Folliwing the guitar player?

B

Bozozoid

Diamond Member
I'm very aware of the drummer/bassist relationship but it seems like my best ideas have always come from playing off the guitar player more than a strict bass/drums Foundation. Anyone else feel this way?.
 
I seldom notice the drummer when I play bass. If the timing goes off, I do. I just keep my ears open.

When I drum, same thing. If it's the 1st time we play together sometimes I pay attention to the other.
 
Mediocrefunkybeat said:
I've never cued off a bass player. I've always cued off a combination of the rhythm guitarist and singer. The first band I was in for a while had a truly dreadful bass player and the habit stuck and it's never been an issue.

One gig in particular had such poor monitoring that I had to cue from the lead singer's arse wiggling. I didn't mind. Still friends with her!
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Me too. My sound choices from the singing and rhythm from guitar. But I've never been in a group with a really good bassist yet. And same in bad monitoring situations, watch people moving to feel the pulse
 
Depends. If I can hear the bass, I'll use them. During someone else's solo. I accent off whoever is doing the solo guitar sax whatever. But my goto is finding where the bass is and synching with them for the groove, again that's if I can hear them. On stage it's a lot easier to hear the guitar or sax.
 
I played a guitar dominant genre, so yeah I totally followed the guitar player. When writing, it was mostly a guitar player and myself doing it all.

I could follow the bass. Or keys. Or something else. It's just not what I've done.
 
In our band it depends on the song. The three of us have played together so long that we do know where each other is supposed to be. Tho sometimes our guitar player goes off on a tangent, where the bass player and I need to adapt and keep up. It's actually a lot of fun, we've come up with some pretty cool things like that.

But to the point, yes, I key off the guitar player many times, and the bass player other times. And they both Key off me on some things, too. That's the joy of playing together for many years.
 
I usually think of the bass line as another part of the groove. The bass line is usually a bit simpler, and repetitive/predictable in the way that your kick bass can lock in and forget about it. So it just sorta becomes subconscious. But yeah I agree, the 'listening' and 'following' part of my brain is always attentive on the "face" of the song. Guitar, lyrics, the vibe and flow of the frontmen.

You want to listen ahead and imagine how your drums sound to the audience. For mainstream music, the listeners are likely just passively aware of the bass line, they know it feels good, even if they aren't actively listening to it. They are actively listening to the guitar and singer though. And as the drummer you are next in line of their consciousness. The audience's experience will be more electric if you compose for the parts of the song that are front-of-mind to the listeners.

There was a drummer in a post recently who said they prefer not to even write drums for a song unless they can hear the vocal track in the mix. I have made such a request in the past myself. It is interesting how much composition goes on in the mind of a drummer. We can't always be expected to just look dumb and jam with the bass player the whole time, lol.

That said, I do most of my writing from the bass guitar/drum combo. You can start to generate a whole song from a funky, well composed bass and drums mix.

Odd-Arne Oseberg said:
Guitar players are idiots.
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A somewhat unceremoniously placed, yet hilarious non-sequitur, lmao.
Odd just saw the phrase "guitar player", and so replied accordingly. :ROFLMAO:

Not saying I agree. Just enjoying the random.
 
ColdFusion said:
A somewhat unceremoniously placed, yet hilarious non-sequitur, lmao.
Odd just saw the phrase "guitar player", and so replied accordingly. :ROFLMAO:

Not saying I agree. Just enjoying the random.
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May even be funnier than you think.
 
I consider guitar players "keepers of the form". Most of them tend to be uncreative hacks, but they can usually get the chord in approximately the right place.
 
when playing drums:
I create texture via the overall sound;
I create interplay between the bass drum, and the bass player when needed; I also some times offset what the guitars are doing by linking to the bass part to help with texture
If I am playing with a bass player who doesn't stray from root note quarters, I will get a little more "free" with my interp to make some music happen when the time calls

when playing bass:
I feel like I hold the group together by playing things that accentuate the bass drum groove
I pay attention to the guitars for notes obviously, but I generally try to play the role of "third rhythm texture", rather than just "root note guy"
I often times will also take on the role of pure metronome/root note guy when I feel it highlights what the other players are doing

I grew up playing bass in bands that usually only had one guitar, so I had to sort fo be 2nd rhythm guitar and bass at the same time...like Geddy.

I also grew up in bands where the guitar players usually did NOT have the best sense of time, so I got used to not listening to them at first
 
Bozozoid said:
I'm very aware of the drummer/bassist relationship but it seems like my best ideas have always come from playing off the guitar player more than a strict bass/drums Foundation. Anyone else feel this way?.
Click to expand...
I very seldom listen to the bass part and mostly feed of the guitar. (I don't follow the guitar the guitar follows me unless we are writing a new song then I follow). The only time I listen to the bass is if the bass part is the main rhythm (Like in some RHCP songs such as Californication).
 
depends on who drifts less.
 
Having spent most of my life on the other side of this I probably shouldn't say more.
 
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