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Playing Old Time Rock & Roll
- Thread starter Robert Spencer
- Start date
Thanks again Jim I`ll give it a go. My intention has been to divide my studies into two seperate areas.
The first using my Epiphone Jack Casady Signature to play R&R and R&B using tabs to learn. I regard it as an electric bass.
Secondly using my full bodied Hohner ACB 40 as an acoustic instrument and reading sheet music to play for church services.
With two seperate areas of study I should never have to fear boredom.
I appreciate the help you have given Take care. Bob
The first using my Epiphone Jack Casady Signature to play R&R and R&B using tabs to learn. I regard it as an electric bass.
Secondly using my full bodied Hohner ACB 40 as an acoustic instrument and reading sheet music to play for church services.
With two seperate areas of study I should never have to fear boredom.
I appreciate the help you have given Take care. Bob
Tom give me more information on 5-4-7-4-7-4 walking boogie pattern. I remember seeing those numbers together on bass tabs for Truckin by The Dead. Thanks & take care. Bob
if you focus on the sheets for both i think you will progress faster.....good luck tho' either way....
and the point is the groove. Yeah, you can learn the notes and play them, but, if you don't have the feel, the swing, and the tone, it will never sound right. I play a Lot of New Orleans music (rock & roll started in New Orleans at Cosimo's studio - get the CD collection "The Cosimo Matassa Story" a 4 disk set - now 
) , and, when I have occasion to teach the style to neophytes, the first thing I tell them is to LAY BACK!
Josephine is a perfect example- it rolls, all of Fat's stuff does. Fats was a blues player before he picked up on Professor Longhair's style and made it into his own thing. And, like a lot of New Orleans music, it swings.
You should begin by playing a simple shuffle with a metronome, until you can land on the beat all the time, then work on playing behind beat four. The next thing is the One to Five- a D to an A, bounced in a dum, - ta-dum way, still laid back. These two patterns are the basic of early rock. There are others, like A / C# / E / F#, but these are the ones you have to have down to play it with the right feel.
But get that collection and learn it. You'll be pleasantly surprised at what you hear and read from the notes. Do that, and you'll have a solid foundation for playing rock, from where it came from in the way it was played.
) , and, when I have occasion to teach the style to neophytes, the first thing I tell them is to LAY BACK! Josephine is a perfect example- it rolls, all of Fat's stuff does. Fats was a blues player before he picked up on Professor Longhair's style and made it into his own thing. And, like a lot of New Orleans music, it swings.
You should begin by playing a simple shuffle with a metronome, until you can land on the beat all the time, then work on playing behind beat four. The next thing is the One to Five- a D to an A, bounced in a dum, - ta-dum way, still laid back. These two patterns are the basic of early rock. There are others, like A / C# / E / F#, but these are the ones you have to have down to play it with the right feel.
But get that collection and learn it. You'll be pleasantly surprised at what you hear and read from the notes. Do that, and you'll have a solid foundation for playing rock, from where it came from in the way it was played.
You almost have to have a P Bass with dead strings to get it to sound right. A lot of that was recorded with either a P bass or an upright, and that dead, thumpy tone is essential. You maybe can put foam under your bridge and get close to it, but a "live" sound won't work.
Don't mean to hijack the thread but I think I've got a related concern: Although I am using my pinky, I seem to be in a very bad habit where my left hand fingers fly all over the place in between notes where I notice many better players have their fingers "hovering" in almost chord like fashion so that it appears their hands are hardly moving at all while I feel as though I look spastic with mine. Any particular exercises or techniques to help me left hand "stay home?" I use the phrase "stay home" intentionally because it reminds me of what I was taught with "home row" typing way back in the day while my bass technique totally reminds me of "hunt and peck" typing.
Bob, the pattern 5-4-7-4-7 and 7-4-7-4-5 reversed is a basic boogie walk in the key of A major...reason..a lot of old rock was done in the A-D and E chord progression. To farther understand this it could also be as 1-3-5-6-8 eight being the octave of 1 and 1 is the A note. When you move to D and the E you generally will only do 5-4-7-4 to your discretion. Go ahead and pony up and get the book I mentioned, around $15.00 new. Look it over from cover to cover then go back and start at page one. Soon you will understand what everyone is talking about and ya'll be well on your way to being a real boogie man like the rest of us. Plus this..You gotta get the feel bro ...know what I mean Vern..like swingin man.
