I can't write a decent bassline to save my life

[secret bass]

Where do I even start? When I write something, the best I can usually do is the root of the chord in some uninteresting, repetitive rhythm. Whenever I try to add something to my bassline, it just comes out sounding all wrong, completely not fitting the feel of anything I write at all.

I guess I'm just looking for some advice for where to start, and what kind of things I should be studying and experimenting with. I'm absolutely lost when it comes to basslines, and anything at all would help.

[lotus2035]

..what kind of music are you writing?

[geoffrey]

Are you talking about bass guitar or synth bass? If you mean bass guitar, then check out some walking bass lines books. Find a bass player you like and see if he has a DVD tutorial. That could inspire you.. Walking between octave notes is a personal fave for new bass lines. Learning the notes is helpful in this regard. For instance, knowing where every A is on the fretboard.
G.

[debra1rlo]

Do what I do... steal one from another song!

Seriously, listen to other artists you like and figure out those bass lines, that may give you some ideas towards your own bass lines...
hmmm actually not much different then my first answer, is it?

[Hink]

honestly the best advice (pun intended) is to keep it basic at first, there's nothing wrong with real simple bass, but it can get tiresome when the bass is obviously over done.

[VicDiesel]

The Improviser's Bass Method by Chuck Sher

More ideas than you'll absorb in a lifetime.

Victor.

[chardin]

Bass Grooves: Develop Your Groove and Play Like the Pros in Any Style

For bass guitar, this book is great. Ed Friedland is an excellent bass player and a clear, to-the-point author.

[Kim Lajoie]

Usually what works for me is to pick up an actual electric bass guitar and play a melody on it. So long as there are other instruments reinforcing the tonic, there's surprisingly a lot of room for the bass to wander.

-Kim.

[RichLum]

I find it hard to write bass lines too.

As a guitarist I just can't "think" bass... you have to lock into a different groove and timings (depending on the type of music you are trying to write though...

Some things that help me..

Mute the guitars (and other melody tracks) and have a drum heavy or drum only mix (requires you to know the harmonic structure of the song since you don't have the other backing tracks to guide you anymore).
Focus on the kick


Don't feel that every gap in the song needs a bass run... simple is sometimes effective

Rich

[Km7]

I'd like to add that you should know what is the sound and feeling you want to achieve. If it is in particular style, listen to such music, make your conclusions, read the theory behind it - what motion and note values are typical, etc. I think the most important is that you should listen to the notes in your head. Theory is here to explain music and give us tools, it is not a machine for composing music... So, try to imagine the bass line you think will fit the music and just add it, then analyze it and correct it theoretically, if you wish (make inversions, add non-chord tones for interest, etc). But the most important is that you should know what you want in order to find it.

[kara]

honestly the best advice (pun intended) is to keep it basic at first, there's nothing wrong with real simple bass, but it can get tiresome when the bass is obviously over done.

+1, unless you play jazz keep it simple. Root & octave are your friends to start with, later you can add fifth. If you have some minor chord try the 3th of the minor chord to emphase on the minor of the chord.

I didn't see what type of music you're doing, but be aware that in most styles of music, bass is much more about rythm and groove then it is about notes.

k

[geoffrey]

Thanks for the links to those books! They both look great.
Geoff

[wrench45us]

I do a lot of trip hop or ambient lounge or ??? and the bass parts tend to carry a lot of weight since the intrumentation is pretty minimal.

Within whatever made up genre I'm working in, a little syncopation adds a lot so I throw in notes on a dotted quarter or dotted eight boundary. If you can work out a groove rhythm over 2 or 4 bars -- just tap it out -- you can fill in the notes according to the chord changes as you go.
The bass will follow the melody so it can rise up into its fifth or third or octave to reinforce the melody.
Another thing the bass can do that probably shows up in those recommended books is anticipate by an eighth or a quarter note the chord change at the next bar -- sort or pushes the changes along.

[nuffink]

Try a pick-up or two.

A pick-up is a note on the off-beat before first beat of the bar*. The pick-up note is usually a semitone or tone below the note you're going to hit on the 1.


*Or before any other note which occurs in a metrically strong position in the bar. The metrically strong positions are (in order) 1,3,2,4


oops...

Another thing the bass can do that probably shows up in those recommended books is anticipate by an eighth or a quarter note the chord change at the next bar -- sort or pushes the changes along.

...crossed in the mail

[Download SOphist]

The Improviser's Bass Method by Chuck Sher

More ideas than you'll absorb in a lifetime.

Victor.

yaycks !