Today I went to a impromptu gathering of keyboardits. One of the gentlemen played pedal bass. Where have I been? I never heard/seen anyone do this before! He was able to achieve a sound you could never get with auto-bass. His left hand was free to play any type of chords vocing (including rootless jazz chords!) He was able play all the Latin styles with the typical anticipated bass (something impossible to do with auto-bass) He was able to maintain a typical salsa bass with his left foot, a montuno with his left hand, all while soling with the right hand!

I want to learn to do this! Anyone here play pedal bass? I can't wait to learn!

Hey, buddy! Welcome to MY WORLD! Pedals, and, in a different way, left handed bass on a B-3 or the style the guy from the Doors played are GREAT.

On one of my jobs, I played a double-neck with a bass at the bottom and a guitar neck on the top. I backed a singer who played acoustic. When it was time for a solo, I switched to pedal bass and played the solo on the guitar neck.

Most people knew Jimmy Smith (and now, Tony Monaco) for their wonderful walking left handed bass (Google them!). But I heard
Smith play sensitive ballads with beautiful inverted chords and pedal bass lines with sax player James Moody (one of my all-time favorites)...FANTASTIC! Same thing with Monaco. I heard him play a ballad or two using pedals at a club gig at a Summer NAMM a few years ago.

I get to play B-3 for jazz night 2-4 nights a month at a country club where I have kept my B for over 30 years. I don't use the pedals, but do use the traditional "walking bass" hard liners come to see.

Even when I play an arranger, I use a controller on top and a module that lets me add left-handed bass to do the same things you're talking about. I particularly like that set-up for intro's and endings with no drums.

A little practice and I'm sure you'll nail it!


Russ

(PS. thanks for the reply email last week!).

I played pedal bass for many years, and it does give you more options.

I've become very lazy, and just use arranger style, but I occasionally play pedals on a friend's B-3 two or three times a month, so I keep relatively in shape.

It's not hard to learn, the biggest difficulty keeping yourself from looking down at the pedals, and after lots of practice you should get along pretty good.

I thought you would appreciate this guy’s playing...great bass pedal work, and very slick accompaniment playing.


http://www.youtube.com/user/bigalmcp#p/u/0/QYvMRnPx-gs

The other vids are great too, although all this music may be a bit too “loungey” for everyone’s taste.

Ian

I play pedal bass with my Nord C1, though probably not as well as the guy in the video. I use a PK7a, a 20 key pedalboard made by Roland. It may become available, if you're interested, as I plan to get the new 27 key Nord pedalboard. It's a nice skill to have, posessed by most formally trained organist. Good luck.

chas

The most important thing about playing bass pedals is making sure you are seated correctly, and this will be determined on whether you play spinet type or full pedalboard type.

The videos Ian has posted links to are of a Spinet pedalboard, and if you are using this type pay great attention to how he is seated and positioned.

Find a few videos of organ players (Of all types) to really see how it is done.

Simple steps to get started:

1. A pedalboard is nothing more than an oversized keyboard, and so everything you have learnt still applies.

2. For starters, play the pedal note that matches the root note of the chord you are playing so as to get a feel of the sound.

3. Look to play the root and fifth note of the chord you are using to give you a nice alternating bass line.

4. For variation don’t hold the pedal down for the whole bar, play the pedals as 4 ¼ notes (If in 4/4 time) so that you are driving the rhythm along. (Move on to mixing all the rest of the note lengths to add variation)

5. Walk up and down the bass pedals, which main seem difficult at first, but so long as the bass note you play is in the chord that you are playing it will sound fine.

The above are a few suggestions to get you started, how deep you want to go is entirely up to you.

Hope this helps

Bill

Bill- thanks for the great tips.

Chas- let me know if you want to sell. 20 notes seems like it may be a bit bulky though???

Ian - that fellows left foot just dances so effortlessly. That video really shows how expressive you can be with pedals and how much freedom your two hand can have.

Russ- are walking bass lines possible on pedal bass? Heck, I'd be happy if I could just learn root/5th bossa nova and bolero style...

Walking lines are certainly possible on pedals, but the Jimmy Smith tradition is left-handed.

Play on!


Russ

Yes, it is bulky - and at 35lbs, it's heavy as well. I just can't hack it with a 13 note board though, as I tend to play the same walking basslines on pedals as I do with left hand bass, and that requires more than one octave. If (when) I get the 27 note board, I will definately be selling and I'll let you know at that time if you're still interested. I still have the original shipping box. By the way, it has a built-in expression pedal and two side foot switches to control Leslie speed. Should work well with an arranger as you could just mute the bass part and assign the pedals to a bass voice of your choosing. The pedals on the PK7a are almost long enough for some limited heel/toe action but it'll take some practice (one of the reasons I'm changing to the 27).

chas

Yes, 13 notes does seem a bit limiting (especially for walking bass) I plan to just do root-5th Latin stuff, so I'm not sure...

Question for you pedal bass players out there- How many note pedal board would you want for playing root/5th bass lines?

Not sure if it matters, but I don't mind using the transpose botton....