Got to do something fun and different last night...

[bound'n'blocked]

Had a friend call me yesterday who owns a small basement studio. He stays surprisingly busy with it. He had an older gentleman, about 78 or 80 come in this week and record a bunch of songs. Just him and his guitar playing and singing some old gospel and bluegrass songs and old country songs. I got the idea that back in his younger days he must have played in some bands. He was pretty good for his age, some good old songs. I think his family had wanted to get some recordings of him because of his age.

Anyway, my friend called me and asked if I would come put some bass lines down on the tracks "just to spice them up for the gent". It was really fun. Most everything in G or E or some flat or sharp chord. Stuff like Haggard's "The Way I Am" and John Conlee and Ralph Stanley. Very simple but at the same time I wanted to nail it perfectly. His tempo and changes were at times hard for me to get timed with but that made the songs what they were. At the end of one of the songs he says before the mic was off "oops, think I might need to do that one again" and then you hear my friend chuckle in the background. I told my friend he should leave that in, it was really funny.

For someone who mostly plays Van Halen and Def Leppard and Poison and Bon Jovi it was a really cool change of pace.

BnB

 

[mikew31]

Very cool!

 

[Stumbo]

Had a friend call me yesterday who owns a small basement studio. He stays surprisingly busy with it. He had an older gentleman, about 78 or 80 come in this week and record a bunch of songs. Just him and his guitar playing and singing some old gospel and bluegrass songs and old country songs. I got the idea that back in his younger days he must have played in some bands. He was pretty good for his age, some good old songs. I think his family had wanted to get some recordings of him because of his age.

Anyway, my friend called me and asked if I would come put some bass lines down on the tracks "just to spice them up for the gent". It was really fun. Most everything in G or E or some flat or sharp chord. Stuff like Haggard's "The Way I Am" and John Conlee and Ralph Stanley. Very simple but at the same time I wanted to nail it perfectly. His tempo and changes were at times hard for me to get timed with but that made the songs what they were. At the end of one of the songs he says before the mic was off "oops, think I might need to do that one again" and then you hear my friend chuckle in the background. I told my friend he should leave that in, it was really funny.

For someone who mostly plays Van Halen and Def Leppard and Poison and Bon Jovi it was a really cool change of pace.

BnB

A piece of history! Ask for a copy.

 

[Jimmy4string]

I love that old country!
WAIT -Van Halen like "On fire"?! Because the bass in that is crazy!

 

[Bass Man Dan]

I'd love to hear some of that!!

 

[dbase]

Had a friend call me yesterday who owns a small basement studio. He stays surprisingly busy with it. He had an older gentleman, about 78 or 80 come in this week and record a bunch of songs. Just him and his guitar playing and singing some old gospel and bluegrass songs and old country songs. I got the idea that back in his younger days he must have played in some bands. He was pretty good for his age, some good old songs. I think his family had wanted to get some recordings of him because of his age.

Anyway, my friend called me and asked if I would come put some bass lines down on the tracks "just to spice them up for the gent". It was really fun. Most everything in G or E or some flat or sharp chord. Stuff like Haggard's "The Way I Am" and John Conlee and Ralph Stanley. Very simple but at the same time I wanted to nail it perfectly. His tempo and changes were at times hard for me to get timed with but that made the songs what they were. At the end of one of the songs he says before the mic was off "oops, think I might need to do that one again" and then you hear my friend chuckle in the background. I told my friend he should leave that in, it was really funny.

For someone who mostly plays Van Halen and Def Leppard and Poison and Bon Jovi it was a really cool change of pace.

BnB

It's nice to go on retreat once in a while and play some nice country tunes... brings down the blood pressure

 

[keyboardguy]

Just playing 1 and 5 can be a challenge; you're kind of naked and if you play a clam, EVERYONE hears it!

And timing is everything too....

 

[fhm555]

I’ve been doing the same thing with my dad for a couple years now, with my brother recording it in his home studio. My dad will put together a song list, record himself playing and singing it, then write out a vocal with the chord changes he wants over the words where that change occurs, then send all that to me and i’ll get the list down then we’ll get together at my brothers place and record the bass, guitar, and vocals. Once he’s happy with those tracks he brings in other pickers and they play their parts, add vocal harmonies, etc.
so far we’ve done a raft of old hillbilly string band tunes, another bunch of fiddle tunes, and some more traditional bluegrass standards. I was talking to pop the other day and he’s working on a list of gospel and shape note stuff. He’s worried he won’t be able to play guitar on this group, he’s 86 and his hands are pretty much ravaged by aurthur-eye-tis. I told him no worries, we’ll find a guitar player, even if we have to make my brother do it. He (my brother) is a killer guitarist but loathes country and hillbilly stuff. I’m hoping i can convince him to get on board this time though.

 

[G19Tony]

I’ve been doing the same thing with my dad for a couple years now, with my brother recording it in his home studio. My dad will put together a song list, record himself playing and singing it, then write out a vocal with the chord changes he wants over the words where that change occurs, then send all that to me and i’ll get the list down then we’ll get together at my brothers place and record the bass, guitar, and vocals. Once he’s happy with those tracks he brings in other pickers and they play their parts, add vocal harmonies, etc.
so far we’ve done a raft of old hillbilly string band tunes, another bunch of fiddle tunes, and some more traditional bluegrass standards. I was talking to pop the other day and he’s working on a list of gospel and shape note stuff. He’s worried he won’t be able to play guitar on this group, he’s 86 and his hands are pretty much ravaged by aurthur-eye-tis. I told him no worries, we’ll find a guitar player, even if we have to make my beother do it. He (my brother) is a killer guitarist but loathes country and hillbilly stuff. I’m hoping i can convince him to get on board this time though.

