Need a little bit of help/advice with writing basslines

[bassmasta05]

Hi,

Ive been playing bass for a little more than a year now and I have to say that the one thing that Ive really been doing the most of and have always wanted to do is to write music. With every song I write, I seem to show new things that I learn and each song is so much better musically. But to be honest, Im not 100% sure exactly what a bassline should be. Yes, I listen to plenty of music, in fact, I just wrote a 3 minute bassline based of of the style of blink 182 and plus 44 which sounds great! but Im not 100% sure what exactly a lead guitar player would do when he/she sees this bassline.

Would he/she think the bassline is too complicated? too simple?

Here is what I do when I construct Basslines, well, take my latest bassline for example.

Its in the Key of G, and I basically have an intro, a verse, a chorus, a bridge, and an outro(these parts are played many times and in different order obviously). Take my intro for example:

Chord: G
G-------------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------------
A---------------------------------3-3333---------
E--3-3333333333333333--5-5555------------------ x4

Now here are my actual questions

What Exaclty could/would a guitar player do to play along with this line? Would he/she play the G chord a bunch of times in a similar rythym with my line? Or should I change the line so it says on the top that the G, A, and C chords are being played instead of just the G chord. This way, the guitar player gets to play more than just one chord(G) a bunch of times.(Id be playing the root of each chord)


I guess what Im confused about is what would/could a guitar player play with a bassline like this for instance?

[Alec W. Conway]

Do the opposite. Get the guitar written, and then put the bass lines.

That's what I usually do anyway, and I'm pretty much always doing something totally different than the guitar(s).

And anyway, the guy who composes most of the stuff is generally the guitarist and/or most songs are usually built around the guitars. Now don't go ape people, I know its not always the case, hence why I said GENERALLY.

[Swimming Bird]

The guitarist can do a lot of things in this situation -- it can jam on G, do the G A C progression or any number of other things based on their preference (riffs or doubling your line, etc).

Also, the cool part about compossing is that you get to choose what your part does -- your line doesn't have to be the root. Keep in mind that chords have multiple notes so 'G' only provides information on the root note, not the rest of the scale or specific chord. However, if your guitarist is going to play power chords, then it doesn't really matter (I think G5is the notation).

Anyway, have your guitarist try a couple of different progressions -- many will work over that line. I like G F A, but you might not want to go in that direction.

[bassmasta05]

Originally Posted by Alec W. Conway

Do the opposite. Get the guitar written, and then put the bass lines.

That's what I usually do anyway, and I'm pretty much always doing something totally different than the guitar(s).

And anyway, the guy who composes most of the stuff is generally the guitarist and/or most songs are usually built around the guitars. Now don't go ape people, I know its not always the case, hence why I said GENERALLY.

I do understand that but I was just writing this bassline for the fun of it, and Im not in a band. I do however have a friend who recentally started playing guitar and Im going to jam with him soon. Im planing on starting a band soon. Thanks for the advice.

@Swimming Bird

Thanks for the advice, and lol, my sister, a guitarist, also said similar stuff, she likes the G F A better too.