Playing Hip-Hop Bass

jmcdan3 · #1 10-24-2007, 02:55 PM

How should i go about it? keep it simple? very few, if any fills? tight with the drums? leave room for the emcee? anything else im leaving out? i know many tend to stick with the root, fifth, and octave and playing a lot of half notes/triplets fills.

winston · #2 10-24-2007, 11:32 PM

I don't think that there are any rules for hip-hop bass, other than finding a stanky groove and sticking to it. If you haven't already, play along with recordings to see what the pros do. There's a lot of funky low end on Outkast, Blackalicious, Spearhead, the Roots...if you widen the net to include neo-soul artists like D'Angelo and Erykah Badu there's even more inspiration. Be sure to check out Dave Chapelle's Block Party DVD for a good cross-section.

Snerek · #3 10-25-2007, 07:37 AM

check out Dwele also, his bass player is pretty groovy. he's on youtube.

Snerek · #4 10-25-2007, 07:45 AM

check out Dwele also, his bass player is pretty groovy. he's on youtube.

trtrzenified · #5 10-25-2007, 08:51 AM

Songs by Limp Bizkit usually have groovy bassline. Try Stuck or Re-arranged as well as Jump Around (House of Pain cover)

Infernal Affair · #6 10-25-2007, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmcdan3

How should i go about it? keep it simple? very few, if any fills? tight with the drums? leave room for the emcee? anything else im leaving out? i know many tend to stick with the root, fifth, and octave and playing a lot of half notes/triplets fills.

I think you pretty much have it covered. A lot of it is finding a groove/riff and repetitiously sticking with it and locking with the beat. A lot of it also depends on the song. There's lots of times where the riff stays the same even throughout the chorus with little if any chord changes.

chaosMK · #7 10-25-2007, 09:18 AM

I actually want to start writing hip hop music. Meshuggah meets hip hop.

I'd start by dressing in all white with very nice white shoes, a few elegant chains. A crooked cap if you want to be risque. Possibly play in white leather gloves.

Aside from that, it's all about being tight with the drums. Crank the bass frequencies. Listen to hip hop and see how it's done in your fav songs.

anonymous02282011 · #8 10-25-2007, 09:54 AM

tribe called quest used to sample from jazz or actually have live bass. check em out. midnight marauders, low end theory. both great albums.

rakirksey · #9 10-25-2007, 10:35 AM

The one thing I've noticed with Hip-Hop bass or Hip-Hop "music" in general is that you really need to make room for an MC.

The thing is that different MCs have varying "flow" and may or may not work with a particular beat/bassline/track etc. For example, a lot of the old-school Wu-Tang beats are really sparse and gritty. Some of them actually don't have much bass at all. Conversely you have songs like Outkast has on Stankonia (B.O.B.) that are super busy but still work.

So for me I try to keep the groove simple and tight with minimal variation. If you are doing it live with an MC you can feel out the song and fill in where it is necessary, but if you are doing a track many times a producer will just get a 4-bar/8-bar loop and work with that.

Lalabadie · #10 10-25-2007, 11:22 AM

Listen to old school hip-hop, you'll find real bass playing more easily.

One song that comes to mind is Know How, by Young MC. Nice tension, and groovy.

jmcdan3 · #11 10-25-2007, 01:04 PM

i just picked up "the tipping point" by the roots and i wanna get the black star lp. stuff is so easy to figure out! its not neccessarily my favorite genre of music but the bassist plays the role of what a BASSIST should be doing. im telling you: KEEP IT SIMPLE AND GROOVE!!!! this is what bass is all about-ive done way too much in the past with my playing but i guess it all depends on the genre. any more thoughts on some good records? i really would like to know how everyone approaches this style-what do you try to accomplish? i have noticed on this new album that he uses the root,fifth, and flatted seventh exclusively-minor pentatonic!!

Infernal Affair · #12 10-25-2007, 01:52 PM

Some of my favorite bass lines in hip hop music:

- Black Sheep "The Choice is Yours"
- A Tribe Called Quest "Check the Vibe"
- Digable Planets "Rebirth of Slick"

Those are considered classics and the bass plays a major role in all of them. The abums that these songs are from are terrific as well and you'll find some very tasty bass playing.

There's a ton of great stuff out today that has some good bass lines, especially in regards to the less mainstream stuff that isn't played on the radio. As simple as it is, I really love "Daylight" by Aesop Rock. Not very funky (a rather common element in hip hop bass), but very melodic and fits the song really well.

Saetia · #13 10-25-2007, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaosMK

I actually want to start writing hip hop music. Meshuggah meets hip hop.

I'd start by dressing in all white with very nice white shoes, a few elegant chains. A crooked cap if you want to be risque. Possibly play in white leather gloves.

Aside from that, it's all about being tight with the drums. Crank the bass frequencies. Listen to hip hop and see how it's done in your fav songs.

Something like older Candiria? Or less Meshuggah more hip hop blend?

Lol.

I always thought Candiria had a very hip hop overtone with all the added heavy polyrhythmic stuff.

Peace

-Benny

rakirksey · #14 10-25-2007, 02:23 PM

Yea that bassline on "Daylight" by Aesop Rock is pretty good. I think the fluid melodic motion goes well with Aesop's flow. Another good Def. Jux song is "Pigeon" from The Cold Vein by Cannibal Ox. I mean any song that can use "Portrait of Tracy" as a sample has got to be good.