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How would you define your style of playing?

#81
I like a lot of different kinds of music and I like to play a line that is as authentic to the style as I can. On the other hand I also enjoy mashups.

Right now most of my gigs are jam bands with focus on songs, so there are tightly structured parts interspersed with solo/jam sections that allow for varying amounts of improvisation.

Each band also has genre-driven program music. One plays reggae and a bit of ska, both covers and originals.

The other gets close to country but always with a lot of traditional rock and/or blues rock elements. Those tunes are tightly arranged, so even in the solo sections I have a definite bass part that I play.

I have a couple side projects of completely improvised music. One hangs the improvs on dubby or funky riffs with a few 1/8th note rock grooves thrown in and sometimes tries to fake a jazz noise or two. The other is extremely ambient, with drones, noise, but also sometimes I will play a Funk/Dub groove under the wash of sound.

Left to my own devices I dream of one of two projects: a percussion-driven ensemble that would play funk and Latin music, and try to replace most of the guitar solos with drum solos or drum breakdowns.

The other would be a pop-rock cover band that just plays my favorite pop rock tunes from the 60s to the present. So "Gloria" and the Kink's "Victoria" through Matthew Sweet's "Girlfriend" and Pres of US "Peaches" and "Lump" right up to Cage The Elephant and Alt J. Nothing too serious, and nothing slow, and no Police, no U2. Well except for "Next To You".
 
#82
Power trios "that's my bag, yeah baby" - from Cream to Rush to The Aristocrats; just wish I was that good. My playing is inconsistent but competent, frantic but disciplined - shaped by my favourite albums: Live at Leeds, Exit... Stage Left, anything by Cream, USA ( King Crimson), Live at Carnegie Hall ( Renaissance ), The Inner Mounting Flame, anything by The Aristocrats... mainly rock with improvisation/jamming.
 
#85
I started as a metalhead. Now I'm all over the place.. I like repetitions and playing riffs. I guess I'm more of a rhythmic player then a melodic one. I love percussion instruments, pretty sure I'd be a drummer if it was not the bass. I like slapping and popping, but find my self very rarely do that live.. I think the flats have it's own place, but I prefer nickel rounds as they have that 'zing' I like. I can get pretty aggressive playing rock etc. I use my fingers 90% of the time, but love the sound of the pick when it's appropriate. Don't know the jazz standards or jazz in general, but can fake it to a degree.
 
#86
Frndmoretti said:
So, what are the things that make your playing your own?
How do you play if left to your own devices?
What would a band you started around your musical style sound like?

In my case it's a repetitive, speeded-up funky sound. Minimal chord changes. Mostly minor.

What about you?
Click to expand...
Trippy, harmonic, open-ended, funk, metal.
 
#87
Love classic country, classic rock, r & b, but currently am in a Christian contemporary band. When I first learned the bass guitar's neck and how to move around on it I put a lot of notes in my basslines, to be melodic. But now that I've been at it for some years, it's become a matter of how many notes can I leave out and still say something worthwhile. I think the economy of "using fewer words to say something" as it applies to my music makes my basslines more tasteful and each note more meaningful, so I'm always trying to do that.
 
#90
after playing music since the age of 6 ... now 60 ... i have my own style for whatever style ..! i play like ME ...

which is always a moving target , as i'm always trying to learn new things ... the stuff i like sticks in my head and becomes part of my musical pallette ..
 
#93
Frndmoretti said:
So, what are the things that make your playing your own?
How do you play if left to your own devices?
What would a band you started around your musical style sound like?

In my case it's a repetitive, speeded-up funky sound. Minimal chord changes. Mostly minor.

What about you?[/QUOTE]


Mostly in tune...except when I'm not.
Click to expand...
 
#95
Funny you should ask.

I've been playing bass for over 40 years, but about 15 years ago I settled on my current style after starting to hum bass lines in the shower. I'm very serious.

I discovered that, left only with my voice I naturally slid into a note when it's first played and away from it when its duration neared its end. Slowly and without me noticing, over a relatively short period of time (maybe a year) my left hand started articulating notes in the same manner.

These days my note attack is fully formed along those lines and I find that that has led to a very personal, and dare I say appealing style of playing.
 
#96
Butt watching finger thumper. If they ain't moving I adjust the groove till they wiggle. Then I roll back the tone knob till they are in full swing. Then I know I have them in the pocket with me.....Wait is that a description?? Who cares?!? It gives me great satisfaction to do this to a dance floor.
 
#98
My style is no style...
Fingers, thumb, slap, pick, tapping, cow, fridge, a ps4 controller, I play with all.
bruce3-500x287.jpg
 
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#100
I've been told that my style is a cross between Boz Burell, John Deacon and Craig MacGregor and my technique is a cross between James Jamerson and John Deacon. I guess my band would be blues based rock with a little bit of funk and motown. Kind of a cross between Bad Company and Grand Funk Railroad.
 
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