Playing Successfully In Different Styles...

[crios]

What are good resources, both online and offline, that teach how to successfully play the bass in all types of musical styles?

Here is a bulleted list of the most common musical styles in Western music:

• '50 Rock
• Hard Rock
• Alternative Rock
• Rap Metal
• Pop Rock
• (Pop) Ballad
• R&B
• Reggae
• Funk
• Jazz
• Country
• Bossa 2

Thanks!

 

[fearceol]

In my humble opinion if you can play jazz music to a reasonably high standard then you would not have much of a problem playing the other genres.

My point...if you wish to be proficient in the list above...study jazz.

 

[mambo4]

I think the above is true when it comes to figuring out what notes are possible given a set of chords. But each style comes with a distinct rhythm, and will favor certain notes over others. For example Funk or jazz will allow for chromatic notes where country or folk will be more diatonic.

John Liebman's Ultimate Bass Groves and Paul Westwood's Bass Bible both have a good variety of stylistic examples. Enough to probably fake it in those styles.

I've learned that true command of any style isn't something you just pick up after a few notated examples: you have to be willing to spend a lot of time in a deep dive : learn the tradition and origins of the style, who the innovaters of bass were, learn what the typical drumm/rhythm section patterns are, and above all listen to and learn as many songs as possible.

 

[LBS-bass]

In my humble opinion if you can play jazz music to a reasonably high standard then you would not have much of a problem playing the other genres.

My point...if you wish to be proficient in the list above...study jazz.

That is so not true. I had one of the best jazz drummers in town over here at one of my parties and he tried gamely to jam with a mostly rock crowd. Absolute train wreck because the whole role of the instrument in jazz is not the same as it is in rock. The same is true with bass.

If you want to play in many styles you have to study them. There is no shortcut. Study might mean sitting down with books, with a teacher, with tutorials, or just listening and playing along, if your ear is good. But you need to learn what makes that style work.

 

[lfmn16]

What are good resources, both online and offline, that teach how to successfully play the bass in all types of musical styles?

Here is a bulleted list of the most common musical styles in Western music:

• '50 Rock
• Hard Rock
• Alternative Rock
• Rap Metal
• Pop Rock
• (Pop) Ballad
• R&B
• Reggae
• Funk
• Jazz
• Country
• Bossa 2

Thanks!

The only way to successfully play the bass in ANY style is to practice that style. Assuming that you have the basics of playing the bass down, transcribe a lot of music and practice the style you're trying to master. No one can tell you how to authentically play country music, you have to do it through transcribing, listen and imitating. Same goes for all styles. I cringe when I hear most bass players try to play country. They think if they just play root and 5th they sound great. They don't, not even a little.

 

[JRA]

how to successfully play the bass in all types of musical styles?

- first you learn the 'alphabet'
- then you learn to make 'words'
- then you make the words into 'sentences'
- then you can make paragraphs and tell some stories

what is the alphabet? learn that first! good luck!

 

[lfmn16]

That is so not true. I had one of the best jazz drummers in town over here at one of my parties and he tried gamely to jam with a mostly rock crowd. Absolute train wreck because the whole role of the instrument in jazz is not the same as it is in rock. The same is true with bass.

Yup. I've posted this story before. Short story is when I was in college in the 70's a jazz guitar instructor from Berklee was in town and asked to play the show Grease, which was playing at the Kennedy Center. Of course they said yes, but he couldn't (or wouldn't) play the simple rock and roll style and was not asked back. I wasn't there, but one of the jazz teachers where I went to college was and apparently it was pretty sad.

On a personal note, I played with a guitarist who was a monster in the 80's hair metal style, just incredible. We tried playing the Stones Only Rock and Roll and it was a disaster.

When I went from a hair metal band to a classic country band. I listened to a ton of country, transcribed the bass lines and practiced, practiced, practiced. Yea, I could have phoned it in, but I didn't.

 

[RustyAxe]

I've learned that true command of any style isn't something you just pick up after a few notated examples: you have to be willing to spend a lot of time in a deep dive : learn the tradition and origins of the style, who the innovaters of bass were, learn what the typical drumm/rhythm section patterns are, and above all listen to and learn as many songs as possible.

