I play bass in a contemporary Christian band. The expectations are pretty intense. On Monday we get the set list via the net. I get an mp3 and a lyrics/chord chart for each song. By Thursday I am expected to be in rehearsal able to play an accurate transcription of the songs. I have a degree in music and a pretty good ear. I run the mp3 through a speaker system with a separate subwoofer, turn up the bass, and sketch out the bass parts with pencil and manuscript paper. I can do most charts in 30 minutes to an hour. I would love to share charts with other bass players to cut down on the transcribing time. I have yet to find one single usable bass tab on any of the major Internet tab sites. So, if any of you are in the same boat and want to share charts, please leave your name or send me an independent e-mail. I write/transcribe in bass clef notation. I can work with TAB or bass clef.
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Contemporary Christian Bass
- Thread starter RoninSC
- Start date
All of the worship I do, I show up and site read the chord changes and they pretty much are happy with whatever I do. I can just show up and play root notes and they're thrilled to just have a bass player. I'm very fortunate for such a fun group. This means that I don't have any charts to share but being new to bass clef I would love if you were willing to send some my way so I can practice. If you're busy, it's not a huge deal.
I'm with PortugalWillie on this one. Our worship leaders and our congregation are pretty happy with us putting our own stamp on things, so we don't have to be tied down to the recorded version. Personally, I always felt that if you want to recruit trained musicians to simply play exactly what's on a record, you're wasting the talents that God has given us.
I've got tons of charts for contemporary and gospel stuff but I tend to improvise my own lines over the changes.
I've got tons of charts for contemporary and gospel stuff but I tend to improvise my own lines over the changes.
- Feb 27, 2005
- 3,218
- 125
- Disclosures
- Full disclosure, I'm a certified Fender technician working in a music store that carries Fender, Yamaha, and Ibanez products among others.
I'm in a similar boat, though I'm not sure if we're playing the same worship tunes at all. I'd love to set something up, if we're in the same ballpark musically.
So...what artists do you end up playing? I'm not even sure what contemporary Christian means anymore as a genre.
So...what artists do you end up playing? I'm not even sure what contemporary Christian means anymore as a genre.
Walterbush,
We play what I call a little edgier sound. Our church is ALL contemporary. There is no traditional service, so we don't have any issues. If you come to our church, you know to expect an edgy sound by artists like Charlie Hall, Fee, and Jami Smith. It's not all edgy, we do plenty of Hillsong and Chris Tomlin. The music director is a superb guitar player and the sound is a guitar based sound as opposed to a piano based sound with rhythm accompaniment. A good example is this Sunday we are playing Born to Worship by Sarah Kelly. It's a great rockin chart with a smokin bass line. Ron
We play what I call a little edgier sound. Our church is ALL contemporary. There is no traditional service, so we don't have any issues. If you come to our church, you know to expect an edgy sound by artists like Charlie Hall, Fee, and Jami Smith. It's not all edgy, we do plenty of Hillsong and Chris Tomlin. The music director is a superb guitar player and the sound is a guitar based sound as opposed to a piano based sound with rhythm accompaniment. A good example is this Sunday we are playing Born to Worship by Sarah Kelly. It's a great rockin chart with a smokin bass line. Ron
kingbee,
I've done both. I call what you describe as "jammin". It is a lot of fun and I do it often too. But I don't agree about God given talent. I can assure you it takes a special gift to be able to pull a bass line off a record and even more to notate it on manuscript paper. It also has improved my bass playing immensely as studying the bass lines of great professional musicians is a superb way to improve. Our congregation really is inspired when they hear their favorite contemporary worship songs played just like the original artist.
Ron
I've done both. I call what you describe as "jammin". It is a lot of fun and I do it often too. But I don't agree about God given talent. I can assure you it takes a special gift to be able to pull a bass line off a record and even more to notate it on manuscript paper. It also has improved my bass playing immensely as studying the bass lines of great professional musicians is a superb way to improve. Our congregation really is inspired when they hear their favorite contemporary worship songs played just like the original artist.
Ron
I really agree with both sides on this discussion - both notated and improvised lines are a lot of fun. I have a hard time transcribing lines (too many years as a drummer/percussionist/classical pianist) but I'm getting better. Learning WHY someone played a great line/lick is a great way to improve your playing.
Dan K.
Dan K.
I can't help with TAB resource, but wanted everyone to know about Invalid Link Removed
It's a great resource for chord sheets.
It's a great resource for chord sheets.
I would do some transcription work if you send the mp3's my way. PM me if you want my contact info. Oh yeah, my name is Joey.
I would like to get in on this. I have a hard time hearing all of the notes in a song at times. I've been a guitar player for 20 years and moved to bass 3 years ago. I try to eq the bass in and other freq. out so I can hear better. I still have a hard time. Please PM me with your info and maybe I can help some as well.
Yes Please! Same here Classically trained upright bass then went into military band playing electric bass and self-taught slap etc. Have had to play a few gospel choir and now contemporary christian worship but I don't read these worship chord charts only have words with note names above with no notation or musical format. I can read regular jazz charts but these are worse. I prefer to have some sort of chord outline, bars, bass clef notation or even read the piano score since I'm rusty and am just picking eBass back up. I do have some written transcriptions too and play by ear but I'm like you. prefer notation so I can relax and let loose. I've been looking for bass tabs with notation too because I don't read just bass tab with no notes.
Now imagine you get that set list on Wednesday or Thursday instead of Monday. And no mid week rehearsal. Just run through it an hour before service. I’m really amazed that anyone but a professional musician can bring their first fruits on Sunday.
Is there any chance you can post the songs you have already transcribed as a pdf on a site like Dropbox so we can access them?
I’m new to Bass Guitar, and also new to playing worship music. I was originally taking the set list songs into Logic, splitting the stems to isolate the bass tracks, and then working with those. Recently I started using the multitracks solo practice bundle to get the correct chord charted, and also hear the bass boosted in the key I’m supposed to learn it in. Is there a better way to do this? I’m open to trying something different if it helps speed things up!
I usually play off the lead sheet, which gives me the key and chords, and make up my own bass lines. Sometimes if I don't have a lead sheet I run the song through Chordify and chart out the chords in Roman numerals from there. That tends to give me a better picture of the song structure.
Dang, I was looking at this on my phone and thought it was a new thread. Didn't realize it was that old!
This is what we do. The charts (lyrics with chord changes written over them) are posted on Wed/Thursday and we rehearse for about an hour before the service (4 songs usually). None of us are working pros but we prepare individually in advance and let it come together on Sunday morning.
The service, usually, starts at 9:00am. It means, the rehearsal must end around 8:30am.
You start rehearsing at around 7:30am on Sunday morning(?)
That's a true dedication.
