ballads

marine18 · #1 12-30-2009, 08:52 AM

how do you play a ballad bassline

Darkstrike · #2 12-30-2009, 08:57 AM

Slowly...

Seriously,
I usually stick to mainly root notes, with a thick deep tone, maye some walking between chords, but not a lot.

Get that big pillow of low end goodness under the song.

Ed Fuqua · #3 12-30-2009, 10:14 AM

The bottom line is that you have to approach this like everything else, you need to hear what you are playing in the actual aural environment you are in. No shortcuts.

Nashrakh · #4 12-30-2009, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darkstrike

Seriously,
I usually stick to mainly root notes, with a thick deep tone, maye some walking between chords, but not a lot.

Get that big pillow of low end goodness under the song.

+1

PJSShearer · #5 12-30-2009, 11:05 AM

Find a recording of a ballad you like, work out the Bass line and use that as a "template" to work from.

MalcolmAmos · #6 12-30-2009, 02:12 PM

The story is the important part of any ballad. Thus we should not interfere with the story. Provide the background beat and vanish into the woodwork. Here less IS MORE.

http://www.last.fm/music/Norah+Jones/_/Cold+Cold+Heart

Rudreax · #7 12-30-2009, 03:13 PM

Depends on the song, really. Some ballads will have you focusing on the root note of the chords within the song. Others will have you interweaving a flowing bass line as the tune goes from chord to chord. Listen to a bunch of ballads in different genres and see how different players make their way through the pieces.

**251** · #8 12-30-2009, 04:20 PM

I think of them as one of life's pop quizzes. They always test my music ear.

If it's a performance piece & you can practice from rehearsal recordings, find the places where silence needs to be filled & decide how few & which notes will sound good there. Stay alert for places where silence is the best music. Find the dramatic passages & work on them. I stay in the lowest register the key will allow & go to double/triple stops & octaves there. Your musical taste may say something else.

If it's spontaneous go with your instincts & expect to learn from your mistakes. 8-)

Alvaro Martín Gómez A. · #9 12-30-2009, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rudreax

Depends on the song, really. Some ballads will have you focusing on the root note of the chords within the song. Others will have you interweaving a flowing bass line as the tune goes from chord to chord. Listen to a bunch of ballads in different genres and see how different players make their way through the pieces.

+1. Listen to The Beatles' "Something" and then listen to The Rolling Stones' "Angie" and you'll notice two totally different approaches to ballad playing.