Bass fingering - How would you play this?

[Ben_H]

Its help a newb time again

Im editing this as Ive confused people with my wording of the original question, but also I see that the formatting I spent ages working on for the musical text has not worked which cant be helping either. Peoples comments below will not necessarily now make sense but hopefully they will re-read and post again.

Do you use all four left-hand fingers when playing even simple basslines as good practice to develop strength and agility ?
Would anyone care to suggest the fingering they would use for the following?

Assume this is a straight 4/4 time Oom-pah of alternating fundamental bass notes and chords. This is from Mallys suggested bassline for Young Collins (Bledington) though I dont have 7th chords so have substituted the D maj instead.

G / / / C / D / G / C / D / G /

Little/Pinkie finger = finger 5
Ring finger = finger 4
Middle finger = finger 3
Fore/Pointer finger = finger 2

 

[smdc66]

sorry, not experienced enough to answer this - but wondered what box you play ?

 

[Soulsaver]

I'm not familiar with the piece, or Morris, so maybe I'm missing something, but I dont follow the question.

 

[donn]

Use what fingers you like, for my money, but let's see if we can come to some common understanding about the notation? I'm open to suggestion, but it seems to me that a common approach for chords is like

G / / / C / D / G / C / D / G /
G / / / C / D / G / C / D / G /

C / / / D / G / G / / / C / D /
C / / / D / G / G / C / D / G /

(I could well be off, that's just a quick impression and particularly I'm almost sure I lost track at the end. I do northwest, so this cotswold stuff is not in my book.)

If it isn't obvious, the / says the previous chord continues for another beat.

Now my first question is, do you have a counter bass row? You don't by any means need the 7, but consider the glorious possibilities if your bass repertoire includes the 3rd as well as the root. take that first measure, for example, G / / /. I suppose the minimal satisfactory solution would to play G on 1 and 3, Gmaj on 2 and 4, but you can play B on 3 instead, from the counterbass row, and it makes the bass line more dynamic. I'd also be inclined to use the counterbass on the beat between D and G in a couple of spots. There are also times when the 5th is useful in the bass line - I don't right off hand see any use for it here, but it's something to think about in the context of fingering technique.

You may not want to take this stuff on right now, but at least it might be worth taking into account in some way while thinking about fingering habits. Particularly the 5th can be a little awkward there.

 

[Soulsaver]

Way off then... Must have misunderstood the question judging by Donn's response.

 

[donn]

I didn't understand the question either, really - didn't get the notation scheme - so just answered some other question. This is the Internet, after all.

 

[donn]

Wait, maybe the fog is lifting a bit - is this about using 5 as an alternate finger to walk over from G to C?

I'd never have thought of doing that, hence the slow uptake. There might be circumstances where that happens in super fast bass passages, but I'm confident that for something like Young Collins, when you switch chords, all your fingers head should over there together, and if G was 4-3 then so will C be 4-3, and likewise for D. Dive into some tunes with minor chords, that will be the cure for any urge to overcomplicate the bass fingerings!

 

[Ben_H]

I have heavily edited the orginal question. Please read again.

Cheers

Ben

 

[Anyanka]

Ben, Young Collins is one of my Morris pieces too. I hardly ever use my little finger on the bass as it's slightly crooked and a bit weak. I would play all the chords above with 4 on the fundamental (or counter) bass, 3 on the major chords, and 2 on the alternating bass and on minor & 7th chords, i.e. the first couple of bars would be like this (with each move being one beat):

Gnote 4 - Gmaj 3 - Dnote 2 - Gmaj 3
Cnote 4 - Cmaj 3
Dnote 4 - Dmaj 3

I also throw in some block chords, i.e. playing note & chord together percussively (still using 4 on the note and 3 on the chord), and counter bass instead of the alternating bass.

 

[Anyanka]

I got the husband to film my bass end. Just for demonstration purposes, particularly block chords etc. There are some clunking mistakes which I ask you to ignore (I sound much better when drowned out by Morris bells)... and Im not sure if you can see which finger goes where, but hope that its of some use anyway.

 

[donn]

That's interesting. My preference as I mentioned above is to take the 3rd as an alternate to the root, rather than the 5th, but you do the opposite and it sounds fine. Some of that probably comes down to more general differences in our interpretations, and even to differences between our accordions. But then, as you're 4-3, you have an index finger with no job other than to hit that alternate bass, while for me (3-2) the alternate bass is a little awkward - but the counter bass is under my more agile middle finger. I don't think it would really make a big difference if it weren't so, it's really more about my musical preferences (which are not very reliable as I'm not exactly immersed in the tradition.) But also interesting (to me anyway), I will often use the alternate bass with the VI chord, like Em if we're in G ... in which case, the 4-3 player's index finger is now assigned to a chord button, am I right? Would it still be assigned to alternate bass, for a minor chords as well as major?

 

[Glenn]

Nice demo Anyanka.
It's exactly how I'd do it too.
Donn's idea of throwing in a counter bass is also spot on to lighten the accompanyment and add interest.

 

[Ben_H]

Very helpful thanks.

I'll have another look later when I have time to digest it properly.

Ben

 

[Anyanka]

I just popped onto Melnet and noticed that Young Collins is their Tune of the Month. If you register over there, and go to this thread:

http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/topic,12232.0/topicseen.html

youll get more different versions than you can shake a stick & bells at.

 

[Glenn]

Sounds like a jolly tune.
It will sound a bit different on a PA but is "doable".

 

[Ben_H]

Sounds like a jolly tune.
It will sound a bit different on a PA but is doable.

Im learning rather rapidly how the different tunes Im learning are easy/hard on alternative instruments. Not something Id given much consideration to but Im guessing arpeggios are easier to play on a melodeon? Im not finding Young Collins too bad, but the Upton upon Severn Stick dance has been a bit tricky!

 

[Anyanka]

Upton Stick Dance is one of my bugbears! Lots of tricky fingering. It's much easier on the melodeon - it's the one tune I learnt to play on The Husband's box - except that I just can't get my head around playing bass on melodeon.