Boom-nothing-nothing sounds weird

December 9, 2010 8:13 AM

When playing the bass for bluegrass and old-time waltzes, what do you do on the off-beats (the 2 and the 3)?

I'm trying to teach myself upright bass. When playing a waltz on the guitar, I do "boom-brush-brush" with the "boom" on the root note of the chord. If there are two measures in a row, I alternate the V for the "boom." "Brush-brush" isn't possible on the bass. For example, in "Streamlined Cannonball" there are four measures on the I before it goes to the IV, and I have no idea what to do on the 2 and the 3 of the waltz measure, so there are stretches of bass silence. I suppose I could just walk around, but I'm not that skilled and I usually end up out of the key and have trouble landing on the I of the next chord in time.

When I ask other bass players what they do, they usually look puzzled and say "I don't know what I do."

(Bonus points if anyone can recommend simple, free, upright bass tutorials online, hopefully done in very short lessons. (I'm minding a baby while playing.))

posted by pipti to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (7 answers total)

It's OK to leave space for the other players.

A professional bass player once told me: "Space doesn't make mistakes."

Best bass advice ever.
posted by Aquaman at 8:25 AM on December 9, 2010 [5 favorites]

When playing a waltz on the guitar, I do "boom-brush-brush" with the "boom" on the root note of the chord. If there are two measures in a row, I alternate the V for the "boom."

This will work on the bass too. That is, you'll still just be playing one note per bar, but "I-rest-rest, V-rest-rest, I-rest-rest, V-rest-rest" is sometimes a nice change from sitting on the I for umpteen bars running.

I suppose I could just walk around, but I'm not that skilled and I usually end up out of the key and have trouble landing on the I of the next chord in time.

The thing is that old-time is a lot more cliché-friendly than jazz. You don't need to be able to improvise a new! and! original! walking bassline. You just need a handful of moves that you can draw from, and you're free to repeat those moves over and over as you walk from chord to chord.

So from one bar to the next you can

1. Walk from the I down to the V or back down.
2. Walk from the I up to the IV or back down.
3. Walk from the I down to the relative minor with a repeated note ("I-I-vii, vi-rest-rest") or a pause ("I-rest-vii, vi-rest-rest").
4. Walk from the relative minor down to the IV with a repeated note or a pause.

With those four moves and the alternating bass thing you already do on the low strings of the guitar, you can put together a nice bassline for most old-time waltzes.

(All that said — listen to Aquaman.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:35 AM on December 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

I don't play upright (only bass guitar), but I agree with Aquaman here. You don't need to play all the time. But if it's an especially slow waltz, and you really want a little more bottom end, play the V on the 3rd beat (maybe with the I as a grace note leading into it).

I       (I) V
1 and 2 and 3 and

Or if you're going to play the V in the next measure, play the I again on 3. But really, less is more.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:37 AM on December 9, 2010

You can do LOW-high-high for the waltz (usually on the fifth of the chord), which isn't the most exciting waltz pattern ever, but works fine and sounds right. Make the high notes softer.

On bluegrass I often bang lightly on my strings on the 2 and 4 -- NOTE (slap) NOTE (slap) -- if that's appropriate to the song. To give a sort of BOOM-chick sensation in the bass line. Depends what the drummer's doing, though. A lot of the time it's just walking the line.

The only way to get better at walking is to do it ... especially as a beginner, just walk TOWARDS the "I" of the next chord. You can do three noodly measures where you start on the I of the chord each time and then play random notes, then in the fourth walk towards the I of the next chord. Over time you'll start to hear what works and what doesn't, but as long as you land on the I of the chord nothing sounds too irredeemably awful. If you panic and get lost, you can always just play the I over and over until you feel like you can walk again.

Like imagine if you've got four bars of D, then a G: D-F-A-F, D-C-Bflat-A, D-D#-E-D#, D-E-F-F#, G. That third bar will probably sound bizarre, but you won't know unless you try it. (And to be honest, I have NO IDEA what notes I play when I walk the line ... I've been doing it so long I just DO it, I don't think about it! But on reflection, when I have one chord repeated for several bars, I do often go up in one measure (or for two measures), and then down for the next measure (or two measures). Gives it some definition and movement.

Even if you end up waaaaaaay off, just make sure you hit the "I" of the next chord ... sometimes it even sounds like you're adding harmonic tension on purpose and then resolving it when you hit the next chord appropriately.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:42 AM on December 9, 2010

(Oh, are we talking only waltz patterns? Well, the idea still holds, just make it 3 beats for the walking instead of 4.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:44 AM on December 9, 2010

"Boom-nothing-nothing" is not the same as "Boom-(sustain)". Let the notes ring for those counts in a waltz. In traditional bluegrass, play your root-fifth (or what have you) and don't muck with it too much. Otherwise you'll get dirty looks from the rest of the band. In trad bluegrass, everyone has a right place to be. For freer grass forms, you can get downright jazzy.

Best practice: listen to lots of music. What do they do?
posted by skypieces at 11:39 AM on December 9, 2010

I like a bass to lead softly from the third beat into the downbeat. The great guitarrón players of conjunto always do that.
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:32 PM on December 9, 2010