Put it this way: My one constant goal is to make the kick and the bass sound like one instrument. If anybody I play with thinks that’s boring, they haven’t mentioned it yet.
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Is adhering to the kick drum pattern admired?
- Thread starter TheIndieKid
- Start date
Put it this way: My one constant goal is to make the kick and the bass sound like one instrument. If anybody I play with thinks that’s boring, they haven’t mentioned it yet.
Do they?
If they do, they're misguided. Yeah, I know this is some early version of a Linn Drum or something similar, but it illustrates the point.
Mr.Ace
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Playing well is admired. For as many tracks you can site where the bass is rhythmically playing what the kick drum is there are that many where it’s not. Listen to James Brown.
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It's a good starting point for developing bass lines in most popular genres. But there are plenty of other ways to do things.
I learned many years ago and it was an tough lesson to learn but simply less is more.
I’ve enjoyed reading this thread as I’ve often found myself confused as to what “the pocket” is an isn’t. What about songs like “With a Little Help From My Friends” or “What is And What Should Never Be”?....are Paul and John Paul really paying attention to the drum part or are the rules different when you’re laying your part down in the studio (in other words, is “the pocket” more of a requirement when playing live)?
Honestly, locking in with the kick is how i’ve built my career.
I play for the song, always, but my default mode is to lock in with the kick.
Makes everything sound fatter, groovier, and makes the drummer happy.
I play for the song, always, but my default mode is to lock in with the kick.
Makes everything sound fatter, groovier, and makes the drummer happy.
Yeah, but they really don't care what you think. They just care that you're staying out of their way at all times.Put it this way: My one constant goal is to make the kick and the bass sound like one instrument. If anybody I play with thinks that’s boring, they haven’t mentioned it yet.
Ric5
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The best example of tightly locked in with the drummer is Ian Hill of Judas Priest. Not a style for everything but in their case contributes heavily in their signature sound. He has always been under rated as a bassist but the more I dig into what he is playing my level of respect has grown tremendously. While I usually lock in with a drummer I do deviate here and there. How much or how little is a personal thing.
You hit the nail squarely on the head. I play with a number of different drummers on a regular basis and most of them are oblivious to give a repeating pattern on the kick that the bass player can lock in with and it's not that the bass player must lock in on every note but the drummer should yield patterns that are repeatable and most of them these days don't I used to spend a lot of time chasing them but I decided against that I don't even bother now.
Occasionally I'll set in with a drummer that knows what he's doing and gives a repeatable kick pattern that I can lock in and that's when the magic happens and it's like I said not that we have to be locked all the time but sometime.
BTW, I really hate that phrase "locked in." That implies only playing when the bass drum plays, and who the hell does that at all times every time? I prefer the phrase "keeping good time."
Probably the most important thing to remember is "It's the ONE!". Don't ever lose that or you will get lost. Personally I think that syncing up with the drummer's actual beats can be extremely effective in adding drive to particular parts of a song. I don't know that I really want that much drive all the time as it is limits the dynamics and musicality of the song, but it really adds drive and contrast when you plan out where you want it to match.
Honestly though, a good drummer will be more of an instigator in matching up his drumming and your patterns at the right time. It always makes me smile when my drummer does that!
there's countless classic country songs where the bass follows the kick drum playing root-fifth, root-fifth, root-fifth, then a little walk up to the next chord to do the same thing on that chord and so on. it's basic, simple, is all a lot of these songs call for and it sounds great. don't ever get the mind set that something has to be technically challenging to be good.
I do stay out of their way. That's my job. As my tag says, "I'm not an artist, I'm in the service business." (And I actually do play in quite a few places where the bass drum doesn't.) As I've posted elsewhere, and I suspect you might agree, I don't want to be told I'm a great bass player. I want to be told the band sounded great and everybody had a real good time.
Pocket is the first requirement to be kept at all times. Locking in with drums doesn’t mean that you mimic the kick drum pattern though.
Is that what it implies? I always understood it to mean that regardless of whether you’re playing the same rhythmic pattern or not you were both on the same pulse and in sync. Having good time is not synonymous with having good feel. I know lots of guys who can effortlessly play with a metronome but can’t groove their way out of a bucket.
Pbassmanca
In the pocket n' thumpy. So woody, so greasy...
Yeah man, I mean signature bass lines with syncopated rhythms set aside, for 90% of what we do, if you stick with the kick and make sure to hit the right changes, nobody will complain about what you do.
