What Intervals in Black/Death

[Nyarlathotep]

Been looking at my previous thread here on black/death and one question came up for me: When playing "against" the guitars, what intervals sound great?

For example the guitar(s) are trem picking (on the bottom 2 strings):

                            /-3-\ /-3-\
A -----------------|7~~~~~~~0-6-7-0-5-6-
E -0~~~~~~~3~~~6~~~|--------------------
Each space = approx. 16th note, /-3-\ = triplet

What intervals would be good to against for the E, G, A#, and E' trem picking? What would be a good bass line to pop out?

Thanks in advance!

QUICK EDIT: Naturally my first thought is to go for the minor 3rd and/or tritone.

[lemur821]

I'd probably play something like E A G E D E, but I approach things melodically. Unless the band is trying to play chords together, I play the note I think should come next rather than worrying too hard about how it harmonizes with the guitars (except on important notes like long ones and spots where we should come together).

[Nyarlathotep]

Anyone else?

Oh, and lemur821, this is going to sound noobish but, what length of notes would you play? If possible, could you tab it?

[lemur821]

I could tab it, but I don't think it's worthwhile for those few notes. I didn't specify any lengths because I probably wouldn't play that verbatim, so lengths don't seem especially significant to me. My exact line would depend on what came before and after -- I think that in terms of relation to the guitar my thought is lousy when taken out of context. It just sounds like I couldn't get my act together. What it is is an example of the way I try to make my line have its own melody while still meeting the guitars at appropriate times.

The notion is that I would play E with the guitars, move to A as they played a G, play a G when they get to A#, another low E with their higher E, and then D E on the triplets.

What I was trying to get across is that it's not always the best approach to look at constructing a line as something that you base on the guitar work. That kind of mimicry can be an effective technique, but I feel it's better used sparingly. When writing counterpoint you don't look at each voice wondering what it should play in relation to the others; you worry about its melodic integrity foremost. The question is how the melody should go, within the constraints you have set for yourself (no dissonant intervals on strong beats, for example).

And this is pretty much my approach. If you would like to mimic the guitars then go right ahead: it's a fine sound. It's just not necessary to construct a line using that approach all the time.

[Nyarlathotep]

Thanks!