Do your 1/8th notes betray your background when reading?

[buldog5151bass]

Pretty much all my playing the past 30+ years has been with a drummer, be it jazz or rock. I played in pit bands when I was young, but not for a long time. Wherever the drummer takes it, I follow. I'll swing with jazz or shuffle, but if it's straight ahead rock, I play it straight.

 

[Medicine Man]

Sometimes when I'm practicing I just get stuck in swing mode and can't stop. The only cure is to quit until the next day. Never happened at a performance, thank goodness.

 

[micguy]

I swing when it feels right. The context will tell you - sometimes a parade of straight up eighth notes is whats required, but thankfully not that often.

 

[pfschim]

been at it a long time as well. Plenty of reading gigs (big band, jazz groups with charts, sessions with specific written parts etc.). I don't presume to know. I do what the chart says and most of the charts I get have some indication notes. If it does not give some kind of style/groove indication, I ask the session leader.

 

[Chickenwheels]

Here’s some grabs from a show medley backing tracks I just recorded. My friend arranges these and his charts are the best, always giving feel and tempo. I always scan through looking for any feel/dynamics/changes before starting. The style of music is a BIG help. Also playing the correct note lengths is important.

 

[Dincrest]

When reading a new piece for the first time, I play 8th notes (or any note for that matter) straight and as I get better, I'll add dynamics as needed. If straight 8ths sounds too stiff in the context of the song, I'll play them with more of that jazzy swing/shuffle you're talking about. But usually straight at first. Gotta get that foundation before I start coloring. And many times, straight is what the song calls for. For example, the bassline to Billy Idol's "Mony Mony" calls for straight 8ths. If you play swing/shuffle 8ths, the song doesn't have the proper drive and just sounds off.

 

[fdeck]

I took classical cello lessons before starting on bass. My view is, it doesn't matter if nobody else is around. You can try it both ways and choose the style that you prefer.

It's not always obvious, even within a genre. There are jazz arrangements that call for straight and swung 8ths. And there different ways to swing. This is often a matter of discussion in my band.

Ultimately the way to tell is probably by doing a lot of listening.

 

[sean_on_bass]

i learned to read in band class in middle school, so i approach as straight unless the piece is indicated to be swing in some way. i do primarily play jazz these days, but even in jazz charts you get some straight eighths for the latin tunes.

 

[Pilgrim]

I want to hear the number to determine how I approach the piece, as the timing is often not clear to me without more musical context.

 

[fdeck]

I want to hear the number to determine how I approach the piece, as the timing is often not clear to me without more musical context.

"Let's play number 753 next."

 

[RJC1811]

Plodding with awkward pauses was not a poll option. I would lean towards swing if I could read that fast. I have been reading jazz standards out of the Real Book lately just to try and improve. I go back and forth between bass and treble clef depending on what the music is written in. I learn all the music I need for my different bands by ear but I’m just trying to become a more well rounded musician.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Embracing the principle of "Use it Or Lose It", I try to sight-read something every day, however small. It might be a line of Bach, a Walking line, a rhythm study or a specific sight-reading exercise or some other random thing, preferrably that I don't already know and have not seen before. Sometimes the genre/style is obvious but often, with exercises, it isn't. My musical background is classical and involved a lot of formal training and sight-singing from a very early age - my first instinct, unless directed otherwise, is to play 1/8th notes 'straight'. I know other people who's background is jazz and their first instinct when sight-reading 1/8th notes is to play them with a swing/shuffle feel. What is your first instinct when faced with 1/8th notes in an unknown score - straight or swing? And does this instinct reflect your 'background'?

For me this is not an either or thing or sort of thing. I play it the way it’s supposed to be with in the specific piece I’m playing. If it calls for it being straight, I play it straight. If calls for more swing or shuffle I comply.

 

[waver]

Embracing the principle of "Use it Or Lose It", I try to sight-read something every day, however small. It might be a line of Bach, a Walking line, a rhythm study or a specific sight-reading exercise or some other random thing, preferrably that I don't already know and have not seen before. Sometimes the genre/style is obvious but often, with exercises, it isn't. My musical background is classical and involved a lot of formal training and sight-singing from a very early age - my first instinct, unless directed otherwise, is to play 1/8th notes 'straight'. I know other people who's background is jazz and their first instinct when sight-reading 1/8th notes is to play them with a swing/shuffle feel. What is your first instinct when faced with 1/8th notes in an unknown score - straight or swing? And does this instinct reflect your 'background'?

It depends.

 

[Lownote38]

I play straight unless it says swing at the top of the chart.
I've never had a problem going back and forth between the two feels. Many great jazz soloists straighten out the 8th notes here and there as an artistic thing.
Hendrix even did that for the intro of Little Wing. It isn't swung the whole way. He straightens out the feel here and there to great effect. It's why hardly anyone can convincingle play that intro.

 

[retslock]

Embracing the principle of "Use it Or Lose It", I try to sight-read something every day, however small. It might be a line of Bach, a Walking line, a rhythm study or a specific sight-reading exercise or some other random thing, preferrably that I don't already know and have not seen before. Sometimes the genre/style is obvious but often, with exercises, it isn't. My musical background is classical and involved a lot of formal training and sight-singing from a very early age - my first instinct, unless directed otherwise, is to play 1/8th notes 'straight'. I know other people who's background is jazz and their first instinct when sight-reading 1/8th notes is to play them with a swing/shuffle feel. What is your first instinct when faced with 1/8th notes in an unknown score - straight or swing? And does this instinct reflect your 'background'?

In my experience if swing is the genre it will say so in the sheet heading. If not I play straight unless the BL says otherwise.

 

[Jack Butler]

Blues and rockabilly are my background. If there’s any doubt I definitely default to swing.

 

[rogerb]

Indicated on the chart as swing or this….

… otherwise straight

 

[djmay]

Straight unless noted otherwise. Some big band charts have swing and straight sections. For example Buddy Rich's Mercy, Mercy, Mercy is straight until the last few bars.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

Well..
I may be an almost illiterate general business electric bassist who embarrasses himself in threads about written notation, but...
Even I know that you only swing dotted 8ths and play non dotted 8ths straight.

 

[Willie5String]

My instinct is to play as written?