How do I write a decent bassline?

[MrAwesomes]

Some friends and I started a band about 3 months ago, and we seem to be making really good progress; written 7 songs, had one gig, and 2 more coming up.

Then I just realised today, that the basslines I've made for all of our songs consist of either playing root notes or playing the exact same thing as the lead guitarist, plus a few fills every now and then.

I don't want to be the kind of bassist who mindlessly plays root notes over and over again, but what's the point in me just being a low-octave guitarist? What can I do to actually make a bassline?

 

[MothBox]

Checkout Scott's Bass Lessons on YouTube:


Some really good tips in there that fit all music genres and a lot of skill improvement stuff.

Regardless of the genre you're playing id have a look through his YouTube channel.

 

[fearceol]

My advice would be to listen to all types of music. Pay close attention to the bass lines. Blues is a great type of music for learning bass lines. Try copying the lines by playing along to songs. Later, when you have some songs learned you can start "borrowing" from what you learned to come up with your own lines.

You dont mention whether you know any basic music theory. Assuming you do not, another way to learn to make your own lines is to concentrate on chord tones. These are what the bassist plays most of the time.

Below is a link to a great all round web site. In the link, it deals with chords and chord tones.

http://www.studybass.com/lessons/bass-chord-patterns/


You may need to start at the beginning of the site lessons, depending on how much basic theory you have.

 

[jd-ns]

Don't worry about playing mostly roots and doubling guitar riffs... that is exactly the right way to play bass a lot of situations.

If the lines you are playing are stylistically appropriate and complement what everyone else is doing, you've created a great bass line!

 

[MalcolmAmos]

What can you put into your bass line? That depends on the song. I wish it was easier than that, but, it's not.

Roots work, just not all the time. It kinda boils down to roots first, if you need more add a 5. Then the 8. R-5-8-5 is about as generic as you can get. The 3 and 7 bring in more. The minor chords will have a b3. And the b7 works under most any minor chord and of course under the dominant seven chord. The natural 3 works under major chords. The 6 is natural and the 2 and 4 work best as passing notes, i.e. don't stop on them. That's all 8 of the chord tones - see what you can do with that.

So get some generic major and minor bass lines into muscle memory so when you see a chord your fingers know what will work before you have to think about it.

Different styles of music use specific bass lines - see what bass lines end up being used with the music you play.
I play Country and root-five with chromatic walks to the next chord work for me.
I also play Praise and roots and hitting the chord change on the lyric syllable work for me.

I'll let the other guys speak to the other styles.

Good luck.

 

[benedictallen]

Yeah don't be afraid to hold back when playing bass, sometimes that's what a song needs.

A good way to write a decent bassline is to look at the key signature of a song. Then you can look at the notes within the key and add them to your bassline, giving it a more melodic flavour and making it more interesting.

 

[Vanceman]

Learn to play the vocal melody on your bass. That will give you notes that fit in, and some phrasings you can use. Then figure out when and where to tastefully use them.

 

[Remyd]

Learn to play the vocal melody on your bass. That will give you notes that fit in, and some phrasings you can use. Then figure out when and where to tastefully use them.

+1000 on this idea. I do this on every jazz standard, so I'll have go-to material for a solo.

 

[mambo4]

The vast majority of the the time, a good bass line means
A.) navigating from chord root to chord root (sometimes other chord tones)
B.) using a stylistically appropriate rhythm.

So use the chords to determine what your target notes will be
use your stylistic understanding, ears, and taste to determine your passing tones and fills.

A) requires understanding Chords, which requires understanding

• the 12 intervals
• major scale & key construction
• harmonizing the major scale
• cadences

B) requires learning the bass lines to lots of songs, and then reverse engineering them by asking questions like:

• What are the chords of the song?
• how does this bass line support these chords?
• what notes are roots, which are other chord tones, passing tones, which are chromatic? where are the arpeggios?
• What key is the song in? Can I play it in another key? Can I play it in all keys?
• Can I notate this rhythm? Is it using any common rhythmic ideas?

I don't want to be the kind of bassist who mindlessly plays root notes over and over again

You can play root notes mindfully instead; there are many elements more important than more notes.
A long time ago I thought that playing just roots was boring. These days I love it.
attention undistracted by note choice opens ears and awareness to the other elements.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

You can play root notes mindfully instead; there are many elements more important than more notes.
A long time ago I thought that playing just roots was boring. These days I love it.
attention undistracted by note choice opens ears and awareness to the other elements.

This is pretty much summing it all up. A lot of the time root notes can be a very useful tool in supporting the song as a whole, your rhythm is what differentiates it from just banging out bland root notes constantly. Chord tones help add some flavor most of the time, but your timing and phrasing is what really sets a bassline apart...space between notes is just as important as the notes you are playing.

 

[Capt.Obvious]

As was said before, it really depends on the kind of music. Some music is simply more conducive to a melodic bass line while other kinds of music call for a pretty defined line using mostly tonics and the primaries like the 3rd and 5th.

Listen to the master of the melodic bass line Ray Brown. Notice he's rock solid in the pocket, laying out the groove but also a distinct melodic voice in the music. Jazz is great for opening your ear up to playing the entire chord in whatever progression or music your playing. You can apply the theory to anything.

The walking bass line in jazz is a great example where you may only play the tonic note of the chord once before moving on to more colorful passing tones.



Conversely, here's a little project I got to work on that simply demands a very distinct dominant presence in the low end. The idea is to simply support the hyper estrogenic vibes coming from the hot babes up front. heh