I hope your brother comes on board. It's for your Dad. Should be a no brainer.

 

[fhm555]

I hope your brother comes on board. It's for your Dad. Should be a no brainer.

He’s been basically doing all the production and engineering on everything so far and has added some mandolin to a few tracks. TBH it’s more a matter of if he can nail the style more than anything else. He’s got no real experience playing the kind of stuff we’re doing. We play together a lot with my dad but it’s a lot of Grateful dead, or Jerry Garcia would be more accurate, John Prine, and more modern crossover country like some of the songs Willie Nelson did with Tracy Nelson and my brother always plays them in more of a rock oriented style. That’s fine for just jammin with the peeps, but these recordings are mostly stuff my dad did in his youth and are being done in the style of the time when he first learned them. I know it sounds odd we are going so traditional with an electric bass but he really likes the sound and what i’m playing, which is no real surprise as most of this stuff i played when my dad was teaching me to play as a young kid, not to mention i’ve always been a fan so i’ve listened to it all my life. My brother OTOH has alway avoided the traditional stuff like the plague. A certain element of family tension also exists between those two and i’ve always been the non complaining brother/son who loves them both too much to get involved in that aspect of their relationship because i refuse to take sides when family members are at odds. It can get complicated at times but they always manage to work it out.

 

[wesonbass]

Glad to hear that you had a great experience. There's much that we can learn from these old guys if we just take time to listen. I'm sure he said thanks and appreciate your time.

 

[LBS-bass]

That's wonderful! It's great when we can do something to help out someone like that. I had a friend recently pass away and his family sent me a bunch of old tapes to see if I could get them digitized for them to hear. Some of it is stuff we played together on back in the '80s, a lot of it is stuff I never heard before. I'm not done with the project yet but it sure is making me feel good to help his kids hear their dad playing when he was at the top of his game.

 

[Turbo Sparky]

Had a friend call me yesterday who owns a small basement studio. He stays surprisingly busy with it. He had an older gentleman, about 78 or 80 come in this week and record a bunch of songs. Just him and his guitar playing and singing some old gospel and bluegrass songs and old country songs. I got the idea that back in his younger days he must have played in some bands. He was pretty good for his age, some good old songs. I think his family had wanted to get some recordings of him because of his age.

Anyway, my friend called me and asked if I would come put some bass lines down on the tracks "just to spice them up for the gent". It was really fun. Most everything in G or E or some flat or sharp chord. Stuff like Haggard's "The Way I Am" and John Conlee and Ralph Stanley. Very simple but at the same time I wanted to nail it perfectly. His tempo and changes were at times hard for me to get timed with but that made the songs what they were. At the end of one of the songs he says before the mic was off "oops, think I might need to do that one again" and then you hear my friend chuckle in the background. I told my friend he should leave that in, it was really funny.

For someone who mostly plays Van Halen and Def Leppard and Poison and Bon Jovi it was a really cool change of pace.

BnB

That's totally cool man!
Some of that old school is sonic history. Way cool, thanks for sharing.

 

[JRA]

it was a really cool change of pace

 

[red_rhino]

I'm looking forward to a Talkbass thread in about 45 years, about recording with an "older" gentleman, perhaps in his 80's, who wanted backing to play some "Van Halen and Def Leppard and Poison and Bon Jovi", and how "it was a really cool change of pace."

(Of course, if I'm still on Talkbass in 45 years, that would make my 65P almost 100 years old. I will be slightly older. Who knows? Maybe by then I'll have found the tone I'm after. And of course, I'll still be afflicted by GAS, but a different kind.)

 

[rtslinger]

Great story thanks for sharing and for helping out the elderly guy, by donating your time and talent to give his songs some polish

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Had a friend call me yesterday who owns a small basement studio. He stays surprisingly busy with it. He had an older gentleman, about 78 or 80 come in this week and record a bunch of songs. Just him and his guitar playing and singing some old gospel and bluegrass songs and old country songs. I got the idea that back in his younger days he must have played in some bands. He was pretty good for his age, some good old songs. I think his family had wanted to get some recordings of him because of his age.

Anyway, my friend called me and asked if I would come put some bass lines down on the tracks "just to spice them up for the gent". It was really fun. Most everything in G or E or some flat or sharp chord. Stuff like Haggard's "The Way I Am" and John Conlee and Ralph Stanley. Very simple but at the same time I wanted to nail it perfectly. His tempo and changes were at times hard for me to get timed with but that made the songs what they were. At the end of one of the songs he says before the mic was off "oops, think I might need to do that one again" and then you hear my friend chuckle in the background. I told my friend he should leave that in, it was really funny.

For someone who mostly plays Van Halen and Def Leppard and Poison and Bon Jovi it was a really cool change of pace.

BnB

This is very cool. You are helping to preserve some great memories for that family.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[Ronzo]

Some of my best memories of two older good friends who have now passed on are recording them playing piano - one was a classical piano teacher and the other was a lounge/piano bar style player. I miss them both a lot. Their families appreciated having those recordings, while they were still alive to hear them too.

 

[jeffbrown]

What a great experience, and kudos to you for doing it.

My stepfather played guitar and sang/yodeled in a band when he was a young man. He performed for us when I was younger, and I thought it was SO corny and dismissed it as old guy stuff. I wish I had had the foresight to have actually paid attention. My youngest plays guitar and digs my stuff, old stuff, and the new stuff, too. I tried...!

 

[bound'n'blocked]

I love that old country!
WAIT -Van Halen like "On fire"?! Because the bass in that is crazy!

Van Halen like "Hot For Teacher" or "Panama" or stuff like that... ButOn Fire does rock!

BnB