I recently had a player question my notation of "two-beat" feel on a bass part for a local swing band. I had written it as quarter note-quarter rest, etc. He said that quarters would be too short and would sound corny. I guess he would have preferred half notes, but it's my understanding that there should be at least some space between the notes in a two-beat bass line, which is what I wrote. Maybe if I'd put tenuto marks over the quarter notes, since most jazz players seem to always want to play quarter notes short unless otherwise noted. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I'd especially like to hear from bass players.
Thanks in advance,
Lon
Most bass players play long quarter notes even when you notate it the way you did. Otherwise,Give them halfnotes. If that doesn't work, sing it to them.
******************************************** Lon Price, Los Angeles
There's another factor at work, here, and again it may be best left to the player. The decay time of an acoustic bass is quite fast, while the decay time for an electric bass is quite long. Many more recent recordings would definitely use the halfnote format knowing that an electric bass would be used. The problem with an electric trying to sound like an acoustic is that they are two different instruments and it can't! All the true 2-beat music I've seen used quarter note, quarter rest format, even though an acoustic player with good technique will probably stretch the notes. But of course 2-beat is not swing!
John
-- John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
