How long should a bass FILL be?

[Rib 13]

The original question is a little ambiguous "How long do I play a fill?"...Kinda like asking "How much water to fill a glass?" That depends on the size of the glass

 

[JRA]

What’s your line of thought?

it depends, of course (duh!)...no rules that aren't dictated by tastefulness. IME, the best ones are spontaneous and creative, and they never detract.

 

[FenderBassist]

Long enough to bring more value to the song, short enough to not confuse the drummer

 

[Jazz Ad]

I noticed that as years pass, I play less fills and more passing notes. They can convey emotions better IMHO.

 

[Ekulati]

It depends.

 

[Altitude]

How long should a piece of string be?

 

[Lance Bunyon]

My personal rule is this; a fill is not a solo..
So whatever space I have in the measure that I'm in, if I can FILL it tastefully I do. Sometimes that means filling an eighth note rest. Which means I probably pop the G string...for an 8th note.

 

[whero]

How long should a fill be? Slightly smaller than the hole.

 

[ToddB1963]

T Bone Wolk

Master of the tasty fill

42:32

 

[Kubicki Fan]

I noticed that as years pass, I play less fills and more passing notes. They can convey emotions better IMHO.

In all my years of passing notes, I had to develop exceptional skill with the six-shooter.

 

[vvvmmm]

It depends.

Yes, like some of us' hoondies.

But also, as a lead guitarist first, I fill with groove.

 

[6Bass101]

Jump to the 1:30 mark (that’s where the playing starts). Not too much, not too little. Just right IMHO.

 

[2112]

How long? As short as possible.

 

[DaveParker39]

Just think about the average bass fill I play, this is by no means a rule:

if you imagine counting into a song
1, 2, 1 2 3 4...
and then the song being a rotation of four bars:
1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4

the underlined bit is the "max acceptable" placement/length of a bass fill (the last full bar) and the bolded is the ideal/placement length (the last half of the last bar)

But obviously there are a billion exceptions

 

[birminghambass]

Anything over an hour is just noodling IMO.

 

[vvvmmm]

Anything over an hour is just noodling IMO.

I have a hard 24 minute cut-off me.

After that, it just gets too hard, and then inevitably become just noodling to a unfulfilling finish, yeah.

 

[logdrum]

One of my favorite African singers is Aster Aweke from Ethiopia and I heard this recording of Bati and man that bass is all over as if he is soloing over her but it works as this is classic Ethiopian Soul. Aster was a guest on the Late Evening Show with David Sanborn as well. She is quite well known maybe not in middle America



That bass player is playing off her improvs -- but he is never going up on the top frets either. Listen carefully. He has that hook always handy and he is always in time.

I remember my friend Tohouri from Ivory Coast asked me to play on his album and in one of the soul ballads and chants, he just encouraged me to the same. He did not want me to groove. I'll post it later, but sometimes you can go all melodic. But you still have to be tasteful and support the singer

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

We were having discussion the other day at band practice, and as the bassist I’m really trying to groove more and play less lead style bass embellishments (since I play lead guitar in another band). I’m trying to limit them to no more than a bar… usually just two beats. What’s your line of thought?

As long as the drum fill you're playing it to

 

[Swamp_Ronin]

Just keep the groove and EXECUTE. No rules. 2:06 here is one of the most glorious fills that I know of. Crowd goes wild.

 

[themickster]

We were having discussion the other day at band practice, and as the bassist I’m really trying to groove more and play less lead style bass embellishments (since I play lead guitar in another band). I’m trying to limit them to no more than a bar… usually just two beats. What’s your line of thought?

Mine are one bar, but do what sounds right.