Nashville, Tenn., — Grammy award-winning bassist, Barry Bales, one of the most celebrated upright bass players to hit the bluegrass and country music genres in the past 20 years, is releasing his first teaching DVD titled “A Solid Foundation to Acoustic Bass“.
His multiple Grammy awards, plus trophies from the International Bluegrass Music Association and the Country Music Association have made him a much sought after player in his field. Bales’ bass is featured in recordings from Alison Krauss & Union Station where he is the full-time bass player, and in films like Walk The Line and O Brother, Where Art Thou.
In this new AcuTab DVD, Barry shares his thoughts on the appropriate role of the bass and demonstrates many of the techniques that have made him a first call musician in Nashville.
AcuTab’s John Lawless leads Barry through a discussion of his background and influences before they move on to songs. Barry also covers important topics like tone production, walking bass, percussive ‘ghost’ notes, and more.
After some talk about basic left and right hand technique, Barry presents 3 versions of the familiar song, “Fireball Mail.” He starts with a simple, traditional approach, moving with each new version into ways to add interest and dynamism to the bass line. For each, Barry explains and demonstrates the line he plays, why he chose to include it, and where the viewer might want to use it in their playing. Many of the techniques are quite simple, and yet add variety and spice to the band sound.
From there, Barry Bales presents another 8 familiar songs, in a variety of keys, tempos and styles: “Banks Of The Ohio,” “Kentucky Waltz,” “Wayfaring Stranger,” “Groundhog,” “Rebecca,” “East Tennessee Blues,” “Blackberry Blossom,” “Everytime You Say Goodbye.” Barry explains his approach, often showing more than one, and then demonstrating the deviations from a standard one-five pattern.
He is assisted in the studio by Adam Steffey on mandolin, Jim Mills on banjo, and Kenny Smith on guitar. The bass is up front in the audio mix to ensure that the viewer can catch the subtleties of the material Barry presents. A printed booklet with tab and standard notation of the bass lines played is also included.
A Solid Foundation to Acoustic Bass is available from AcuTab and wherever instructional DVDs are sold.
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