bass in solo chord melody

[kiwijohn]

Over the holiday period I've been working on chord-melody.
What I've found is that you really have to make sure the rhythmic sense is being kept up.
When playing other people's arrangements I've found that by dropping some chords and replacing them with short bass runs the song plays through with a better rhythmic feel...thinking bass all the way through.
I've heard seven string guitar stuff,too,where the seventh string strengthens the bass.
I wouldn't mind seeing a new category dealing with seven string guitar.....

[kiwijohn]

in fact you can't drop melody notes or chords very much(for obvious reasons)so it's between the phrases and in the progression of the chords that stregthening the bass can make the piece more effective

[jazzalta]

I cut my teeth on Joe Pass so I have a pretty strong influence or impression on his style of playing bass notes. I only really concentrate on them while playing "in time" usually with a swing rhythm. Otherwise I do the rubato thing and fill in with harmonic runs and/or bass notes. My strength I think is in emphasizing the melody. Bass notes are most important to me when I'm trying to keep a structured rhythm happening. And then I think you have to think of the them as real bass lines, not just playing the bottom notes of the chord.

[kiwijohn]

that's a good summing up, jazzalta......
and I'm going to listen to more joe pass to check that out

[mahayana]

Interesting thread, KJ.

Your point about rhythm and chord melody is one I agree with. To me, it's the most challenging aspect, keeping time while accompanying the melody.

My thought about 7-string is that it exends the range of the guitar 3 notes lower. I'd welcome a thread about these instruments over at Guitars. Maybe post a picture or audio link to kick it off?

[Professor1]

mahayana said:

My thought about 7-string is that it exends the range of the guitar 3 notes lower.

Actually, it's 4 notes lower. In jazz, the 7th string is tuned to A. Only recently did the metal crowd begin to incorrectly tune 7 string guitars like 5 string basses.

[mahayana]

Right, prof. I posted the correction over at Guitars/Seven String.

So, have you ever played one?

I'll admit that I never have, and (back to the topic here) my chord-melody ignores the bass notes, for the most part. It sounds like a way to add interest to a chord-melody arrangement, to include a few measures of bass. Maybe as a solo in the piece?

I do like chording on the low strings (bottom chords) so imagine how 7-string could expand this as well.

[Professor1]

I actually have played a 7 string, but only for a couple of minutes. The jr. college jazz band I play in for fun had 2 guitar players, the other guy had a Benedetto Manhattan 7 string and he let me check it out. It was sweet! Amazingly light, and a much slimmer neck than I had expected. He bought it from Bob personally, before he became famous, for $3500.