Exploring the options for accompanying an acoustic guitar on bass
In this monthās column, I would like to consider
the role of the bass in acoustic guitar music. Iāve
played bass in living room jams for quite a few
years and done a lot of acoustic gigs on upright,
electric, and even a tiny Guild Ashbory rubber-stringed bass. But when a demo recording session came up recently with a singer-songwriter
playing acoustic guitar, I was puzzled about
what kind of bass would be a good fit.
Right off, I ruled out upright bass, since the
feel was somewhat rock-oriented. Over the
course of our rehearsals and recordings, I tried
fretless electric, 5-string electric with roundwound strings, and an early ā70s Jazz bass
with Fender flatwounds. Here are some of
my thoughts about blending various kinds of
basses with acoustic guitar music.
Electric Bass with Roundwound Strings
This is what most bass players use, so Iāll
start here. A conventional 4- or 5-string
electric bass will sound distinct enough
from an acoustic guitar that it will usually fit
in, but the most important consideration is
whether the tonal spectrum of the bass sits
well with the guitar.
One album illustrating this is Charlie
Musselwhiteās Sanctuary, an album with an
acoustic, rootsy feel to it, along with thick
vocals by the Blind Boys of Alabama. I was
quite surprised to hear a very modern electric
bass sound with zingy, growling roundwound
strings placed forward in the mix.
To my ear, it would have made more sense to
avoid featuring the bass in this setting, especially considering some mid-focused string
slides that brought out the roundwound sound
even more. But this might be a good choice to
add a different flavor to an acoustic track.
Going Toothless
When it comes to toothlessāer, fretlessābass
in acoustic settings, two players stand out in
my mind. The first would be Jaco Pastorius
and his collaborations with Joni Mitchell on
recordings such as Hejira and Don Juanās
Reckless Daughter. In both albums, the sparse
mix made his flanged/chorused melodic playing part of the soundscape. If you are successful in bringing this style to acoustic music,
be careful to play in tune, while avoiding the
crutch of glissing into every note.
A second fretless bass player, Freebo, took a
more subtle approach to incorporating fret-
less bass into acoustic-oriented guitar music
in his work on early Bonnie Raitt recordings.
There, the fretless bass gave him a rounded
attack and expressiveness while playing conventional blues bass lines. Flatwound strings
added additional roundness and trimmed the
note sustain to help articulate his playing,
which leads us to our next topic.
Frets But Flats
Another way of fitting electric bass into acoustic music is to use a conventional fretted bass
along with flatwound strings. Flats are going
to emphasize the body of the note, removing
some of the fret sound. Play up closer to the
neck and use more neck pickup with a gentle
attack to get a more acoustic feel.
A piece of foam tucked close to the bridge
can add further roundness. Some basses, such
as the Classic StingRay 4 I reviewed in last
monthās edition of Premier Guitar, actually have
built-in, adjustable string mutes that can be
tweaked to accomplish the same thing.
Is That a Big Guitar?
Another route that Iāve triedābut not
favoredāis the acoustic bass guitar. In some
renditions, this becomes a large-bodied acoustic, strung with phosphor bronze strings. Other
variations are more like large, chambered solid-
bodies, sometimes fretless, that still embody
the acoustic sound and feel.
As youāll quickly notice, an acoustic bass guitar
(like the Breedlove Atlas Series reviewed in
July 2009) features a lot of the characteristics
of an acoustic guitar, but an octave lower.
Youāll get the fret noise, the pick noise (if you
use a pick), and finger slides. To my ears, the
blend is a little too close, leading to the instruments becoming joined at the hip.
Okay, Letās Spank the Big Girl
The first time I heard electric guitar legend
Buddy Guyās acoustic album, Blues Singer, I
was stunned. Here was this sweet acoustic
blues coming from somebody best known for
wild solos on electric guitar. Buddy was backed
by a fat upright bass (played by Tony Garnier
of Bob Dylan fame), plus light drums played
with brushes. And man, did those instruments
fit together! The acoustic bass sat on the bottom like a foam rubber floor, while the acoustic
guitar maintained its own sonic space. There
was no real growl to its voice, just a simple,
low-pitched thud that let the guitar sit out
front with the vocals.
Wrapping Up
Hopefully this column has helped you think
about how the bass can fit in with acoustic
guitar music. Your choice of bass plays an
important role in shaping the sound of the
music youāre making. Choose roundwounds,
flatwounds, fretless, upright, or any other flavor
of bassāyouāre giving acoustic music part of
its signature feel and sound.
