Bass playing

[Rockchic-182]

hi ive been playing bass on and off for about 4 years and still cant make catchy hooks adn riffs without just playing the classic root note what techniques could i learn and practise to create better tunes 4 my band

[TomBoyd]

Try learning some scales, which will open up more options for you. The blues scale is good to learn as it works well with a lot of thing.

Also try experimenting with different notes when you practise the songs your band plays and see what happens.

[MalcolmAmos]

www.studybass.com Start on page one. I quote from page one; "In the lessons, there is a strong focus on basics. That's the way it should be. You will always struggle without a strong foundation. You will notice my lessons don't distract you with things you'll rarely use, don't need to know or that will delay your progress. There's a lot to study and the worst thing you can do is spend years learning the wrong things. Unfortunately, that happens to a lot of people."

With out a firm foundation of the basics you will keep running into stone walls.


So start at the beginning and speed read through the lessons until you need to slow down and start studying.

Good luck.

[bassalo]

I don't know where I'd be without:

www.studybass.com
www.playbassnow.com
and this book:
http://www.amazon.com/presents-Essen.../dp/0786677368
"Essential Music Theory for Electric Bass"

[DudeistMonk]

Lessons.

Also learn a bunch of tunes, easy tunes even.

Most rock bass lines are some combination of scale tones with a bias toward chord tones (the root, third, fifth and seventh)...don't know what I mean? go to studybass.com right now.

Also try chromatic tones...I got so wrapped up in scales that all my lines where sounding hookey, I started incorporating more chromatic tones and caring less about the scales (just focusing on the above notes and connecting them) and my lines got much smoooother.

...I could list these things all day but the truth of the matter is all this stuff has to be discovered and worked into your playing as a process of evolving as a bassist and developing a style/tool set/pool of choices for a given situation (set of changes and rhythms). The best way IMHO to do that is to learn a lot of songs and jam with a drummer or drum machine whenever you can.

[251]

Originally Posted by Rockchic-182

hi ive been playing bass on and off for about 4 years and still cant make catchy hooks adn riffs without just playing the classic root note what techniques could i learn and practise to create better tunes 4 my band

Jazz players call 3 & 7 guide tones. They will start a riff using them. It might be an enclosure like, 3 5 4, a triad or something more angular. Phrasing will also add appeal. Try a Latin beat for your riff.

FWIW, I know several guitar players whose riffs I will gladly copy.