Sinerely, Tom
Sinerely, Tom
i believe the root of all that is from the impatient style of practice we get into.....going for speed before accuracy...i can play faster than i know i should because it leads to bad habits,but being able to fly through a difficult passage is such a rush that i forget that i may be doing the notes right but still i'm doing it wrong......
DEathblade Eric wrote: The guy playing Blue Suede Shoes in your second clip is doing nothing wrong in my opinion - but he could vary it a touch more, I feel.
Pete heres another good example of needing to mix it up a bit. Take care. Bob
Pete heres another good example of needing to mix it up a bit. Take care. Bob
Tom wrote:
Bob, the pattern 5-4-7-4-7 and 7-4-7-4-5 reversed is a basic boogie walk in the key of A major.
Tom i`m straining my brain a little with this one trying to understand it beginnnig with 5.
You say in the Key of A so is this assuming there is an understood root of A then followed by E D G#D G# D G# E ? Thanks again. Bob
Bob, the pattern 5-4-7-4-7 and 7-4-7-4-5 reversed is a basic boogie walk in the key of A major.
Tom i`m straining my brain a little with this one trying to understand it beginnnig with 5.
You say in the Key of A so is this assuming there is an understood root of A then followed by E D G#D G# D G# E ? Thanks again. Bob
Hello GM2 in Co, I too had this problem when I first started and still flys out there once in a while. What I used to do was play 4 note chromatics at the 7th fret one finger for each note..say G on the D string 7th fret index finger..G# mid finger..A..ring finger..A#..pinky..When you go 1-2-3-4 keep all fingers intact on the neck ,stay in that position. sound your notes out as though you were playing.. play the A# with your pinky, lift up slightly, the remaining fingers are still on the fretboard and play the A note from the ring finger then mid finger and index..only lift your fingers off the fretboard enough to sound the note. Do that several times, now move to the A string 7th fret, do the same thing there. Now do this 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1..go back to the D string and do same. If it starts to hurt stop..rest..do it again tomorrow. Hope this helps
PS. I am by no means an instructor..just an old bass player in an old rock band trying to pass a little help.
PS. I am by no means an instructor..just an old bass player in an old rock band trying to pass a little help.
Bob I'm sorry, I'm not trying to misguide you. Sometimes we just think everyone is at the same speed and we go out of text. When holding your bass in a normal position, you look down and the top string is the largest and is E note open. Fretted at the 5th fret it is an A note, thats where the 5 comes to play. 5 being A...4 on the next string downward which is the A string fretted at the 4th fret is a C#...on the same string at the 7th fret is an E...next string down is the D string and fretted at the 4th fret is an F#... on that same string fretted at the 7th fret is an A root octave. That being 5-4-7-4-7...or A-C#- E- F#-A. Its a walking pattern somewhat fundamental in classic rock. The E note and the A octave is where the pinky comes to play. You can use your ring finger to see how it sounds but the pinky is preferred. try not to develop bad habits now because they are hard to undevelop later. Sinecerly, TOM Goodnight
Let's put it into pictures & sound:
I = Index Finger
M= Middle Finger
P = Pinky
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There's a variant of this that (to my mind) needs to be played with the ring finger & not the pinky. I'll post that one up a bit later - it's way too early here to be annoying the neighbours on their day off
Pete.
I = Index Finger
M= Middle Finger
P = Pinky
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[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
There's a variant of this that (to my mind) needs to be played with the ring finger & not the pinky. I'll post that one up a bit later - it's way too early here to be annoying the neighbours on their day off
Pete.
When I played this (before Petes post ) it turned out to be the R 3 5 6 8 we have been talking about and comparing throughout this thread. Just different ways of saying the thing. Kind of like saying twenty ten or two thousand ten.I think.
Either way I`m still working on it annd it continues to improve.
A funny thing I have noticed is that by the end of a three hour session I am feeling pretty good about what I have been able to accomplish BUT by the beginning of the next session it`s as if I had never been able ot do it at all for awhile then slowly it begins to return. Funny how that works.
Heres yet another two variations of it:
I think the Blue Suede Shoes cover I posted yesterday has been the best so far. Its late here. Take care. Bob
Either way I`m still working on it annd it continues to improve.
A funny thing I have noticed is that by the end of a three hour session I am feeling pretty good about what I have been able to accomplish BUT by the beginning of the next session it`s as if I had never been able ot do it at all for awhile then slowly it begins to return. Funny how that works.
Heres yet another two variations of it:
I think the Blue Suede Shoes cover I posted yesterday has been the best so far. Its late here. Take care. Bob
