Syncing the Bass with the Bass Drum

[dyermakan]

What are thoughts regarding syncing bass notes with the kick drum with regards to various types of music: Rock, Jazz, etc.? Should bass notes on the beat ALWAYS be accompanied by a kick drum? If not, what are other styles?

[JimK]

ALWAYS? No...would be very boring, right?

There are times when you may want to lock-in exactly...would be good practice, IMO-
Get a drum book
Program like a Clyde Stubblefield
Attempt to exactly match what he does on the kick

Then-
Attempt the kick drum pattern again...this time moving the bass' part by an 1/8th note. This displacing the bass vs. the kick. If the kick drum starts on the "1", the bass starts playing the the "& of 1".

Then-
Using the same beat, attempt to play only the snare pattern. This puts the bass in the backbeat & plays off of the kick drum.

Just food for thought...there's plenty more to follow, I'm sure.

[theunknowndude]

Originally Posted by JimK

ALWAYS? No...would be very boring, right?

There are times when you may want to lock-in exactly...would be good practice, IMO-
Get a drum book
Program like a Clyde Stubblefield
Attempt to exactly match what he does on the kick

Then-
Attempt the kick drum pattern again...this time moving the bass' part by an 1/8th note. This displacing the bass vs. the kick. If the kick drum starts on the "1", the bass starts playing the the "& of 1".

Then-
Using the same beat, attempt to play only the snare pattern. This puts the bass in the backbeat & plays off of the kick drum.

Just food for thought...there's plenty more to follow, I'm sure.

another technique justin chancellor uses is to match it just on 2 beats of the bar (1 and 3 or 2 and 4?) whilst playing your own melody around it... leads to some very "almost offbeat" sound cos your playing your own thing but jumping back on to the drum part too? this would also vary the pace as opposed to just chucking in 1/4 or 1/8 or 1/16th notes repeatedly etc...

[Jimmyplaysabass]

never in jazz

and there's really nothing to syncing to the bass drum

[kumde]

I like to think "locking in with the kick" as being synchronised on the 'essential' beats of the rhythm of the song in question. But both the bass and the kick drum can play other notes around those important ones where they complement each other.