Newbie with questions......

[MalcolmAmos]

Been playing bass for one week. Been playing rhythm guitar for years. My band mate asked me to sit in on bass while he played rhythm guitar and sang at one of our local nursing homes. I got by with a sloppy 1-5 and guessing when to go to the next chord's 1-5. I don't think I'd be able to follow along reading fake chord sheet music to eliminate the guess work of what chord is coming next, as it's taking all my thought just to find the notes on the bass. I've got a fair ear of recognizing the chord progression he is using.

How important is hitting the specific 1-5 being played by the rhythm guitar, i.e. both of us being on the same chord at the same time? I'm changing with him, but not exactly at the same time or on the same chord, i.e. I'm playing a 1-5 to a basic I IV V progression, but not necessarily in sync with the rhythm guitar. If I was playing rhythm guitar it's OK if I wing the progression as long as I stay in the ball park (same key) of what everyone else is dong. Hope that can carry over to the bass.....

We'll be doing this gig every Monday, hints and tips on how to work with the rhythm guitar will be appreciated. It's pure classic country.

Thanks,

Malcolm

[NKBassman]

Why would you not want to be in sync? It's like you're asking if it's ok to be a sloppy player, to which my answer becomes "Of course not!".

From the sounds of it though, it seems like you didn't practice at all before the gig, and I'm assuming that the "local nursing home" is not full of discerning music critics, so in that case, yeah, maybe I'll let it slide, but it's never ok to be lazy for the sake of being lazy. If you are physically and musically capable of playing with the rythmn guitar, then do it and don't make excuses.

With time and practice though, you should be getting a feel for each others playing and things will start to fall into place all on their own, as long as you guys have some idea of what you're doing.

[Chickencha]

Always play the root of the chord on a chord change. That's not strictly required, but it will basically always sound good and no one will ever get mad at you for doing that. If you're not keeping up with the changes, then things won't sound very grounded and together.

If you want to do it right, then either learn the songs or learn to follow along on the chord sheets. If you don't want to, then that's your prerogative.

[Asher S]

Originally Posted by MalcolmAmos

Been playing bass for one week. Been playing rhythm guitar for years.... I don't think I'd be able to follow along reading fake chord sheet music to eliminate the guess work of what chord is coming next, as it's taking all my thought just to find the notes on the bass.

I suspect you realize that the bass is generally tuned identically to the lower 4 strings of a guitar, so if you know where to base the root note of your bar chords on rhythm guitar, bass is no different.

Yes, bass is a distinct instrument from guitar. If you listen to some recordings of good bassists in the genre of music that your band plays, your good ear will be trained eventually to hear the bass line rather than the bass component of the rhythm guitar.