Double Bass Bluegrass and 'Growl'

[gitparker]

Finally managed to buy a DB - I will be playing now and then in local Bluegrass sessions or similar. Took some time to find one in the isolated area I live in and the one I got has metal core strings with a lot of sustain and growl - especially when I dig in for maximum volume. I don't want the expense of changing them just yet.
Can I 'get away' with this sound - will many other musicians notice?

 

[Steve Swan]

Sustain and a lot of harmonic color can really get in the way of the other instruments. A big fat fundamental tone and a short note length works best for most styles in this kind of music. Playing only fingered (stopped notes) with your left hand and damping the length of the note by lifting the left hand off of the strings can help give a solid staccato punch. Using the right hand placed father away from the bridge, with more flesh and bone contact on the string, and with a percussive (not necessarily hard our loud) attack can help to provide more of the feel and tone that you are looking for. Good luck!

 

[Pat Harris]

You can also use a heavy towel or pillow, and stuff it in the area between the tailpiece and the top of the bass. It's not visually appealing, but it will mute the brightness of the instrument until the strings get played in and settle down.

 

[anightintunisia]

Sustain and a lot of harmonic color can really get in the way of the other instruments. A big fat fundamental tone and a short note length works best for most styles in this kind of music. Playing only fingered (stopped notes) with your left hand and damping the length of the note by lifting the left hand off of the strings can help give a solid staccato punch. Using the right hand placed father away from the bridge, with more flesh and bone contact on the string, and with a percussive (not necessarily hard our loud) attack can help to provide more of the feel and tone that you are looking for. Good luck!

I agree, but at the same time Todd Phillips has more of the modern jazz bass sound. He lets every note ring out and has awesome growl and sustain. It just depends and varies who you're playing with and what style you're playing. Todd getting jazzy with Del McCoury band and Mike Bub on Tony Rice Unit records might not be the right fit. Of course those guys adapt and do it all, that's why they're incredible players. One style doesn't necessarily fit all. While BGAB is a traditional sound, Tony's rhythm gives Todd the freedom to play some incredible bass lines that are drastically different then what was played on the original versions of those songs. I still listen back and find incredible new things on those first couple BGAB records. Listen to the bass on Monroe's version of Sitting Alone in the Moonlight, then check out Todd's with BGAB. Not saying one is better then the other, but what a difference.

I find it important especially as a bass player to adapt with the group you're playing with and do what will make the group sound the best. If I'm playing with a group of really traditional players, I'll keep it very straight with good solid punch. If I'm playing with players that explore newgrass, jazz, swing, classical, I'll drastically play different and even change what bass I'm playing. But if you don't have a really confident rhythm section that plays with you and listens, forget it you can't play anything outside the box. Your job is to hold the group together from falling apart.

 

[jasonrp]

You can run a bandanna through the strings between the bridge and fingerboard. Just weave it around them all and you get a real nice thump tone. I do it when I'm slap practicing to keep from driving the neighbors crazy.

 

[turf3]

I play a carved bass with orchestral strings, which has lots of sustain. When playing in bluegrass settings, I control note length by left hand muting - either explicitly stopping the note for open strings, or lifting up for fingered notes. Some songs it sounds better to play long notes and let them ring - for example, medium speed tunes in 3 - where I will just be playing on "one" each bar. Other songs really like short notes - for example an uptempo song in 4, I will often play the bass pattern as a series of quarter notes with quarter rests in between; especially if the group I'm playing with seems somewhat rhythmically uncertain, specifying the end of each note as well as the beginning can help to keep it all together.

At this point in my development, I think I would rather have the option of controlling the long sustain than have the sound all damped down and not have the option of playing long notes.

I never have anyone say anything negative about the sustain of long notes when I play long notes.

One last point, though: the sessions where I play a lot of different stuff, lots of quarter note walkup/walkdown patterns, playing on every beat of the waltz, etc., no one says jack to me as we are packing up. The sessions where I play two notes per bar in 4 and one note per bar in 3 and just shut the heck up the rest of the time, everyone comes by and says "man that sounded great, love to hear some good bass playing". Seems like even if you can only play a little bit, you should play less than you know, for best results.

 

[Jay Corwin]

Sounds like the OP is a beginner, so some of these super specific examples might not be the best advice.

It's bluegrass - so simple root-5 playing with an occasional approach note will get you by just fine. As far as the string choice, if you learn to stop/mute the notes you'll be fine until you find what string you like.