If I’m understanding you correctly, that sounds like a job for a five string bass, where it would be first position on the low B string.
So, a 5 string bass can get down into that lower octave? Sorry for my bad terminology. I know the octaves on a piano are numbered. I still have to learn how they map to a bass guitar. The chart I linked is helping a lot until I get it memorized.
heres the grand staff. the C I need is the double ledger line C. a 4 string bass can only get to the E.
Been practicing and its sounding pretty good. I’ve ran into three notes on the piano score that are too low for the bass. I’m just playing them an octave higher. Not much else I can do.
I’ve already recorded two guitar tracks and my vocal for this song. Adding a bass part should fill it out.
Awesome! Will you share the finished product with us?
You could always start the bass part an octave higher, 5th fret on your G string, or invert the octave change to the higher C there, and then the G is ‘on the way back’ to the lower C. Just sitting on the same C is completely acceptable, too, especially in country music.
Thanks scabpicker. I’ll give that a try.
This recording is just me experimenting with my zoom h4n 4 track recorder. My setup is not quite ready for prime time yet. I still need to get some better mics and other gear. For now, I’m recording my acoustic guitar and vocals with the H4N’s built-in mic. Like this with a tripod.It does ok. But I need to use a decent mic for any serious recording.
I’ll share something after I get some better results/
Ok, I’ve had the pedal steel for most of a week, and have had a volume pedal and a real bar for a day. When I got it, it took 20 minutes to assemble and 45 minutes to tune. 10 strings, and tuning each pedal/lever position takes a long time if the strings were made slack for transport.
After about 8 hours of practice, I can just about play the thing, even though I need to work heavily on blocking and hitting the right strings consistently. I haven’t worked out anything besides a rough version of “When the Levee Breaks” (I’m faking the turnaround), but I can do a I-IV change with just the pedals, and a major scale with them. I’ve learned the pedal positions to get minor chords, but am still working into my brain which position is what chord and making it second nature. The knee lever is good for some bluesy fills, so far.
So, I don’t think it lives up to its reputation as “the hardest instrument to learn”. After a week, I’m already better at it than I am at the drums, and I’ve owned the drums for years. However, it’s damn hard. I’m certainly not fast, and how to play a 7th or a diminished chord on the thing is still a mystery to me.
Barbara Mandrell learned steel guitar when she was 8 or 9. Anything a little kid can do…
We adults can do better. Right? LOL
Course she ended up in the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. I always found it fascinating she played at least six instruments and was very very good on many of them.
http://www.barbara-mandrell.com/press.html
I miss steel guitars in country music. Maybe someday they’ll get popular again. I love their sound. Hang in there scabpicker. We need more steel guitar players.
Where I live here in Phoenix, there’s a large old fashioned country scene brewing with a lot of steel guitar playing. One guy in particular, John Rickard, has been playing on a ton of local records and is a bit of a local legend. There’s a monthly event called Valley Fever at a place called the Yucca Tap Room that is basically all Americana/old school country music and John pretty much sits in with everybody. Here’s a link to their website. Googling any of the bands listed will probably get you John Rickard’s playing.
And he also played on a CD I did with an artist name Hunter Johnson. Tracks #2 and 5 and 10 are him. He really is great…
You could transpose the entire piece up a third, but that might screw up everything else you’re trying to do.
That, or string your whole bass like the bottom four strings of a five-string bass: BEAD. I’ve known quite a few guys/gals who do that, since they don’t use the top string in traditional tuning anyway, but it generally works best on a standard scale. In a shorter scale like aceplace’s, it might be floppy or otherwise inconvenient/unplayable.
Trying to play the bass clef from a piano score probably isn’t ideal. I’ll eventually develop my own walking bass lines. I’ve seen lessons on youtube specifically for country. 1-5-1 ie root fifth Thats really what I need right now to fill in my recordings.
Jamplay has a full section of bass lessons with several teachers. I’ll get a subscription there to study and hopefully get beyond the most simple stuff.
Getting a bass guitar means I need a bass amp now. 
