Trio of vocals - guitar - drums: how to play?

[RG1077XL]

Hey there,

recently I formed a new band with two friends of mine and we seemingly gravitate towards soul and maybe funk tunes (or soulifying/funkifying random pop hits). We were planning to get bass and keys to join, but it's not easy find someone at the moment... which leaves me as the only harmonic and melodic instrument with a lot of space and a lot of ground to cover. You Are The Sunshine by SW for example: anything I play, say standard funk comping, sounds way too empty, I'm like "Well, a bass surely would sound great here".

I come from a rock context but practiced jazz improvisation and jazz harmony for a bit of time now. So i figured it might be a good idea to get (much) better at chord/melody-playing and use that as a compositional starting point.

Would that be promising? Are there any role models for that or would I have to invent something here Or do you have inspirational listening tips for me? It doesn't necessarily have to be with vocalists, but most I find is with a dedicated bass and doesn't help. Guitars/drums with a more mainstream-approach to jazz would be perfect. I discovered a Bill Frisell live video with a drummer for example, that was great to see how he filled that space:

Something a bit more straight forward would be great.

Thanks in advance!

[marcwhy]

George Muscatello has a great trio:

[RG1077XL]

Indeed, a great trio! Thanks for sharing!

[mr. beaumont]

Funk without bass is...well...tough.

I suppose the instinct is to fill space, but I think that's a recipe for disaster, unless you're Charlie Hunter or something. If you keep things sparse you can get away with single note lines and not having the bottom fall out.

Frisell is interesting in both how he uses space AND allows it.

[citizenk74]

Hey there,

recently I formed a new band with two friends of mine and we seemingly gravitate towards soul and maybe funk tunes (or soulifying/funkifying random pop hits). We were planning to get bass and keys to join, but it's not easy find someone at the moment... which leaves me as the only harmonic and melodic instrument with a lot of space and a lot of ground to cover. You Are The Sunshine by SW for example: anything I play, say standard funk comping, sounds way too empty, I'm like "Well, a bass surely would sound great here".

I come from a rock context but practiced jazz improvisation and jazz harmony for a bit of time now. So i figured it might be a good idea to get (much) better at chord/melody-playing and use that as a compositional starting point.

Would that be promising? Are there any role models for that or would I have to invent something here Or do you have inspirational listening tips for me? It doesn't necessarily have to be with vocalists, but most I find is with a dedicated bass and doesn't help. Guitars/drums with a more mainstream-approach to jazz would be perfect. I discovered a Bill Frisell live video with a drummer for example, that was great to see how he filled that space:

Something a bit more straight forward would be great.

Thanks in advance!

Off the top of my head, have you considered an octave down pedal? I'm using an Electro Harmonix Intelligent Harmony Machine, at the moment soley for its ability to put an octave down under any note or series of notes (note: it will also do a LOT of other things, but this is what I want ATTPT.). Not cheap, but there are other options for 8va down, up, or whatever that are more budget-friendly. A bass note under whatever you are playing on The One will add a bunch, IMHO.

[AllanAllen]

some of the ideas in this video could help you. There’s also a Cornell Dupree one on YouTube.Sorry! Something went wrong!

[delo054]

My latest album has several Guitar & Drum duo performances on it. It is challenging, but it's a lot of fun to play with the limitations that come along with the setup. Here are some of the cuts from the album: