Ska

So a drummer that I greatly respect asked me to play bass in a ska band with her today. It was such a casual inquiry that I almost didn't catch it. Who knows if it will pan out.

I love Sprawl and the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones...so I think ska is awesome. I know that ska can be alot more serious than those bastardized versions, though...and that the bass playing is pretty specific. I don't think that she's leaning too hard core though.

Looking for advice...I go to the forums:

"There are many different versions of what ska consists of, but most ska contains four vital elements: a walking bass line, offbeat rhythms (usually guitar and/or keyboard), 4/4 time signature (percussion) and a lead melody played by horns."

"depends what kind of ska you wanna play but...
find out what the barre chords your guitarist is playing, and fool around with the arpeggio for that scale/chord. for instance if he's playing B major, try fooling around with something with these notes:

G------------------
D------------9-----
A-----6-7-9--------
E---7--------------

you could even play a scale in a walking bassline. for instance, the bassline for "gyasi went home" by bedouin soundclash (not really a ska song, more calypso) is pretty much just the bassist playing an A major scale over and over. you could also play the root note and then improvise on the chord or scale.

some good bands to check out for inspiration:
catch 22
streetlight manifesto
reel big fish
planet smashers
bedouin soundclash
the johnstones
madness
the specials

some songs:
time bomb - rancid
one step beyond - the specials
action - the johnstones
anything by streetlight manifesto
line em up www.myspace.com/onemoreroundmusic"

"I have found some common things in a lot of ska bass lines include:
•outlining the chord - using the arpeggios (like blackbassist described)
•playing two 1/8th on each tone
•Slamming down HARD on the root then going to the arpeggio for the meat of the phrase - when moving from on phrase to the next, use a scalar walk up/down
I love playing ska lines! They are energetic without being exhausting - that gots balls! They make people sweat! Obviously - check out some Sublime...also, "Tears of a Clown" (The English Beat, I believe) is another nice ska groover..."

Some instructive videos:


http://www.ehow.com/video_2260033_using-triad-outlines-ska-bass.html
This one is pretty helpful. Basically you want to do triads over the chords. Double the root. So you've got "R R 3 5" played with 8th notes.





Also...I just saw this on a bass forum and I think it is pretty funny:
"Seems to me the evolution of a bass player goes:
root --> root/five --> avoid root and root/five, too limiting --> realize the value of the root and fifths --> less is more except when more fits right.... roots are fine"