Bass for Irish and Scottish music

[bootyquake]

I was wondering if there were any bassists out there with experience accompanying Celtic music from the Irish, Scottish, Breton, American, or Canadian traditions? It has been an interest of mine for years, but I don't know that many players who have played in a Celtic setting.

 

Who's jammed with bagpipes, tin whistle, flute, fiddle, accordion, or hurdy-gurdy?

[profesrgeo]

If its not Scottish, its CRAP!

 

(sorry, couldn't resist)

geo

[brianrost]

Guess what, in the TRADITION there is no bass. Look at well-known Celtic artists and very few of them have bass players (Clannad used upright bass before they plugged in during the 80s).

 

Bass comes into the picture when you have fusion styles, like folk-rock (Fairport Convention, Clannad, Alan Stivell, etc.). There are basically two schools of bass playing in these bands, one is root-five and the other is melodic counterpoint (the latter school being headed up by Ashley Hutchings).

 

I've played in bands doing Celtic music (mostly on upright bass) and usually there was either a piano player or guitarist. If there was a piano, I would follow the pianist's right hand. With a guitarist I could be freer.

 

Hope this helps.

[virtual.rayprodigy.net]

I've been getting my feet wet in this area for the last 3 weeks.I;ve done 3 gigs with an Irish band,"On the Dole".The lineup is 2 acoustic guitars,accordian,tin whistle,drums and me on 5 string.One guitarist doubles on whistle and the whistle guy doubles on bodhran.I've never played or even heard much of this music before but so far it's a lot of fun and a refreshing change from the usual band in a bar fare.There are a lot of tunes in 6/8,12/8,and even 9/8 and the changes while mostly pretty basic,happen at inhabitual points in the bar for one accustomed to playing rock 'n' roll.We've got 4 gigs over the coming St.Pat's weekend,2 in one day(Sat.) Slainte!

[Jim T.]

Hi, I've performed Celtic (Keltic) music for years on festival stages. I've used a fretless bass with a hard fingerboard coating for tons of "mmwhah" and growly swells. I've gotten compliments on just about every gig. More for the sound than my virtuousity! As there was no bass in the original tradition I would guess anything goes within the realm of good taste. (By the way the above is in a duo context.) For a little more "outside" celtic bass try Danny Thompson who has recorded quite a bit with Richard Thompson the guitarist/songwriter.

Roots and fives and octave long tones carry the day. For flashy and appropriate soloing try practicing fiddle tunes! The Child's Ballad Book (composer) is one good source of Irish tunes.

Have fun! Jim T.

[bootyquake]

Good to know there are other players out there in the Celtic realm. I myself have been playing it pretty consistently for 6 years. Most of my experience has been with pipers (both Irish and Scots) and fiddlers, though I've backed up dulcimer, acccordion, hurdy-gurdy and whatever else turns out the tunes.

 

For a while my interest was becoming the Jaco of Scottish music. Like he was working out the Charlie Parker heads, I was learning how to play legit bagpipe technique on the bass guitar. You can mimic burls, cranns, and rolls with a three fingered picking technique, so when you jam with pipers it falls right in line. In fact, one of my original tunes may be published in a book on bagpipe repertoire. It's interesting for me to think of a pipe and drum corps playing tunes that originated on the bass.

 

Still, many tradition-heads lok at you funny if you bring an electric instrument to a session. I end up playing a lot of acoustic guitar if I go to pubs for a session.

[Ed Friedland]

Back in the early 80's I recorded a couple of albums with an Irish band called "The West Meath Bachelors". They were largely a club band doing easy, pop-ish Irish tunes, a little C&W, but also did several traditional things, jigs and reels. I found it quite challenging to keep track of the changes, they were simple, but came in the most unlikely places. It was fun though. I never did gig with them, I was just a hired gun for the sessions. The guy that produced the records has been Carly Simon's MD for many years and has written several film scores, Mathias Gohl. He's come a long way from "Southie Is My Home Town".

 

Here's a Celtic music joke:

What's the best way to tune a Bodhran?

 

With a penknife! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif

 

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www.edfriedland.com