Hey Mr. Lawson/Mr. Manring, I had a question about playing melodically.

I usually never get the chance to play with other musicians, be it guitarists, drummers, keyboard players, etc. This has led me to start playing very melodically, writing songs that can be listened to as stand-alone bass tracks. Recently though, I had to the chance to play with a guitarist buddy of mine.

He told me, as we were playing, that my lines were "too melodic", and "Too hard to write good guitar lines over." Also, he mentioned that vocals would be impossible to fit over these bass lines.

My main question is this: What is a good way of playing less melodically, and better serve a song? I realise that he may just be threatened or something to that effect. But the more I think about it, the more correct his thinking might be. I really want to play in a band, but if my lines don't fit, that would make me very sad. I'd rather not be a solo bassist, as my skills are not up to that calibre yet.

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

MFH,

I'd start by doing some major listening - what kinds of songs are going to be the startpoint for what you're trying to do? How do the bassists in those bands or with those artists approach bassline construction?

There are certain players whose approach to bassline building has lead to them getting hired with a lot of the greatest singers and songwriters in the history of pop music - just about anything with Tony Levin, Lee Sklar, Chuck Rainey, Bernard Edwards, Pino Palladino, Mo Foster, Nathan East etc. on is going to throw up a whole range of approaches to writing basslines with differing degrees of melodicism.

I guess the big thing is knowing what's right the project - if it's your own project, then your lines can be as busy or melodic as you like, and you can just build the songs around that, but if it's a collaboration, you need to find some middle ground where the music allows each of you to do what you do best, so the music ends up being greater than a sum of it's parts...

Experiment, enjoy, and value your listening time as a huge part of the learning process!

Steve
www.stevelawson.net

He told me, as we were playing, that my lines were "too melodic", and "Too hard to write good guitar lines over." Also, he mentioned that vocals would be impossible to fit over these bass lines.

too hard to write guitar lines over? He's just lazy!

As far as vocals, generally youll find that bass lines for vocal pieces are simpler, due to the fact that if you put too much melody, combined with the singing you will drown one of the sounds, and usually you'll fins that people care more about the lyrics than the bass, for as wonrg as that may seem:hmm:

Thes best way to serve a song is doing so. If the song requires you to play root/eigth notes all the way, do so. I think that the best approach here would be for you to try to come up with several lines, and by discarding, pick the ones that sound better.

About the guitarrist, I dont think Alex Lifeson ever told Geddy Lee to take it down a knotch, and he writes great gitar parts.

That's all I have to say, for what it's worth.

I agree that it's all about listening. Being able to do what's appropriate in different musical situations is a skill that takes time and hard work to develop, but in my opinion, it comes down to learning to listen deeply and creatively to what's going on in any musical environment you're being asked to participate in. Good luck!

Writing the perfect bass parts for a song is hard to explain. Perhaps, this is why playing bass is an art form, not a science!

Usually it will involve a certain degree of compromise from everyone to get the song to be the best that it can be. If it's not your own solo project, you probably won't get to go wild for every track. Although, just make sure your band isn't too narrow minded. I have been in bands that simply couldn't appreciate a bassist with style who didn't play straight 8th notes.