Tell me Ma / Bass Melody

[smdc66]

Can any one help with ideas on how to play the bass as its a melody i've learnt and chords I've learnt (from memory as had the dots once) but unsure how they are supposed to go together

Hope i'm making myself clear, its just I am unsure how the bass should be played and tend to be playing sort of a waltz naively :?

if i try and do a drone bass it drowns out the melody

i dont really understand the time signature and the bass tempo

 

[george garside]

Tell me ma is written in 2/4 (polka) time and all bars exept for 4 contain 4 notes. Therefore a simple um pa, um pa. rhythm will provide the basics with each note having an um or a pa i.e. each bar will have um pa, um pa. same goes for the bars with 5 or 3 notes there will still be um pa, um pa for eachof those bars.

Once this has been achieved the monotony of um pa'ing throughout can be broken by various means including leaving the bass off for some bars (maybe the 5 or 3 note bars) or playing a chord ( either major chord only or major chord + bass note) the length of a bar where you think it sounds right. Another way of ringing the changes is instead of bass/chord um pa play bass - chord, counterbass-chord for some bars.

If playing to accompany singing only same sort of bass but keeping the bass quieter than you would for dance music.

As to harmony start with the 3 chord trick while you get the rhythm sorted an then experiment with 3 chord trick plus 1 i.e. instead of ( if in key of G) instead of just using CGD bring in A where it sounds better than D. From there on its a question of further systematic experimentation trying eg D7 or A7 or perhaps going up to E if it sounds ok. But only move away from the basic 3 chord trick if you aare certain that it is going to improve the sound of the tune and not just because you can!

hope this helps

george

 

[BobM]

Here’s some dots from “The Session”, with a simple chord sequence..

 

[george garside]

standard 3 chord trick!

george

 

[smdc66]

:tup:

this is helpful, and feel on the verge of a break through if able to put this info into practice

i know it sounds basic but this is a newish way to play the basses to me and feels a little awkward and struggle a bit so will need to practice

i am used to tango and waltz rhythm and this seems very different and the song not my normal style but enjoy it

the chords i play are a flat ,e flat ,b flat

ps i cant open that attachment , prob doing it wrong

 

[george garside]

click o and n the atachement a ''thing'' will appear at the bottom of the page ith a box saying 'open' click on that and it should open- it just has done for me,

Might be worth practicing playing a steady um pa, um pa, bass rhythm without playing the tune - tap the bass buttons as if red hot and take figners off completely between strikes - this automatically provides the required gap between the um and pa. The higher you lift fingers between strikes the longer the gap!

george