Hi all,

Quick backstory...

Well, after a year's hiatus, the band is back together. This is after our drummer arranged to have me kicked out, then quit himself almost immediately afterwards to play in a jam band. We play melodic hard rock.

Now we have a new drummer who has never played in another band before but has been playing ~15 years in drum line. His timing and sound is great, I am so stoked to get back to playing out again.

The question:

Links to a few demo songs are in my sig, basically what I am looking for is some tone advice or bass-line creation advice within this style of music.

I have noticed that when I play fingerstyle I lose a lot of ability to cut through (2 detuned guitarists) and the leader of the band always notices when I ditch the pick for a song. So, I play with the pick for that reason, to make the band sound better.

Honestly though, these lines are becoming rather dull and I'm trying to find a way to spice them up somehow. Any criticism and/or adivce is greatly appreciated.

To cut through, I've heard it's good to boost mids (correct me if I'm wrong). For your compositions, I like to write bass lines that stay in the same key as the guitar, but don't really follow it i.e. Iron Maiden style. Or letting your bass take the lead in some main riffs with the guitars backing it instead of vice versa. If all else fails listen to music for inspiration. Good luck
btw, cool songs on your myspace.

To cut through, I've heard it's good to boost mids (correct me if I'm wrong). For your compositions, I like to write bass lines that stay in the same key as the guitar, but don't really follow it i.e. Iron Maiden style. Or letting your bass take the lead in some main riffs with the guitars backing it instead of vice versa. If all else fails listen to music for inspiration. Good luck
btw, cool songs on your myspace.

No, you're right more mids would have sounded better in the recording. However, the tone I used when recording these was a vintage MusicMan 'Ray with brand new GHS blue steels... played with a pick, it was a GREAT tone but somehow that bite got lost in there... must be those damn dual detuned guitars...

Glad you enjoyed the songs :)

Also, there are a few songs we have where there is a long enough space I could throw in some bass stuff, but with 2 guitars I tend to just groove the roots... I want the groove to remain the same but also add some "funk" on top of this... these song seem to suffer from a lot of repitition