Metal(, doom, for white) Trash

[H.P. Lovesauce]

I'll be clear from the start: I'm not a bloody musician. I shall illustrate my irreverent attitude with a smiley:

Learning bass the "proper" way would be very tedious, with all those letter...things...notes. Learning guitar, I stopped absorbing knowledge when someone showed me bar chords, the Rosetta Stone of rock 'n' roll.

The question: are there bar chords for the bass? Or is there a similar radioactive key that can be put in the hand of an impatient idiot so that he's able to make organized noise in a minimum of time?

HPL

[The_Ryst]

Step 1: Go back to the 80s
Step 2: Grow your hair out long, perm it if you please
Step 3: Join a mediocre hair metal band
Step 4: Play Open E's and A's









(I do love much hair metal so chill.)

[H.P. Lovesauce]

Darn you, Ryst! Darn you all to heck!

You immediately start busting out your jargon: E's, A's. "Open" ones, yet.

Okay. I'll meet you halfway.

E = big fat string?

Open = no monkey paws on the little squares on the long stretchy part? Frets, whatever. Neck. The long bit before the knobs (no snickering, you).

I mean, what the hell did Lemmy do at first?

HPL

[WillBuckingham]

Who's Lemmy?

Why don't you just play the bass . . . you'll figure out something that you like.

Rock rock on!

[Verbannter]

This is a response to the thread starter. If you have seen some of my posts on this forum (I am new to this forum) then you have seen that I am admittedly not a great bassist. However, are you just playing for the sake of trying to impress people or fit in... or are you actually interested in music? Even though you refuse to call yourself a "Bloody musician"; why do you want to learn these bar chords in the first place if you don't wish to actually sit down and actually learn how to properly play bass?

Sorry, I had to say it =/.

[WalterBush]

Originally Posted by H.P. Lovesauce

Darn you, Ryst! Darn you all to heck!

You immediately start busting out your jargon: E's, A's. "Open" ones, yet.

Okay. I'll meet you halfway.

E = big fat string?

Open = no monkey paws on the little squares on the long stretchy part? Frets, whatever. Neck. The long bit before the knobs (no snickering, you).

I mean, what the hell did Lemmy do at first?

HPL

Lemmy has repeatedly stated in interviews that he started on guitar, and still plays rhythm guitar, he just happens to use the bass to do it.

[H.P. Lovesauce]

Originally Posted by jabberwock777

Lemmy has repeatedly stated in interviews that he started on guitar, and still plays rhythm guitar, he just happens to use the bass to do it.

Ah, see, Mr. jabberwock, we're getting warmer! Playing rhythm guitar on the bass is exactly what I want to be able to do. Since the easiest and most effective way to throw up a wall of sound was to use bar chords on a distorted guitar, I figured a bass might be able to accomplish the same thing.

Can it?

(Thank you WillBuckingham for the advice, and Verbannter for the pointed questions. I want to be able to physically manipulate a bass guitar into making a certain range and sequence of sounds. I did it with a guitar and was in a band whose first gig was opening for DOA, so I figure it's possible.)

[lemur821]

Since the easiest and most effective way to throw up a wall of sound was to use bar chords on a distorted guitar, I figured a bass might be able to accomplish the same thing.

Can it?

Just pound roots I guess. Since they fall exactly where the root of the barre chord does you don't even need to do any learning!

[Verbannter]

In no way was I really trying to flame you if that's what you were thinking. It's just a great instrument (Not a tool as some people put it) and I really think you should sit down and make full use of it. Sorry if I came off a tad harsh.

[H.P. Lovesauce]

Originally Posted by lemur821

Just pound roots I guess. Since they fall exactly where the root of the barre chord does you don't even need to do any learning!

Thanks! Um...what am a "root?"

Verbannter: No, you weren't being flame-y, you were expressing a perfectly legitimate perspective. I'm like a monkey with a motorcycle: I like pushing it off a hill and riding it as it coasts down, then pushing it back up. If anyone suggests I learn to turn it on, shift gears, and all that--much less try to explain the underlying principles of internal combustion--I'll likely just throw feces at them.

You're right the bass has gotten short shrift. But mostly from wankers who are drawn to the other thingy, the one with the skinny strings.

[Flipside]

Alright well what he means by root is this (I hope you can read tabs ><)

lets say the guitarist is play this on his first 3 strings, E A and D.

D|---7----7----5-----3-
A|---7----7----5-----3-
E|-5----5----3-----1---

The ROOT of the chord is the note he's playing on the lowest string of the chord. In this case its the 5th fret on the E string then the 3rd fret, then the 1st fret. (yeah the E string is the big fat one). So all you have to do is match his rythm with a 5 a 3 and a 1 which are the roots of the chords he's playing. All you'd have to do is play this:

D|------------------------
A|------------------------
E|-5----5-----3-----1-----

pretty simple really if you wanna start jamming with you're friends. I do it when I dunno what else to play and I follow along easily once you get the hang of it.

[The Clap]

Barre chords are played on the guitar. Bar chords... get played in pubs I guess.

[velvetkevorkian]

BOOM BOOM. get yer coat

as someone else said, just hammer the lowest note of what you would do on the guitar. if you were feeling particularly taxed, take the top 3 strings off and just play the "big fat string"

[lemur821]

Originally Posted by Flipside

The ROOT of the chord is the note he's playing on the lowest string of the chord.

Essentially, take away every note from the chord but the one closest to your face, and play that one a lot.

[WalterBush]

At this point I'll be a bit of a smartarse--I just had this conversation with a pianist this afternoon. Technically, as a bass player, you decide what the root of the chord is for your band. You're the lowest note, so whatever you play is the root. Neat, huh? Not helpful, though.