If you want to play in many styles you have to study them. There is no shortcut. Study might mean sitting down with books, with a teacher, with tutorials, or just listening and playing along, if your ear is good. But you need to learn what makes that style work.

This ... if one hopes to "master" a style/genre. But it isn't too hard to fake one's way through most of those listed in OP with just a little familiarity. And then there are the cross-over styles ... eg; country with a jazzy feel, a Tex-Mex feel, a blues feel, a bluegrass feel ... still country, but all very different.

 

[bassdude51]

Most of the music on that list is all pretty much the same. With the exception of Reggae which is very tricky with unusual pauses and notes going off at down beats.

Walking Jazz Bass lines are very complex and not easily played by most of us "unlearned bass musicians. Walking lines are the ultimate in bass playing, IMHO.

Music is music. What's the chords? Pick notes from the scales.

 

[buldog5151bass]

IMO, the most important thing is to listen to feel the pulse of the music. In jazz you as close to rushing as you can be without rushing, in blues you are behind the beat without slowing down. Once you have the feel, you can fake your way through a lot.

 

[mambo4]

Most of the music on that list is all pretty much the same

The ability to distinguish what makes a style unique is probably necessary to convincingly perform that style. Dismissing them as 'pretty much the same' will likely lead to inauthentic results.

From what I have learned, it is the patterns of the rhythm section as a whole that distinguishes the style of most 20th century genres. It is worth learning the drum, rhythm guitar, keyboard, percussion parts to really 'get' a style.

It is the differences, not the similarities that create the unique flavor of a style.

 

[LBS-bass]

This ... if one hopes to "master" a style/genre. But it isn't too hard to fake one's way through most of those listed in OP with just a little familiarity. And then there are the cross-over styles ... eg; country with a jazzy feel, a Tex-Mex feel, a blues feel, a bluegrass feel ... still country, but all very different.

I agree that most of them cross-pollinate pretty well. But they derive from different places, in some cases. A guy who studies 50's rock styles is going to have an easier time with blues because they are both using a lot of very basic walking scales and turnarounds. But in blues you need to know that, in many cases, you'll take your cues from the intro and play as a bass line what the guitarist initially lays down.

Metal is going to be a completely different pulse with more hammering on eighth notes and little to no walking, but you'll need some massive chops to do it right because it is so much more than that. Reggae and funk both have a strong relationship to the 1 and 3 beats; most rock does not. Old country, folk, and Americana will relate more to the 50's rock but with less walking and more anchoring to the 1 and 5. And so on... You might not need to understand these relationships intellectually but you do need to play them and feel them.

 

[kevindahl]

Music is similar and evolved with language. If you want to learn French go to France or live with a Francophone family. If you want to learn another style/genre you have to immerse yourself in the music. Listen, listen and listen. There is really only so much you can retain from a book, IMHO of course.

 

[Kmonk]

In my humble opinion if you can play jazz music to a reasonably high standard then you would not have much of a problem playing the other genres.

My point...if you wish to be proficient in the list above...study jazz.

I agree and disagree with you. Jazz players typically have excellent technique, the ability to improvise and usually have a very good ear, which can make learning other genres easier. However, many jazz players I've encountered found it difficult to adjust to the "less is more" approach that is sometimes needed in other genres. As a result, they tend to overplay. I started on blues based rock and then moved to blues with walking bass lines and then moved jazz. As a result, I am more aware of when I need to play more and when I need to just sit back allow space.

 

[overit]

Play with people in those genres. Simple, yet can be scary but nothing beats real world experience.

 

[Scarey Larry]

So, going back to the OP's question. Youtube has a lot of examples of the different types. There are a lot of online resources. I have several of the books but use them more as cook books. The Lieberman mentioned above is a good resource. I suspect you actually have heard all this. It is said a lot, but focused practice is where I would go/went. Lessons never hurt and if you are already good with where ALL the notes are on the fret board, you can go into the lessons and the instructor can help you with focused practice routines. Playing with others is the goal and being familiar with the structure and timing of genres will get you a long ways. I recommend checking Youtube "Axis of Awsome Four Chord Song" video on the hit songs. I think they distill this nicely.

