Roots and fiths

[juggahnaught]

This should be fairly obvious by now, but there's no real equivalent term in English for this specific bassline with this specific meter and rhythm.

The 4/4 root-fifth pattern on the 1 and 3 is common in some music - like polka and klezmer. However, variations - rhythmic or melodic - are probably more common (and more interesting). Bossa Nova falls into this category, as the core rhythms there are the clave and the tumbao. Bossa would lose its feel if it were just squarely played on the 1 and 3 (basslines usually make use of the leading 16th notes to emphasize the tumbao feel). Cumbia also usually has a variant of this idea in its basslines, but the fifth is usually played on the fourth beat of the measure while there's a leading tone on the third beat (often the third, not always).

Some basslines have the root-fifth, but they're in a 6/8 time and have more of a waltz feel (think Mariachi music), and it's not quite the same thing.

The "gear bass" thing does makes sense as a mental image, though. It does kind of have that "pedaling a bicycle" up-and-down feel and cadence to it. I guess that's where the Swedish and the German word come from?

 

[onestone]

"In two", "half time feel", or sometimes a "big two feel", and if it's a cheese gig, "the businessman's bounce"

The businessman's bounce

 

[onestone]

Where I live, we call it, "Branson."

Do you know why?

 

[JW56789]

Don'tcha be chasin' no dragons around here.

But LB, it's perfection and grace.

 

[MVE]

After reading this thread, I think it would be great for someone to put together a list of common intervals and rhythm patterns that are considered stereotypes for specific genres.
Im sure one of the method books must have something like that, but we could use one here on TB in the “technique” stickies.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Växelbas




Here is how Google translated the description of vaxelbas:

bass line on the basic tone and quintet of a chord. walking bass. moving, walking bass voices built on chord tones and keynotes and mainly played at even quarters.

 

[Papageno]

In France, playing root-5th on 1 & 3 on bass is frequently called "la pompe" (i.e., "the pump"), especially in the context of gipsy jazz (with comping guitars accenting 2 & 4 as a substitute for the drummer's high-hat).

 

[Whousedtoplay]

P.S. I wonder WHY such a ... question about vaxelbas has created so many responses.

 

[g-dude]

Do you know why?

Much like the origins of the name San Diego, the reason it was named Brandon have been lost to time.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

the reason it was named Brandon

WHAT???
NO POLITICS, PLEASE!

P.S. You can say, write Branson as much as you want!

 

[eJake]

In English, we refer to that as: gigging

 

[g-dude]

WHAT???
NO POLITICS, PLEASE!

P.S. You can say, write Branson as much as you want!

Ack. Honest mistake.

 

[mambo4]

Bossa Nova falls into this category, as the core rhythms there are the clave and the tumbao.

apologies for being the "actually" guy, but actually...

The Cuban Clave and tumbao is only a distant cousin of Brazilian Bossa Nova.
The bass rhythm in Bossa Nova inherits from the samba drum pattern
and a Brazilian clave is slightly different
(and of course their grandmother is West African...)

 

[dreamadream99]

P.S. I wonder WHY such a ... question about vaxelbas has created so many guesses.

There. I fixed it for you.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

There. I fixed it for you.

And I support your editing!
LOL.

 

[juggahnaught]

apologies for being the "actually" guy, but actually...

The Cuban Clave and tumbao is only a distant cousin of Brazilian Bossa Nova.
The bass rhythm in Bossa Nova inherits from the samba drum pattern
and a Brazilian clave is slightly different
(and of course their grandmother is West African...)

Yeah, fair enough. The bossa clave is indeed different than, say, the son clave, but it's still a clave that can be felt in 2-3 or 3-2.

I remember that in samba, there's a surdo that keeps the main beat, and everything layers on top of that. I thought that the word "tumbao" was descriptive of a core rhythm, not just a specific Cuban rhythm (in the same way that the word "clave" actually means "key" and can be used to describe a number of rhythms, but always describes a core concept). Might have been wrong about that, I'll have to do more reading.