Lead bass and rythm

[niels125]

Lately i got some interest in rock songs that have lead bass in them.

I looked up some bass covers/tabs of Ace of spades (motorhead) and love will tear us apart (joy division), I also listened closely to the tracks...
Somehow I have a hard time playing these songs in time because to me those basslines kinda sound like they are played on feeling and just are in time at the start and end of a measure.

Are these songs just 8's and 16th's played on a fast drumbeats or are the notes meant to be played on feeling?

[MalcolmAmos]

I think I understand what you are asking.

Playing accompaniment the click track is king.
Playing a lead break solo the lyrics are king.

Look at some sheet music with standard notation and you will see that each word gets a note. Two syllable words get two notes, etc. So when you switch over to melody (treble clef) the lyrics take over, i.e. with melody the rest signs and note duration dictate how the melody notes are to be played. With bass clef accompaniment I tend to get a beat and stick with it the lyrics are there under my breath, but I'm singing them to keep the beat.

However if you compare treble to bass clef they both follow one note per lyric word. But, when I'm playing accompaniment I tend to fall into my mental click track and play roots, fives, eights and or the correct 3.

Solo what you sing, I guess we could call it what we feel. Accompaniment the beat as I see it.

Not sure that answered your question. Looking at the following you may be able to answer the question yourself. On this piece of sheet music there is treble, bass, lyrics and chord name. Plus key signature and time signature and I presume Cento is a guide for the tempo. From all that you should be able to see something.

[niels125]

thanks for the answer, but I don't think it was exactly what I meant.

I was wondering how the notes where placed in some faster songs of lead bassists (like lemmy or Hook) .

For example the mainrif of Ace of spades has a quick rif thats played as a rythm guitar.
In a song like that I find it very hard to hear where the notes are placed, it kinda sounds like a mix of 8th and 16th notes but the song goes so fast I can't seem to hear it clearly.

When i look up on youtube for basscovers alot of people seem to play it different from eachother.
Some seem to play it 8th-8th-16th-16th-16th-16h-8th-8th, others seem to play it 8th-8th-16th-16th-8th-8th.

is there a trick for disecting the rythm of fast songs or is it just lack of ear training from me?

[Mayers]

I don't get how you see music but oh well ...

When I listen to that song it seems to be only 16th all the song except for the place where the drum continue alone. Very simple ... he is kind of the ancestor of speed metal.

There is many kind of bass line ...

[LiamPodmore]

If you like using tab, i would suggest something like Guitar Pro. It will show you what notes are 8ths and what are 16ths etc, or atleast what the tabber thought it was. It isnt always right, but when it isnt you can tell and change it yourself.

Liam

[niels125]

Originally Posted by Mayers

I don't get how you see music but oh well ...

Care to explain?

Maybe it's my lack of music understanding and I'm trying to see patterns that aren't there..

But as far as I know these songs are in 4/4 so every "part" fits in 4 drumbeats. so looking at the amount of notes it should be played in 8th's or 16th's but listening to the track it goes so fast that I have a hard time hearing which note is a 8th or 16th.

Will try to get guitar pro, hope it will help

[Mayers]

Originally Posted by niels125

Care to explain?

Maybe it's my lack of music understanding and I'm trying to see patterns that aren't there..

But as far as I know these songs are in 4/4 so every "part" fits in 4 drumbeats. so looking at the amount of notes it should be played in 8th's or 16th's but listening to the track it goes so fast that I have a hard time hearing which note is a 8th or 16th.

Will try to get guitar pro, hope it will help

Oh ! ok now I get it. well with that song it is hard to now if he only do 16th or 8th because of all the distortion/overdirve in the sound of the bass. But looking at his picking hand it seems to be 8th in the vast majority of the song, kind o hard to guest.

[mambo4]

Originally Posted by niels125

Care to explain?

Maybe it's my lack of music understanding and I'm trying to see patterns that aren't there..

But as far as I know these songs are in 4/4 so every "part" fits in 4 drumbeats.

If I get your meaning, I think you may need to refine your understanding.

The song is in 4/4 but the parts are not locked into exactly those 4 beats. Melodic phrases can start and end at any point within a measure of 4/4 and each note can span as many beats as needed. Melodies tend to involve ties, dotted notes and rests, which are more complex than simple 8ths & 16ths. This often makes the timing harder to pick out.

That said, the 2 songs you mentioned are not that rhythmically complex, and a good opportunity to refine your sense of the beat subdivisions.

Look at the rhythm of Peter Hooke's line in Love Will Tear Us Apart, measure by measure:
(a ^ = an 8th rest, since there is no such ascii character)

| ♩ ♫ ^♪ ♫ | ♩ ♫ ^♪ ♫ | ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ | ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ |


notice how the first 2 bars are the same rhtyhm . also notice how the 4th note of the phrase is NOT on a beat, but an upbeat/ back beat -the "and" of 3.

technically that 3rd note is also held longer than a single eight note, it's really a quarter note. a more accurate but harder to read rendering of the first phrase would be:

| ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ ♫ |

so I am guessing it's the combination of notes starting on upbeats and notes being held across the downbeats (the 1,2,3,4 count) that is confusing you.

slow it down with a metronome and it should be easier to work out.

[Setebos]

Lead Bass???? That must be heavy!!!!









Sorry: I could not stop myself