My turn for opinions on a bass-line

[dazole]

A buddy of mine has a punk band in the fine city of San Antonio and asked me to write some bass-lines for some of his songs. Scared the crap out of me, since I've never been able to do that in my life

Well, he sent some songs, and, for the first time *ever* I was able to put something together, not with tabs, sheet music or help, but by ear. W00t! Anyway, most of the songs, being punk-ish are fairly easy. Steady rhythm, mostly roots. One song is a little different, though. It screamed to me "Do something a little differrent, possibly even melodic!" So, this is my first *ever* attempt at this.

First, a couple disclaimers:
1) Its punk-ish, meant for small dive bars, etc.
2) The recording quality isn't the best. Lots of clipping in the original mp3 I got from him.
3) I'm still learning: how to get tone, how to record, how to put together a good line, how to *play*.

Having said that, any advice, criticism, instruction, etc on the bass-line (tone, quality, etc) and how it fits with the song are *very* welcome. The mp3's are embedded, if you want d/l-able versions they can be provided.

http://batista.damnetwork.net/users/...ind_Faith.html (not on youtube, but my server at home)

Thanks to anyone who might give a listen and opinion!
David

[dazole]

37 views and no comments? Was it that bad?

[lowfreq33]

Ok then.

As it's your first try at this, good job. That being said, not really anything special going on there, nothing too awful either. One or two places where you missed a change, or maybe just chose a note that wasn't the best fit. It's ok though, it takes some time to learn how to construct a bassline for someone else's song. In my opinion it's a little harder when the song is really simple (like this one), because they're not giving you much direction to start with. After a while it'll start to be easier. I'll give you an A for effort, and a Needs Improvement on the rest.

[dazole]

Awesome, thank you! Yeah, i know the song isn't going to be winning any Grammy's any time soon Basic songs are pretty much all we got, though. My main goal with this song was to make it a" non-root follow the guitar" bassline, although I do hit the roots...I think.

If you don't mind expounding, though, where were the places that I missed changes and/or chose a non-optimal note? I'd like to see if I can improve on it, if possible. I posted the songs as d/l-able links if that makes it easier, too.

Thanks again!
David