At a gig this Sat., I was watching/listening to the drummer's kick pedal notes and noticed my bass lines and his bass drum lines were on seperate pages. I would think we should be locked in. I tried to time my lines with his kick, but found the music would suffer. Does anyone know how these two should get along? Music is R&B, rock, nothing fancy. Thanks
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Timing a Bass line with drummer kick pedal
- Thread starter eatdrinkbass
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Rickett Customs
Commercial User
Here's a saying that was immediately instilled in me, when I heard it. 1 ear for the bass and 1 ear for the band, not to say that the bass and drums shouldn't lock, but in theory, all members of a band should be timekeepers.....In other words get tighter with the drummer, but don't lose focus with the rest of the band as a whole just for the sake of the the drummer..
If we use "oh know don't say it" Sweet Home Alabama as an example, the drummer would kick the 1 and 3 and snare the 2 and 4. The bass would also play on the 1 and 3. Is this the usual format? Might be a question for talkdrummer?
Your "Down Beats" should be in the same place as the kick drum, the "fills" can be away from the kick.
Rickett Customs
Commercial User
It can be somewhat different for R&B too, some times it's the upbeat. But then going into like say, any other ethnic music, that all depends.
- Feb 27, 2005
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If you were locking in with the kick and it didn't sound right, you might want to take time in rehearsal to clarify with the drummer what he's doing, and see if you guys need to change up the beat a bit.
I don't subscribe to the "no orphaned kick drum beats" concept, but the bass line should still make sense if it's locked in to the kick. If it doesn't, the drummer might want to rethink what he's doing...just find a diplomatic way to point it out to him.
I don't subscribe to the "no orphaned kick drum beats" concept, but the bass line should still make sense if it's locked in to the kick. If it doesn't, the drummer might want to rethink what he's doing...just find a diplomatic way to point it out to him.
