Wah - I can't write basslines!

[TommyK]

[quote name='Doddy' post='1125959' date='Feb 13 2011, 02:10 PM']When you've written a melody or a progression,put the instrument down and just listen. Try to sing an idea for a bassline,before you pick up the bass. This will stop you from falling into your stock patterns,and make for a more interesting line.[/quote]

+1 to this.
Most of the home-made basslines that i have come up with that i like, originated in my head and didn't just fall out of the bass. The stock pattern thing is a disease that i suffer from badly...

[xgsjx]

A lot of good suggestions & advice.
My idea for you would be to play something on your piano & take that melody & play it on your bass. If you don't want it the same, then harmonise with it.

A lot of my basslines are either something I came up with on a different instrument or are me just harmonising with another instrument (or playing the same thing). Whenever I'm not doing this, I'm playing boring old root notes etc.

[xgsjx]

And Aye, JOIN A BAND!

[4000]

[quote name='scalpy' post='1125932' date='Feb 13 2011, 01:44 PM']I was taught start with the rhythm. The notes come a distant second![/quote]

Anything but for me. To me it's all about melody.

Can you create melodies? Can you sing them? I have the blessing of supplying basslines to mostly my own music, but most of those lines are sung before I ever touch a bass.

[gub]

I think that playing piano is a totaly different ball game in that with just a few notes played with a bit of imagination can sound great but with bass it takes an really great player to make it interesting to listen to for most people , well played on its own anyway! its only wehn you put it together with other stuff that it takes off , i love listening to other bass players even if they are not stanley clarke though

[thunderbird13]

[quote name='Eight' post='1125902' date='Feb 13 2011, 01:16 PM']I Yet, if I sit down at the piano and noodle, I can throw together a chord progression and melody line without too much stress (nothing amazing mind).

Beginning to wonder if I'm actually meant to be a bassist at all... despite it being the only instrument I ever really felt comfortable on. I don't even know what kind of advice etc. I'm hoping for - just figured another perspective might help at the minute.[/quote]

I totally understand that , I find it so much easier to play something interesting on guitar than on bass. I think that the bass is much more difficult to sound "interesting" than guitar or piano.

The few times that I've had to create a bassline I try to forget theory and either 1. close my eyes just play in a jamming sitution ( you can do this by yourself) 2. listen to the melody of the song and try to extend it, if your cant hear anything then try to "mash up " another song that will fit in with it

Although joining a good band will make you a better player and bring the instrument to life there are a lot of bad bands out there and this will have the opposite effect so take your time over joining bands

[BigRedX]

[quote name='scalpy' post='1125932' date='Feb 13 2011, 01:44 PM']I was taught start with the rhythm. The notes come a distant second![/quote]
[quote name='4000' post='1126543' date='Feb 13 2011, 11:06 PM']Anything but for me. To me it's all about melody.[/quote]
IMO they should be equally important.

Re-reading through this thread I think the problem you have is that the piano was design to work as a solo instrument and the bass guitar is really an accompanying instrument.

You can't truly evaluate what is a good baseline outside the context of the song it goes with. Most of my bassline on their own sound either very simple and somewhat dull or bizarre and disjointed. However once you hear them with all the other instruments you realise that they work.

This is why you need to join a band. Don't worry about not being 'good enough', if you can get a clean note out of your bass when you pluck the strings and can move from one note to another then you are ready to start playing with other musicians - and anyway your probably already loads better than I was when I joined my first band.

[Lozz196]

I`m kindof the same, as in just can`t seem to get a good bass-line when working on my own.

However, stick me in a band situation, and I "feed" off of the gtrs and drums, and can usually put a good bass-line in, dependent on the space that the other instruments have left. A lot of the time, these can be very simple, but because of the pattern of the drums, its the melody of what is played that makes it sound good.

So get working with other musicians - they are the key.

You`ve mentioned good bass lines on the piano - well the other hand is doing the melody, so this reinforces working with others. You`ve got the ability, you just need to hear other music to feed off of.

[Gust0o]

I'm going to sound like I'm fawning over you two sods, now, but you're absolutely spot on. Solo bass is an art in and of itself, and it's beyond the realms of what I find enjoying - if that's what I was looking for in the bass, I'd have been required to give in a long time ago. Or start wearing a beard and a high waistband, or something. I'm not sure which.

The bass is there to drive a song along, tying in the melody with the rhythm - which is why it finally all comes together when you're playing with others, and you're sat in the role and holding things together. It's definitely an eye opener, making the leap from playing solo.

As you're sans band, do you have some mates you could jam along with? Failing that, I used to get a lot of inspiration from playing along to favourite records - working out what was being played, and then deciding how I would do it given the chance. Was a useful exercise in understanding the role of the bass and flexing a little creativity.

[lowdown]

[quote name='Eight' post='1125902' date='Feb 13 2011, 01:16 PM']It's been a little over two years since I bought my first bass (and registered here).[/quote]

Thanks, you have just reminded me to register all my Basses here.



Garry

[Rumble]

[quote name='Lozz196' post='1126758' date='Feb 14 2011, 10:12 AM']So get working with other musicians - they are the key.[/quote]

Absolutely.

I'm useless at just thinking up great basslines on my own and I'd always wondered whether a lack of theoretical knowledge might have something to do with it. However, playing together with other muso's makes a massive difference. Having said that, it has to be the 'right' musos. We have two drummers at our church both of whom are pretty accomplished at what they do, but one of them is more 'percussion' stylee whereas the other just holds down some great, tight grooves; I find it sooo much easier to come up with good lines playing with the second guy and really struggle for the first.

[Eight]

It's probably time to be less picky about the bassist wanted ads I read. I guess Within Temptation just aren't going to come knocking any time soon so I better find something else.

In the mean time, I guess I'll just keep working on on it - following some of the great suggestions here.