Country Music & the Bass Fiddle

Series Summary

From its original uses in medieval and classical music, to its ubiquitous use in jazz, to even its influences in big band and rockabilly, the bass fiddle is the monster of the low-toned family of instruments. Perhaps called “double” because of its uses as a low octave double for the cello, the upright bass is the backbone of any orchestra or band, because it lays the sonic foundation for the organization of the notes and beats within a song.

In this free video series our expert bass fiddle player will show you tips on how to have more feel when you play, how to play slap and snap bass as well as how to play double slap bass. You'll learn all the parts and inner workings of the instrument as well as how to play certain styles of music such as country and blues.

Video Transcript

"On behalf of Expert Village, I'm Steve Anthony here in New York City. Today we're gonna talk a little about country bass fiddle techniques for you beginners out there, just starting out, learning how to play the upright bass. If you've come this far, you've probably had a little experience with it, so we're just gonna talk about the style of country music as it relates to the upright bass. It's a purely American style and it goes back all the way to early days of Hank Williams and even before and we'll talk about how we can use some of the country bass techniques to play just about anything. (playing bass) Most country bass uses what we call the 1-4-5 pattern and that comes from the "1" being the root, in this case "G", the "4" a "C", and the "5" a "D". (Plays: 1-4-5-4-1) "