Root notes are boring, help me put here

[Matthijs]

Here's another, historical way to look atvit.
Punk comes straight from ska. All the typical walks, 1-3-5 arpeggios used at moderate speed in ska can be put to use in punk.

this!, in a big way. You can use almost every Ska trick in punk.

another thing is to keep pounding notes, but use the melody as a guideline and not focus solely on guitar chords.

and as a listening suggestion: the Jam, Only borderline punk, but great bass riffs.

 

[pappabass]

Punk bass is pretty simple, but two things you can do:

1. Runs up and down at the chord changes.

2. Rather than just pounding the root, work out riffs that can be repeated.

Best suggestion I have heard so far! 2 things, don't be trying to play the melody. Leave that to the lead guitar . Number 2, don't get off in left field on your playing

 

[Standalone]

I play in a rock-oriented jam band, but one simple thing that takes my playing beyond the root is to connect my pointer finger on my right (plucking) hand to the kick on the root note and rock fifths with my middle finger tight on the snare. It works well with my hard driving drummer and I can put a lot of groove into whatever's going on.

So it's less about lines and more about rhythm.

The basic rock/blues/funk penatonic minor riffs fill out the rest as needed. When things are more major and anthem-y I like to slide from the fifth to the sixth in my bass lines, it brightens things up and fills out the positive vibe of the song -- and it seems to be like a signal that gets people dancing.

That's simple stuff but it works if you have a good ear and good time

 

[BassBrass]

Listen to Mike Watt in The Minutemen. Or in anything.

1st thing I thought, MW, playing bass line melodies, some normal some not but always driving the beat, what IS a root chord, some slave of the guitarist? It does help to have a creative drummer to play off of, but it isn't necessary

 

[remcult]

Hey y’all,
I play punk music...which basically means I just play root notes...and it’s boring, but I wanna play the music I enjoy. I know my modes, and scales, and all the music theory in the world, but the guitarist down-stroking into hell and back at the speed of light seems to make root notes and octaves the only viable option. Right now, I'm playing octaves, and when possible for the feeling of the music, ill sneak in an inversion or two. But, what would you do, other than playing another genre? How’d you approach punk bass (when the guitarist is playing the same three power chords) to make it different, and fun?
Maybe I have just learned too much to enjoy playing punk, sad day.

If you want to stick to punk but also want to vary up what you play, there're lots of cool players and bass lines in the genre that might point you towards some cool options. Off the top of my head Matt Freeman from Rancid does great work, Paul Simonon in The Clash often drew on other genres or played distinct parts that heightened the drama of a given song, Klaus Flouride of The Dead Kennedys had amazing lines that on songs that prominently featured bass.

It sounds like
1. you feel you have the knowledge to make more harmonically interesting lines
2. feel like the music goes too quickly for you to pull them off

so some options could be composing songs with somebody/a band that leaves you room to stretch out a little bit, or maybe working on getting up to speed to where you can play more freely at the speed your band is at

 

[burgerdj]

I've never been a huge fan of punk rock but the guy from Rancid always had some cool fills and more flavor than other acts. Then there's the Clash....

Matt Freeman is a beast. Do what he does and you won’t be bored.

Also see Joe Lally/Fugazi and Darryl Jenifer/Bad Brains

 

[707GK]

I grew up in California’s Bay Area when Rancid and Green Day were getting popular. Those 2 (Matt Freeman and Mike Dirnt) should change your mind that punk rock bassists need to just stay on the root.

I’m not a huge fan but Anti Flag has a great bassist who is another example of a punk bassist who plays more than just the roots.

 

[redstrand]

Hey y’all,
I play punk music...which basically means I just play root notes...and it’s boring, but I wanna play the music I enjoy. I know my modes, and scales, and all the music theory in the world, but the guitarist down-stroking into hell and back at the speed of light seems to make root notes and octaves the only viable option. Right now, I'm playing octaves, and when possible for the feeling of the music, ill sneak in an inversion or two. But, what would you do, other than playing another genre? How’d you approach punk bass (when the guitarist is playing the same three power chords) to make it different, and fun?
Maybe I have just learned too much to enjoy playing punk, sad day.

You can play melodic lines and do some cool stuff, punk is about being punk, not what you play.....and yeah The Clash

 

[SaucyJackBass]

 

[74hc]

Depends on what type of punk your band plays. If it's old-school traditional, roots with a few chromatics, and maybe a judiciously placed turn-around is good. The key with old-school punk is simplicity with an edge.

