A little help with Rock Bass

[jrklmx(Andrew)]

Im a blues/ jazz guy and whenever i play with a rock drummer my bass playing really shows it.

What are some rock type rhythms and licks you use to get through chord changes in a rock setting?

If I try to go from an A chord to D chord
I'll usually do something like A B C# Eb to D
but that sounds too jazzy.

Should I try to play like I just learned bass?
A A A A A A A C# D?

Should I just try to stick to minor pentatonic
play simple and avoid things like dorian and the blues scale?

Any advice/rock bass tips would be really helpful.
Thanks

[BahamaBass]

Originally Posted by jrklmx(Andrew)

Im a blues/ jazz guy and whenever i play with a rock drummer my bass playing really shows it.

What are some rock type rhythms and licks you use to get through chord changes in a rock setting?

If I try to go from an A chord to D chord
I'll usually do something like A B C# Eb to D
but that sounds too jazzy.

Should I try to play like I just learned bass?
A A A A A A A C# D?

Should I just try to stick to minor pentatonic
play simple and avoid things like dorian and the blues scale?

Any advice/rock bass tips would be really helpful.
Thanks

just use 1 - 3 - 5. groove on those. or even simpler..1 - 5 - 8.

[BassChuck]

For Rock, rhythm and roots are most important. Creating a good line from chord and passing notes is OK... but not as important as with Blues and Jazz. K.I.S.S.

Also.... In Blues and Jazz the sub-division of the beat is very often in triplets; groups of 3. That happens less often in Rock, with the sub-division in groups of 2 or 4.

[Stumbo]

AAAAAA(octave)AbADDDDDD(octave)AbAAAAAA....

[tpmiller08]

This is what works for me.

Take what you know about the Circle of Fifths and Chord Progressions in general.

The only thing that will be different will be the rhythms. So listen to the drummers beat. And match his rhythm. Easy way to start would be just pay attention to the bass drum and snare (basic rock beat will be on 2 on snare and 4 on bass drum. So it would be 1 + 2(snare) + 3 + 4(bass drum)

Alot of bands mix different styles of music to make rock. If the drummer is a straight rock drummer, find out his favorite song to play, and learn it.

Rock is an easy genre to learn. The hardest part is (which is mostly all genres with bass) is just to get a feel for when to throw a nice syncopated rhythm, or when to just plain keep the beat with a repeated note and what not. But with your bass backround, im sure you know that. Thats just more for other, newer players reading this thread

Good luck man,

-Troy

[d3vnull]

I use minor pentatonic scale all the time and it simply works. But surely there should be emphasis on the root and the groove. I play only rock and hardly ever find a tune which doesn't work with minor pentatonic scale.

[tpmiller08]

Originally Posted by d3vnull

I use minor pentatonic scale all the time and it simply works. But surely there should be emphasis on the root and the groove. I play only rock and hardly ever find a tune which doesn't work with minor pentatonic scale.

Minor pentatonic is god of all that is rock. Arabian scale, or using a Major Pentatonic in the relative key of the minor your playing works cool too.

[Rudreax]

Do you listen to a lot of rock music? If you don't, listen to it and start learning and internalizing from that.

[d3vnull]

Originally Posted by tpmiller08

Minor pentatonic is god of all that is rock. Arabian scale, or using a Major Pentatonic in the relative key of the minor your playing works cool too.

Thanks for the tip! I haven't tried Arabian scale before, but it sounds great.

For some reason major pentatonic scale doesn't seem to fit to my playing. I've tried it many times, but it doesn't feel like rock to me.

[tpmiller08]

Originally Posted by d3vnull

Thanks for the tip! I haven't tried Arabian scale before, but it sounds great.

For some reason major pentatonic scale doesn't seem to fit to my playing. I've tried it many times, but it doesn't feel like rock to me.

It all depends on personal taste =) Seems like you might be looking for a dark feel to your rock lines. Phygian Mode is another great one. Its "unstable" because of the minor 2nd, but I use it sometimes to transition between the Arabian Scale and Minor Scale.

How's the playing with your drummer coming along?

[d3vnull]

Originally Posted by tpmiller08

It all depends on personal taste =) Seems like you might be looking for a dark feel to your rock lines. Phygian Mode is another great one. Its "unstable" because of the minor 2nd, but I use it sometimes to transition between the Arabian Scale and Minor Scale.

How's the playing with your drummer coming along?

Nice, I'll check out the Phrygian scale tomorrow. Yes, I prefer darker and heavier sounds; maybe that's why the major scale doesn't fit in.

My drummer is a machine. It doesn't complain even though I might hit a bum note or have wrong timing. I'm not in a band, but rather jam with friends.