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Double Bass Picking across/perpendicular to the strings w/ right hand

#21
Yeah, the intro is a little bit silly. He’s a great guitar player but that really didn’t show him at his best. Some nights it’s just not there but you gotta play something anyway. I don’t think there’s anything unusual about the bass players right hand. Two fingers, angled. The string height is probably pretty low. He’s just playing what’s necessary to be relaxed and dial a good sound. Loud stages take some getting used to. A light touch almost always sounds better as long as you mind the front end of the note and make sure you’ve dialed in enough percussion to your sound. If it gets too loud I lower my stage volume a little so I can comfortably dig in a little more. I doubt his acoustic technique is much different though it probably sounds better. You don’t need to wack the bass to get a great sound. Quite a bit of a good sound is intonation and note placement. If it’s on the right place, it’s gonna cut.
 
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#23
One thing I notice in that video (in addition to the fancy guitar flat picking) is that the bassist looks like he’s using both his index and middle fingers to pluck the notes, rather than just a single finger like bass guitarists typically do. That certainly gives more weight and power to the perpendicular right hand style. I remember noticing when I saw Gary Peacock play with the Keith Jarrett Trio that he frequently played with his right hand across the strings more than parallel with them. You can see some of that at the start of this video (and some nice playing it is):
 
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#24
I always drive our violist - a long time HS orchestra director - nuts with what he considers my stupid questions like, "Why are 2 measures of 2/4 any different than one of 4/4?" When he stops by tomorrow, I'll ask his opinion as to the BPM.

Not at all a big deal, but I could play along with this vid, and never thought of myself as playing anything fast than 170 or so. I usually think 130-40 is a good, brisk pace, and that it takes a lot for a group to maintain musicality above that. In fact, most of the stuff I've considered above that range sound far more rushed and less musical to my ears than the BS vid.

I just like to think I'm using terms correctly. If it is correctly described as 300 BPM, I'd like to train myself to describe it that way, rather than 150.
 
#26
If I were to record this song, I would tell other musicians to rehearse at 152 beats per minute regardless of "how it's written"- quarter notes, half notes, etc. This most effectively relays the most pertinent information for the players to prepare for the studio. As for perpendicular or parallel, I've seen Eddie Gomez and Edgar Meyer pizz perpendicular. I think all's fair and it's unwise to pass judgement on how anyone plucks their notes. For me, it's on a "note-by-note" basis.
 
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#28
Sam Reese said:
If I were to record this song, I would tell other musicians to rehearse at 152 beats per minute regardless of "how it's written"- quarter notes, half notes, etc.
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Showed the clip to our violist - a HS orchestra director, and teacher of AP Music Theory. He said "I don't speak bluegrass, but I'd describe that as 154 BPM." And he thought it nonsensical to speak of a tune played at 300 BPM, asking, "How the hell would you conduct that?"

Just one opinion.
 
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#29
Ed S said:
Showed the clip to our violist - a HS orchestra director, and teacher of AP Music Theory. He said "I don't speak bluegrass, but I'd describe that as 154 BPM." And he thought it nonsensical to speak of a tune played at 300 BPM, asking, "How the hell would you conduct that?"

Just one opinion.
Click to expand...
Well, Mr. Violist must have a limited experience of orchestra playing at tempi like Prestissimo.

Conductors conduct things like that in 2, or even in 1. They tell the orchestra "I'm going to conduct this in 2" (of course, they don't need to tell experienced orchestras).
 
#30
Since the Tony Rice at Telluride version, major wankage is sort of expected on that tune. By me, anyway.

And since a moderately fast fiddle tune would usually be called at 150, 300bpm describes a smokin fast tempo, like that one, perfectly. That's what you call when you want everyone right at the edge of their ability.

AND...I probably see more bass players in bluegrass playing across the strings, than playing parallel. Quite a few in jazz too. Gives a little more ping and facilitates right hand muting. I normally play parallel, but playing across is not weird technique.

So, I wonder where y'all have been? I know Jason has been playing this stuff since forever.



 
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#36
Chris Fitzgerald said:
Everybody in that band is a stone cold mother******, IMO. EEMWCBESDotY.
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I went to Augusta Heritage one year when the host band was Mountain Heart, but their bass player had a conflict, so they got Mark Schatz instead. I said Mark Schatz! Man, you talk about a trip that was worth the time!

Mark was playing a carved German bass he thought was from around 1880 or so, and spirocores that he did not remember ever changing. He can handle the bow, slap like a monster, and is a good jazz player too. He recorded a couple of hours of bluegrass instruction on VHS that might be still available in some format. If I were a beginner, I would be looking for THAT. edit: still available
 
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#38
I played in a bluegrass band for about 4 yrs (probably more accurately called NewGrass) and we did lots of uptempo stuff like that. I found that I could get a bigger sound at that tempo with my fingers perpendicular, like the player in the video - but always with my middle and index finger tight to each other. I find it hard to play uptempo with the more typical 1 finger “pull” technique, aka Ray Brown.
 
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#39
bherman said:
I played in a bluegrass band for about 4 yrs (probably more accurately called NewGrass) and we did lots of uptempo stuff like that. I found that I could get a bigger sound at that tempo with my fingers perpendicular, like the player in the video - but always with my middle and index finger tight to each other. I find it hard to play uptempo with the more typical 1 finger “pull” technique, aka Ray Brown.
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I got into the habit of playing everything with my parallel index finger and relying on hammer-ons and pull offs for quicker things and could fool some of the people some of the time. Trying to break that but the perpendicular alternating finger technique feels alien, and I can’t get the big sound, although that’s my default electric method.
 
#40
That’s why I emphasized locking your two fingers together. I agree, alternating fingers let’s you play quickly but not with a big sound. I actually feel like o can get a bigger sound from two fingers perpendicular than from one parallel.
Paul New said:
I got into the habit of playing everything with my parallel index finger and relying on hammer-ons and pull offs for quicker things and could fool some of the people some of the time. Trying to break that but the perpendicular alternating finger technique feels alien, and I can’t get the big sound, although that’s my default electric method.
Click to expand...
 
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