good songs for an acoustic duo with double bass.?

[petercullenbassist]

Hey all. I have just put together an acoustic duo with a double bass. The thing is i dont just want to be the guy who plays deep notes in the back, as the other half is the lead vocalist and acoustic guitarist. So im looking for songs eith a good bass line. Stuff like love cats seem to go down alot better than songs with a simple follow aling chord stucture.

Any suggestions on songs?

Thanks

Ps. If you wanna check out our duo, search for The Nomads in facebook or go to www.facebook.com/daiandpete

[sarah thomas]

Did you sell the DB you advertised a couple of months ago? (Strange song - starts strong and then fades out ...)

[TPJ]

We have an acoustic trio with guitar, db and percussion and play Kyle to Rolling Stones to Bee Gees etc... (follow the Underdrive link in my sig to the setlist for some samples)

You'd be surprised what you can do.

[PTB]

Hercules by Aaron Neville.

Great bass line, cool vibe, should suit your line-up.

Edited May 31, 2012 by PTB

[TheRev]

[quote name='petercullenbassist' timestamp='1338403686' post='1674119']
So im looking for songs eith a good bass line. Stuff like love cats seem to go down alot better than songs with a simple follow aling chord stucture.

[/quote]

Why not just write you own bass lines? Then they can be as interesting as you like. My acoustic trio (we were a duo for 3 years..) rarely play straight covers - we change the key, the feel, arrangements etc and I write a bass part which fits around that. Sometime it will follow the chords, sometime it will be a walking bassline - whichever best suits the song.

Also, just because the bass follows the chords, it doesn't mean that the song isn't interesting. Check out the John Martyn and Danny Thompson's version of Solid Air from the Transatlantic Sessions on Youtube. For most of the track Danny is just playing C and F.... but it's how he plays them that makes the track.

[oggiesnr]

[quote name='TheRev' timestamp='1338459114' post='1674802']
Why not just write you own bass lines? Then they can be as interesting as you like. My acoustic trio (we were a duo for 3 years..) rarely play straight covers - we change the key, the feel, arrangements etc and I write a bass part which fits around that. Sometime it will follow the chords, sometime it will be a walking bassline - whichever best suits the song.

Also, just because the bass follows the chords, it doesn't mean that the song isn't interesting. Check out the John Martyn and Danny Thompson's version of Solid Air from the Transatlantic Sessions on Youtube. For most of the track Danny is just playing C and F.... but it's how he plays them that makes the track.
[/quote]

+1

In a duo (or solo) make up your own lines. In many cases the "proper" bass line will sound wrong with a stripped back instrumentation. In a duo I tend to keep lines on the low side so as not to overlap with the guitar sound.

IMHO straight covers are boring but then I'm a folkie so almost everything I play is a "cover" which I/we just have to play differently.

Of my solo set I can suggest "Hallelujah", "Casey's Last Ride", "Me and Bobby Magee" plus a whole host of blues as the better known ones, the rest are a bit more obscure! I'm working on versions of "The Rose" and "Summertime" which need a lot of work but have potential.

Steve

[Phil Starr]

We are now a trio but started as a duo though with electric bass. You don't say what style of music you play or what sort of audiences you intend playing to so if I'm way off beam then that's why.

You have to be more melodic on the bass I think rather than just bashing away at the root 8 to the bar.

We do Chasing Cars but I do the repeated guitar pattern on bass whist the guitarist takes the rhythm.

In How to Save a Life (Fray) I play part of the piano line as the bass line

In Dakota I play the guitar hook and vary the rhythm quite a lot from the original. Stereophonics songs are great for a stripped back approach, There are a lot of nicely crafted songs which are simple enough to stand messing around with a lot. We do Mr Writer, Step on my old Size Nines and are looking at Local Boy.

Tainted Love goes down well, have a listen to the Imelda May version where he uses double bass.

Little Lion Man, Mumfords works well, I just copy the bass line for this.

To Love Somebody Nina Simone/Bee Gees is great for a treatment again because it is a nice simple song.

Of course you may not be as cheesy as we are and in the end you have to choose songs your singer can do well but by homing in on well structured but simple songs and being prepared to go more melodic on the bass as well as messing with rhythms there's not much you can't do a version of. It makes you think as a bassist though and really improves your playing.