Bass
Photo by Mike Melnyk
Bass, scratch/level 1—Nadine Landry—This workshop will be appropriate both for individuals who have barely or never touched an upright bass before, and to beginner players. The class will focus on the importance of good tone and timing by playing various songs and fiddle tunes in different keys and speeds. The workshop will cover the role of a bass player in an old time or bluegrass band and will emphasize providing a solid rhythm for jams and band settings. Participants will get to practice good left and right hand techniques to be able to play for a long time without getting hurt! Lots of I-V for sure, but we'll also throw in some bass runs here and there!
Prerequisites: Participants should come prepared with questions and songs they would like to learn.
Bring: an upright bass, or if that’s impractical, ask us for a loaner (many thanks to Steve Swan for providing this service!)
Nadine Landry was born and raised in a musical family on the Gaspe Peninsula on the east coast of Quebec. She’s spent a significant portion of her musical life playing upright bass in the Yukon with the Canadian bluegrass band Hungry Hill. She has also leant her talents to various bands ranging from old time to honky tonk to swing and Cajun. She now plays with the Foghorn Stringband as well as with Jesse Lege, Joel Savoy and Cajun Country Revival. She has taught at the Fiddle and Dance Camp at Ashokan, NY, American Festival of Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, WA, The Old Town School in Chicago, The British Columbia Bluegrass Workshops, The Northern Lights Bluegrass and Old Tyme Music Camp in Saskatchewan and The Northern Bluegrass Circle Music Workshops in Alberta. Her students at our recent summer camp loved working with her, so we’re bringing her back for an encore.
www.foghornstringband.com
Bass, level 2 – Bill Amatneek – In this class, we’ll learn right and left hand techniques that combine to create the Bluegrass “bump,” a sound that is essential to energizing a group with the bass. We’ll learn how to: put bounce into our beat by attacking the note and damping it; construct a bass part that supports the chord changes and the singer or soloist; and play ensemble in a bluegrass group. The application of “roots and fifths,” passing tones, leading tones, and the creation of smooth, scale-oriented bass parts will all be explored. Playing bass runs, the use of pedal tones, hearing the chord changes (playing by ear), creating good tone, the use of syncopation, and playing in waltz time will all be a part of this class.
Prerequisites – Students should know the names and numbers of the four strings, and be familiar with playing in the keys of G, A, C, D, and E major, and A, D, G and E minor. You should know where most of the notes on the fingerboard are, up to the D on the G string. You should have experience playing with others in a bluegrass or old-time string band. Some basic knowledge of music theory would be helpful. Bring a playable bass with fairly fresh strings – fresh enough to play and stay in tune – and a bow, if you have one.
Bill Amatneek backed the Greenbriar Boys at the first Philadelphia Folk Music Festival, when he was 16. In his twenties, he hit the road with the hellacious mandolinist, Frank Wakefield. The 1970’s saw Bill gigging with the Bay Area’s Vern and Ray. He played with the David Grisman Quintet on their first album, one that established the genre “New Acoustic Music.” He played on a number of Kate Wolf recordings in the 1980s. In the 1990s, he teamed up with Panama Red (a.k.a. Peter Rowan), and played with the duo “Peter Rowan and Tony Rice.” Most recently he’s been playing with banjoist Bill Evans in their bass-banjo duo “The Bill Brothers,” and accompanying mandolinist Roland White on his West Coast tours. He is an accomplished storyteller, and author of the award-winning book, “Acoustic Stories: Playing Bass with Peter, Paul & Mary, Jerry Garcia, Bill Monroe, and 18 Other Unamplified Tales.”
Bill started teaching string bass at the Philadelphia Folk Workshop in the 1960s. He has since taught at the Wintergrass festival in Tacoma, Washington, the Sonoma Bluegrass Festival, the University of Texas in El Paso, the Calfornia Coast Music Camp, and in Colorado in conjunction with the Durango Bluegrass Meltdown. He teaches privately from his studio in Sebastopol, California. He has taught twice at our camps and both times got very high marks from his students, some saying it was the best bass class they’ve ever taken, so we’re bringing him back again.
www.vineyardspress.com
