Isolating your Mind/Time Frame from Drummer

[Matteran]

Hi, i'm going to challenge my drummer and I, by trying to cover this electronica song.

Here's my tabbed out part.

Now, I can play my part pretty good before the drumming comes in, but once that comes in, i start to rush, because the drumming is a little more upbeat than the bass part.

And I'm not playing just by memory, i tap my foot or bob my head, and have everything in time (besides the parts that intentionally rush a little).

Now, this is praticing to the recording, because the drummer is working on his part aswell, because that's quite an iregular rhythm he's got to learn.

Basically, is there anything I can practice that will allow me to isolate my mind frame from what the drummer is doing? Maybe there's a certain technique, or a few easier songs that maybe i could practice before tackling this? Thanks.

[Pacman]

It sounds to me like you shouldn't try to isolate yourself from him, or ignore him. It sounds like you should really figure out where the parts intersect - that's the only way your going to get that together.

You can do it!

[JimK]

Originally Posted by Matteran

Now, I can play my part pretty good before the drumming comes in, but once that comes in, i start to rush, because the drumming is a little more upbeat than the bass part.
Basically, is there anything I can practice that will allow me to isolate my mind frame from what the drummer is doing? Maybe there's a certain technique, or a few easier songs that maybe i could practice before tackling this? Thanks.

The bass part sounds relatively 'slow'. So, I'm assuming the drums are relatively 'fast'(since you said "more upbeat").
I'm assuming 4/4 for both parts, too.
I'm assuming(again) the drums be be doubletiming your bass part(or maybe your bass part is in 1/2 time vs. the drums).
Find your "1" & stick to it.

One way I practice this sorta thing-
Program a busy drum beat(kick & snare in a 1/16th note feel), hi-hat on straight 1/8th notes(or maybe even the ride on 1/4 notes).
Play a bassline using an 1/8th note feel.
Play a bassline in a 1/4 note feel.

[wulf]

Giving it a quick listen, I think there are two approaches:

1) When the drummer comes in, listen to see if you start to lock in and, if so, deliberately misplace your line so it starts veering off (creating the apparent tension of the original). This is the quick and easy approach.. just make sure you play it wrong (can't be so hard - millions of bassplayers find it comes naturally ).

2) Figure out how your line fits against the pulse established by the drum part - tie that tab of yours into a sense of time. You may find this ends up more like a counting exercise!

It's quite possible that the original is done with looped sequences - without listening too closely, I'm not even 100% sure that they loop over the same number of beats, which might be part of why it sounds 'odd'.

If I were covering this piece, I'd probably want to morph and adjust the bassline so that it began to lock in with the drum beat, perhaps deliberately beginning to drift off again later as you get ready for the drums to drop out.

Wulf

[Matteran]

yeah, playing to the recording can be really hard. So maybe when the drummer gets his stuff together, i'll just purposefuly play off time with him, and i'm sure it'll sound better.

We plan on having a climax of sorts, so maybe it would be kinda cool to have us get in time with eachother, and maybe have our guitarist come in or something, and have the drummer ride the crash or something as opposed to the hi hats.

[wulf]

I think it would sound really exciting to have the "antagonistic" lines come together into a fat groove - if the guitarist has been sitting out patiently, it might be an excellent point to let him dive in with some kind of solo.

Are you going to post up a recording when you get it together?

Wulf