Dan Berkowitz is a professor by day and a bass player once the sun goes down. He plays in blues, jazz, pit and classical settings. Contact Dan at profdanb@gmail.com.
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- The Revolutionary StingRay Bass and How It Shaped Music - Premier Guitar āŗ
- Paul Bryan, SĆ©bastien ProvenƧal, Eric Deaton, Dezron Douglas - Premier Guitar āŗ
- Japanese vs. American Acoustic Guitarists - Premier Guitar āŗ
- Lloyd Baggs on Pickups, Guitars, and the AEG-1 - Premier Guitar āŗ
- Master Fingerstyle: Walden & Riversong Guitar Gems - Premier Guitar āŗ
- The Acoustic Guitar: Will It Ever Go Extinct? - Premier Guitar āŗ
- Do Your Gear Stereotypes Hold Up? - Premier Guitar āŗ
PRS Guitars launches the CE 22 Limited Edition, featuring a 22-fret, 25ā scale length, mahogany body, maple top, and vintage-inspired 58/15 LT pickups. With only 1,000 made, this model offers classic PRS aesthetics and a blend of warmth and bolt-on articulation for vintage-inspired tone and modern versatility.
PRS Guitars today announced the launch of the CE 22 Limited Edition. Only 1,000 will be made, marking the brief return of a 22-fret version of this bolt-on mainstay. The 22-fret, 25ā scale length CE 22 Limited Edition combines a mahogany body and maple top with a bolt-on maple neck. The guitar is outfitted with PRSās vintage-inspired 58/15 LT pickups, push/pull tone control, three-way toggle switch, and PRS locking tuners with wing buttons.
āThis limited-edition, 22-fret model in our CE line offers classic PRS aesthetics and a voice that blends warmth with bolt-on articulation for vintage-inspired tone and modern versatility,ā said PRS Guitars Director of Manufacturing, Paul Miles.
The original CE, with 24 frets, first appeared in stores in 1988 and offered players PRS design and quality with the added snap and response of traditional bolt-on guitars. It wasnāt until 1994 that a 22-fret version debuted, just a few months after the release of the Custom 22. Last in stores in 2008, this refreshed CE 22 Limited Edition marks the modelās return to the market.
With a unique combination of specs, the CE 22 Limited Edition is a different animal from the CE 24. These differences include the model of pickups, placement of pickups, and, of course, the number of frets. That is all while retaining the CE familyās combination of maple and mahogany, nitro finish, PRS Patented Tremolo and Phase III Locking Tuners.
The limited-edition model comes in Black Amber, Carroll Blue, Faded Blue Smokeburst, Faded Gray Black and McCarty Sunburst.
For more information, please visit prsguitars.com.
CE 22 Limited Edition | Demo | PRS Guitars - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.Our columnist practices a little acoustic channeling while communing with nature.
When playing, try to bring the resistance down to zero.
āYou are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop.ā āRumi
Iāve been listening to a controversial podcast called The Telepathy Tapes, which explores telepathy demonstrated by mostly non-verbal autistic young people. Citing rigorously controlled studies, the podcast claims that non-verbal youth with autism are able to tell exactly what their mothers, caregivers, and teachers are thinking while in another roomābe it random numbers, photos, anything ⦠10 out of 10 times in a row. The pod also shares stories where teachers and parents of these same kids relate examples of the kids knowing whatās going on in the parentsā or teachersā lives when they are apart. It reminds me of the so-called āRemote Viewingā programs the U.S. military and CIA ran from 1970 to 1995āthe chief difference being that the kids are totally accurate while the military remote viewers consistently failed.
Some of the kids describe telepathy gatherings, where anywhere from two to over a thousand autistic youth in separate locations regularly meet. They call it ātalking on the hill.ā While linked together through this telepathy, kids share information about books, movies, science, music, anything that interests them. The Telepathy Tapes suggests that this tapping into a collective consciousness could explain the savant child who sits at a piano and plays Beethoven or blues without any training or experience. The savant didnāt learn piano; the savant is tapping into something.
Most scientists stay away from anything that smells of the paranormal. In neuroscience, the prevailing view is that consciousness is a result of the brainās metabolism and interactions between neurons; it begins and ends in the brain. But I suspect for our tribe (musicians), we know that thereās way more to the world than what we can see or measure.
