Locking in with the bass drum

[fenderaholic]

i was at my friends drummers house yesterday. me,guitarist and a drummer. well the drummer was crazy the guitarist sucked and i was ok. my problem is how do i no what bass line goes with what drum patterns. when the drummer player triplets on the bass drum i played triplets to. my only problem is that most of the bass line i made up sounded the same lol i need some help. i was played through a ampeg B2R and Korg rackmount with a ampeg 8X10 that some crack head friend of theres had left there

thanks eric

 

[Stanley Design]

Just play what come naturally, if it works then great, if not then change it a bit.

 

[cossie]

my suggestion (from my own experience) is try to play as little as possible, and get a feel for the groove the drummer is going for, then as you get more comfortable, you can add a little more, and then a little more each time.

at the start i found a tendency to match my lines with the bass drum, so if there were two kicks, i'd play two notes.

try play just one note and maybe a dead note on the second kick etc.

i guess its really a case of : just experiment!

 

[Figjam]

Playing ONLY notes with the kick can get real tame real fast but it is a good way to start. Depends on the kind of music i guess.,

 

[invader3k]

It's more than just playing with the kick drum...you need to play with the entire rhythm that the drummer is playing. Try to figure out what time signature the drummer is playing in, and figure out your bass line based on that. Like someone else said, it's better to underplay than overplay, though. Nothing wrong wtih using rests, either.

 

[violatedppl]

I have never really found myself to lock in the my drummers bass or snair. I perfure to play his accents which is most of his drumming, their are times when his rolling his double bass which I can lock in with but I think it sound better to accent what the drumemrs doing to be the bond between guitar and drums just MHO

 

[DaftCat]

It's more than just playing with the kick drum...you need to play with the entire rhythm that the drummer is playing. Try to figure out what time signature the drummer is playing in, and figure out your bass line based on that. Like someone else said, it's better to underplay than overplay, though. Nothing wrong wtih using rests, either.

+1

 

[Mr_McBride]

Not sure what style of music you are playing, but start out by listening, like everyone else is saying...feel the groove and listen to the kick to find the pocket. If the drummer is over playing, then start out playing on beats 1 and 3, and stick to the root on beat 1. Try a chord tone on beat three and a walking tone on beat 4 (like a fifth below the next tonic/root. You can also alternate with playing the fifth below the next tonic on beat 4 and a sixth below (whole step up from the same fifth) on the and of 4 (two eight notes). This is a simple walk into the next chord and usually works with most styles.

If you're playing rock and just aren't finding the feel, then start out with a simple eight note pattern where you stay on the root and just play:
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta

I'm not sure about your technical ability, but this is a very basic approach. I apologize if this advice is too simple. If so, let me know and I can take it to the next level.

Hope this helps,