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Switching to Country?!
- Thread starter Jimmy4string
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- country
I'm with some great guys and we do the outlaw country thing mixed with southern rock. Based on transition from rock covers and original stuff in the previous 2 bands, it's nice to get more audience boost you should expect from good country. Ya gotta mind your timing a lot more with country, but it's worth it.
The best reason to move from rock to country is most country audiences aren't ageist, you can gig until you're in a wheelchair. No "dad band" bias. Another plus for country is you can also do acoustic gigs in smaller venues and it still works.
You should definitely visit your local country venues and see what sort of acts they have and what the audience demographic looks like. Lots of younger folks who are into contemporary country don't like classic country and vice versa for older folks.
I've spent many years playing classic country and really love the clever songwriting. As a bassist you have to love the style to play it because it really calls for minimalism. If thumping root-five for four hours will put you in a straitjacket, stay away.
You should definitely visit your local country venues and see what sort of acts they have and what the audience demographic looks like. Lots of younger folks who are into contemporary country don't like classic country and vice versa for older folks.
I've spent many years playing classic country and really love the clever songwriting. As a bassist you have to love the style to play it because it really calls for minimalism. If thumping root-five for four hours will put you in a straitjacket, stay away.
Agreed with the classic country being very root five oriented. The more modern stuff is approximately 500x more fun to play - but a good mix of old and new is a great approach.
Country is pretty popular here in NC. I have several friends who have switched from original hard rock or metal to country. Most of which are lead guitar players who want to play solos and stuff as heavier music has changed over the years from boring rhythm guitar parts and epic leads to much more complicated rhythm guitar parts and often minimal or no leads at all. (Check out current big metal albums from bands like Architects for example if you don’t know what I mean, it’s almost like heavier bands got sick of playing to empty venues and decided to go back to the nu metal mentality with less lead Guitar but wanting to keep the music fun to play made rhythm guitar parts more interesting than nu metal) I have a friend that currently plays bass in both an originals hard rock band and a country band. He seems to enjoy it. I’ve personally avoided it because of the crowds it attracts though. The problem for me is in my area is while huge national acts like Tim McGraw for example draw a nice mix of people to shows local country bands tend to only draw out the white trash drunks. The middle class folks don’t support local country bands around here. So the local country bands crowds are having the same problems as some metal bands in that they mainly draw people who actually make the attractive females not want to go to the shows. And not that I play to see hot woman at shows, I’m happily married but we all know the more attractive woman you have at your shows your draw at shows will be much better. May be different in different areas though.
Could lead to watchin nascar racin....just saying 
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Liking this thread. Ive been thinking of this, but I think Ill have to travel far out of the city up here in Montreal. Still I have to look into this.
Which one is you?
On a serious note if you play country you best leave your solos in the truck. I've been playing Country off and on since the 90's and enjoy the heck out of it. More than anything else the groove is King and a simple Groove it is for most of the stuff. You can kick back, play your bass and enjoy the music and the view. Some of it is more complex than you'll expect and a good guitar player plays clean and crisp. A Precision and torte are not mandatory but...............
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Modern country crowds include drunk chicks in short skirts dancing. Crowds are usually pretty receptive. It's fun.
Here is my "Country Rock Band". I enjoy the hell out of it. I have played many different types of music but country has by far made me the most money and gave me the most fun times so for me its a No Brainer! We get so busy we have to schedule time off.
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You forgot "Yea the Texaco, Coors, Maytag, Ms. Butterworth, Budweiser, Hooters Chevy wuz strong up till that sumbitch #07 put us in the wall
I did the opposite. Played country for a few years in Califonia, moved to AZ in '77 and got into blues, then classic rock. The country patrons in the '70s had a blast. All ages and all fun but cowboys like to fight. It's not a fight to death like the biker events it's more like fighting brothers.
I have a blast playing in a good old Honky Tonk with a classic country/swing band. Jimmy, give it a try.
Mark
Mark
Timely topic. Third week into a newly formed “Real Country” band. That’s how it was advertised anyway. Played rock and or blues rock since the early seventies. Really enjoying playing old school country bass.
At times it surprises me how a simple IV groove is not as straight forward as one might think. Especially a slower groove. You really need to lock in.
At times it surprises me how a simple IV groove is not as straight forward as one might think. Especially a slower groove. You really need to lock in.
This is exactly what I want to do. This or Current/classic top 40. But no everyone I jam with wants to do deep album cuts or stuff that went over well pre 2000.
