Playing something alien to your style

[Mykesbass]

Band I'm in is adding the Jerry Garcia version of Dylan's "Señor" to our repertoire. I'm used to being a full on driving rhythm player and this is all odd little runs and fills. Looking forward to the challenge. Will post a YouTube link to the track when I'm not on iPhone (Luddite hasn't worked that bit out yet)!

Edited August 7, 2011 by Mykesbass

[Mykesbass]

Found the clip and now had time to listen to it on headphones, some strange old stuff going on here - not quite sure what to make of it. Any John Kahn fans out there?

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

We used to do that song - our arrangement based on the original version.

The version on the clip sounds like there's a bass solo competing with the vocal and ruining the impact. Just my opinion though.

[Dad3353]

Good evening, Mykesbass...
It's called 'freedom'; in certain styles, the bass is not contained in a 'traditional' rock role of only underpinning (important though that may be...).
The 'kings' in this realm would be Jack Casady and Phil Lesh; here is a short extract from Wiki on Lesh...
[quote]Lesh had never played bass before joining the band, which meant he learned "on the job", but it also meant he had no preconceived attitudes about the instrument's traditional "rhythm section" role. Indeed, he has said that his playing style was influenced more by Bach counterpoint than by rock or soul bass players (although one can also hear the fluidity and power of a jazz bassist such as Charles Mingus or Jimmy Garrison in Lesh's work, along with stylistic allusions to fellow San Francisco psychedelic-era bassist Jack Casady).[/quote]
If you have the chord sequence down pat, try 'noodling' around the chords to find runs or melodies that can fit in. It is recommended to highlight the 'important' notes, just the same, and there is a good deal of taste involved in keeping, or leaving out, anything that you find.
Mark Andes, of 'Spirit' fame (listen to '12 dreams of Dr. Sardonicus'..?) is another inspiration in this genre.
Of course, the other band members have to be playing in this same vein to allow room.
Hope this helps...

[Panamonte]

Senor is one of my fave Dylan songs (well, at least one of my faves off Street Legal ). I've just joined a Faces tribute band and, although my style is quite melodic anyway, I find that Ronnie Lane's lines often leave behind any notion of rhythmic support of the song in place of a rather dubious harmonic exploration (presumptious, moi?). I put this down to the fact that the band were absolutely plastered most of the time anyway, so I'm trying to retain some of the sense of his harmonic playing while pinning down the songs a little more firmly.

+1 for the shout out for Mark Andes - great work on The Family That Plays Together too.

[Mykesbass]

Big fan of the Faces, and in fact, among all the Dylan we do "How Come" in our set. Got a feeling that the Jerry Garcia Band weren't exactly a bastion of sobriety
Think I'm going to work on a similar idea as yours to pin it down a bit more whilst putting in some appropriate flurries.

[quote name='Panamonte' post='1331619' date='Aug 8 2011, 01:18 AM']Senor is one of my fave Dylan songs (well, at least one of my faves off Street Legal ). I've just joined a Faces tribute band and, although my style is quite melodic anyway, I find that Ronnie Lane's lines often leave behind any notion of rhythmic support of the song in place of a rather dubious harmonic exploration (presumptious, moi?). I put this down to the fact that the band were absolutely plastered most of the time anyway, so I'm trying to retain some of the sense of his harmonic playing while pinning down the songs a little more firmly.

+1 for the shout out for Mark Andes - great work on The Family That Plays Together too.[/quote]