The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    I get a lot of pit work on bass because I read bass clef pretty well. I really enjoy it. But I'm not much of a jazz jammer on bass. I just sold my 5-string and ordered one of these bad boys.

    Any jazz guitarists being accomplished bass players?-bass-vi-jpg

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  3. #27

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    I was surprised to find out Chuck Israels (Bill Evans bass player) was a professional jazz guitarist before he switched to upright bass for a gig that came up.
    Vinnie Burke was also a guitarist before he had an injury to his hand and had to switch to bass.

    Nowadays, every guitarist in NY plays bass also. When they're really great bass players, I get kind of nervous about playing with them, wondering if they're really monster guitarists too, but when I let them play my guitar, they play like little prissy kids; playing little dainty chords, rubato. I want to rip my guitar out of their hands and say, 'Play with some balls, ya little pufter!'

  4. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by Woody Sound
    I get a lot of pit work on bass because I read bass clef pretty well. I really enjoy it. But I'm not much of a jazz jammer on bass. I just sold my 5-string and ordered one of these bad boys.

    Any jazz guitarists being accomplished bass players?-bass-vi-jpg
    There won't be pit work for a long time still, think of all the crowds at shows.
    I was doing a pretty easy show, 'Hairspray", and the bass player couldn't make it, so I played the bass part on guitar using my OC-3, and had a pisser.At some point I jammed my head off, because it was so dull just reading the notes.
    But the more intricate shows can be a problem. They had to fire a pro bass player once, because he couldn't handle all the time changes on "Les Mis". If you get lost on bass, it throws everything off. I can tell in a split second if the bass is off, and I try to help them if I'm set up near them.
    If a guitarist screws up, it's no big deal, but a bass player can cause a train wreck.

  5. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by sgcim
    I was surprised to find out Chuck Israels (Bill Evans bass player) was a professional jazz guitarist before he switched to upright bass for a gig that came up.
    Vinnie Burke was also a guitarist before he had an injury to his hand and had to switch to bass.

    Nowadays, every guitarist in NY plays bass also. When they're really great bass players, I get kind of nervous about playing with them, wondering if they're really monster guitarists too, but when I let them play my guitar, they play like little prissy kids; playing little dainty chords, rubato. I want to rip my guitar out of their hands and say, 'Play with some balls, ya little pufter!'
    I read bass clef fluently but sadly it does not improve my bass playing skills)))

    As for 'kids playing guitar' I was in that situation when I first picked a strat I began to play some jazzy noodling and the big guy around 60 years old with huge worn worker's hands took the guitar from me and just tore it apart with some bluesy licks.. I really thought he would break the strings or the neck ...
    But it worked... I think with these kind of guitars sometimes one just has to break in them so that they would really open up.

  6. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by sgcim
    There won't be pit work for a long time still, think of all the crowds at shows.
    I was doing a pretty easy show, 'Hairspray", and the bass player couldn't make it, so I played the bass part on guitar using my OC-3, and had a pisser.At some point I jammed my head off, because it was so dull just reading the notes.
    But the more intricate shows can be a problem. They had to fire a pro bass player once, because he couldn't handle all the time changes on "Les Mis". If you get lost on bass, it throws everything off. I can tell in a split second if the bass is off, and I try to help them if I'm set up near them.
    If a guitarist screws up, it's no big deal, but a bass player can cause a train wreck.
    Well, the work will eventually come back. I am psyched for the Fender Bass VI. Equally cool is that in over 50 years of playing guitar I've never owned a Fender. I guess it's about time before I can't play anymore. You are right about when the bass is off, it's bad. I did Les Mis on guitar, not too tough for me. I did Little Shop on guitar with a bass player who had a horrible time with a few of the rhythms, and it was tough.



    Last edited by Woody Sound; 12-16-2020 at 08:19 PM.

  7. #31

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    Quote Originally Posted by Woody Sound
    Well, the work will eventually come back. I am psyched for the Fender Bass VI. Equally cool is that in over 50 years of playing guitar I've never owned a Fender. I guess it's about time before I can't play anymore. You are right about when the bass is off, it's bad. I did Les Mis on guitar, not too tough for me. I did Little Shop on guitar with a bass player who had a horrible time with a few of the rhythms, and it was tough.



