Components of a Solid Bass Line

[funkygroover694]

Hey guys. I was wondering what you thought the component of a good bass line are. I'll give a couple off the top of my head, but I'm curious about what you guys think. Hopefully your feedback will help me make better bass lines. So here is a few:

-Holds down the beat
-Locks in with the drummer
-Supports the guitar
-Pushes the song forward
-Gives the song a fuller and rounder sound

So what do you think? Thanks!

Rock on

[mambo4]

I'd put supports the harmony near the top.
Follows the dynamics.
Leaves space for the other instruments.
Uses tasteful simplicity.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by funkygroover694

Hey guys. I was wondering what you thought the component of a good bass line are. I'll give a couple off the top of my head, but I'm curious about what you guys think. Hopefully your feedback will help me make better bass lines. So here is a few:

-Holds down the beat
-Locks in with the drummer
-Supports the guitar
-Gives the song a fuller and rounder sound

So what do you think? Thanks!

Rock on

I don't think any of those things are particularly important. This one, however, is:

-Pushes the song forward

That's all. If a part doesn't hold the beat, lock in with the drummer, support the guitar, and give the song a fuller and rounder sound, it's not the least bit important to me as long as it pushes the song forward. Think I'm wrong about that? Two words: John Entwistle. I can name plenty more, but he'll do.

[MarkTAW]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

I don't think any of those things are particularly important. This one, however, is:

-Pushes the song forward

That's all. If a part doesn't hold the beat, lock in with the drummer, support the guitar, and give the song a fuller and rounder sound, it's not the least bit important to me as long as it pushes the song forward. Think I'm wrong about that? Two words: John Entwistle. I can name plenty more, but he'll do.

Of course this is the element that can least be summed up in a few sentences...

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by MarkTAW

Of course this is the element that can least be summed up in a few sentences...

Yeah, well that's why music schools exist

[PBass101]

Originally Posted by funkygroover694

Hey guys. I was wondering what you thought the component of a good bass line are. I'll give a couple off the top of my head, but I'm curious about what you guys think. Hopefully your feedback will help me make better bass lines. So here is a few:

-Holds down the beat
-Locks in with the drummer
-Supports the guitar
-Pushes the song forward
-Gives the song a fuller and rounder sound

So what do you think? Thanks!

Rock on

Sometimes all of these are true, sometimes only a few of them are true. I'd say the only constant you listed is pushing the song forward. If somebody stops the forward momentum of a song dead in its tracks, there's a problem of course.

As for your other, uh, suggestions, sometimes the music doesn't call for eighth-root notes, which of course is what people really mean most of them time when they talk about rock music and say things like "hold down the beat", "lock with the drummer" and my personal favorite - "support the guitar."

Sometimes things get dicy and the drums and bass go in different directions. Sometimes the beat isn't the most important thing in the world. And sometimes you just gotta tell the guitar player where to go.

[Chris K]

Originally Posted by mambo4

I'd put supports the harmony near the top.
Follows the dynamics.
Leaves space for the other instruments.
Uses tasteful simplicity.

+1, but in reversed order.

Tasteful simplicity I interpret as simple, but certainly not dull, sometimes even surprisingly simple. Well calculated accents, sleek passing notes, mmmmmmmmmm.......

[Andrew Jones]

Strattles, Supports and in someway defines the line between the Harmony and the Nonpitched Rhymic instruments


and sometimes


Strattles,Supports and in someway defines the line between the Melody and the Rhythmic instruments.




Aj

[JimmyM]

Honestly, I don't even know if that second batch of suggestions are all that important. I think they all have their place, and they can all be good for certain things, but really, all I care about is making the song sound good, and you can violate all those principles and a song can still sound good.

[gatorfreak8031]

I'd say for any instrument the number 1 sign of a good job is to help the song reach it's full potential. So whether the song needs an interesting 16th note rhythm riding the root or a melodic half note melody, it's all about making everyone sound good, including yourself

[funkygroover694]

Originally Posted by PBass101

Sometimes all of these are true, sometimes only a few of them are true. I'd say the only constant you listed is pushing the song forward. If somebody stops the forward momentum of a song dead in its tracks, there's a problem of course.

As for your other, uh, suggestions, sometimes the music doesn't call for eighth-root notes, which of course is what people really mean most of them time when they talk about rock music and say things like "hold down the beat", "lock with the drummer" and my personal favorite - "support the guitar."

Sometimes things get dicy and the drums and bass go in different directions. Sometimes the beat isn't the most important thing in the world. And sometimes you just gotta tell the guitar player where to go.

I totally agree with you, and in some cases you don't want to lock in with the drummer. There are lots of songs with melodies on offbeats. And being someone who plays funk and jazz I don't play straight root notes. I like to make my lines simpler. I think that even the most complicated bass line can still hold down the beat and that it is important to do so. Bass is generally a rhythm instrument, so it's important to keep a rhythm. And on the matter of "supports the guitar," without a bass the song sounds a lot thinner. For example, at the end of Stadium Arcadium by RHCP the drums go away on the final chorus, and then it repeats one more time, then the bass goes away. And on that last repeat of the chorus the song sounds much thinner because the bass is gone. The bass gives it a thicker, more defined sound.

[michael_atw]

barre chords...and lot's of 'em

[J-B'ass]

If it makes the layperson boogie, then it's good.

[MarkTAW]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Honestly, I don't even know if that second batch of suggestions are all that important. I think they all have their place, and they can all be good for certain things, but really, all I care about is making the song sound good, and you can violate all those principles and a song can still sound good.

Which is true of almost all rules.

What's that line "they're more like guidelines really" (was it from Monty Python or HHGG or somewhere else?).

[PBass101]

Johnny Depp in Pirate of the Carribean?

[Roscoe Vahorne]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Yeah, well that's why music schools exist

Maybe thats why John Entwhistle went to one.
I think he had a degree in French Horn before The Who.

To me, all those suggestions you put at the top are totally productive and positive ways of thinking about your role as a bass player.

Ultimately it's totally up to you and you just have to decide what elements you want to concentrate on and develop them.

I have to teach someone to play 'pulling teeth' today by Cliff Burton, which I absolutely can't stand. Personally I'd get more out of a simple Aston Barrett line. Still he does what he does well, and doesn't ask anyone's permission.

For me the bass has a support role and the bass should mould around the other parts whilst having it's own sound. If the guitar part is yin, the bass is yang, that's how I think about it. Everyone's ideas will be different.

[MarkTAW]

Originally Posted by PBass101

Johnny Depp in Pirate of the Carribean?

Peter Venkman, Ghostbusters.