There is no bassline in my head.

[ksandvik]

Use Pandora.com, select any arbitrary track, and when the music play, just play very differently than what the bass line is. Jump in and experiment. --Kent

[kenneso1977]

I've been playing bass for a little more than six months now and I'm experiencing the same thing. One thing I've tried for a few days now is combining scale practice with groove practice. I start out by having a drum machine beat (or recording) going and use the tones for one specific scale, say the dorian mode. Try going up and down the scale a few times, the same scale in different positions, and of course in different keys. Try using more than one octave. Then I move to arpeggios before I try making bass lines using the scale. Usually one or more of the lines sounds kind of good. Try different grooves and different feels.

Another concept I'm going to explore is to incorporate melodic passages in the bass line. For instance try doubling what the singer (if you have one) is doing for a bar or so. You have to listen to what the drummer is doing. Try locking in on the kick and the snare.

+1 on listening to other bass players and new styles of music

[51m0n]

Download hydrogen for a free good drum machine.

Some of the best b-lines I've come up with have been from using sequencers to just play around with the chords/riffs going - this is really good as you

a) dont have to play a keyboard, drive by mouse if you need to

b) gets the physical aspect of playing out of the equation - you just dont get caught in the same repetitive traps as it is nothing to do with muscle memory just the sound

c) it will play it 'right' every time, so you hear what the result of changing something is every time

d) you can impart a huge amount of feel even with a mouse into a good sequencer, it just takes a while!

Of course once you get something you like you have to figure out how to play it on a bass, which is often really interesting and will lead you off in a new direction too.

I have gone through this process with students in the past and it has never ever failed yet.

Enjoy!

[Purple Haze]

I dont think creativity is something you can force or learn by reading a book. Obviously knowing theory and listening to all different kinds of music will help, but IMO its just something your born with. I say this because Ive used a few books and they havent helped me at all. Thats not to say it wouldnt be useful to other people.

Ive been playing for 7 years now and any time Ive tried to come up with my own riffs/lines they all end up being rubbish. Then again, writing my own music and playing in an originals band has never been something that has interested me, so maybe that is a factor. I know people who have been playing for only as couple of years, and know very little theory, and they can write great riffs and bass lines in their sleep.

Heres a link to a site i found useful when I was just starting out. It has lesson on bass line creation, and also a few lessons analyzing bass lines etc. You might find it useful. http://www.cyberfretbass.com/line-creation/index.php

[kenneso1977]

Purple Haze I agree with you that creativity isn't something you can force, and some people are naturally inclined to be more creative than others. But more often than not I find that I'm way to critical to my own song writing, and that also goes for the bass lines I create. You just have to be brave enough to make those lame bass lines as well, sometimes a good one comes along. The more you try to be creative, the better you will become. Ideas also evolve over time, and that lame idea can after a while become a truly memorable bass line.

[varunkapahi]

i WAS in the same situation in the past. i couldnt come up wiht bassline because i had nothing to create basslines on!
you get the drift?
this guitarist who knew a drummer asked me to jam up on some covers just to see if we three could gel up and play together. next week he brought in his song, he gave me the chord chart and sang and played his part. now when i had a half song with the chords and the vocals down i came up with a pretty bassline for the verse and the bridge the guitarist liked it so much he wanted to learn to play it!
when the drummer came in on his beat i formed the bassline for the chorus and it was done! so try it
you might just be needing a situation which needs a bassline

[tswd]

Like others have said, the first step is to get music that doesn't have a bass line. Or ignore the bass line that's there and try to do your own.

From there, what helped me the most was using the mode scales to walk up and down the neck. Instead of trying to write your lines vertically, going up and down the strings, try to write them horizontally, going up and down the frets.

For example, start walking a G major scale. Instead of walking it in the normal box, play the the G and then slide your hand up to the A and walk the dorian mode from A up to G. Then walk the same thing back down to G. So, still a G major scale, but using the A dorian scale for part of it. Then start adding the other mode scales and using portions of those.

Say you need a bass line for a measure of D major and you want to play the root on 1 and the 5 on 2. When you play the A, switch your hand position and try to play the rest of the measure using the A Mixolydian scale.

Another situation creative stuff would come from is where it's like, "OK, I'm playing this chord here. For the next chord, I need to be over there. How do I get from here to there?" I play fretless, so the default answer tends to be "just slide over there" but some times better things come up.

[rockwarnick]

im having a similar problem right now with a song my guitarist just wrote. ive taken a few years of theory, up til theory III at my college actually...and to be honest, i dont suggest using theory. my band is trying to write some new stuff and i know much MUCH more theory than my guitarist and just the other day he asked me how much theory i use when i write my songs/lines. then i realized that i dont use any of it. im not saying dont learn theory, i think you should. but when it comes to writing lines and songs i go by feel, attitude, emotion, etc. i could make up basslines on the spot. thats not my problem. my thing is that if it is going to be in an official song ill probably re-write it a hundred times til i get it just where i want it.

you may want to play things that you dont think would fit. play a few notes away from where you would originally intend to. you may be surprised.

in the end, just feel it. i know that doesnt help much, but its the truth.

"Don't think, just react. When you think you hurt the team"

[Matthew Bryson]

I have a few thoughts about the original post -

Originally Posted by Bass Junkie

I hear other people just making stuff up on the spot who have been playing for the same time as me and i ask them how they did it and they just say 'i just played what i heard in my head'

As others have been explaining, it's not nearly as "made up on the spot" as you think. They're pulling from their "bag of tricks".

Originally Posted by Bass Junkie

If i pick up my bass and try to just play something i without thinking just play something i already know just somewhere else on the fretboard, or something that i have heard before.

That makes sense. Remember, those other dudes didn't say "I played it without thinking". They said I played what I heard in my head.
Trying to play something "without thinking" is a far cry from playing what you've imagined in your head.

[maxgrant]

Jumping in here: when I first started playing, I tended to work from the simplest thing available, which was the root of the chord.

That works, and if you play it in time with what the guitar player is playing, you can make a bass rumble that will function.

The next thing you have to find is the groove. Listen to what the drummer is doing. See if you can accent his beats, or counter them, filling in between.

Then start looking at where you can take those beats and use notes other than the root. Use the third. Use the fifth.

Then after you're comfortable with that, start looking at where you can add connecting notes, or notes that jump way out of the line, or even notes that echo the melody of the singer.

Finally, if you make a mistake don't just cover it up. See if the mistake was musical sounding. If it was, repeat it. Now you've accidentally stumbled on something that will work for you, and is yours completely.

There's a comfort zone in any endeavor like this. Work to get just outside that comfort zone, without getting into the panic zone where you don't know what you're doing, and you can grow. Every time you do this your comfort zone gets bigger, and the number of things you're willing to try grows.

I don't even think about basslines anymore. I let my fingers write them.

[Grinky]

Keep listening to more music! Listen, listen, listen, jot down notes, and apply. Be an active listener and learner where ever you are and trust me, you'll have more things in your head than you could play. =)