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Jam band bassists

M

mingusitis

May 11, 2012
47
0
#1
Questions for you jam folks out there. I am in a jam band which I love but I was wondering what you guys did when you get deep into a jam. We play a extended viola lee that the guitar player takes wayyy out there. Should I keep a steady groove going or start ****ing with it? Basically my main question is, when jamming do you hold down a steady groove or sometimes just get weird hitting notes and scales nowhere near your progression....

After typing this I realize it is kind of a dumb question but really just want a discussion from a jam band bassist and the thought process during a deep jam....approaches and what not...
 
#2
I just do whatever the song needs. If it needs me to hold the groove then that's what I do. If it needs me to go nuts and essentially do my own solo at the same time then that's what I do. There's no real wrong or right answer; it's just a matter of experience and keeping yourself honest in the heat of a jam.
 
#3
I like to keep the groove, but drop hints to the lead player of different directions I think we can take the song in a way that will feed of of each other. If he bites, then we can have a pretty cool interplay. If he's got his own thing going, I just keep the groove and follow until he's ready to make a move, then follow along. In the jam setting its all about trusting the each other.
 
#4
It has been a while since I was in a jam band, but what I remember was the drummer and me doing different timing patterns during the song. I would look at him and start something different, then he would follow. Still in 4/4 time but we would change up our beat 3 to 4 times during the song. It made it a lot more fun and less boring when you do the same thing for 7 to 10 minutes.

Love that guitar solo, no matter how long it goes.

JP:bassist:
 
#5
Personally, I start where the song leaves off, which, in the case of Viola Lee, is a one measure groove. Staying with that song as an example, I will start extending that groove a measure at a time and when I'm doing a 4 measure groove it usually becomes more of a feel thing. Of course, at the end of every jam in that song comes the ramp up to ever more intense and insane playing and, by that point, I'm usually out there in space... But always paying attention so I can hit right back in on the groove.

Where it gets tricky is knowing when it's going to be an all out jam that can go anywhere and when it's just the instrumental part of the song. Take your cues from the direction that the keys and guitars are going. If they're getting out there, you should stretch out too. If they're staying pretty much in the melody, give them a good foundation groove to float on.

Another thing to consider when you get out there in a jam is to try and work it back to restating the groove a little bit every so often just to let people know where you're at. You can kind of play with an audiences mind if you do this the right way, and they'll love you for it.
 
#6
ZippyButton said:
I like to keep the groove, but drop hints to the lead player of different directions I think we can take the song in a way that will feed of of each other. If he bites, then we can have a pretty cool interplay. If he's got his own thing going, I just keep the groove and follow until he's ready to make a move, then follow along. In the jam setting its all about trusting the each other.
Click to expand...

This. You can keep the groove, and still change the riffing abit.
 
#7
stop thinking about it and just listen and play. Don't make it difficult. Try going on a tangent with him and see where it goes...or don't, and see where that goes. Something i really like about jam bands is that in those jams the bass player has a lot of control in the direction of the song-if you hold it down while he goes crazy, there is the in key/off key dynamic that some will like. If you go on tangents with him, it'll sound chaotic, which others in the audience will like.

so try not to overthink it-do what comes naturally and that will be your best bet
 
#10
Jamming here is all acoustic. Probably 50% Country and 25% Rock and the rest will be Bluegrass. No idea what song will be called next. As it's all acoustic and as I can not afford a stand up double bass I'm strumming an assumed I IV V on my 6 string.

The librarian from Quitman - who is in the video - will be doing root five on her stand up and hoping for a groove. Tom who is also in the following video wll be playing roots on his stand up.

This will give you an idea of what happens here. Link Removed We all have day jobs, it's just a bunch of guys and gals having fun every 3rd Saturday in Mineola, Texas.

Most of the songs being called will be sung by the person calling them, the lead may be passed to a fiddle or mandlin, and then go back to the person that called the song to sing the last verse, repeat the chorus and end the song. Nothing lasts over 3 maybe 4 minutes.
 
#15
No Matter what you do keep your ears open, find a cute chick in the audience doing one of those twirly snakey dance patterns and dance with her. I mean on your bass, really try to be a dance partner, listen to the guitar, then the band and dance with the cute hippy chick. If your doin it right she'll give ya a big smile when the jams over.
 
#16
In Viola Lee Blues you definitely want to not only ramp up the intensity, but actually speed up the tempo- more than one doubling / falling back into a new 1/2 time groove usually occurs when the Dead jam this tune.

Also- just go for it. The Dead were (are still!) one band that has absolutely no fear of dropping a complete face-plant. I mean they will totally header a tune, no ifs ands or buts. You can't get to the great beyond without risking oblivion. In a Bass Player magazine interview Phil said he loved the train wreck moments because that's when anyone could play something completely new and take the band in a completely new direction, turning on a dime into the new idea.
 
#17
I like to build grooves that give me space to stretch. Kind of play a figure for a bar or part of a bar then improvise something to either fill out the bar or the next bar. Sometimes though I take the James Jamerson Approach and play kind of a "Flighty" line that stills like a mother (watch your mouth). It's almost a half groove half solo approach.

Stay Brown,
Rev J
 
#19
Have you noticed yet that it's the bass that sets the mood for everyone? Change that bass line and you change the whole feel. Actually, it's power! You have the ability to lead the others where they didn't know they would be going. So...one has to be careful and pay attention to what is happening. In my jam band we have one ditty where I suddenly abbreviate the bass line. If I am clever and do it at just the right time it makes for a nice change in the groove. Gotta have that after so long with a guitar lead going on. It's good to break it up and give the audience time to breath and think. Then, you can always work back up to something again.

But then there are other jams we do that require me to stay steady on a groove without faltering. I think it's fair to say that knowing just what to do comes with experience, which of course includes some failures along the way, too. Sometimes it's all intuitive, though, with no way to describe it.
 
#20
I carry the opinion that the purpose of a jam band is to take the music someplace new every time you play. You can't really do that if you just play the same pattern for twenty minutes while the guitarist solos over it. Change it up, and change it up frequently. The notes and the groove. If you have a good drummer you can connect with, hopefully he'll change up what he's playing and you can follow him.

For me, the epitome of the jam band is Cream. On their albums they keep the songs to a normal length, but in their live shows they stretch them out for 10 - 20 minutes, and the songs are different each time. Jack Bruce doesn't just play the Sunshine of Your Love riff for 20 minutes. The rhythm section is constantly changing what they're doing.

I like this example, despite the terrible quality: http://youtu.be/Wl1Scq4LIEE

They start into the vamp at about 2:45. It takes Jack and Ginger about 30 seconds or so to lock into each other, but once they do they never break away. Jack follows Ginger through all his fills and changes. When they alter the beat at the 4:00 mark, the music is so tight it's like they're reading each others minds.


I agree with the general sentiment that you should play what the song needs, but the song should never need the bassist to play the same bar of music over and over for an hour.
 

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