Is "pushing" the tempo common with bass playing?

[RicPlaya]

Originally Posted by baba

I disagree. As a bass player I think you need to know when to show restraint and play for the song, not your bass line. Bass players, and any other musician, can definitely cross the line and be "too busy." I think accepting this and playing accordingly are signs of musical maturity.

It's balance. I feel I have not upset the balance or crossed the line of being too busy. It's a matter of misconception. Some bandmates feel you not suppose to hit a cymbal while someone is singing stuff like that. It's just a young band with some band members misunderstanding the role of the rythyum section. I have played drums for 18 years, bass for about year and a half. From my drumming I understand what constitutes a bassline and the role of a bass player. You hear this all the time from bassists that " I don't play too busy" but in this case I don't, maybe some people feel the "attention" will be taken away from them if other parts or instruments are considered too busy? Was Geezer too busy, or Jamerson? They were busy but not too busy, and the most important thing is they supported the tune with their playing that's the main thing, my playing is not even close to being as busy as them, in fact our covers tunes we do are by far the busiest stuff I play. I play what the tune calls for
that's why i said it was an oxymoron in my case.

[MuzikMan]

Originally Posted by baba

I disagree. As a bass player I think you need to know when to show restraint and play for the song, not your bass line. Bass players, and any other musician, can definitely cross the line and be "too busy." I think accepting this and playing accordingly are signs of musical maturity.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[ondray]

Hi,

Would like to share a new technique that I have learnt recently from my bass teacher. (he has a degree in it so he's pretty cool)

Pushing the tempo is a one of the technique in jazz bass playing. An example of it would be in this song called The Favourite by DIG (Australian band)

The bass player did a riff in the middle of the song, but near the ending, he played the same riff slightly faster without syncronising with the drummer. It sounded weird at first but later, after a couple of times, it's like an expression and it's pretty cool too.

But if you are seriously into strict time. I think the metronome would be the best solution. The drummer would feel intimidated playing to the metronome but nobody's perfect.

Another thing about bass playing that I would love to share is the position of the bass note on the drum beat. It may sound weird but some bassist like to play the note slightly after the drum's bass or snare. It does give a slightly different feel. You might to play slightly before the drumbeats as well but I think that kind of make the song sounds hasty.

Take care

Andre

[Mongeaux]

Coming from a Jazz background I tend to always play on the front edge of the beat. Its what drives the band. Of course playing in other parts of the beat is fine to, they just create different feels.

Check out Ray Brown to hear the best example of playing on the edge of the beat.

Now that I am playing more blues I am having to learn to not always push the beat. Sombody once said the hardest thing for a jazz player to do is NOT swing. Man, was that guy right hah.

[supermonkey]

Some people think that any bass line other than pumping quarters or eighths on the root note is "too busy". Some people like Creed, too.

That said, there is definitely such a thing as a rock bassline being rhythmically and/or harmonically complex to the point where it's distracting from the song/vocal. Which, I'm told, is somehow important to the music....

As a member of a band and contributor of a (the) vital component of the song, it's important to keep some objectivity when it comes to your parts, and think "song comes first". So ditto on what Baba said:

...As a bass player I think you need to know when to show restraint and play for the song, not your bass line. Bass players, and any other musician, can definitely cross the line and be "too busy." I think accepting this and playing accordingly are signs of musical maturity.

This, of course, is a pretty general position to take and YMMV. Having not heard your lines, I have no frame of reference. I'll take your word that you aren't overdoing it!

I'm a little confused about whether your band is bitching about you pushing the feel, or simply not doing the most rhythmically predictable thing on bass (i.e. hit w/ the kick drum, etc. etc.)...?

[CJK84]

blackshole,

You bring up an excellent point when you write that everyone in a group must be aware of where everyone else is trying to be relative to the beat.

A few years ago, I played music with a decent guitarist and a beginning drummer.

Surprisingly, the drummer picked up the concept of playing on the leading edge (when desired) fairly quickly. However, the guitarist wouldn't hang back and the effect was spoiled.

The guitarist would match the drummer's time exactly. Consequently, during a song, the drummer would often speed up slightly - but then the guitarist would adjust to match him once again.

Needless to say, we were often racing by the end of songs.

My point is that our guitarist was not aware of the drummer's intentions and his ignorance disrupted our attempt to give some of the songs a certain feel.

[DaemonBass]

I have only heard of "pushing the tempo" or "pushing the beat" in reference to changing chords 1 eigth note before the actual chord change. A very common bass technique, the effect does actually push the song forward, although the actual tempo remains the same. THe effect on the listener is different though, it makes the song move more, and creates anticipation and interest to a basic steady stream of 8th notes...

[bladerunner]

In my cover band I frequently have disagreements with the drummer regarding the tempo...even while performing i sometimes look at him and play ahead or behind tempo a little and try to make him go faster / slower according to what i prefer, but he usually shakes his head because he has a different idea of the tempo in a particular song..

i've played with another drummer in my original band during the 5 years i've been playing (with few exceptions) and he is usually a little behind the beat - maybe he is the reason that i've started to constantly 'keep up' with the beat and play fast to 'tell' the drummer that he is behind it while not being conscious about it...

but hey, what if both drummer and bassist were behind or ahead of the beat? that would make it impossible to keep a steady tempo im sure... and be sure to turn up the volume of your amp so the bassline doesn't drown in the drum part, this will make it easier to get a good feeling with the drummer..