If you are using a bass player.
The answer is NO.
The bass always leads the chords.
Because he hits the downbeat before the guitar which is doing mainly offbeats.
If you are using a guitar only, that is a different story.
as he will be doing both.
Side note about Cajun music guitar players.
As a bass player, the most annoying thing is having a guitar player, playing all over your notes.
Some guitar players that are used to playing as Cajun trios, forget to leave off the bass notes when a bass player is added. They end up doing walk-ups, when you might be doing walk-downs. It can be a mess.
I have to agree with Larry.
It's up to the band to decide how they plan to play each song.
I listened to your sound bites for the up and coming gig and you use different chords on some songs than I am used to hearing. Different than the way I usually play it, and different than Mark plays it, and different from the "original".
This is NOT wrong. It sounds fine, it's just a matter of the whole band understanding, learning and knowing your interpretation.
I agree that it is much more difficult for someone who did not grow up listening to ethnic/cultural music to follow along with the unusual chord changes. I think the most common mistake is to assume that the rhythm is a 4/4 count. The tendency, these days is to play songs with a 4/4 rhythm because is rocks things up a bit. There is nothing wrong with that, but be **** sure everyone is familiar with the song and its chord changes. In my opinion, most of the melodies in Cajun music, two-steps of course, were originally played with a 2/4 feel. It is true that in many cases, the chord change will come in at the right place either way, but sometimes you will find a song that doesn't. For example, if you walk a bass in 4/4 time on J'etais au bal, you will have to cut a measure in half in the b part.
I would suggest that they play it in 2/4 until everyone is familiar enough to test out the 4/4 feel. On the particular song that was mentioned in this thread, I would definitely stick with 2/4.
Ditto on what Ganey said! Also if you look at it in terms of 4/4 you'll end up with two extra beats on the 2nd line of the A part on ALOT of 2 steps. I've heard some songs change on the upbeat. I don't think Cajun music is any more crooked than old time, bluegrass, blues, jazz, or any other types of American music, or most music in general. It requires a certain "groove", and in order to get in the pocket of that groove you got to listen to a ton of it and play it regularly for some time. Good Luck Dwight!
I have no idea whether I get the changes right when I play fiddle. Cajun and some zydeco is all I play. I didn't "exactly" grow up with it because it was not really played in the home, but I would hear it out in the environment. Houma was not a cajun music cultural hot spot. At least not that this rocker knew about.
I have no idea whether I get the changes right when I play fiddle. Cajun and some zydeco is all I play. I didn't "exactly" grow up with it because it was not really played in the home, but I would hear it out in the environment. Houma was not a cajun music cultural hot spot. At least not that this rocker knew about.
I think the problem is that they aren't listening to the music, just playing in the moment. And I can't pay attention to exactly what chord they're playing and play my part at the same time, unless they're right in my ear and it can come through all the distraction.