 

[Engle]

I’m a pretty good chameleon.
Technical ability and theory will not give you the feel you need.
I’ve seen great jazz guitarists that can’t get a rock feel, and rock guitarists that can’t play reggae.
Bass players that don’t come down heavy on the one in funk drive me CRAZY!

Don’t be afraid to step into unfamiliar territory, but be prepared to listen and learn. Also delve into the roots of any genre rather than just listening to the current crop of players.

 

[frankie5string]

Getting your reading up to speed so you can go through most Broadway productions is a good way to learn many styles, quickly. Broadway music also tells you when to play, how loud to play, when to change, and it all can happen very fast. If you can follow, it will make playing in non-theatrical environments much easier for you.

Technical ability and feel will only get you so far - then you must rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat as much as possible. Play with as many people in as many different styles as possible, too. They will give you tips.

 

[JW56789]

(Note: I always though that though I lived in Jacksonville for 5 years, I was disappointed I was not in South Florida to absorb all the Cuban and Latin rhythms I could've learned there . . . . I already had 'southern rock' down cold before I moved to its' capitol)

I always found charts or tab or notation for various styles stiff and usually not close in that what I was reading was NOTHING like the same song I was listening to as I read along on the paper.

For me, the best way, and with no other substitute that worked for me, was to listen to a given music a lot over a fairly long stretch of time. It's hard to infer from notation that a lot of reggae is on the 1 and 3, nor that a lot of funk is from the one. Nothing to infer just how many low D's and C's are common in country music . . . . . and black gospel. Forget notation for slap. Listening I would form a picture in my head, and develop a context, an overall sense of what went and what didn't. This was the best and only way for me.

The danger is that it's amazing how many moves from one thing work brilliantly in another thing; what separates the men from the boys is knowing 'when to say when'. 'Overplaying' to me is often not so much machine-gunning loads of notes as it is putting something cool . . . . in the wrong place:

When I came to Nashville in the 90's, we had a lot of new arrivals from the coasts. Often wonderful players, but had not learned the framework, the collective knowledge of country music, and you'd hear some screwy juxtapositions of great licks . . . . dropped into unfortunate places, especially on cover situations that saw traditional, fiddle + steel song lists.

On the other hand, I knew a fabulous slap player who could do a letter-perfect slap rendition of Squire's part under 'Roundabout', and it absolutely fit: No funk inflections or Bootsy-isms, just played perfectly as that tone was a great substitute for Squire's tone on that recording. He could have easily sounded like Bootsy playing 'at it', but knew that wouldn't work. He had the understanding of English rock, and his ears and experience and judgement told him what was right.

And I found that if I did my homework and shot for that level of judgement, I could operate in this style or that style, as I'd spent time to learn the language by listening.

 

[AGCurry]

Here is a bulleted list of the most common musical styles in Western music:

• '50 Rock
• Hard Rock
• Alternative Rock
• Rap Metal
• Pop Rock
• (Pop) Ballad
• R&B
• Reggae
• Funk
• Jazz
• Country
• Bossa 2

Thanks!

I don't see "Blues" on this list. Nor do I see "Folk" or "Ragtime" or any kind of "European."

Others have made the absolutely correct suggestion that immersion is the key to learning any musical style.

I would go a step further and suggest that a journey through musical history is in order.

To "get" Fifties rock and roll, one must delve into blues, swing, country AND western, earlier pop music, and even a little bluegrass.

To "get" Reggae, one must delve into rhythm and blues as well as Latin music.

To "get" Funk, one must study rock, rhythm and blues from the Sixties, and Latin.

And studies of each of these will draw you even further into history of their components.

In general, each of the categories you listed is a result of cross-breeding among other, usually earlier, forms. In order to play authentically in any style, you must really be conversant with its predecessors.