Breaking the mold?

Not all of Saosin is like that with the bass. If you like that style...what about The Sounds of Animals Fighting or Circa Survive? There's plenty of other examples similar with moving bass lines. I like Saosin for the guitars and vocals actually. The bass really supports them well.

 

You could try incorporating some parts of the singers melody in the bass part, find a middle between the melody and the guitars.

 

Saosin and RJA are probably the worst bands to listen to if you're after some genuinely interesting (or audible) bass work. Their players are "barebones" players who stick with root notes and don't deviate from the same four chords. They're there to hold the backline...nothing more, nothing less. Hell, I don't think I've ever heard a memorable bassline in a post-hardcore song. Its just not the kind of music to put a spotlight on the bass.

 

To get a feel for it, try tossing in the harmonies and octaves of the root notes your playing. If you do this in every song obviously it gets repetitive, but if you start doing that you'll get a concept of what you have to do for the song.
Also, just like a drum fill, you also can do a fill, it doesnt have to be anything impressive, just a few notes ascending or descending to the next root you'll go to in a song.

I too have mused over this while playing in my band, it's just something you've got to get a feel for in order to find a good "not boring but not lead" balance.
Consider yourself a completely different section of the mix, as you are all the lolw frequecies that no one else can hit.

 

You should hear me at rehearsal.

Guitarist says: "What are you playing?"
And they double it. My response is:

"If you double what I'm doing, I'm out."

"But I just want to learn what you are playing so I can figure out something else to do."

I cautiously accept that approach.

Doubling is the biggest waste of time for a bass player. Oddly, I've played in a Symphony orchestra for four years, and much of the pre-1850 repertoire is the DB doubling the 'cello. Hence the name double bass.

As for advice, feel the groove, and fill in the spaces left by the guitarist. Hopefully there are some. Therein lies the rub. But you have hit upon a key element in why I play music: if all it takes for me to contribute to a band is to double the guitar part, then I'd rather stay home and pick up dog poop from my lawn. (I do have a dog, and I do pick up dog poop from time to time, so this is indeed a viable option - I'd just get better at it.)

This skill (not related to dog poop) takes a long time to figure out. Learn where the spaces are in the guitar part. If there aren't any, then it's going to be tough. You may want to consider writing something that highlights interplay between the guitar and bass to get your point across.

Best of luck; you're in a tough spot if the style you like is beholden to this convention.

 

Check out the Gospel album The Moon is a Dead World on Youtube. The whole album is there...sickest act I've I've had the pleasure to play with. It's like Isis/Opeth meets Drive Like Jehu. The bass player was a four finger right hand picker. Amazing! More screamo than post-hardcore, but it is what it is.

Plus the drummer is an alien governed robotic time keeping psychopath from another parallel universe.

 

Listen to Chevelle

 

Oh man I hated this, in my last band my lead guitarist always wanted to double all my fills and harmonies. One of the things that really made writing on bass only a chore, I eventually just picked up a guitar and would outline what I wanted them to play just to stay off my bassline.

@OP: Its your bassline, play it how you want it. If you write just let your bandmates know when your playing the main riff or playing off of the riff.

And also, it ain't your style per say, but for some ideas, check out this song: Death - Nothing Is Everything Remastered (2011) - YouTube
That song is one of my favorite examples of a bassist (Steve DiGiorgio) who's role is just as important, if not more so, than the guitars. Really great stuff.

 

My experience is that the bass is defining the chordal progression of the songs while the guitars are noodling for this type of music. If everyone is noodling (sic) the music becomes very unsettling...like The Fall of Troy IMO.

I would try to sit down and learn how to play a few songs that you consider to be good bass lines.

Consider:
At the drive in
The Mars Volta
Drive Like Jehu
The Crownhate Ruin
Hoover
Hot Snakes
Russian Circles
Red Sparrows
Coheed and Cambria

I dunno...there is no magic formula I don't think. I usually just try to emulate.

 

Sorry if my last post came off douchy, I wasn't intending it that way, but for me, the key to writing basslines to music is taking the time listening and visualizing what the bassline should sound like, in a way almost letting the song write the bassline, quite a few times before I even pick up my bass and play a note. I don't think of scales or anything, just getting a sense of what the song is calling for from the bass. Your ear is your most important tool.

As for some scales, I'm not too hip on the bands your naming off, but some classic metal standby are:

Natural Minor-Classic, used extensively in all styles

Harmonic Minor-Often associated with neo-classical and the like, but very cool sounding

Half-Diminished-Very eerie and sorta dissonant, but cool.

Whole-Half/Half-Whole Diminished Scales- Like Half diminished, but even more so. A Death Metal staple.

Phrygian- Almost like a Minor/Half Diminished hybrid, one of my favorites

Whole Tone- Pretty weird but unique scale, kinda spacy/alien sounding but really cool used correctly.