Playing chord tones, pentatonic scales, etc., is going to take that edge away and make your bass line sound more pop. This could be good if your band is playing pop punk like Greenday, etc.

 

[Waltsdog]

Hey y’all,
I play punk music...which basically means I just play root notes...and it’s boring, but I wanna play the music I enjoy. I know my modes, and scales, and all the music theory in the world, but the guitarist down-stroking into hell and back at the speed of light seems to make root notes and octaves the only viable option. Right now, I'm playing octaves, and when possible for the feeling of the music, ill sneak in an inversion or two. But, what would you do, other than playing another genre? How’d you approach punk bass (when the guitarist is playing the same three power chords) to make it different, and fun?
Maybe I have just learned too much to enjoy playing punk, sad day.

I haven't read the whole thread so apologies if this has been covered.
Having played punk rock in various forms over the years the way I approach it is to have the bass follow or lead the melody rather than hammer roots. This works especially well if the guitars are just bashing out power chords, it frees you up to add hooks and do more interesting stuff with bass line.
The other thing I do is look for space usually in the changes, bridge parts, where the vocal drops out etc. that would be filled with a solo in classic rock, those are great places to add flourishes.

 

[matty1039]

Matt Freeman is a beast. Anything from Operation Ivy and Rancid is going to be a good choice. Also, check out the dude from Less Than Jake. He plays a lot of Root/Third lines through a progression.

Sublime is another good one to check out. I think he does a lot of R/3/5 walks.

 

[Biggbass]

OP,
when you discover a new method of bassing punk music that takes it to a new level, you'll join the short list of musicians who innovated an entirely new approach that raised the bar. And then you'll be a rock star for all time.

 

[J-Mags]

I play punk and I think it's fun to bash out the 8th and 16th notes on the root, but I also try to get some melody into it to keep it interesting. You can't do what you want every song, but I find that a good walking part fits right in from time to time, especially if it has a memorable melody. The key to making a walking line fit in punk is not to try to accent it like punk unless there's an obvious part that needs a uniform accent with the guitar. You do what you do. The other folks get their punk on.

Or leave some rests in and among the pounding. Or find a melody to transition you between chords. Or play some chords. Or some arpeggios. Or just stay where you are when the guitar changes chords. The trick is that it actually has to rock harder than playing the root, or you gotta go back to the root. There are some songs where I literally just play along with the guitar chords for the entire song when that's what sounds best.

This channel is slightly cornball, and leans toward the pop side of punk, but it's an easy way to get ideas:

 

[swink]

I still don't get that nobody has mentioned these guys.
This is one of the reasons why I started to play the bass...

 

[LowWay]

Listen to Mike Watt in The Minutemen. Or in anything.

I was going to recommend getting firehose’s flyin the flannel for some great watt work. I took my user name from that album. In my opinion watt is the most punk rock person to ever live. He took the original soul of punk and made it his life. If you view punk bass as pedaling roots, you have too narrow a view on punk.

 

[vindibona1]

Hey y’all,
I play punk music...which basically means I just play root notes...and it’s boring, but I wanna play the music I enjoy.
Maybe I have just learned too much to enjoy playing punk, sad day.

We all grow. Sometimes we outgrow music. If punk is all root note monotony, maybe you've moved to the stage of "been there- done that". It may be time to move on. There is so much music out there. Perhaps it's time to step into the solo spotlight?

 

[LowWay]

I’m gonna be the first to subject myself to ridicule. I think I’m a good punk rock bassist who plays interesting parts. The first 30 seconds of this video are non-sense outtakes the drummer put in, the song starts 30 seconds in. Recorded in 1994.

 

[takeout]

Hey y’all,
I play punk music...which basically means I just play root notes...

This is a false premise.

I got into playing bass via punk. Soulside, Fugazi, Rites of Spring, Bad Brains, Descendents (and a ton of other SST bands), Husker Du, Meat Puppets... none of those guys plod along on roots 100% of the time. I'm not a huge fan of the songs, but Face to Face? If you're stuck in Ramones mode (which is awesome sometimes!), you need to broaden your horizons.

 

[Wesley R]

50 or so years ago a young rock guy was complaining about a short series of gigs he had just landed. The coin was huge compared to other gigs so the young player was willing to do Root 5th stuff, but did complain about to his father. The father suggested that young rocker boy pick three songs and pretend they loved the songs, and played with feeling.

It worked and I loved the coin, right up until the drummer cost us the standing gig.