    Some bass players have a hard time with funk rhythms. I was playing "Ease On Down the Road" with Sister Sledge ("We Are Family"), and it just came out, so nobody knew the little funk lick intro. The bass player had to play it alone, and he couldn't get it, so he pretended he had something wrong with his amp, and started pounding it!
    The conductor started yelling at him, "Come on, man! Play the lick! Play the lick!"
    The bass player said, "My amp won't work, can you play it for me?"
    The conductor/pianist played it, and the bass player played it back perfectly.
    The guy was a great bass player, but syncopated 16th note licks can be tough to sight read.

    That six string bass reminds me of the six string banjo. I had a guy sub for me on Mame. He told me he played banjo, but he didn't tell me he had a six string banjo. Everyone in the orchestra cracked up when they saw him pull it out.

  8. #32

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    Quote Originally Posted by Woody Sound
    I just sold my 5-string and ordered one of these bad boys.

    Any jazz guitarists being accomplished bass players?-bass-vi-jpg

    big fan of the bass vi...the squier bass vi's can use a shim in the neck pocket to get proper action...also doesn't hurt to get a set of flats!...fun instruments



    cheers

  9. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sam Sherry
    Iconic Bass VI solo at 1:45
    Thanks, I never knew that was a Bass VI !

  10. #34
    Bass VI..

    Funny instrument - not sure I would get one but if I had chance I would not mind to play it

    I do not see many videos where someone would play it as a bass... mostlly they play it like a baritone guitar. In some videos they do not even pick the lowest string at all)))

  11. #35
    By the way - what do you guys use to play it practicing at home?

    i currently use soundcard I borrowed from a friend some long time ago - he does not use it - and play it directly through PC...
    But occasionally I am thinking about getting a small amp like Fender Rumble 15 or 25... but i am just not sure if it makes sense...

    I tried to plug it into small guitar amps - like Roland Cube 20 and Micro Cube I had at home... Fender Mustang I...
    It always sounded dull and muddy on low strings... through PC it is much better and cleaner articulated.
    But I am not sure taht small bass amp will be much better than small guitar amp...
    Last edited by Jonah; 12-18-2020 at 04:31 AM.

  12. #36

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jonah
    Bass VI..

    Funny instrument - not sure I would get one but if I had chance I would not mind to play it

    I do not see many videos where someone would play it as a bass... mostlly they play it like a baritone guitar. In some videos they do not even pick the lowest string at all)))
    I think the Bass VI makes for a killer bass. You can play great sounding single note bass lines, and introduce some chord stuff into your playing. I've linked to a few tunes I recorded with a Bass VI below. When I first picked it up I thought the instrument would be a little too midrangey or guitar like, but the lows and sub-bass frequencies are very present. I feel I've been getting a better bass sound with this than my traditional bass instruments.










  13. #37
    Quote Originally Posted by delo054
    I think the Bass VI makes for a killer bass. You can play great sounding single note bass lines, and introduce some chord stuff into your playing. I've linked to a few tunes I recorded with a Bass VI below. When I first picked it up I thought the instrument would be a little too midrangey or guitar like, but the lows and sub-bass frequencies are very present. I feel I've been getting a better bass sound with this than my traditional bass instruments.









    Thank you!

    Is it you playing?

    I subscribed and a bit later will listen more of your beautiful work!

  14. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jonah
    Thank you!

    Is it you playing?

    I subscribed and a bit later will listen more of your beautiful work!
    Thank you Jonah! Yes, I performed all the bass/guitar/percussion playing on the tracks in the links.

  15. #39

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jonah
    By the way - what do you guys use to play it practicing at home?

    i currently use soundcard I borrowed from a friend some long time ago - he does not use it - and play it directly through PC...
    But occasionally I am thinking about getting a small amp like Fender Rumble 15 or 25... but i am just not sure if it makes sense...
    I use a MarkBass CMD121 combo. Great sound, small and relatively light weight.

    Any jazz guitarists being accomplished bass players?-markbass-jpg

  16. #40

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    Has Bireli Lagrene been mentioned yet?

    He's taken to playing bass, very much in the style of his old friend/collaborator Jaco

    I always wonder how the guitarist in the band/orchestra he plays must feel?

