Playing Along, or Playing It Exact?

[mellowsoon]

Just curious.. When you sit down with your bass, and start jamming to a favorite song, do you try playing it exactly the way it's played in the song, or do you play what you're feeling?

[Deathblade Eric]

Only if its got a signature line that has to be there or it won't work. Otherwise I figure out the changes & join the dots how I see fit. If there's a phrase I particularly like, I'll nab that though.

Mind you, if I were in a tribute band, it'd be a different Ketlov Fish altogether. As I'm not, my view is that people coming to see a band I'm in, will 1) probably not notice that I'm not duplicating the original, & 2) might, might want to hear my take on it.

If the band want me to play it exactly how (insert famous name here) plays it, well... go 'phone them up & get 'em down!
I ain't Jack Bruce or Bill Wyman or ... - I'm just me.

[chicago_mike]

If im just jamming, then I'm just jamming. However, if its a song I need to learn, I learn it like I wrote the thing. Then I'll add myself to the mix.

[makanudo]

Stay true to the song, but add what I feel sonds better.. to me at least

[nemo]

Learning to play it exact can learn you different way of thinking or new ways to play, and can expand your vocabulary. Just jamming along your old ways will not bring you anything new.
When playing covers I strive to be as much exact as possible, also because song usually works better when all players keep the original lines.
For jamming alone it does not matter that much, but is useful to learn new tricks.

[mellowsoon]

Originally Posted by nemo

Learning to play it exact can learn you different way of thinking or new ways to play, and can expand your vocabulary. Just jamming along your old ways will not bring you anything new.

Interesting point. I'm not in a band or anything like that, so I figured playing my own thing is a good way to hear some other musicians playing a piece, and learning to jump in and play along. I can see how that approach on a regular basis could lead to skill stagnation.

[Troutdog]

If I'm just playing along with the record for fun, I'll play whatever I feel. A lot of times I will solo or play in the upper registers just to make it interesting or to improve in that area. But if I'm learning a song to play in our cover band, I try to play it EXACTLY like the record (notes, tone, feel, etc.) because that will help make the overall song and the band in general sound more like the record, which is what the audience wants in a cover band. I'm not going to insert a bunch of noodling notes on top of Sweet Home Alabama, for example, and ruin it (that's what the guitarist does).

[m0nst3r]

I learn it exact first, and then I add my own twist to it.

[mccartneyman]

If the line is integral to the song, I'll play it exactly. Good example of this would be almost anything from the later Beatles catalog, some of the old soul standards like "Funky Broadway" and "Knock on Wood" and maybe highly arranged stuff like Steely Dan. On other stuff, I tend to learn the basics and embellish after that. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in a situation now where most of the songs I have to learn have very unimaginative bass lines that quite often would have me playing 16th notes on the root the entire song. I don't think that's necessary or desirable, so I tend not to "play what's written" these days. No one seems to notice. Don't know if that's good or bad, though.

[Potthoff]

learn it exactly then add your on stuff. or just wing everything like i do.

[Fergie Fulton]

Originally Posted by mellowsoon

Just curious.. When you sit down with your bass, and start jamming to a favorite song, do you try playing it exactly the way it's played in the song, or do you play what you're feeling?

Good question, and for me play along not exact. I have recorded so much over a period of 30 years and including the songs and lines i have written i do not play them exact LOL.

For me and other players i know, a recording is a performance caught in time, there are certain parts that need to be right but others that don't. Identify these points and apply as you see.

I did a show many years ago and was criticised by the guitarist for not playing SRV basslines exactly the way Tommy Shannon does as to the reason why it did not sound correct. When i told him that its probley because he is not SRV, the drummer not Chris Layton he seemed offended that i would even suggest that was the case LOL

[the_hook]

I wanted to add that it's also important when you're learning theory to learn a song exactly as it was done (or written if you have the sheet music).

This won't apply to all songs, but there will be cases where a bass line was structured in a specific way to serve the song, and you won't understand why if you improvise with your own notes instead of what the song is supposed to have.

For songs like these you can go over the structure (chords, arpeggios, etc.) and learn why it was made that way. Once you have that down you can change it to suit your style, or put that knowledge to use in your own songs.

[coreyfyfe]

Originally Posted by Deathblade Eric

Only if its got a signature line that has to be there or it won't work. Otherwise I figure out the changes & join the dots how I see fit. If there's a phrase I particularly like, I'll nab that though.

+1 to this. Unless it's a particularly important lick or a passage that really brings the piece together, I'm willing to take a little artistic license. The type of music plays a big role in how the part was written, ie does it fill a particular musical void/set a particular scene as in more "constructed" music, or was the song written out of a more "jam" oriented format.

[Cabazon]

When I first learn a song, I do it as it is. If I'm playing along to a song I already know for fun, I will adjust where I feel.

[mellowsoon]

Interesting replies. Thanks! I can understand when the bass line is an important part to the song, you should learn it exactly. With other songs I just start jamming in my own way, and eventually it comes together to be exactly like the original. Maybe that's just my learning style? I dunno.

[seanm]

I will roughly learn the song. I will try to learn all the signature bits. But I quite often have to throw away the original bassline to make it work with the band.

[TrevorOfDoom]

both. depends on how exact the rest of the band will be with their lines, and honestly, how much i respect the bassist in the recording.
one band does a cover of Walking on the Moon, but the guitarist and drummer don't play the lines as written, so my anal rendition doesn't work.
another band does Joe Cocker's A Little Help From My Friends, and i'll be damned if i could even begin to imagine sullying Alan Spenner's bassline with "my own flair". it's perfect, leave it alone.
now, when i do more modern covers (country tunes, indie pop tunes, what-have-you) where the bassist does nothing but jam 8ths or 16ths the whole song, i'll decide how important those 8ths and 16ths are to the song, and go from there.

but if i'm just learning songs for fun, i'll learn them exact so-as to facilitate growth.

[bwest9]

Originally Posted by m0nst3r

I learn it exact first, and then I add my own twist to it.

This is closest to my own approach.

Whether you use what you discover note for note in the end is one thing, and of course this depends on what you're trying to serve (are you learning the song for a wedding band, or an original project with a few original flavored covers?). But by sitting down, doing the time to pick up a song verbatim… this allows you to learn new things, licks, or how others craft/structure their work. It's invaluable in my book.

Who was it that once said… “You have to learn all the rules before you can break ‘em” ?

[trunkshope6]

for the most part ill try and play it note for note,but sometimes if the bass is just following the root note when the guitar is doing something cool ill play that too.

[phatbass]

Get the signature riffs, get the groove. Everything else is fluff, as long as you're locked in with what the Drummer is doing to destroy the song.