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Double Bass Why do guys with chops insist on playing so damn fast?

#45
OK, I guess we're going to get into the bpm thing a little bit, for the sake of clarification.

Are we counting this music as 4/4? I do. The bass plays on beats 1 and 3 of the bar; mando chops on 2 and 4. I assume that the "bass beats" referred to are those notes on beats 1 and 3.

So, if every second beat is coming around 185 to 200 times per minute, every beat is coming by at twice that rate, not four times that rate. Am I missing something about terminology here?

Still, that gets you up into the nigh-on 400 bpm mark. I wild-ass guessed 300 for "White House" because I'm using my jazz calibration these days, not really having thought a lot about 'grass in a couple of years. 300 is really ripping for a jazz tune but I remember working out that a lot of bluegrass tempos are up from that. Sounds like about 400 is that high end.
 
#46
Damon Rondeau said:
OK, I guess we're going to get into the bpm thing a little bit, for the sake of clarification.

Are we counting this music as 4/4? I do. The bass plays on beats 1 and 3 of the bar; mando chops on 2 and 4. I assume that the "bass beats" referred to are those notes on beats 1 and 3.

So, if every second beat is coming around 185 to 200 times per minute, every beat is coming by at twice that rate, not four times that rate. Am I missing something about terminology here?

Still, that gets you up into the nigh-on 400 bpm mark. I wild-ass guessed 300 for "White House" because I'm using my jazz calibration these days, not really having thought a lot about 'grass in a couple of years. 300 is really ripping for a jazz tune but I remember working out that a lot of bluegrass tempos are up from that. Sounds like about 400 is that high end.
Click to expand...

This is something that has troubled me too. Guys I play with talk about 180bpm being lightning fast, but for me, coming from jazz, that's a medium tempo. All I can think is that, like you suggested, they are counting these tunes in cut time, aka 2/4, so 180 bluegrass beats = 360 jazz beats. I'm assuming...
 
#47
Damon Rondeau said:
OK, I guess we're going to get into the bpm thing a little bit, for the sake of clarification.

Are we counting this music as 4/4? I do. The bass plays on beats 1 and 3 of the bar; mando chops on 2 and 4. I assume that the "bass beats" referred to are those notes on beats 1 and 3.

So, if every second beat is coming around 185 to 200 times per minute, every beat is coming by at twice that rate, not four times that rate. Am I missing something about terminology here?

Still, that gets you up into the nigh-on 400 bpm mark. I wild-ass guessed 300 for "White House" because I'm using my jazz calibration these days, not really having thought a lot about 'grass in a couple of years. 300 is really ripping for a jazz tune but I remember working out that a lot of bluegrass tempos are up from that. Sounds like about 400 is that high end.
Click to expand...

You've got it Damon. The bass beats would be on 1 & 3, leaving the mandolin chop to be on the 2 & 4. At that rate the tempo Aaron was playing was 392 counting the 1,2,3,4.

That's getting it. I have heard bluegrass bands that pass the 400 mark. The Johnson Mountain Boys clocked in on John Henry on their "Live at the Old Schoolhouse" recording at 400. That truly was a live recording with no overdubs in front of a live audience. You can visit this Invalid Link Removed and hear it along with others. And the music is tight!
 

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