I've been focusing on keeping a solid groove and leaving sonic space and making sure my notes count, move the chords along, and have great tone. I get busier at hopefully tasty times, and when playing for fun as the drinks add up.
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Loving the simple stuff
- Thread starter Joe Nerve
- Start date
I've always been of the opinion that simple is hard, and slow and simple is even harder. Simplicity done right is elegant in many ways, and slow and simple is hard in that you a) have to be elegant in a foundational sense to anchor the tune, and b) there is NO place to hide. Toot along with a lot of eighth and sixteenth notes in really fast stuff, you can get away with murder if your hands are stupid right about then. NOT so with slow stuff.
I often find I need to find my center and throw on some George Strait CD's. A lot of it is the age-old recipe of country charts with whole or half-note pedal points in the verses, and either a dotted or walking backbeat in the choruses and solos. After a while I begin to remember those big Texas clubs with the dusted wooden dance floors and all those couples two-stepping, and I seem to self-adjust, and then I can play anything. Funny, but it works.
I often find I need to find my center and throw on some George Strait CD's. A lot of it is the age-old recipe of country charts with whole or half-note pedal points in the verses, and either a dotted or walking backbeat in the choruses and solos. After a while I begin to remember those big Texas clubs with the dusted wooden dance floors and all those couples two-stepping, and I seem to self-adjust, and then I can play anything. Funny, but it works.
The simpler the better, as far as I'm concerned.
I love losing myself in a deep groove.
My perfect example is this one...almost 12 minutes on that one little riff that holds it all together.
Of course it helps if you've got a band that 'gets' the tune too...and understands leaving space to let it breathe.
I don't think I'd ever really listened to Eminem's 'Lose Yourself' before, but yeah, that's one I'd love to do.
Simple perhaps, but NOT easy. Trying playing the bass line on Papa... and singing it and/or doing the speaking parts.
On a related note (pun intended), listen carefully to the original recording by the Temptations and tell me whether the first note of that famous bass line is an Ab or an A. For forty years I’ve been playing it as an Ab but now I'm not so sure.
If it makes the audience feel happy, then I’m happy to be involved in the process. Even if I’m playing the same set for three years... Jokes and all...
When you've got a good bunch of guys in the band who get that you've got to throw in the crowd-pleasers when you're a pub covers band, it gets a lot easier. The band I play bass in is a four piece; drums, bass, two guitars. We're all lead singers in other bands, so while BL (male, mid-40s, relevant later) takes most of the vocals, everyone gets a go. We never rehearse - if BL wants a new song in the set, he lets us know song, version and key via text message and we learn it for the gig. We'll even take requests on the night if any of us know the song well enough. We all know our stuff, we can do it with our eyes closed, we can let muscle memory do the work while we go about doing what we came to do - have as much fun as possible, and if it's at each other's expense, all the better. A couple of examples of how we beat the boredom:-
Born In The USA/Stand By Me
It couldn't get more easy for me on BITUSA. BL says keep it as simple as can be, so with the exception of one stop, I'm just hammering on and off the same two notes all the way through the song. This my opportunity to take time out and enjoy what's going on around me. Then we go straight in to SBM, where part of the act is, "put BL off wherever you can". This usually involves the lead guitarist singing backing vocals in the wrong places - or just from completely different songs, while I end random progressions with four beats of anything I like, mostly TV themes (Mission: Impossible, The A Team, etc). When (it's never if) BL corpses, the crowd cheers.
Bad Things/The Time Warp/Sunshine Of Your Love
BL excuses himself from the stage and the rest of us do BT with lead guitarist singing. BL returns to the stage in sunglasses, lipstick, mini skirt, stockings, suspenders and high heels, whereupon we do TTW. BL spends as much time as he can bending over in front of the band ("It's not a performance anymore! It's turning into a fetish"!). Then, while he goes off to get changed back, we do SOYL with me singing.
There's plenty more shenanigans to keep us interested and laughing. With us, once you've stepped inside the monitors, it's "Abandon seriousness, all those who enter here" and that's how we deal with a setlist that contains Wagon Wheel, Freebird, Folsom, Summer of 69, Sweet Home Alabama, and loads more. It is worth noting though, that the "abandon seriousness" bit only applies to how we treat ourselves, each other and the audience. Each of us is passionate about the craft of making music, so while new numbers may be rough round the edges before a couple of gigs hones them, no one wants to make any glaring mistakes. Although that could be because when we do, the rest of the band points and laughs at us. ;-)
Born In The USA/Stand By Me
It couldn't get more easy for me on BITUSA. BL says keep it as simple as can be, so with the exception of one stop, I'm just hammering on and off the same two notes all the way through the song. This my opportunity to take time out and enjoy what's going on around me. Then we go straight in to SBM, where part of the act is, "put BL off wherever you can". This usually involves the lead guitarist singing backing vocals in the wrong places - or just from completely different songs, while I end random progressions with four beats of anything I like, mostly TV themes (Mission: Impossible, The A Team, etc). When (it's never if) BL corpses, the crowd cheers.