I picked a good time. Fender recently released a line of their Rumble amps. The Rumble 100 has a 12 inch bass speaker, 100Watts with 4 band EQ. XLR out. Fairly lightweight too at 22 lbs. Rumble 200 is the same except it has a 15 inch bass speaker 200 Watts.
NAMM 2014 video
Another option I’m considering are the Carvin micro basses This guy reviewed his MB10Its 100 Watts with a 10 inch bass speakers. 24 lbs. All those switches are a bit intimidating. But he explains them in his review. The Carvin has a tweeter horn. An improvement over the Fender.
Theres no rush. I’m just looking at gear and weighing my options right now.
Just be aware, aceplace, that the guy who posted that review on the Carvin apparently ended up dissatisfied with the amp. In the comments below the video, he says:
Bummer.
Since guitars are transposed instruments, I’m guessing bass guitars are also. And maybe the sheet music you’re trying to learn isn’t transposed for a guitar/bass guitar?
Music for a guitar/bass is written an octave higher than it really sounds. The bottom note on a standard tuned guitar is E, written just below the 3nd ledger line below the treble staff (or in the space below the 2nd from the top line of the bass staff, if you want to go that way), but it SOUNDS an octave lower, which would be on the 1st ledger line below the bass staff.
So, the bass E on a bass (in standard EADG tuning) would be written as the 1st ledger line below the bass staff, but would **sound **the space between the 4th and 5th ledger lines below the bass staff.
Sheet music for a piano generally isn’t transposed. So, if an E is written on a piano sheet as one ledger line below the bass staff, the note they want on a bass guitar is 12-0-0-0, 0-7-0-0, or 0-0-2-0.
So, the double ledger line below the bass staff C (on a piano chart) that you want would be 8-0-0-0 and/or 0-3-0-0 on a 4 string, standard tuned bass guitar.
Shifting up an octave makes sense. I’ve heard of guys breaking strings tuning with a piano. They didn’t know middle C on a piano is actually an octave lower on a guitar. If you’re reading sheet music, middle C is A string 3rd fret . But the guitar is transposed down an octave. To match a piano’s middle C (pitch) you’d have to play the B string first fret.
Thank you for the heads up. I didn’t even look at the comments. That’s too bad. The Carvin looked like a nicely designed amp.
The Fender Rumble 100 looks really good. Brand new line and Fender has a solid reputation. I need to save up some cash first.
I just got a Rumble 100 for my daughter, who is singing and playing bass now in a band with my son-the-guitarist/pianist-and-songwriter. Good amp - loud, light, clear. They played a talent show a couple of weekends ago and it became the House Amp for 3-4 bands* because they didn’t want to lug their heavy amps and crowd the stage. Worked well.
*Out of the 6 bands, 4 had girl bassists. Interesting.
Let’s get ready to rumble. 
Its good to hear first hand reports that its a good bass amp. My only criticism is the knobs. Fender has such iconic chicken head knobs. I’d get a set and use them on the amp. (if they’ll fit) It’s not just for looks. Checken heads can be adjusted with the push of a finger.
I guess the younger players don’t really care. A knob is a knob.
Unfortunately that may be sexism in action, as bass is considered an unimportant and low-status instrument (1).
I play bass in one band (2), because I love playing bass. I had a weird conversation once with someone who asked about lead guitar solos on a recording we did, and I said (truthfully) that I played them. The guy couldn’t comprehend that someone who is perfectly capable of playing lead guitar would choose to play bass in band. Complete cognitive dissonance.
Still, the upside of that is that if you do like playing bass, you can always find a gig.
ETA notes:
1 - In rock music. In other forms of music it’s taken much more seriously.
2 - I do play guitar in the band I write music for.
I hear you Shakester. In the case of my son and daughter, my son burns to play music and is always playing guitar, piano or songwriting. My daughter loves to sing and loves to be in plays, and really, really likes the thought of being in a band with my son - but doesn’t put in the hours that my son does. Within the context of basic, rock pop songs, however, she can play bass and enjoys doing so - provided her older brother cajoles her into learning her parts and organizes the practices.