bossa rhythm?

[manwithnoname]

Somewhat of a newb question here.

When playing a bossa nova, unaccompanied, what do you guys do for rhythm? Do you play like a guitarist- fingerpicking and thumbing the bass? Or just pick the upper string rhythms that a guitarist would use? Or do the clave? Or something else?

I've been playing on a normal mando, which I'm thinking the normal guitar approach is not viable, and also a 5-string emando, where I can manage to work out a bass line sometimes. I'm hoping as I continue to get fluent on the fretboard and figure out some more chord voicings, that bass lines will be a little easier, at least on that instrument.

Accompanied, I'm guessing leave the bass line to the bassist and comp the upper guitar part or clave?

[mandocrucian]

If you don't use pick+fingers on your chords, or break them up sequentially (low-high) between pick and then fingers, it won't ever (to me) sound "right". You need that simultaneous attack on the strings; strumming with the pick doesn't cut it.

For a more finger style with bass notes, approach, you may have to compress your chord/arpeggio closer together (pitchwise) (drop some notes an octave down) to keep it a little lower and maintain some illusion of bassiness. You can fatten things up if you add some split-string voicings. (Use the nail to fret the split).

You KNOW what it's supposed to SOUND like. Your task is to find a way to get as close as you can to that sound. If you've been playing this stuff on guitar, you've got the vocabulary in your head. You won't be able to get as many notes in each chord because of the tuning, so you have to determine which ones you can dispense with.

NH

[catmandu2]

Originally Posted by mandocrucian

If you don't use pick+fingers on your chords, or break them up sequentially (low-high) between pick and then fingers, it won't ever (to me) sound "right". You need that simultaneous attack on the strings; strumming with the pick doesn't cut it.

Bossa nova rhythmic syncopation can also be achieved without resorting to employing "fingers" with proper cross-picking and muting technique.

[manwithnoname]

I think my real issue is the bass line- roots and fifths in the correct register seem hard to come by on an 8-string mando. My 5-stringer gets me down to the low C, but even then, I find it challenging to get all the bass notes in without an inordinate amount of shifting up the neck, which then gets me out of the low register.

[catmandu2]

An effective technique to use when all the notes aren't readily available is to create a gestalt, or "fake it" by combining muting techniques, rhythmic syncopation, and appropriate note substitutions to impart an implied line or part. For example, if you simply are unable to finger the desired note, try muting a string and substitute the rhythmic percussion part on that beat combined with playing all of the notes around the missing note in a manner that implies the note as best you can--encouraging the listener to hear the missing note--or perhaps substitute the relative V of the note, or even playing the note in another register, as you say, may imply the "correct" note adequately, if you arrange the surrounding notes artistically.