I play with a songwriter who also does a lot of old rock and roll and country songs and I find myself in kind of a rut using my basic 1-3-5-3 bass line on half the songs and 1-5-1 in the other half. Well not quite, I love to do walking bass lines on the honky-tonk stuff like "Heartaches by the Number" and "Crazy Arms," for example.

What line do you use most?

Maybe I could borrow your line and you can have mine and we can mix it up a bit.

"Hey, baby, how do you like my bottom end?"

Yeah, it seems like a rut, but I think almost everything I play is somehow based on the 12 bar patern in some way. I end up doing the same thing, just variations dictated by the groove and drive of the music. Oh, I also drone quite a bit.

Yeah I agree..It seems I play the same progressions as well..What I have found to help is use diffrent slap patterns..Do double slaps on the 1-5 ..Then do single slaps on a nice walk up or even throw a triplet here and there..That seems to change it up for me..And adds some pizazz to the song..

I used to get bored playing some tunes, but I had to accept that in country and rock the bass provides a solid structure for the leads and harmony.
Sometimes I use passing tones to harmonize with the lead or other parts.

You can add some variety by playing through 2 octaves. Also rather than straight 1-5, double the 1 like some of the old big band guys did. Mix in some 8th and 16th notes for some rhythmic variations.

At the risk of sounding like a jazz guy, try not go get caught up in patterns because any pattern (no matter how cool it may sound) becomes repetitous by its very nature. Also, I think patterns lead you to listen more to yourself and less to what is happening around you. A few years ago I tended to rely on a few patterns and I usually forced them into the music whenever I could. At the time I played with a group whose leader was pretty obsessive with recording our performances. I learned a lot from listening to those recordings.

Have you ever listened to any Ray Brown? He could play the same progression over and over and it was different every time. Obviously it wasn't country music but the idea certainly translates.

A few years ago I tended to rely on a few patterns and I usually forced them into the music whenever I could.




You know the old adage 'If it jams force it'? I have learned in music, it's 'If you force it, you can't jam'!

I usually do that which hublocker does, and when everyone looks away, I do all kinds of things outside of the 1-5-1. Like chromatic notes, and such. :D