Bass Lines + Comping in duo setting

**Paul-Wegmann** · 02-26-2017, 10:04 AM

Hi Guys!
I'm working in a duo setting, with a friend of mine, and I'd like to receive suggestions, critics, and ideas to work and improve our accompaniment. It is very difficult to keep the bass walking and make chords!!

this is a video playing All of You:

thank you!

**JakeAcci** · 02-26-2017, 10:24 AM

Sounds nice. You don't have to walk bass lines just because there's no bass player!

A guitarist friend of mine used to do a lot of duos with singers and he would get a lot of gigs. He said he always had a mantra he'd say to himself "don't try to be the band."

**Richard Luther** · 02-26-2017, 04:09 PM

Peter Bernstein goes over comping in a duo on mymusicmasterclass. I can't remember if it's on part 1 or 2.

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**christianm77** · 02-26-2017, 05:43 PM

Well it's good to be able to walk bass lines through a tune ... Dave Cliff recommends it for example... But that doesn't mean you then have to do it... I really like PB's approach...

Basslines sound pretty fat through an OC3.

Will listen to your vid and comment when I get a chance :-)

**Paul-Wegmann** · 02-28-2017, 12:33 PM

Thanks guys! I'll pay more attention to Bernstein accompaniments!

I personally like to hear less notes while I'm improvising, I like more bass than compings, I feel more free to choice the notes I like... This is a little problem when we have two guitars, accostumed to play all that chords... what do you think?

**grahambop** · 02-28-2017, 03:48 PM

Originally Posted by Paul-Wegmann

Thanks guys! I'll pay more attention to Bernstein accompaniments!

I personally like to hear less notes while I'm improvising, I like more bass than compings, I feel more free to choice the notes I like... This is a little problem when we have two guitars, accostumed to play all that chords... what do you think?

well one way is for the comper to use minimal chords, e.g. just using strings 6, 4, 3. No fancy extensions or altered notes to get in the way of the soloist. Also it's easy to 'walk' these chords up and down. I think this is one of the approaches Peter Bernstein uses.

**Sam Sherry** · 02-28-2017, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by JakeAcci

Sounds nice. You don't have to walk bass lines just because there's no bass player!

Exactly.

Not only that but there is The Lesson Of The Bill Evans Trio: "If everybody knows where 'one' is nobody needs to play 'one.' "

Originally Posted by JakeAcci

A guitarist friend of mine used to do a lot of duos with singers and he would get a lot of gigs. He said he always had a mantra he'd say to himself "don't try to be the band."

The NYC bassist Ed Fuqua expresses it like this: "Play with the band on the stand with you, not with the band in your head."

If you're trying to fill every gap you're filling in some very musical gaps.

If you play in a duo as if you were in a quintet, you're stepping on a very musical duo.

**christianm77** · 02-28-2017, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by Sam Sherry

Not only that but there is The Lesson Of The Bill Evans Trio: "If everybody knows where 'one' is nobody needs to play 'one.' "

If

If

That's quite a big if

Interestingly, Peter Bernstein, mentioned above and one of my favourite accompanists on guitar, is a big fan of playing one.

**christianm77** · 02-28-2017, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by grahambop

well one way is for the comper to use minimal chords, e.g. just using strings 6, 4, 3. No fancy extensions or altered notes to get in the way of the soloist. Also it's easy to 'walk' these chords up and down. I think this is one of the approaches Peter Bernstein uses.

Yeah I'm not into extensions when I'm being accompanied - I would imagine others might feel the same.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 02-28-2017, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by christianm77

Basslines sound pretty fat through an OC3.

Is that the octave pedal that lets you drop low notes an octave but lets high notes pass through unaltered. (That would be ideal!)

**christianm77** · 02-28-2017, 06:08 PM

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

Is that the octave pedal that lets you drop low notes an octave but lets high notes pass through unaltered. (That would be ideal!)

Yes. I'm using this pedal a fair bit atm actually.

**Thumpalumpacus** · 02-28-2017, 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by grahambop

well one way is for the comper to use minimal chords, e.g. just using strings 6, 4, 3. No fancy extensions or altered notes to get in the way of the soloist. Also it's easy to 'walk' these chords up and down. I think this is one of the approaches Peter Bernstein uses.

Yep -- when I'm playing fingerstyle and walking a bassline, I stick to chord fragments: 3, 7. and the occasional extension.

Joe Pass I ain't.

**ronjazz** · 02-28-2017, 10:38 PM

7-string makes it ridiculously easy. Because of the fat bass range, very little has to be voiced above, leaving plenty of room for the soloist, but still creating harmonic motion.

**Jonah** · 03-01-2017, 09:00 AM

Really.. check Peter Bernstein comping in duo settings

He does not so much bass or chords... more of a harmonic rythm

PS
Personally I love strumming comping more than walking bass

**christianm77** · 03-01-2017, 09:22 AM

Originally Posted by Jonah

Really.. check Peter Bernstein comping in duo settings

He does not so much bass or chords... more of a harmonic rythm

PS
Personally I love strumming comping more than walking bass

Yeah me too actually. I used to do the walking bass thing a lot more.

It's possible to play strumming with walking bass lines by using the Barry Harris style block chords - I do this just be knocking out the voice on the A string.

**Jonah** · 03-01-2017, 10:22 AM

I used to do the walking bass thing a lot more.

I think we all do that... (I felt like I liked it for a while, and besides it's a good skill anyway, teaches you to see amd lead bass line, to lead harmony off the bass...

but that everybody does it is also a part of it...

this walking bass+chords fingerstyle often sound too schoolish... sounds often like some 'average jazzguitar comping'...
like excersises from a method book.
Maybe because they are really in the method books, this type of comping is methodical in itself, easier to organize, to transfer into printed method form... and it often makes it a bit mechanical. Of course depends on the player... but even good players with that ofetn sound like experienced jazz college teachers.

**mr. beaumont** · 03-01-2017, 10:40 AM

Walking bass, even in a duo, can be a slippery slope...do it too much and the bottom falls out when you don't!

Always remember space is your friend in a duo. And variation...don't do any one thing "too much."

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 03-01-2017, 11:27 AM

Idea: play the A and B sections differently. Do a bass line in the B section, for example. It won't overstay its welcome but it will still sound like "I meant to do that" when you go back to the A section and stop it.

**Paul-Wegmann** · 03-01-2017, 01:18 PM

thank you very much!

I've read carefully every single idea posted here!

thank you!!

**gersdal** · 03-01-2017, 02:59 PM

Great comping. I myself prefer to start more loose and without the walking bass and throw that inn a little later to build up the comp.

**whiskey02** · 03-02-2017, 03:39 PM

Perhaps you've seen this, posting anyway just in case;

**DaveF** · 03-02-2017, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Walking bass, even in a duo, can be a slippery slope...do it too much and the bottom falls out when you don't!

Always remember space is your friend in a duo. And variation...don't do any one thing "too much."

Smart advice, thanks.