making up your own basslines

[ishalleatyou]

at the moment everything i seem to be able to play when someone puts a chord progression infront of me is somthing that jsut sounds like a load of major and minor arpeggios

i cant seem to get an actually tune out of it.
help

[Coeball]

You should try and play the root first then and any other notes in the chord that fit in the piece. The main point to remember is you don't have to play every single note that is in the chord.

also adding a few notes from appropriate scales to mix thing up a bit , but remember as a bass player your main role is to support the chord progression the guitar is playing.

[Dbassmon]

In building solid bass lines a player has a number of ways he can add harmonic interest. Always keep in mind the style and genre of the tune as to keep your bass line composition appropriate.

The most basic way to start is to play the root of the chord. This will fill up the bottom of the music but will probably leave you unfulfilled as musician. Adding the fifth scale degree of the chord is the next piece. Now you will be able to sound like a traditional country bass player.. 1,5 1, 5 etc.

Arpeggiating the chord allows you to create more harmonic interest. You must understand whether the chord is Maj or Min and what additional chord tones to add and whether the 7th,9th or 13th is appropriate. A more sophisticated approach is not to always start on the root of the chord. For now, don't worry about that.

Another approach is scaler. playing the scale on which the given chord is based.

Voice leading is where you create tension and resolve by picking weak chord tone and resolving them to strong chord tones.

Any of these concepts can be mixed an matched.

Transcribe some lines and see if you can identify which of these approaches are being utilized.

As you can see this gets to be quite involved and a teacher is highly recommended. You will be able to get these concepts much quicker if someone gives you some instruction. Also, learn as many bass lines as you can off recordings.

[DocBop]

You need to build you own bass voice/vocabulary but learning the bass lines of others and extracting the parts you like for you own use later. But don't just learn to play the line study the rhythms and notes and how they are being used. Where are the chord tones and which one in the lines you like. What is the bass player doing on the strong and weak beats. Its that knowledge you will use to create your own lines. You learn lines and tunes and they get stored in the back of your head. You go to play a tune without thinking about it you start putting together bits and pieces of lines you heard before, but you are combining them in your own unique way. That's the way all musicians learn to play, they study the past to create the future.

[lopxtc]

ishalleatyou -- sorry I dont mean to hijack your thread, but my question seems to be related alot to yours so I didnt see the need to create a new one.



Im still just in the learning phase having only just gotten my first bass last Jan. I like to try and learn songs that I like, but in my area there are not a lot of cover bands so I want to be able to create bass lines. I recently got a huge jam pack to go along with garage band on my mac and I want to play along with the drum kits they have.

My problem is that while I have a basic understanding of theory (chord construction, and such) I dont know how to apply it to myself yet and create a bass line. Whats the best way that I could get the most out of practicing with a drum kit?

Right now I typically pick a starting key, say C major, and just play notes out of that scale that I think see to fit the beat that the drums are putting down. However I know that no song just plays C major all the way through ... so I guess its chord progression that I need to understand.

Aaron

[barbarbass]

I find this approach useful when composing bass lines.

1. Listen to what the vocalist (or lead instrument, if it's an instrumental) is doing.

2. Learn that melody.

3. Harmonize a new line under that melody.

4. If you want it to groove harder, take notes out (or add, as the case may be) and try to match what the drummer is playing.

[neurotictim]

Yeah, hitting the root on the downbeat is a great way to emphasize rhythm - loads (almost all, really) rock bands do this. Gives the music a "heavier", more percussive sound. Playing 5ths or 4ths can give your sound a brighter or darker sound, depending on the scale.

Playing the root and the octave at the same time adds fullness, I like to do that when a simple bass line is called for. Double-stops are the official term, but I've found that most people think root-5th combinations (also known as power chords) when they're talking about double-stops, not root-octave. Anyway, any time you want to keep the bassline simple, but fuller, a double-stop is the way to go.

Also, at first at least, always remember to keep the bassline only as complex as the music calls for - as much fun as it is to watch Vic or Jaco go nuts, the most driving bass lines are the ones that artistically use the silence in between notes. You don't need to drive yourself crazy trying to fit 32 notes in a 90bpm 4/4 rock beat. Feel the groove. When you've progressed to a point where you can naturally include more, go for it, but don't start out killing yourself. I have students that do that, and they always end up frustrated.

Learn your progressions - I-IV-V is what I teach my beginners, and use that progression all over the bass. Use C, G, E, or A and play scales for each, till you're thoroughly familiar with it. Then you can start branching out into modes, and your music will really begin to take on "your" sound.

Good luck. This is when bass playing really starts getting fun, IMO.