bass line creation

[mrchief128]

ok...i've been playing bass for...dang...well over half a year now...and i'm...ok...i can play, i've learned some slap, but i keep getting stuck on what is probably the most important part...bassline creation....i just want to be able to have a song that i know the chord progression and the key its in or whatever and just be able to play along...at this point one of my main goals is to be able to play in the chapel band at my school, but...i need to get alot better before i can do that...anyways...any links to lessons or even books i should buy would be awesome...also personal advice is good too...

[enigmabass]

"the teacher" by victor wooten has really helped me, but it won't help if you don't have an open mind

[mrchief128]

Originally Posted by enigmabass

"the teacher" by victor wooten has really helped me, but it won't help if you don't have an open mind

could you provide a link to that? or more specific info...i've been searching for it but can't find it...is it a book or what?

[steveb98]

First start with roots and fifths, but insure you are locking in with the drummers bass drum. Most bass players (as well musicians in general) equate more notes as better. I guarantee you play a simple line and you and the drummer sound like "One" everyone will love you. It is amazing how other musicians and even the audience hear simple solid line and dig it. They may not even know why it sounds so good, but they know it had them bouncing. After that start working on lines to setup the next chord change. Once you have mastered that then work on your fills, but next forget you need to keep the groove.

For coming up with lines you need to know you basic harmony and theory how chords are spelled. Know/hear the key or mode your in so you use the right scale notes to connect chords with. Study Walking Bass lines. Even if not the style you plan to play it teaches the basics of handling chords, connecting chords, and chromatic approach notes. If you understand that then applying to another style of music is mainly changing the rhythm.

[steveb98]

Originally Posted by mrchief128

could you provide a link to that? or more specific info...i've been searching for it but can't find it...is it a book or what?

I think what he is referring to is Victor Wooten book "The Music Lesson". It is a great book on how think about Life, Music and how they relate. There are a lot of great lessons to be learned from the book, but none about notes or scales which is what I think your looking for.

[thumpbass1]

Have you tried simply learning the bass lines to a song you
like and learn to play it all the way through?

By all means take the high road and learn music theory
and how to sight read music notation but I can't stress
simply trying to cover tunes as part of the learning process.
By doing this you will get an understanding of how songs
are put together as a complete structures such as what
chord progressions are in the song and how the bass player
moved that chord progression as well as being part of the
rythmn section etc.

You can buy song books for a lot of artists or you can also
do what most of us have done and that is to put on a recording of a song and start copying the bass parts by ear.
Learning how songs work as music is what it's about for us
bass players or any musician and it will take you beyond
the really cool slap solo stuff and other little licks and bits
you've learned but haven't been able to translate into being
part of a band as a player.

[jsbass]

You've only been playing for a little over a half a year... Just focus on learning songs you like for now. Don't get in over your head or youl'll just come out frustrated. Have fun for now, a lot of stuff like this comes with time.

[mellofello]

creating a bass line takes creativity and knowledge. you can get knowledge from experience and from study. You may want to do a brief online study of metacognition. this is learning how your brain learns ! very interesting stuff indeed, and practical in developing a study plan.

[cowsgomoo]

roots & fifths are are all well & good but unless he's playing Beatle-esque pop from before 1965, or oompah music, or country, what he'll get probably won't be stylistically accurate

my advice would be to seriously listen to pieces of music in the style you wish to play... analyze what they're doing rhythmically & harmonically and use those phrases (and your own adaptations of them) to build up a vocabulary of stuff you can whip out when appropriate... most bass players have a limited vocabulary and if you listen to them enough you'll hear the same kinds of things... in all styles of music you'll hear the same types of chord movements, and the same kinds of bass lines underneath those chords... once you're intimate with what bass works under what chords in what style, you then have the freedom to mix & match


here are a few approaches to try:

use the notes in the arpeggios of the chords that are being played

determine the key of the song & use scale tones to move between chords

use chromatic movement to approach notes

use octaves

occasionally double fragments of the melody (can sound great)

vary the register of the line you're playing

vary the dynamics of the line you're playing


and an old post of mine about note choices:

making my own basslines?