Bass Lines - Simple vs Sophisticated

[Groove Doctor]

Bass lines can be similar, but they have to be simple enough for the brain to immediately comprehend, yet have something beyond ordinary that catches the ear.

You can play anything you want as long as you make it groove with the band, make it fit the song, and make it catchy.

All of those aspects are a matter of opinion, which over decades, leans more towards more simple.

 

[jastraw]

The magic happens between the notes.

 

[shawshank72]

I always go simple first, I play to the song.
But bandmates have asked for my sophisticated lines at times and I happily obliged.

 

[Whale guy]

2 thoughts:
1) my band has so many people in it who do fill-ins and play over the top that I try to keep it simple. Bonus...This does help with tempo issues.
2) some venues around here have the acoustics of an elementary school cafeteria. In these cases I find myself playing as little as possible to prevent thunder.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I’ve been playing just shy of 50 years (holy crap!). I play what I feel in each measure based on what everyone else in the band is doing. If there’s a little space, I take it, if the measure needs counterpoint or chords, I play that. The music and band speak to me and I speak back, I might play nothing but eighth note roots for a song, then if the band is tighter and has more air, I might play something more note dense for the same song.

Good post! Pretty it’s good to remember you are aren’t playing with the musicians on the record, and that part on the record might sound out of context. As you point out, it’d good to play in “concert” with those in your ensemble. I’ve alway felt my parts are not etched in stone.

 

[Turnaround]

This is probably genre and your skill dependent question, but when you compose your bass lines are you trying to keep them simple with some fills here and there or you want it to be as sophisticated and technically challenging as possible?

What your band mates expecting of your lines if you are in a band?

Sophisticated is not necessarily technically challenging. One of the most sophisticated bass lines I have heard is that provided by Mike Anopol with Patricia Barber in "So In Love". Mike parks on the root for almost two full verses, 2 notes per bar. Simple - dead simple. But smart and sophisticated.

For me, it's not what my band mates expect of me, it's what I bring to my band mates. But then I am the arranger.

 

[Phaidrus]

Less is more :: Aston "Fams" Barret - Robbie Shakespeare - Errol "Flabba" Holt

 

[Geogio]

In a big room there's going to be echo, busy bass lines sound like mush.

 

[sedan_dad]

At a paid gig, you can weigh the payment vs. the number of notes played. The fewer notes you play the more you get per note.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[IamGroot]

I usually don't "compose" my bass lines. I improvise them unless its a particular melodic theme that fits an original song. So every night is different depending on my mood or what is requested of me.

Cover stuff I play note for note.

 

[edencab]

Less is more : Comfortably Numb


More is Awesome: Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

 

[Mr Cheese]

This is probably genre and your skill dependent question, but when you compose your bass lines are you trying to keep them simple with some fills here and there or do you want it to be as sophisticated and technically challenging as possible?

What your band mates expecting of your lines if you are in a band?

I think keeping it simple and sophisticated is the real challenge.

 

[Egg250]

It is completely dependent on what best suits the song.

 

[jthisdell]

Keep the groove, if you are in a smaller group you can play less, if a larger group play less

 

[Egg250]

I’ve alway felt my parts are not etched in stone.

Yup. It is uncommon that I play a song the same way twice. I keep the groove, hit the roots when I need to, but if I'm feeling funky or feeling laid back, I'll play it that way.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

Keep the groove, if you are in a smaller group you can play less, if a larger group play less

This has been my experience. Related story: I recently got a bug to look more deeply into a song that has become a joke cliché in rock concerts: Free Bird by Allen Collins and Ronnie Van Zant. Lynyrd Skynyrd made it famous, and the bass player was Ed King. Big ensemble and led by the massive wash of manic electric guitars and organ, it's hard to hear the bass in the mix. But low and behold, this picked bassline is one of the finest and fairly complex lines I've ever heard. Bass and drums are completely locked in intricate rhythm through three different time feels. But you can barely hear the bass! So perhaps the lesson here (responding to OP), is depending on the mixture of instruments and song delivery, maybe it doesn't matter how the bass is played?

Free Bird bass and drums soloed



Free Bird full mix

 

[Jay2U]

Often less is more.

 

[jamro217]

Context dictates the type of line. For those who think busy lines are obtrusive, listen to Rocco, Jaco and Jamerson. All very active, yet TASTEFUL. That is the key, being wise enough to bring a positive element to the music, whether it is a simple root five figure or an in depth contrapuntal low register masterpiece. I got ruined early on by playing and writing for a guitar trio. Now I really have to concentrate on editing, especially on ballads.

 

[HeadWind]

The magic happens between the notes.

 

[jtg]

In my dictionary, vomiting show off licks on a song is the opposite of sophisticated. I'd contextually describe sophisticated as things like:

• identifying and playing the right notes at the right time in the right places
• playing with tasteful and appropriate dynamics and articulations (for example, knowing the difference between dah and daht, crescendos and decsresendos)
• using technique to create the best tones for the music
• placing substitutions, linear motion, melodies, and counter-melodies in ways that propel and fulfill the essence of the song
• Using dead notes, slides, bends, etc judiciously to subtly propel the music and create interest - and not using them where they won't help
• being attentive to changes in the ebb and flow of the music and adapting on the fly
• most of all, having better ears and judgment than hands

Sometimes, this will lead to a part that pops out and the audience is conscious of. In most contexts, no one except your bandmates will notice, and this is just fine.

I don't claim to have this all mastered - it's aspirational. But I do think this is a decent window on what "sophisticated" should mean for many of us.