Best instructor method for chord based melodic bass guitar?

[Maxra]

I'd looking for a good melodic bass instructor method. I'm currently a fiddler. I'm a fluent dots reader and pretty good 'by ear', but currently very much a melody line player. I'm in UK and mostly play UK, Irish and Euro folk music with acoustic bands. I bought a short scale acoustic bass guitar, and I want to learn to construct melodic bass lines from chord symbols and eventually comp live in the acoustic folk bands I play with. I have what looks like a good bass guitar sight reading book to get the bass fretboard and dots reading down. So far so good, but...

Most bass books I see are big on popular techniques like funk/metal/reggae/rock grooves, slapping and pulling etc. Once they get past 'how to tune your bass' etc., few appear to dive into creating melodic bass lines from chord progressions. One very well known instructor book (I bought...) gets to discussing triads for about two pages on page 132 of 140. That's not ideal for my purposes.

I guess many (most?) good bass guitar instructors can teach this, but I'm having trouble finding a method that majors on it. I'm a bit wary of buying a double bass method as I have a short scale acoustic bass guitar. Any suggestions please? Method books with or without audio work well for me, but I'm open to other media.

Thanks, Max

 

[Groove Doctor]

Could you post some videos of songs with bass lines like you’re describing please?

Do you know any bassists locally that play like that? Could you ask them for a few lessons/ point you to the right teaching material.?

 

[Diplock]

If a good bass teacher isn't available a piano player with a strong left hand or guitarist who plays chord melodies well could help you. I don't think what you're after lives in books much.

 

[Maxra]

The trouble is guys, that the bass players who play this stuff all are different, and tend to do their own thing possibly because there's no 'standard' way to do it. It varies from Breton bands with very jazzy bass or even bass Chapman Stick players, through quite rocky 'no 3rds' players like late Steelye Span, through 'slap and pop' players in some modern Scottish bands. The one thing they have in common though, is that whatever style is happening, the good players are all at peace with the melodic content of what they play. I have hit on one very useful left field thing - a series of 'percussive acoustic bass' vids (ie slapping drum rhythms on your guitar body while playing and hammering on etc.) - on Truefire by Dmitry Lisenko. If I can get the rhythmic percussive side down, that'll be a plus in the drummerless acoustic bands I play in.

 

[Beej]

I wonder if you might find more of what you're looking for by just studying walking bass lines. What I learned from walking bass in jazz is pretty easily transferrable to other genres of music. The bass lines I come up with generally walk between chords along the scale, but it's easy to step out melodically once you have that down. I have to say I didn't learn specifics from a book or instructor though, it came from understanding the basics of walking and then using my ear to find the best fit or most pleasing melody for accompaniment. Bass is important for driving the rhythm of the song in many such instances, so keeping it simple and almost predictable is often a good way to serve the song.