Years ago, I wrote a column about how musicians playing together experience paranormal events on stage. You know, that musician magic where improvising players in an open jam simultaneously hit identical triplets while not even looking at each other, or lock into super-tight, unrehearsed complementary or unison melodies. Musician ESP is a phenomenon all players experience on some level if you play long enough with the people you connect with. It defies logic, but when you experience it, you know itās not a coincidence. Itās a mindmeld without touching or trying. Thatās when music goes from formulaic to truly magical. Thatās the stuff that hits you on a deeper level, perhaps because it comes from a deeper place.
āWhen I am playing at my best, I am less about control, more about flow.ā
Iām not sure how improvisation works for you, but I suspect itās like my system. Iāve spent a lifetime learning patterns: some Iāve taken from others, some Iāve stumbled upon myself. When Iām taking a solo, much of what Iām playing is an amalgam of patterns, riffs, and melodies Iāve played many times before, but arranged together on the spot. So, does that even qualify as improv? What I try to do is step out into new territory, but thereās not a lot of terra incognita left. These riffs and patterns are the vocabulary weāre using to communicate. Authors or great orators are, for the most part, using the same words and ideas we all use. They are just really good at arranging them. Likewise, there are great musicians using the same riffs and licks we all have, they just string them together really well. But thereās a big difference between speaking a universal truth from your heart and repeating a variation of a cliche.
Pat Metheny has a song called āIt Starts When We Disappear,ā from 2021ās Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV). Over the course of 13 minutes and 48 seconds, you hear Pat and his band disappear and music takes over. I spoke to my friend and sometimes bandmate, Chris Harrah, about this, and he calls it ābringing the resistance down to zero,ā an analogy he cooked up that hints at his physics background. Chris explains it like this: āYou hear the music from something bigger, like a current through a circuit, and we (our minds, bodies, etc.) are the resistor; our goal as musicians is to get that resistance down to zero, when the music flows directly out of you. You could even say the āsource,ā aka where the music comes from, is the current. My goal is to bring the resistance down to zero, resulting in no drop in voltage (source).ā
When I am playing at my best, I am less about control, more about flow. Less about achieving, more about being. Iām not thinking, Iām not even sure Iām there. Gravity is invisible, but nobody doubts it exists. A magnetic field stretches far beyond the magnet, invisible but definitely there, like magic. Wherever you are, you are surrounded by invisible radio transmissions for phones, wi-fi, radio, television, etc. I suspect there are fields from our minds that stretch far beyond our body, reaching out. I want mine to tap into music.
Delicious, dynamic fuzz tones that touch on classic themes without aping them. Excellent quality. Super-cool and useful octave effect.
Canāt mix and match gain modes.
$349
Great Eastern FX Co. Focus Fuzz Deluxe
Adding octave, drive, and boost functions to an extraordinary fuzz yields a sum greater than its already extraordinary parts.
One should never feel petty for being a musical-instrument aesthete. You can make great music with ugly stuff, but youāre more likely to get in the mood for creation when your tools look cool. Great Eastern FXās Focus Fuzz Deluxe, an evolution of their trĆØs Ć©lĆ©gantFocus Fuzz, is the sort of kit you might conspicuously keep around a studio space just because it looks classy and at home among design treasures likeRoland Space Echoes, Teletronix LA-2As, andblonde Fender piggyback amps. But beneath the FFDās warmly glowing Hammerite enclosure dwells a multifaceted fuzz and drive that is, at turns, beastly, composed, and unique. Pretty, it turns out, is merely a bonus.
Forks in the Road
Though the Cambridge, U.K.-built FFD outwardly projects luxuriousness, it derives its ādeluxeā status from the addition of boost, overdrive, and octave functions that extend an already complex sound palette. Unfortunately, a significant part of that fuzzy heart is a Soviet-era germanium transistor that is tricky to source and limited the original Focus Fuzz production to just 250 units. For now, the Focus Fuzz Deluxe will remain a rare bird. Great Eastern founder David Greaves estimates that he has enough for 400 FFDs this time out. Hopefully, the same dogged approach to transistor sourcing that yielded this batch will lead to a second release of this gem, and on his behalf we issue this plea: āTransistor hoarders, yield your troves to David Greaves!ā
The good news is that the rare components did not go to waste on compromised craft. The FFDās circuit is executed with precision on through-hole board, with the sizable Soviet transistor in question hovering conspicuously above the works like a cross between a derby hat and B-movie flying saucer. If the guts of the FFD fail to allay doubts that youāre getting what you paid for, the lovingly designed enclosure and robust pots and switchesānot to mention the pedalās considerable heftāshould take care of whatever reticence remains.
