The Steel Guitar Forum

I am looking for a BB style or way to modify a 2/4 style to improve the bass line. If the bass is playing a progression of 1 to 4, I do not want it to end on the 5 note before going to the next chord. For example, if the song goes from C to F, it should either walk from C to F (C, D, E, F) or hold the C note rather than playing the C G F pattern.

Any insight is appeciated!

-Bob

I'm not at my BIAB, so cannot confirm this,
but try writing the last measure of C as 'C'
in the first two beats, and then 'C/D, C/E'.
(Note that the comma separates beats 3 & 4)
It ought give you the 'walk up' in the bass
that you're listening for, though sometimes
things such as this may be 'style-dependent'.
To 'hold' the C in the bass, try writing the
last half-measure of C as C/C. The letter in
the 'denominator' portion of the 'fraction'
dictates the bass note.
~Russ

Sorry,this is not an answer.
Just another question.
I don't know much about BIAB but isn't it
possible to change the bass line (or just a note)
just by clicking on the screen and rewriting it?
Thanks.

I had tried forcing the bass line, but it still seems to have a mind of its own. I tried adjusting the stylemaker (shift/cntl/F9)but I don't see any documentation as to what the numbers mean.

-Bob

Bob,

If the song is something we'd recognize, tell us what it is, and we might be able to better understand wehat you're trying to do........ or give us an example of another song that would use the same bass line.

Rick,

For example, in Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain in the key of E, at the end of the first line I would expect the bass player to do one of two things. Most bass players would do a walk from E to B (E Eb Db B).
If the bass did not walk, the whole first line for the bass player would be: 1 5 - 1 5 - 1 5 - 1 1 - 5 with the last 5 being the first chord of the second line. But what BIAB generally does is play 1 5 - 1 5 - 1 5 - 1 5 - 5. That hanging 5 note drives my crazy.

By the way, any guy who would wash his steel guitar with a pressure washer ain't right.

Bob - Check your email.

Bob Strickland wrote:

But what BIAB generally does is play 1 5 - 1 5 - 1 5 - 1 5 - 5. That hanging 5 note drives my crazy.

Me too,are you all sure there's no other way of doing it.That's the only reason why I'm not buying it.
Too bad ,really !

You can always write the bass part that you want in the "Solo" part and then mute the bass part. I've done this a time or two for a specific song.

Bob & John,
Yes there is a way to get what you want providing you are using the midi instrument for the bass.
http://www.gwixon.com/mdchg.html will show you how to do this for a drum pattern but you can also use it to help you out with the bass.
The difference being that you will select the bass radio button and you will click on the symbol that looks like a scale note. This will put you into the notation window and once you get there you can click on the grid square that will put you into the editable notation window. Once you have edited the bass line for what you want it to play for a particular pattern, give it a high weight value like 8 and it will play it most of the time or 9 if you want it to play all the time. You could also write your own bass line with only 1 pattern and get rid of the rest so that it only plays that one pattern all the time but that's up to you.
The reason why BIAB plays whatever it wants is because of all the patterns associated with the instrument and the weights assigned to the patterns.
I explain this on the site and why things work the way they do.
This was written for an earlier version of BIAB and I have not done one for the newer versions yet but it should get you in the ball park for what you are trying to do.
The other way would be to write the bass line in either the melody or soloist part for the whole song and then choose the bass instrument that you want to play that part and it will play what you put in.
I don't like doing that because if you want to edit the song you have to think about changing the melody or soloist part as well, but by doing it with the patterns being used, you don't have those same problems.
I will try and get something up there that deals with editing style patterns for instruments with the 2008.5 version as the windows have changed a bit, but the basics of how you edit a pattern in a style are there.
If you need extra help just send me an email and I'll try and get you going in the right direction.
Good luck,
George
Edited:
I will be putting a "how to", up some time today as there are enough differences in the windows and menu's that don't apply for the drum editor vs the instruments.

Thank you so very much for your help George,tho' it seems pretty complicated to me as I don't have BIAB yet.Are you sure we can modify the "real instruments" bass (or wharever)?I'll be very happy to read your "How To".Thank you again !

John,
This will only work on midi instruments.
The real instruments are prerecorded samples and as a result is more difficult as you can't just edit the notes.
George
Edited to include link
http://gwixon.com/pat.html The help section is done and is now up.

Well, there ya go!

Thanks a million George, You Da Man!

George Wixon wrote:

This will only work on midi instruments.

George,
1)Can I mix both midi and real instruments in the same song?
2)How good (or how bad)is a midi bass compared to
the "real" ones(both electric and stand-up)?
Thank you again

John,
I have mixed some of the real instruments from time to time with some of the styles I use and have not had any problems. I use the real drums on most everything as well.
I have not tried this with all the different styles so I can't give you a definte answer that you can mix midi and real instruments for all the styles.
As far as sound goes, that is very subjective. What I think may sound fine, you may think sounds terrible.
This was a song I did about 6 months ago using midi instruments and except for my bad steel playing, I think the track sounds fine for me.
http://www.gwixon.com/Blue.MP3
George

Bob wrote:if the song goes from C to F, it (the bass) should either walk from C to F (C, D, E, F) or hold the C note rather than playing the C G F pattern.
Anything new with the 2011 versions?
Thanks.

John Sluszny wrote:Bob wrote:if the song goes from C to F, it (the bass) should either walk from C to F (C, D, E, F) or hold the C note rather than playing the C G F pattern.
Anything new with the 2011 versions?
Thanks.

And with the 2013 version?
Thanks