    --

    When I was young, I acquired a very cheap bass for recording with my Tascam 4 track. I loved playing it, learnt an awful lot about how music works, and got a lot of paid work as a bassist

  17. #41

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    I switched from guitar to upright bass. There's a lot that is helpful about having a background in guitar especially with regards to playing more across the strings (bassists tend to play up and down one string more than you would on guitar).

    When I hear people people playing basslines on other instruments, the gaps I usually hear are:

    - Not using open strings or their equivalents: bassists use open strings a lot to facilitate shifts and it's part of the sound and tradition to do this. Ron Carter is a master of this.

    - Not using ornamentation: skips, ghost skips, triplets, and other devices. Ray Brown and Christian McBride are masters of this.

    - Using too many scalar/chord tones instead of chromatic leading notes.

    Upright bass is a very physical instrument and a lot of the sound and tradition comes from getting around the bass and also the limitations of the instrument influence musical choices way more than they might on piano or tenor, for example.

  18. #42

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    Quote Originally Posted by delo054
    I think the Bass VI makes for a killer bass. You can play great sounding single note bass lines, and introduce some chord stuff into your playing. I've linked to a few tunes I recorded with a Bass VI below. When I first picked it up I thought the instrument would be a little too midrangey or guitar like, but the lows and sub-bass frequencies are very present. I feel I've been getting a better bass sound with this than my traditional bass instruments.
    Great stuff there Daniel! Another thing that I am looking forward to about the Bass VI is the narrower string spacing *at the bridge*. As a classical guitarist, it will be more familiar for my right hand finger technique than the usual wide electric bass spacing.

  19. #43

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    Quote Originally Posted by Woody Sound
    Great stuff there Daniel! Another thing that I am looking forward to about the Bass VI is the narrower string spacing *at the bridge*. As a classical guitarist, it will be more familiar for my right hand finger technique than the usual wide electric bass spacing.
    Thank you! I think you'll feel right at home with the string spacing.

  20. #44
    Quote Originally Posted by pcsanwald
    I switched from guitar to upright bass. There's a lot that is helpful about having a background in guitar especially with regards to playing more across the strings (bassists tend to play up and down one string more than you would on guitar).

    When I hear people people playing basslines on other instruments, the gaps I usually hear are:

    - Not using open strings or their equivalents: bassists use open strings a lot to facilitate shifts and it's part of the sound and tradition to do this. Ron Carter is a master of this.

    - Not using ornamentation: skips, ghost skips, triplets, and other devices. Ray Brown and Christian McBride are masters of this.

    - Using too many scalar/chord tones instead of chromatic leading notes.

    Upright bass is a very physical instrument and a lot of the sound and tradition comes from getting around the bass and also the limitations of the instrument influence musical choices way more than they might on piano or tenor, for example.
    Upright bass (in jazz) is absjlutely charming instrument - so powerful and delicate at the same time... I have possibility to get one but I am afraid to be totally lost in it)))

    Maybe one day..

  21. #45
    Quote Originally Posted by djg
    attila zoller recorded on double bass
    I got to jam with Mr. Zollar at the Nashville NAMM show years ago and he was very welcoming to play with. I believe he used a non standard tuning and was one of Berklees first guitar teachers. I bought a Yamaha 4 srting than 5 string later for my songwriters Demo service. I did nit develope a passion for electric bass but it sure helped put food on my table. I found out country bass is harder than it sounds to play WELL. I did some shows with Tanya Tucker and Freddie Hart on bass. When doing concerts with a big singing star there is a lot of pressure to NOT MAKE A SINGLE MISTAKE!! especially with bass. Its the WHOLE FOUNDATION of the show!!! I dont read bass cleff well but country number charts or fake books is not a problem. Plus learning other instruments role helps your arranging skills. I had one employer who insisted I use my Roland Guitar Synth for bass gigs. Henry Vestine of Canned Heat heard me sitting in on bass at a local club and really liked my style to my surprise! Once so you never know whos out there in the audience. Adrian Belew got his Zappa gig because he was playing at a Holiday Inn near Vanderbilt in Nashville.and thats where Frank first heard him with a band named Sweetheart. Its a good skill set to have and the equipment can pay for itself very quickly. Good for the right hand,too.