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Double Bass Bass Kick Offs?

Bass Doc

Bass Doc

Dec 1, 2010
74
23
Charleston SC
www.southrailbluegrass.com
#1
Hi Guys,

I've been playing Bluegrasss about two years now an ran into an unusual situation the other night. The guys I was jamming with asked me to kick off the song.

It occurred to me that I'd never done that before, it was always the banjo or fiddle or Mando that kicked off. I tried a few ideas none of which worked. On the spot I could not replicate any of the the classic banjo kick offs by ear- never really thought about it before....

Anyone have any ideas on where to start with this? Perhaps some ideas for surefire/ no fail bass kick offs or at least some suggestions for some good BG to listen to that could point me in the right direction?

Thanks all
 
#2
I do a couple bass kick offs where they have me do a simple walk up to the root (though our banjo player is way better at it) and the rest of the band jumps in on the one. We do a bluegrass version of Ophelia by The Band where I play the entire progression by myself before the band jumps in on the turnaround. It's not very exciting since I'm just doing a slap 1/5, but it helps to set the tempo. Personally, and I'm sure many here will agree, there should be more bass kickoffs in bluegrass :) I too am hoping for some ideas on this.
 
#3
The only bass kickoff I do with my band is on Clinch Mountain Backstep. I think it works really well and it's a great song to open with the bass. I open with the first part of the melody (the part the banjo usually plays) for one bar, then the banjo takes the next bar. On the 3rd and 4th bars we play together and then I do a quick walk up to the root for the One of the next bar. That's when the rest of the guys join in. Hope this makes sense!
 
#5
OK folks, I've had some time to think this through and did some research.

I went to You Tube and watched some instructional video on how banjo does kick offs and then translated it back to bass. In particular, the idea occured to me that there really is no reason a bass player should not be able to do a "Banjo kick off", or "taters".

So here's what I came up with taters for key of G:

F# G G, F# G G, F# G G, F# G G then walkup (open) D E F# which takes you to the first chord which is G.

I tried it and it works perfectly. Simple, and classic intro. To understand it, look up "taters" or "Bluegrass Banjo intro" on YouTube and listen to what the banjo player is doing. - We can do that too!!

JG
 

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