Bass lines sounding uninteresting?

[bassmasta94]

Hey guys, have you ever heard a bass line or riff, and thought "WOW, that sounds fuuunnkkkyyy"... or... something along those lines Recently ive been hearing real sweet bass lines in songs or in recordings of solos, and ive learned them, but i felt like once i learned it and analyzed it it didnt sound as funky or interesting to me when i played it. I dont know if this happens to anyone else, im guessing it does, but i just wanted to kno.

 

[bassmasta94]

Im not commenting on how i play the bass line.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

Sorry I deleted my reply, thinking it really did not fit, but, you had already posted.

I guess after seeing what the bass line entailed, all the WOW disappeared.

 

[Infidelity]

Never happened to me.. When I heard the bassline of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" by James Jamerson I said that the bass line is pretty interesting and when I was reading the score it gets more intense the use of chord tones is absolutely genius!

 

[anonymous122511]

Hey guys, have you ever heard a bass line or riff, and thought "WOW, that sounds fuuunnkkkyyy"... or... something along those lines Recently ive been hearing real sweet bass lines in songs or in recordings of solos, and ive learned them, but i felt like once i learned it and analyzed it it didnt sound as funky or interesting to me when i played it. I dont know if this happens to anyone else, im guessing it does, but i just wanted to kno.

A part that works works because of the intent you bring. How's yer intent level?

 

[Russell L]

No matter what the line is, it will sound dead and boring without good articulation. Articulation is where the soul is.

 

[kr0n]

Context matters.

 

[JTE]

Yes, it's about context. The bass line all by itself can very well be "uninteresting". But hook it up with the chord changes, the way the drums articulate the groove, the vocals, etc. and it becomes something really cool. For all his pyrotechnics in "Crossroads", there's those bits where Jack Bruce pounds the root too. It's perfect in the context of THAT PERFORMANCE, something the folks who think covers need to be lovingly accurate museum-piece regurgitations would do well to remember.

John

 

[kevin1659]

when I play bass lines by myself they sometimes sound boring also but when you play with a good drummer it makes things sound more interesting and with a good guitarist on top of that it sounds even more interesting. Playing with a band really pops things out and adds groove like jte said.