An Old Guy Coming On Board

[Dwight55]

I just wanted to take a few moments to introduce myself.

First name is Dwight, . . . and have a whole hand full of interests, . . . but music is one that has endured when many others went the way of Mustang Fastbacks and 4-4-2's burning rubber.

I'm a pastor of a small country church, . . . and at 71 I'm trying to get a guitar band together, . . . and if I'm successful, I'll be the first bass player, . . . just as soon as I learn how.

That's why I'm here.

I want to just learn some simple routines in G, C, Bflat, and maybe even D, . . . as those are the keys our Hymn book uses the most.

I have a bass guitar I just put a set of flat wound strings on, . . . and have a small amp, . . . that can still shake my leather shop where I practice.

I'd be most interested if any one has any bass tabbed, old fashioned gospel hymns you would care to share, . . . it'll get our "band" up and running a lot sooner.

Thanks for the site, to the owners and moderators, already looks like I'm gonna like it here.

May God bless,
Dwight

 

[Joe Nerve]

You said you put flatwounds on your bass. People here will love you. I'm the only one on this board that doesn't love flatwounds, and I'll accept you anyway .

Welcome my friend. This is a great place to be.

 

[Dwight55]

You said you put flatwounds on your bass. People here will love you. I'm the only one on this board that doesn't love flatwounds, and I'll accept you anyway .

Welcome my friend. This is a great place to be.

Thanks, Joe, . . . used to have them on my Gibson 6 string, . . . loved to slide up and down the neck with an F chord, . . . in the little church group we had back then. It livened the thing up I thought.

Anyway, . . . thanks for the heads up.

May God bless,
Dwight

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

Welcome aboard!

 

[theduke1]

Welcome from The Wisconsin Bassplayers Club
Duke

 

[MalcolmAmos]

From another old guy - welcome. Flats and foam rubber at the bridge works for me. The following may be helpful:

Skip over tabs. Praise and Gospel fake chord sheet music can be had for the asking - Google these key words; Chords, "name of the song". For example: How to get started? Gives the chords used in the song. Then call up a video of the song being preformed. video holly spirit, francesca - Bing Armed with the sheet music play-a-long with the video.


Play the root note of the chord, i.e. C chord; pedal the C note to the beat of the kick drum's pattern and then when the F chord becomes active sound the F root note. We use two ways of playing Praise music, first root to the beat and then another way is to; as the chord becomes active in the song, sound the root note of the active chord and then nothing more till the next chord change. This helps augment the message by calling attention to the lyric word that is under the chord. Prayer songs or any slow ballad like this method. If the drummer brings out his brushes try using this also. I did Holy Spirit Last Sunday using just root notes at the chord change and nothing more till the next chord change. The keyboard, drums and rhythm guitar took care of the rhythm and I augmented the chord change word to help with the message. More than one way to skin that cat. The song dictates which way will be best.

The string Getting Started in the general instruction section would be a good place to spend some time. .How to get started? Post # 4 and 14 talk about what I do - That does not make it correct, just what I do.

Praise music can use all seven of the chords in one song. Because of this the chord changes come quickly. Roots to the beat will be a friend. More than that and you will be stepping on someone's toes.

Hint - your hymnal - bass clef - the first lowest note in the measure is probably the chord to use for that measure. I dare say some of the band will not be able to play from standard notation so use this hint to write your own fake chord sheet from the songs you have in your hymnal.

Good luck getting the band started.

 

[W.Roberts]

You said you put flatwounds on your bass. People here will love you. I'm the only one on this board that doesn't love flatwounds, and I'll accept you anyway .

Welcome my friend. This is a great place to be.

Come, come, sir. All the old school cats started out with flats because that's all there were during the rise of electric basses. I did not like rounds eating my frets and the fact they felt like rubber bands on vintage Fenders (been playing since 1965). However my signature sound was a '57 Fender P bass, LaBella heavy gauge nickel wrapped flats ($11.00 in them daze) and the marvelous Acoustic 360. I used no bass, no mids. All treble because of the punch factor. The sound was so punchy I could shake the walls with all treble settings which is where the Fender sound is. We cranked those 360's loud. The music was Blues and R&B. The gigs were house gigs for the most part -- 2-4 shows a night, 5-6 nights a week at the same place for anywhere from two weeks to two years. Plus some session work, then jazz classes. I worked for a good 10 years doing this and I swore by flats because they were FUNKY. They got the Jamerson sound. But ... when the work declined starting in the late 70's the 360 was beat to crap and a load to lug around because by then I was club dating with the occasional house gig or short tour here and there. I caved in to half-rounds with a '68 Fender Jazz because I found them sound wise more flexible than that "thump" of flast. The half-rounds were the best of both worlds but half-rounds helped expand my sounds. There was a brightness I never had. Ultimately I sold off all my Fenders and got a Gibson made Tobias Killer B and used Dean Marlkey Will Lee gauge. Best sound I ever heard on the recording end. Huge. But horrid through my amps. I didn't like SWR or Eden or any of those. I still like a very punchy mid range sound which I get with this Earnie Ball Stingray Classic 4 with their heavy gauge rounds.

I've retained a set of LaBella Jamerson for 5 but the other gauges match Ball's round heavy specs. One of these days I'll put on those flats jes' fer grins. In essence, I'm still a flat round guy ...