Tips for playing Hip-Hop bass lines

[reddvinylene]

You might wanna check some of J Dilla's early work on Slum Village.

 

[bpm2000]

You might wanna check some of J Dilla's early work on Slum Village.

nice nice nice. RIP

 

[Stumbo]

You might want to check out: Hip-Hop bass

 

[djdarkmeat]

If anyone wants to hear a great hip-hop bass line listen to Tupac - Only God Can Judge, possibly the greatest hiphop bassline alot of Tupac songs used live bass players especially at Death-Row they liked using live, not pre-programmed basslines...I agree.

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You see alot of programmed bass lines, simply sync up exactly with the melody or some of the orchestration (keys, strings or horns) and not that this is a bad thing but if you notice on 'only god..." the bass line is very unique to the rest of the instruments but it goes along with the song well and doesn't get in the way of the vocals at all...this is what all hip-hop bassists should strive for, don't just follow the melody but definitely keep it laid back...

 

[PinkFloydDan]

Good info but I do not understand 3. It seems you contradict yourself. Repetition but go beyond playing the same thing? Can you elaborate on 3 a bit? I do not know what Alpha wave flow means.

When I play hip hop bass, it seems like I am focusing on the low low low notes, and really playing with the kick like you say, and being simple. But it's not easy.

I'd like to put together a collection of tips for hip-hop bassists. Some of this goes for all bass playing (or most), but all in all, I hope it's helpful. This is *all* in my experience/in my humble opinion:

1) Hold back. The bass player in this role is almost always a support and rhythm instrument. You're there to hold down the beat and let the vocals do their thing.

2) Play with the kick or beat. Syncopation has its place and can work very well, but in my experience, a lot of great lines come when you just lock with the kick and don't go off of it too much (or at all). A lot of the time when I'm doing a hip-hop line, I intentionally play a staccato "doubling" of the kick-drum part, ONLY playing when the kick hits. For sessions, I use a Buttkicker Platform so I can better monitor the kick for the purpose.

3) Repetition. In my experience, the best grooves come when you get to that Alpha-wave "flow" where you go beyond playing the same thing over & over and let the simplicity of the line take you to a new place WITHOUT going off into variations.

4) Chromatic walks. A lot of hip-hop lines, in my experience, tend to have stepwise motion, but especially when you're going from the b7 to the 1, or the 4 to the 5, a chromatic ascension or descent can really make the line shine.

5) I like to use a really thick, thumpy tone for hip-hop. My Line6 Bass POD xt Live has an effect called "sub-dub" which is really just an doubler, octave-down. Through my Schro 21012L, you can get some serious low-end. I find that, strangely, the best way to get this thick tone is with a bass with a ton of clarity - a modern bass with roundwounds. I like my MTDs for this sound, or my Variaxes on the Alembic, Modulus, MTD, or Steinberger settings.

6) Sometimes it sounds *really* cool to throw in some gospel-sounding slurs and pops, but again, keep it simple... I only really do this at the climax of the song, and otherwise keep it pretty repetitive. There is a magic in repetition and groove/flow that should not be discounted. It's easy to kill a good hip-hop line by overplaying. Use space, use staccato notes on the kick drum hits, and just keep it simple.

Please feel free to add to this! I'd love to hear your input as well.

 

[SounDesign]

Thanks for starting this thread. As a guitarist who crossed over to bass 1 year ago, I used to know nothing about keeping it simple. Then I got called up to play bass for a hip-hop singer's live band, and that all changed.

First hip-hop bassline I listened to for figuring out how to make people start movin and groovin: Dr. Dre's "Let Me Ride." This line has excellent examples of the aforementioned use of octaves, sprinkling a few notes on the offbeat 16ths, and playing unison on some of the kick drum hits.

Thanks to all who have given their 2cents on exemplary hip-hop bassists and basslines...I will be listening to them all.

 

[Myke Myke]

Listen to D'Angelo - Voodoo, and just listen to hiphop and play it... With All music you get better by listening and playing the music! and most importantly PRACTICE!

 

[thehangingmist]

I like to subdivide the beat, in contrasting ways, either by pulse or dynamics.

what is subdiving the beat by dynamics?

