I'm in Over My Head

[dwbentley]

I have been in a country cover band for about five years. After three lead singers we found one that is a good fit. Only
problem is he has a song that is not "country" and I am supposed to go record my part for it in the morning. I'm thinking about finding another bass player to record it. It's a great song so I don't want to mess it up. I asked him what he wants to hear on it and he says, " use your ear, I'll like whatever you do." Well, now what? I thought I had a good ear but I can't even find the cords he's playing. Anyone feel like giving me some ideas? The song is a jazzy country ballad thing. I can e-mail a drum, vocal, guitar MP-3 if anyone wants to help.

[BenWC87]

The guy obviously has faith in you. Do just what he says and "use your ear." This doesn't mean you have to know what chords he's playing at all. Just keep messing around with ideas and see what sounds good- don't think about chords while you're playing, and you'll be fine.

[caesarbass]

GO FOR IT!!!! Sorry for yelling, but I think you're going to be OK. Go in and do your best. He's the singer in your band, and probably a friend of yours. I'm sure he'll be happy to help you with the chord changes, and I think you'll be bummed at yourself if you don't at least give it a try.
Good Luck and Happy Belated B-day!!!

[dwbentley]

Originally Posted by caesarbass

Happy Belated B-day!!!

Thanks, it was the best one yet. I think the reason this song is giving me problems is it is way out of my comfort zone. I don't even listen to this style of music.

[Cerb]

Definately go for it, dude. If you've been playing steadily for that long in the band, I'm sure you've got a good ear on ya. I'm in my church's top40 band, and yesterday was the first time I left the charts at home and decided to play it by ear. I think that it's written somewhere in the Bible that thou who playeth with thine ear shall have have groove which overfloweth. It's soooo much easier to get in the pocket if you aren't paying attention to the key changes and all that nonsense (). So, I say go for it.

Edit: Didn't Vic also say something along the lines of "Don't lose the groove while looking for the correct note"? If you just let your ears and experience (read: muscle memory) guide you, you should be fine.

[dwbentley]

I called my singer (aka dancing chicken) and got him out of bed. Told him how much I liked his song and how I wanted to do the best job I could on it and by the way, I know your playing in E but what chords are you playing? He says I don't have any idea. I just made them up.

Under the circumstances, I think I'll just walk all over a two octave e scale. I tried it and thought it sounded OK, but I'd still like to know why it sounds OK.

[dwbentley]

Originally Posted by Cerb

It's soooo much easier to get in the pocket if you aren't paying attention to the key changes and all that nonsense

That is way too funny. Mabe I should try that out.

[caesarbass]

Post an update!! We would like to hear how the session went.
Thanks.

[fr0me0]

yeah no kidding how did it go man

[dwbentley]

Update: It didn't go. It just wasn't sounding the way I thought it should. We decided to give it a week or two to give me some more time to work on it. I am trying to get a lesson with a Jazz DB player here that I respect very much. Thought I would spring the song on him and see if he'll help me with it. I"ll post a link when I get it recorded.

[dwbentley]

update #2

Well my friend the DB player just went home. He spent 3 hours at my house showing me how to construct a "good" jazz bass line.
I learned more about bass playing tonight than I have in the last 5 years. I won't be lurking here at Talkbass much for the next few weeks. I have too much work to do on my bass playing skills. Wish me luck while I'm in the shed.

[caesarbass]

Good for you!!!! It's never too late to improve your skills. Also, you gotta give a little time to TalkBass!!!!!!