Post punk/indie rock inspiration--no running 8th notes allowed

[JES]

You know that kind of rock music where the bassist is mostly playing running 8th note basslines? Or always breaks into it for the chorus? Often because a guitar is playing running 8th notes on a chord progression?

I am in a band where two of the songwriters tend to write that way. I often default to the running 8ths because everything else seems busier and to interfere (even if it's actually less busy) and with two guitars, 2 singers, and a keys player, things get plenty busy already.

But I am sick of writing and playing those basslines. So I'm looking for examples of great basslines or bassists in that genre who don't ever break into a running 8th note sort of thing.

I don't need faster or busier. In fact, what I'm really missing is space. So I'm looking for some creative ideas. I've done just quarter notes, tried walking, etc., but everything seems pushing back to running 8ths, so I want to expand my arsenal of ideas.

Thanks for any suggestions you have.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

You know that kind of rock music where the bassist is mostly playing running 8th note basslines? Or always breaks into it for the chorus? Often because a guitar is playing running 8th notes on a chord progression?

I am in a band where two of the songwriters tend to write that way. I often default to the running 8ths because everything else seems busier and to interfere (even if it's actually less busy) and with two guitars, 2 singers, and a keys player, things get plenty busy already.

But I am sick of writing and playing those basslines. So I'm looking for examples of great basslines or bassists in that genre who don't ever break into a running 8th note sort of thing.

I don't need faster or busier. In fact, what I'm really missing is space. So I'm looking for some creative ideas. I've done just quarter notes, tried walking, etc., but everything seems pushing back to running 8ths, so I want to expand my arsenal of ideas.

Thanks for any suggestions you have.

any bands or songs as an example of said chugging 8th note lines?

 

[fu22ba55]

Listen to some Klaus Flouride / Dead Kennedys

And some Mike Watt / Minutemen / Firehose

 

[Bob_Ross]

So I'm looking for examples of great basslines or bassists in that genre who don't ever break into a running 8th note sort of thing.

I don't need faster or busier. In fact, what I'm really missing is space.

Tina Weymouth with Talking Heads.
Dave Allen with Gang Of Four.
Mike Mills with R.E.M. (sometimes)

 

[Michedelic]

You know that kind of rock music where the bassist is mostly playing running 8th note basslines? Or always breaks into it for the chorus? Often because a guitar is playing running 8th notes on a chord progression?

I am in a band where two of the songwriters tend to write that way. I often default to the running 8ths because everything else seems busier and to interfere (even if it's actually less busy) and with two guitars, 2 singers, and a keys player, things get plenty busy already.

But I am sick of writing and playing those basslines. So I'm looking for examples of great basslines or bassists in that genre who don't ever break into a running 8th note sort of thing.

I don't need faster or busier. In fact, what I'm really missing is space. So I'm looking for some creative ideas. I've done just quarter notes, tried walking, etc., but everything seems pushing back to running 8ths, so I want to expand my arsenal of ideas.

Thanks for any suggestions you have.

Television, Wire, Magazine, Siouxie, Joy Division, Bauhaus, Echo & the Bunnymen

 

[erik_ghoulet]

The great Gary Bromley of Dif Juz and his awesome dub inspired bass lines.

 

[Michedelic]

The great Gary Bromley of Dif Juz and his awesome dub inspired bass lines.

Utterly brilliant band, should have gotten more attention, but their recorded out was sporadic.

 

[erik_ghoulet]

Absolutely. I love Huremics but feel Robin Guthrie's production on Extractions blunted their power.

And Cocteau Twins are my all time favorite band.

 

[Michedelic]

 

[lunarpollen]

There's nothing wrong with running 8ths -- used in moderation...

I play plenty of post-punk and indie type stuff but also tons of 1960's stuff... For some inspiration, besides listening to contemporaneous bassists of the style of music you play, try exploring the bass lines of the earlier forms of music that influenced the music you play... Anything from surf music all the way through post-psychedelic stuff... And don't completely throw away running 8ths, just use them when nothing else would be a better fit...

a few random tunes:

 

[Engineer_Josh]

Super obvious choices:
Paul Simonen the Clash, especially later stuff
Sting, the police, earlier stuff

doesn't check the "not busy" box but Matt Freeman, Operation Ivy and Rancid, is so melodic the busy-Ness can be overlooked (IMHO)

 

[bolophonic]

I personally think this song is a master class in movement and energy in the bass department. There are some eighth notes in here, but they drive the song instead of following along.

 

[bolophonic]

Also: when I was first starting out, one of my band mentors recommended studying the bass lines on the first handful of REM albums.

 

[TheSeagoats]

I can understand being tired of writing/playing those lines but the reason they're so prevalent is because they work so well most of the time. My best suggestion is the song Less Than Human by The Chameleons, it has some breaks and held notes, with a cool eighth note thing every few measures that's a bit different than typical.

 

[JES]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I've got lots of listening to do.

Also, to clarify: "sick of writing and playing those basslines" is not the same thing as a suggestion they should never be played, or that they don't work in lots of situations. It's specific to my situation, not an evaluation of others.

 

[Kaa]

Well, he's not in this genre, however, Phil Lesh of the G. Dead was anywhere (and everywhere) BUT the tonic 8th note. May not be your cup o' tea, but he's worth looking into simply for the way he plays against the norm.

 

[350125g0]

I'm not a "theory guy", but I think I understand what you're saying... here goes:

Tracey Pew from The Birthday Party. So much of his work sounds like a greasy, slithering, ominous throbbing dirge... it's a ravenous, hungry monster that you can feel lurching slowly behind you. Check out "Junkyard" for some textbook Tracy Pew.

Also, lots of Carlos D's work on Interpol's "Turn on the Bright Lights" has a brilliant sense of space... I think he's really under-rated, personally.

Huge +1 to Bauhaus' David J, too. Turns out goths can be funky, too.

 

[lunarpollen]

Here's one from the post-punk era who hasn't been mentioned yet...

 

[JES]

Thanks again for all the posts. What I notice is that often in the suggested music, guitarists are playing arpeggios, single note lines, broken chords and double stops. Does anyone have examples where the guitarist is strumming 8ths on either open chords or barre chords and the bass is not doing that. So far I'd say the Diff Juz example is the closest I've found.

Mike Mills, David J, and some of the others mentioned here are already big influences. The problem is I don't find their guitarists are big influences on my guitarists. That might be another issue: I've got two guitars and keys as well as vocals to work with, so there's also a "stay out of the way" issue.

I can, of course, ask my guitarists in this band to play something different but I'd rather try and find alternatives that work with them first.

On the plus side, lots of great stuff I haven't heard before! And I just saw the REM performance on Letterman for the first time.

 

[nickpc]

Graham Maby on the early Joe Jackson albums. Lots of changing up the rhythm from straight 8ths (or 16ths):