A collection of my bass playing on various instruments.

Demo Sampler

This is me performing Fred Marshall's bass part to Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time is Here". This song was originally written, produced, and published in 1965.

"Christmas Time Is Here" by Vince Guaraldi

Another take on creating a track from a saxophone line. The original is heard up front. I have also added two drum loops. The bass, guitar, and piano are played by me. I think I have finally found a bass sound for recording. What you are hearing is my 5/8 sized Shen double bass with Corelli strings through a Rode NT1 Signature Series condenser mic placed about 2 feet away from the bridge. It then went into an SSL 2 audio interface with the 4K button engaged. I then added some eq to cut through the mix and a touch of room reverb. What do you think of the sound?

Counterbalance Evolution

Got up this morning and got this tune stuck in my head. I decided to practice some chord inversions, rootless chords, and chord substitution on the jazz guitar. I used some drum loops from loopcloud on this one, but the guitar and bass is me. Jazz guitar is recorded direct to my SSL2 along with a RODE NT1 signature series, with 4K on, about 16" away from the top. The bass was recorded with just the NT1 about 2 feet away from the bridge. I did use a little bit of compression on the bass here. Low compression ratio. I usually don't like compression on the double bass, but this seemed palatable and got my overall level of the bass track up without a lot of work.

I actually switched to standard guitar tuning for this track. For a while now, I have been sticking to fourths tuning on guitar. I realized, that with just a little bit of effort, I could play my shell voicings on the guitar. Most of the chords on this track are just three notes on the guitar. Primarily 1 3 7, or 1 7 3. Unless I am utilizing inversions or using the guitar register to add tension notes to the overall harmony.

Darn That Dream

I do not own the copyright to this music. I am not profiting from it's dissemination. I encourage the listener to seek out versions of this tune on a streaming audio platform of their choosing. "On Green Dolphin Street" is a 1947 jazz standard composed by Bronisław Kaper with lyrics by Ned Washington.

If you would like to hear more of Bill's awesome guitar playing, check out his soundcloud page:

@https://on.soundcloud.com/8qL4O2gBXyRBEB5yds

Pitstop Jazz Jam - On Green Dolphin Street

This is my version of the tune written by the great percussionist Mongo Santamaria. I play the melody on a piccolo bass as well as the 6 string bass for the groove. I have programmed the percussion and harmonic accompaniment on my BOSS Jamstation.

Afro Blue

Welcome to my SoundCloud page. My tracks are mostly highlighting my bass playing. I also play guitar, ukelele, some keyboard, sing, and whistle. Thanks for checking out the tunes.

Demo Sampler

Simon Wojcik