Playing left hand bass compared to bass pedals.

I started out with the accordion.
A perfect instrument to learn music,
be it theory or technique (circle of fifths etc).

I learned to play bass lines with bass buttons.

When I studied voicing and chord structure on the piano,
I needed to learn another way to play bass on keys ,
within the chording.

Moving on to organ, pedals came into play, as did left hand bass.
I developed left hand bass easily because I had a strong
background in music theory (again accordion study).

I found the pedals very limited to what I wanted to acheive.
Most organ players will play root and fifth, but very hard to play
walking bass lines in all keys on pedals.. So we usually play in
our favorite keys for ease of pedal play. Key of C and F.

Better organ players will play in all keys, but primarily play
root and fifths, filling in the missing bass notes needed
with the play of left hand on lower key manual.

Myself, I find it natural to play left hand bass.
My brain already knows what chord or
melody counter line my right hand is playing,
and I play left hand bass without needing to think about what I am doing.

I cannot translate this concept to bass pedals at all..


What do you guys and gals think about this?

Even though I can play Left Hand Bass I rarely do..
more of a Jazz tune thing..
I rather go with auto-base if I am using an arranger KB...
gives me more freedom to navigate other features and sing.

The last time I saw Jimmy Smith play live, in the middle of his upscale blues based set, he played a really beautiful version of "Spring Can Really Hang You Up", with pedal bass and full, inverted chords. It was at the WNOP Jazz Festival just outside Cincinnati in thzehmid-80's.

The fascinating thing about left-handed walking bass is the complete co-ordination of both hands. When done correctly,the notes from the left hand intertwine perfectly with the chords/notes from the right.

Top players, like Joey will briefly switch left hand for left foot if there is a place in the piece requiring alternate lead lines or complex inversions (or a combination thereof).

Ideally, it's not an "either/or situation.

Either way, when you're "in the pocket", there's nothing like it. For anything but walking jazz organ tunes, there sounds like something's missing if just left hand is used.

Russ

One of the primary reasons I initially switched to arrangers is so I didn't have to play pedal bass any longer. The automatic bass is way better than my feet, or for that matter my left hand (while playing right hand as well).
I need my left hand free for joystick and buttons!

A good organ player is not limited using bass pedals. At an organ concert an organist played the Flight of the Bumble Bee with the bass pedals. I believe that bass pedals, left hand bass, and using styles offer something different, and each loses something.

So there in my music room is my Wersi Delta 500 organ bought. It came with two tall Wersi speakers, and bass pedals. The first thing I noticed is that I did not sound anything like the organ players I heard at the organ concerts. The second thing was the terrible cramps I was getting in my left leg. After two months I sold the organ to a church.

I added bass pedals to m Kn7000; my leg cramps came back.
I like adding that story, it brings back some memories.

I believe that Fran, with his accordion experience, plays a great left-hand bass, and it fits his needs. For me, the bass in a style is acceptable. When it becomes boring, I add a bass pad, and it does not bring any leg cramps. (smile)

John C.

Here is a Jimmy Smith video that reinforces my comment about keys.

Jimmy almost always plays in C,F, and G

It also fits his style of chromatic runs the best.
And makes pedals more comfortable.

I don't sing, so I usually play the melody with my right hand and accompaniment (including arranger bass) with my left.

I play a lot of pop singer-songwriter stuff which is loaded with descending bass lines, counter-melodies, etc. I'm not an expert on music theory, but to make things easier I used to always substitute (simplify) the "hard" chords, so the end result looked like a Hal Leonard E-Z Play Today type of score.

Once I understood slash chords and heard the difference they make, I made an effort to learn and play the songs that way. BUT... It's SO annoying to have to play the "normal" chords in root position. It translates into a lot of hand movement, and for me, mistakes or late chords on fast runs.

[Yes I know that Yamaha and Korg both have a chord recognition mode where 3 notes any inversion = root bass, 2 notes = lower one is the bass of an "on bass" chord. BUT... 1 note = unison?? (should be major IMO.) Depending on how many basic major chords are in the song, the cure is worse than the disease! What were they thinking!?]

Anyhow I bought myself a one-octave set of bass pedals thinking that maybe it would be easier to play any inversion of the chord with my left hand, and the altered bass note (when needed) with my left foot. Never even plugged them in!

What I did that helps a little, is configure a MIDI solutions footswitch controller. With some tricky SysEx, I was able to program a MOMENTARY on-bass function. Press the pedal, play a chord = on bass. Release the pedal and any inversion gives the root bass. This function should have been momentary from the factory, but every brand requires one press to turn Bass Inversion on, and another to turn it off. This toggle behavior makes it difficult to use during a song. The momentary functionality is great when there are just one or two slash chords in a song. If there are a lot of slash chords in the score, it makes me want to cry! And maybe try the bass pedals again.