Hi, so recently my mother in law asked me if I would bring my bass for the holiday season and if I could accompany when singing Christmas carols or winter songs in general.
So seems I scored my first gig. No seriously, how should I go about it?
I thought of playing just the melody in the higher register, which is quite comfortable to sing to or arpeggiate the chords (not sure if this would just confuse)?
Also what would be some easy songs melody wise, since I’m german I thought ‘Stille Nacht’ might be a candidate, but what else?
Oh cool, that’s something I was considering too - we will have a few willing singers, a harmonica player (that can only play in C) and perhaps a cello joining for the festivities…
I was planning to print the text and (guitar) chord sheet for the songs and just play root notes, mostly focusing on the rhythm and tying everything together - if the singers are good, it should be straightforward, but I sometimes struggle without a drum beat. It would also make pretty easy to change tonality on the fly in order to adapt to the singers’ range (and/or the harmonica).
It’s much faster to prepare, as basically there is no need to learn anything in advance, and get a wide selection of songs to suit everybody’s taste.
If things get boring and repetitive, there is always the possibility to add some fifth/octave or fills, depending on the overall skill/conditions/chaos/fun/whatever.
Sure, learning melodies is also fun and a good exercise on its own, or to show off a bit. It also might suit some songs more than others. I do not see it as a general “accompaniment” strategy, but it really depends on the context IMHO
Not sure if there is a english version to sing along exists, but the melody is nice simple, and makes for a good exercise for note reading and playing up the neck
