Bass Melody?

[digger]

I've long been a finger-picker (albeit not a very proficient one) - ragtime, blues, thumb-picking, Travis picking - and consequently when I come to solo guitar playing I like to hear a constant(ish) bass line. Taking my lead from postings in this part of the forum I've had a go at creating a few solo arrangements myself (Georgia and Autumn Leaves so far) but the results are very different to what I'm hearing here.

Here's my Georgia:
SoundClick artist: Tonedeaf Del - page with MP3 music downloads

I've just bought the Barry Galbraith volume 1 book and will be working through the arrangements - already learning a lot just from the first one - but it's massively different from what I hear inside my head. Too many years listening to that ragtime guitar I reckon

Anyway, I guess the question is, is there a third stream - maybe bass melody? I know Martin Taylor is one player who keeps the melody and the bass line going pretty much most of the time (as well as all those pesky chords) ... so maybe the question should be: is finger style jazz different to chord melody? I also like the swing fingerstyle players - Duck Baker, Ton Van Bergeyk, Guy Van Duser, Pat Donahue... heh, perhaps I'm just in the wrong forum!

Anyway, keep up the good work. I don't post often but I read the forum daily.

Kind regards,
Derek

[bako]

It sounds more like guitar ragtime blues style.

I would suggest checking out some of the stride pianists who played a 2 feel bass note---chord kind of thing.
It is very pianistic, ten fingered style but I feel it will point in a direction you might enjoy.

Here's a few to check out.

James P. Johnson
Willie "The Lion" Smith
Mary Lou Williams
James Booker
Fats Waller
Art Tatum
Dick Hyman
Thelonious Monk
Jaki Byard

The contemporary style of playing in a band is a very different thing, much less busy, but for solo playing,
you are free to fill the space as you choose.

[Creety22]

It probably depends on the difficulty and type of piece and how involved it is in relation to the player’s skill level.

Most of the time I work on all parts at the same time as it goes faster and fingering and chord position requirements are immediately apparent.

Usually there is no difficulty playing a melody line that would require working on it separately. You just need to know what the melody line is and mentally separate it out from the rest of the notes (though some guitar centric pieces have very little in the way of a melody line to separate out).

With the base line (and harmony) by itself it is generally the same thing. Like with the melody line, with certain base lines (such as a walking base) you need to be able to hear it in your head. That may require working on it separately to cement the sound in your head.

In some pieces timing issues (say syncopation or less often polyrhythms) are initially more easily dealt with by separating things out. Say you have a steady bass line with a syncopated melody and/or harmony over it. It might go faster to get the base line down pat first before tacking the rest on top of it to make sure your timing is correct.