Double Bass Playing Cajun bass?

[MichelD]

I've been recruited into a start-up Cajun muisc group by the leader, a veteran drummer who is playing washboard in this lineup.

I've been listening to old and new Cajun tunes on Youtube to get up to speed, though I was on a Cajun kick a few years ago and listened to a lot.

What I have noticed is that on the real old first recordings of Cajun music there is no bass. Then as we get into the 1950s you started to hear bass, electric or upright and it is almost all 1-5, 1-5, rinse and repeat.

When I look up contemporary Cajun, I hear more walking bass, either in live acoustic groups or in recorded music with drums and electric bass.



We are not going to be authentic as none of us are Cajun or fromn Louisiana, and the accordion player plays a keyboard accoridon, not a diatonic button box. I'm of French-Canadian heritage and speak French but to call me a singer would be a stretch.

All the same; we're trying to play acoustically and sound as authentic as possible so though I'll only be able to tell when we first get together, but I'm wondering if I should stick with basic 1-5 bass to start, or try to impress the others with my advanced walking bass technique. lol

 

[Anne Millington]

I would do 1-5 till I couldn't stand it any more, then start walkin'!
Sounds fun. And you can call out incomprehensible French words at strategic locations!

 

[Ed S]

I know nothing about Cajun, but the two on the right are from Foghorn String Band - a pretty incredible group of talent IMO.

 

[MichelD]

The bass player in Foghorn aso plays Cajun music with others.

 

[Ed S]

Is there any bassist who consistently looks happier playing than she does?

 

[DrCannabass]

I think of string bass in Cajun music as being a tuned percussion instrument, you are the drums in most cases (if you add a drum set you're basically going Zydeco at that point and you should pick up the electric bass to play some flashy pentatonic lead-bass lines). So it becomes real important to keep it simple especially if playing for dancers. In that Cajun Country Revival video, Nadine's walking line sounds too busy to my ear IF she were playing for dancers (which she is not), but helps keep the momentum.

 

[MichelD]

I think of string bass in Cajun music as being a tuned percussion instrument, you are the drums in most cases (if you add a drum set you're basically going Zydeco at that point and you should pick up the electric bass to play some flashy pentatonic lead-bass lines). So it becomes real important to keep it simple especially if playing for dancers. In that Cajun Country Revival video, Nadine's walking line sounds too busy to my ear IF she were playing for dancers (which she is not), but helps keep the momentum.

I like what she is doing there, and it is something I do a lot (maybe too much) but at the same time I agree with you. I'll have to be the tuned bass drum. As I said in the original post, the washboard player is a veteran drummer but he wants this to be an acoustic band and wants no drums.

 

[Ed S]

Come to think of it, one guy I used to meet up with used to occasionally call Jambalaya. Does that count? Maybe I AM a cajun bassist!

 

[Steven Ayres]

one guy I used to meet up with used to occasionally call Jambalaya. Does that count?

Sure! It's cultural reappropriation and a crowd-pleaser.

 

[MichelD]

Sure! It's cultural reappropriation and a crowd-pleaser.

We could always play the original song it is based on:

 

[Ed S]

I thought THIS was the definitive version.

 

[Keith Rawlings]

Slap bass would be nice too. I love Zydeco with slap bass.

 

[Stewie]

I had no idea that Bruce Springsteen played Cajun fiddle when he was young

 

[BobKay]

I thought THIS was the definitive version.

 

[AGCurry]

We could always play the original song it is based on:

That is cool! The walking bass is odd ... I assume it's bass guitar (which would postdate Hank's Jambalaya), but it has a funny kind-of-wind-instrument sound to it.

 

[MichelD]

That is cool! The walking bass is odd ... I assume it's bass guitar (which would postdate Hank's Jambalaya), but it has a funny kind-of-wind-instrument sound to it.

This is the 1951 original that Hank borrowed the melody from.