Hydra in Flight
Just as in the original Focus Fuzz, the fuzz section in the Deluxe deftly walks an ideal path between a germanium Fuzz Faceās weight and presence, a Tone Benderās lacerating ferocity, and the focus of a Dallas Rangemaster. You donāt have to strain to hear that distillate of elements. But even if you canāt easily imagine that combination, what you will hear is a fuzz that brims with attitude without drowning in saturation. Thereās lots of dynamic headroom, youāll feel the touch responsiveness, and youāll sense the extra air that makes way for individual string detail and chord overtones. It shines with many different types of guitars and amps, too. I was very surprised at the way it rounded off the sharp edges made by a Telecaster bridge pickup and AC15-style combo while adding mass and spunk. The same amp with a Gibson SG coaxed out the Tony Iommi-meets-Rangemaster side of the fuzz. In any combination, the fuzz control itself, which boosts gain while reducing bias voltage (both in very tasteful measure) enhances the vocabulary of the guitar/amp pairing. That range of color is made greater still by the fuzzās sensitivity to guitar volume and tone attenuation and touch dynamics. Lively clean tones exist in many shades depending on your guitar volume, as do rich low-gain overdrive sounds.
The drive section is similarly dynamic, and also quite unique thanks to the always versatile focus control, which adds slight amounts of gain as well as high-mid presence. At advanced focus levels, the drive takes on a fuzzy edge with hints of Fender tweed breakup and more Black Sabbath/Rangemaster snarl. Itās delicious stuff with Fender single-coils and PAFs, and, just as with the fuzz, itās easily rendered thick and clean with a reduction in guitar volume or picking intensity. The boost, meanwhile, often feels just as lively and responsiveājust less filthyālending sparkle and mass to otherwise thin and timid combo amp sounds.
Among this wealth of treats, the octave function is a star. It works with the fuzz, drive, or boost. But unlike a lot of octave-up effects, you neednāt approach it with caution. Though it adds plenty of the buzzing, fractured, and ringing overtones that make octave effects so wild and distinct, it doesnāt strip mine low end from the signal. The extra balance makes it feel more musical under the fingers and even makes many chords sound full and detailedāa trick few octave effects can manage. With the fuzz, the results are concise, burly, and articulate single notes that lend themselves to lyrical, melodic leads and power chords. In drive-plus-octave mode, there are many hues of exploding practice-amp trash to explore. The boost and the octave may be my favorite little gem among the FFDās many jewels, though. Adding the octave to boosted signals with a generous heap of focus input yields funky, eccentric electric-sitar tones that pack a punch and are charged with character in their fleeting, flowering state.
Ā The Verdict
Itās hard to imagine adding extra footswitches to the Focus Fuzz Deluxe without sacrificing its basic elegance and proportions, and without elevating its already considerable price. Certainly, there would be real utility in the ability to mix and match all three excellent gain modes. On the other hand, the output level differences between fuzz, drive, and boost are pretty uniform, meaning quick switches on the fly will shift texture and attitude dramatically without delivering an ear-frying 30 dB boost. And though itās hard not be tantalized by sounds that might have been, from combining the fuzz and/or boost and drive circuits, the myriad tones that can be sourced by blending any one of them with the superbly executed octave effect and the varied, rangeful focus and output controls will keep any curious tone spelunker busy for ages. For most of them, I would venture, real treasure awaits.
Patterns can be viewed as boring or trite, but a little bit of creativity can turn them into bits of inspiration.
Chops: Intermediate Theory: Intermediater Lesson Overview: ⢠Learn different ways to arrange scales. ⢠Combine various sequences to create more intersting lines. ⢠Solidify your technique by practicing unusual groupings of notes. Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation. |
I want to offer some food for thought on making sequences musical. Using sequences in our playing helps develop our musicianship in various ways. It can help us tune into the fretboard, develop melodic ideas all around the neck, and further our improvisation and compositional skills. So, spending time with sequences is certainly not time wasted. Please note that I sometimes use the word ārule" in this column, this is only a pointer to keeping on track of our exploration of these concepts. The intellect is very useful, but intuition is where the creativity comes from. When in balance lots of great things can be done. Let's get stuck in!
