: the second one note up from root, 7th one note down so the most basic advancement on what you are already doing would be to use those other notes to fill in the gaps between what you already play. Obviously the precise position of the "good" notes varies depending on the chord type and where the chord is in the progression, I'm not sure if you understand chord/scale relationship ? - you havn't indicated your theory knowledge level.

Irrespective of that music isn't about the dry application of formulas and rules, perhaps you need to train your brain to imagine some cool fills in the style you want to play, if you already have ideas in your head then try to sing/hum them, then play them. If your brain isn't internally generating fill ideas then you should probably try to coax it into doing so by listen to backing tracks without the bass in hand and try to sing/hum some cools lines and fills.