Bad Things/The Time Warp/Sunshine Of Your Love
BL excuses himself from the stage and the rest of us do BT with lead guitarist singing. BL returns to the stage in sunglasses, lipstick, mini skirt, stockings, suspenders and high heels, whereupon we do TTW. BL spends as much time as he can bending over in front of the band ("It's not a performance anymore! It's turning into a fetish"!). Then, while he goes off to get changed back, we do SOYL with me singing.
There's plenty more shenanigans to keep us interested and laughing. With us, once you've stepped inside the monitors, it's "Abandon seriousness, all those who enter here" and that's how we deal with a setlist that contains Wagon Wheel, Freebird, Folsom, Summer of 69, Sweet Home Alabama, and loads more. It is worth noting though, that the "abandon seriousness" bit only applies to how we treat ourselves, each other and the audience. Each of us is passionate about the craft of making music, so while new numbers may be rough round the edges before a couple of gigs hones them, no one wants to make any glaring mistakes. Although that could be because when we do, the rest of the band points and laughs at us. ;-)
My band added this song to the repertoire a few weeks ago. It's one of the first songs from which I was able to get the full bass part by ear, and also the keyboard part - on the bass. So yeah, it's probably pretty easy. The first time we played it, our bassist missed the rehearsal so I stepped in and we played it with no drums. I could play the bass and sing at the same time. So yeah, pretty easy and fun for me. Ironically, I'm having problems playing the drum part right and singing at the same time.
Another tune I got fully by ear is Mystic Brew by Ronnie Foster. I was trying to do the bassline from A Tribe Called Quest's "Electric Relaxation" (which samples from Mystic Brew) and ended up loving the original track. I'm quite proud of that one.
Hi
Fav simple song: everything ZZ Top ("Blue Jean Blues" on blues jams
)The trick: Count to 6
Can you play...? Who is Eminem?
Most hated song: "The Thrill is gone"
Do I enjoy? Yes, I enjoy listening to good players going "wild".
...but that 's just me!
Wise(b)ass
Best post of this thread!! You become a master artist crafting the perfect bass line with nothing more to add and nothing more to take away.
Thanks, GDoc. I once read an interview with a noted session guitarist who remarked 'any fool could wail out a fast, busy solo once', but what really separated the men from the boys, so to speak, was knowing 'what to leave out'. I utterly agree with that, and wish I was a better self-editor.
How did that bass end up with Peyronie's disease?
I love that song and I'm hoping I can give it a shot someday.
When you've got a good bunch of guys in the band who get that you've got to throw in the crowd-pleasers when you're a pub covers band, it gets a lot easier. The band I play bass in is a four piece; drums, bass, two guitars. We're all lead singers in other bands, so while BL (male, mid-40s, relevant later) takes most of the vocals, everyone gets a go. We never rehearse - if BL wants a new song in the set, he lets us know song, version and key via text message and we learn it for the gig. We'll even take requests on the night if any of us know the song well enough. We all know our stuff, we can do it with our eyes closed, we can let muscle memory do the work while we go about doing what we came to do - have as much fun as possible, and if it's at each other's expense, all the better. A couple of examples of how we beat the boredom:-
Born In The USA/Stand By Me
It couldn't get more easy for me on BITUSA. BL says keep it as simple as can be, so with the exception of one stop, I'm just hammering on and off the same two notes all the way through the song. This my opportunity to take time out and enjoy what's going on around me. Then we go straight in to SBM, where part of the act is, "put BL off wherever you can". This usually involves the lead guitarist singing backing vocals in the wrong places - or just from completely different songs, while I end random progressions with four beats of anything I like, mostly TV themes (Mission: Impossible, The A Team, etc). When (it's never if) BL corpses, the crowd cheers.
Bad Things/The Time Warp/Sunshine Of Your Love
BL excuses himself from the stage and the rest of us do BT with lead guitarist singing. BL returns to the stage in sunglasses, lipstick, mini skirt, stockings, suspenders and high heels, whereupon we do TTW. BL spends as much time as he can bending over in front of the band ("It's not a performance anymore! It's turning into a fetish"!). Then, while he goes off to get changed back, we do SOYL with me singing.
There's plenty more shenanigans to keep us interested and laughing. With us, once you've stepped inside the monitors, it's "Abandon seriousness, all those who enter here" and that's how we deal with a setlist that contains Wagon Wheel, Freebird, Folsom, Summer of 69, Sweet Home Alabama, and loads more. It is worth noting though, that the "abandon seriousness" bit only applies to how we treat ourselves, each other and the audience. Each of us is passionate about the craft of making music, so while new numbers may be rough round the edges before a couple of gigs hones them, no one wants to make any glaring mistakes. Although that could be because when we do, the rest of the band points and laughs at us. ;-)
This reminds me of a bar band I used to see every Thursday night when I lived in FL. The play a mashup of Brick House & Sweet Home Alabama. It's a crowd favorite every time they do it!
I've only been at this (with motivation that is) for about 3 months so this thread was a nice read...I can only play really simple things at this point so it's easy to get bored but you all have given me some ideas on how to make it more interesting. Like when I play along to Magic Sam's cover of Sweet Home Chicago. It's very simple and sometimes I lose my place because I get a little bored. But reading through here has me thinking now I need to focus on length of notes, timing, etc.
Thanks! I found a tab but there seems to be some issues with it according to the comment that follows it.
PS - is there a song that dude doesn't cover?