It's simple to play a scale from bottom to top, or top to bottom, but we can develop a sequence by shuffling these notes around. In Ex. 1 we have a C Major scale (CāDāEāFāGāAāB) played in thirds followed by a sequence highlighting the diatonic triads of the major scale. By following a ārule" we can develop many different sequences. The options are endless and a little overwhelming.
Click here for Ex. 1
Lets start by simply combining an interval sequence with an arpeggio sequence. In Ex. 2, the first two beats of the first measure feature ascending thirds. This is then followed by a triad arpeggio starting from the third note on the string. The next set of thirds then starts on the āand" of beat 4. The entire sequence is a seven-note pattern that is created by combining two thirds and a triad. It gives us a nice bit of rhythmic displacement as the phrase is now starting in a different place in the measure.
Click here for Ex. 2
Ex. 3 is a descending idea in A minor that basically flips the sequence we looked at in Ex. 2. Here, we are starting with two descending thirds before the triad. I'm using pull-offs and economy picking to articulate the triads. This one works well over D minor as well if you want a D Dorian (DāEāFāGāAāBāC) flavor.
Click here for Ex. 3
You can see the effectiveness of combining different sequences and groupings of notes to create interesting runs. It's also really effective for making phrases. In Ex. 4 we take a small fragment from Ex. 3 and change the rhythm. In the sound example I repeat this a few times over some implied chords in my bass line: Am, F, and Dm. It's great to get more from one line by seeing the different chord types you can play it over.
Click here for Ex. 4
In Ex. 5 we're going to start using fourths and fifths. It starts with an ascending A minor triad (AāCāE) before leaping to the 9 (B) and then hitting a G major triad (GāBāD). A similar pattern leads into the C major triad (CāEāG). Throwing in these wider intervals alongside triads is very effective for creating a dramatic sounding runs.
Click here for Ex. 5
For our next example (Ex. 6), we will take fragments from Ex. 5 and space them out a bit. I wanted once again to show how these sequence ideas can also be helpful for developing melodic phrases. Once we have a cool sequence or fragment, all we need to do is be creative with how we play it. We can change the rhythm, harmonic context, dynamic, and much more.
Click here for Ex. 6
Before we move on, it's important to remember that we can add colorful notes to our triads. Let's begin with some seventh-chord arpeggios. Ex 7 features are diatonic seventh arpeggios in G minor (functioning as a IIm chord) to get a Dorian sound.
Click here for Ex. 7
Ex. 8 is a little gratuitous of me. It begins with an idea made of several different concepts. First, we start with an Am7 arpeggio (AāCāEāG), then descend down an A5 arpeggio. I follow that up with diatonic thirds and end with a pedal-point sequence. If that's not enough, we then take this bigger idea and fit it around a chord progression. I move it to G7, Dm7 and then I break my ārule" slightly and outline notes of a C6 arpeggio (CāEāGāA). However, it does keep the same melodic contour of the initial idea. I used my ear and fretboard to guide me. It's always healthy to have a fine balance between intellect and intuition.
Click here for Ex. 8
We dig into C harmonic minor (CāDāEbāGāAbāB-C) for Ex. 9's monster two-measure lick. It sounds evil! In composing this phrase, I kept to the basic concept of finding seventh-chord arpeggios within C harmonic minor in the 8th position. I followed my ear as well as my slowly developing intellect. However, if you look closely you can see I was following a mini chord progression through this line. We start out with a CmMaj9 arpeggio (CāEbāGāBāD) in the first beat, followed by a G7b9 arpeggio (GĀāBāDāFāAb). Here we have a very strong Im-V7 movement in C minor. I then move back to our CmMaj9 arpeggio and in the second measure we start descending down an Eb augmented triad (EbāGāB). This is then followed by more CmMaj9 goodness.
Click here for Ex. 9
Ex. 10 is now taking Ex. 9 and extending it into a cool flamenco-inspired melody. The rhythms in this were inspired by the incredible Paco De Lucia. I follow the sequence from the previous example almost exactly, but I use a bit of artistic license to repeat certain fragments to fit into a ātop line" or āhead"-style melody.
Click here for Ex. 10
My aim here isn't to give you one rule to follow but instead to encourage you to take the sequences you know and love and start getting more out of them. Enjoy and stay safe!