 

[EMXPRSS]

Hi everyone,

My name is Emek from Ankara/Turkey. I work in a call center and record on the side. Its great to see so many talented bassist in a forum like this. I have a hip-hop project that i ve been recording myself which i need help with. im done with recording vocals and now i need bassist to play bass for my tracks who understands hip-hop. (I sample all of my music from old psychedelic turkish records.) Its pretty hard to find bassist overhere because when they play to beats they usually mess up the feel of the song, thaey cant add anything to grrove and mess-up the drums. Even though'simplicity is the key' i just can't seem to find someone who will play simple lines for me.

I dont want anyone to get me wrong with all due respect to your art,I am not asking someone to play for free but what im willing to pay may not satisfy your needs. At least its better than asking for free. Anyone who is interested feel free to P.M. me.

 

[N.F.A.]

For sessions, I use a Buttkicker Platform so I can better monitor the kick for the purpose.

I'd like to hear more about what exactly you use from Buttkicker. Always wondered about their stuff. Don't want to derail this interesting thread though. PM me, start a new thread or whatever.. Thanks!

 

[Matthew_84]

Great thread.

Last night I was invited to jam with four emcees, a drummer, and a guitarist. It was awesome. I have listened to tons of hip hop and it didn't take me long to realize that to play bass for it, I need to lock in with the drummer, and keeping it simple while emphasizing the rhythm. It's funny that a lot of the tips I'm reading in this thread is what I did intuitively last night, but that's mainly from all of the hip hop I've listened to. I also pretty much played like I was playing a sample, just groovin in the pocket and repeating the line with the odd change-up.

Driving home I realized I need to listen to the The Roots, for some reason I haven't gotten any of their material, so I need to do that. Any other groups/emcees I should listen to? I specifically want to listen to records that were recorded with actual bass players. I read recommendations for Outkast, are there specific albums I should get?

Also, what are your guys tips for note selection? At the beginning I was trying to do chord progressions, but the guitarist picked up on this and started playing some real melodic stuff that I felt took away from the rawness of what we were doing so I just kind of chose a scale, such as F Harmonic Minor, and just stayed in there, focusing mostly on the root, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th, and usually dropping to the 7th below the root. Once I got a rhythm that the drums and emcees locked in with, I would just loop the little thing I came up with.

 

[superheavyfunk]

This thread shouldn't die, so here's a long awaited bump and a question:

With the movement toward 808-style sub bass in trap/hip hop, how are you all adapting, tone-wise? Have you added pedals to your rig? If so, which ones? Maybe you've decided to give up the ghost and just go full-synth for those tunes? What's your live rig like?

 

[Matthew_84]

I don’t really listen to modern style hip-hop, but would a POG be adequate enough to get a deeper/synthy sound?

 

[superheavyfunk]

I don’t really listen to modern style hip-hop, but would a POG be adequate enough to get a deeper/synthy sound?

It wouldn't hurt but I don't think it'd be enough either. A low pass filter would be of more benefit, I think. Like a xerograph or something similar.

I've added a synth voice but I think my old Octamizer would be more useful, because it has an LPF on the clean blend.

 

[superheavyfunk]

Any other groups/emcees I should listen to? I specifically want to listen to records that were recorded with actual bass players. I read recommendations for Outkast, are there specific albums I should get?

Anderson Paak - Malibu
D'Angelo - Voodoo
Lauren Hill - The Miseducation of Lauren Hill
Black Milk - If There's A Hell Below
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
J. Cole - Forest Hills Drive
Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun
Raphael Saadiq - Lynwood Rose (Bootleg)
Nujabes - Metaphorical Music
Guru - Jazzmatazz
Jill Scott - Who is Jill Scott?
Mos Def - The New Danger


Not every song on each of these albums has live instrumentation, and even the songs that do have live bass or guitar may have sampled loops or drum sequencers on them as well... It *is* hip hop, after all.

 

[Badwater]

Is there such a thing as a hip hop bass line?

Back in the day there was a lot of great bass lines from the Rapstas. They used real bass, and picked out great bass lines for their songs. Here's one of the greatest Dis Songs in history. The singer and intended were murdered several months later.


This chick gets it. And she knows how to EQ a great bass track.