Riding the Root?

[pbass40]

I know its not the best way but if someone is trying to get thru a song at a jam they don't completely know,what is meant by just riding the Root note?

[Burlington]

It means to just play the root of whatever chord the guitar is playing.

[FutureTense]

Instead of moving around the fretboard, the player will simply play the root note the whole passage. Root note = tonic. So in an A Chord, the root would be A. In C, the root would be C, and so on.

[EricF]

Sometimes, just playing root notes is the best bass line to play. It all depends on the song.

[MalcolmAmos]

Originally Posted by pbass40

I know its not the best way but if someone is trying to get thru a song at a jam they don't completely know,what is meant by just riding the Root note?

Riding the root - already explained. My point - when jamming a song you don't know, couple of things you can do.

1. Ride the root.
2. Watch the rhythm guitar's fretting hand and change chords when he does - using root nothing or root-5.
3. Can't see the rhythm guitar's hands, assume a I IV V and hope you can pick out the chord changes.
4. Grab the tonic pentatonic and play that, i.e. R-2-3-5-6 helps to change with the chord changes, but, just the tonic pentatonic will get you by in a pinch.
5. Revert back to riding the root and be happy you've developed a groove.

Good luck.

[DJS]

Timely topic. Last week I played in a jam session with a bunch of banjo, guitar, and mandolin students. A pro bass player was supposed to be there as well, but he didn't show (I'm squarely in the "student" category). I knew about half of the songs pretty well, and picked up the roots of many others with the help of a guitar player who would cue me in to the chord changes. For this primarily folk and bluegrass music, that was all the bass they needed.