First attempt at writing a bass line.

crcantley · #1 01-20-2010, 05:00 PM

I've been playing for a little over a year now and I've decided to try to lay down a few of my own bass lines. I got some blues tracks from freejamtracks.com and this is what I came up with.
This is my first attempt, so please be gentle.

I'm working on a few more that I'll post soon, so any advice would help. Thanks!

blues in d.mp3 - 1.68MB

KYJazzy · #2 01-20-2010, 05:50 PM

That's a fine bassline. It's doing everything a bassline should do - holds the groove, establishes the chord, and most importantly, keeps TIME and locks in with the drummer. It's a great line to play for any verse or solos over the rhythm section. Only nit picky recommendation is the 5th at the end is a little underwhelming, heh.

Once you start to feel more comfortable with the fretboard you can play with it even more. Just make sure to study your blues chords (obviously 1-IV-V in this case) and you'll start to realize where the good note choices are. Which aside from any tasty approach or chromatic fills will be your root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th generally. Keep practicing and have fun. You have great time which means you're off on the right foot to becoming a proper bass player.

snyderz · #3 01-20-2010, 05:55 PM

Sounds good to me.

crcantley · #4 01-20-2010, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KYJazzy

That's a fine bassline. It's doing everything a bassline should do - holds the groove, establishes the chord, and most importantly, keeps TIME and locks in with the drummer. It's a great line to play for any verse or solos over the rhythm section. Only nit picky recommendation is the 5th at the end is a little underwhelming, heh.

Once you start to feel more comfortable with the fretboard you can play with it even more. Just make sure to study your blues chords (obviously 1-IV-V in this case) and you'll start to realize where the good note choices are. Which aside from any tasty approach or chromatic fills will be your root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th generally. Keep practicing and have fun. You have great time which means you're off on the right foot to becoming a proper bass player.

You just made my day. Thank you oh so very much. Also, I took your advice and made another recording. I simply stole a little blues riff I play all the time to warm up, but I like it much more.

blues in d__fancy turnaround_.mp3 - 1.68MB
(Sorry about the buzz. I think it's something in my house responding to a low A)

crcantley · #5 01-20-2010, 07:06 PM

I also have a question about this. In part where I'm playing -
D DD C D DD C D DD C (the very beginning), why does a C sound good there?

KYJazzy · #6 01-20-2010, 07:46 PM

The C sounds good on the I chord in a D blues for a couple of reasons.

1. C is the dominant 7th of your D7 chord. It's also the last note of a "blues scale" (D F G G# A C D).

2. The 7th of any chord pulls hard (resolves) to the root. So playing it on the 4th beat of any measure helps establish the chord, in your case we know the chord is still D.