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Post subject: BASS WRITING TIPS
Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 8:10 pm
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I was introduced in a band a few weeks ago and i need to know how you guys make songs and solos :D

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Post subject: Re: BASS WRITING TIPS
Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 10:36 pm
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This is close to being the most bizarre post I have seen on any bass or music-related site. What sort of response are you wanting?

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Post subject: Re: BASS WRITING TIPS
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 2:13 pm
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geddyfan5578 wrote:
I was introduced in a band a few weeks ago and i need to know how you guys make songs and solos :D


I think that is a very legit question myself.

Scales. Learn them. There is no substitute for building solos and no shortcut to learning them. Till you master them and the ability to read standard notation you are going to be limited, but you can still do the following things and get by.

Rhythm. Listen to the drummer. Until you are totally comfortable soloing, restrict yourself to using your bass as more of a rhythm instrument than a solo instrument. I always do that when jamming with people I'm not accustomed to playing with and will do nothing flashy, fancy or out of basic rhythmic play. Follow the rhythms of the drummer working up to adding notes that compliment and eventually expound upon the drummer's rhythms. When initially forming a band more than just a few drum/bass rehearsals with only the bassist and drummer can be very productive to get you two totally in sync. If the bass and drums are not together, everyone else is lost and they will quickly start looking for a different bassist.

Root note/fifth/octave. Next start adding in notes within the scale moving to a higher or lower octave of the root chord note. That is very basic and quite effective. Alternating root/fifth/octave patterns work so well that is about all some genres require with an occasional complimentary note added from the basic key scale.

Practice your band's material at home but also learn covers at home. Steal ideas from the covers you learn and incorporate stylistic larceny into things your new band is doing. Do not restrict the covers you work on at home to just one genre or era. You can learn from fooling around with music from every era and genre of recorded music from classical, big band, pop, early rock & R&B through today's rock and R&B, modern country, classic country, gospel, bluegrass, folk, Americana, even mariachi and techno pop. Everything will teach you something or give you ideas you can STEAL.

Record band rehearsals using a simplistic pocket digital recorder and play them back later at home to see how what you are doing is working in the big picture. You don't have to listen to the entire rehearsal because playing back short segments such as one verse and chorus of each piece can be a very eye and ear opening experience. You won't get better until you hear your mistakes because you will just keep rehearsing the same mistakes over and over until you find and fix them. What might be sounding fine live to you may not sound all that good the next day at home when the entire band is taken into consideration.


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Post subject: Re: BASS WRITING TIPS
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 1:34 pm
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Once again Brother Dave. I need the "Brither Dave Is Right" bumper sticker for my case.


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Post subject: Re: BASS WRITING TIPS
Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 7:49 am
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Thanks for a great post Brother Dave -you always know just how to help us fledgling bass players!

RickyD

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Post subject: Re: BASS WRITING TIPS
Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 1:26 pm
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You're welcome.


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Post subject: Re: BASS WRITING TIPS
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:48 pm
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brotherdave wrote:
geddyfan5578 wrote:
I was introduced in a band a few weeks ago and i need to know how you guys make songs and solos :D


I think that is a very legit question myself.

Scales. Learn them. There is no substitute for building solos and no shortcut to learning them. Till you master them and the ability to read standard notation you are going to be limited, but you can still do the following things and get by.

Rhythm. Listen to the drummer. Until you are totally comfortable soloing, restrict yourself to using your bass as more of a rhythm instrument than a solo instrument. I always do that when jamming with people I'm not accustomed to playing with and will do nothing flashy, fancy or out of basic rhythmic play. Follow the rhythms of the drummer working up to adding notes that compliment and eventually expound upon the drummer's rhythms. When initially forming a band more than just a few drum/bass rehearsals with only the bassist and drummer can be very productive to get you two totally in sync. If the bass and drums are not together, everyone else is lost and they will quickly start looking for a different bassist.

Root note/fifth/octave. Next start adding in notes within the scale moving to a higher or lower octave of the root chord note. That is very basic and quite effective. Alternating root/fifth/octave patterns work so well that is about all some genres require with an occasional complimentary note added from the basic key scale.

Practice your band's material at home but also learn covers at home. Steal ideas from the covers you learn and incorporate stylistic larceny into things your new band is doing. Do not restrict the covers you work on at home to just one genre or era. You can learn from fooling around with music from every era and genre of recorded music from classical, big band, pop, early rock & R&B through today's rock and R&B, modern country, classic country, gospel, bluegrass, folk, Americana, even mariachi and techno pop. Everything will teach you something or give you ideas you can STEAL.

Record band rehearsals using a simplistic pocket digital recorder and play them back later at home to see how what you are doing is working in the big picture. You don't have to listen to the entire rehearsal because playing back short segments such as one verse and chorus of each piece can be a very eye and ear opening experience. You won't get better until you hear your mistakes because you will just keep rehearsing the same mistakes over and over until you find and fix them. What might be sounding fine live to you may not sound all that good the next day at home when the entire band is taken into consideration.

well i know my scales but what do i do afterwards

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Post subject: Re: BASS WRITING TIPS
Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 6:30 pm
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geddyfan5578 wrote:
well i know my scales but what do i do afterwards


Like I said, Rhythm. Listen to the drummer. And no, you don't play exactly what the drummer is playing, but from what the drummer is doing you need to find rhythm patterns that compliment and counterbalance what the drummer is playing as well as supporting the melody, not competing with the lyrics and leading up to any movement present in the piece.

For starters, I think of my instrument not as a guitar at all, but rather as three conga drums tuned to the root, the fifth and the octave. What drum part would I play on those three drums to compliment everything else going on? That usually gives me a rhythm pattern to start with.

I usually start by just playing mainly the root notes, fifth or octave in the rhythm I found for each passage that works for me and go from there. Next I will try adding some different notes in the scale of each root to add in some passing notes or "walking" that works within the groove. Often accidentals that are not even in the chord can also be incorporated as passing notes or you can throw in a slide down to root or less frequently a slide up to root to accomplish movement to a rhythm, passage or key change.

A decent bass part will support and reinforce the energy of the passage while leading into moves from one chord to the next, from verse to chorus to bridge and even a transition from one key to the next.

Often bass passages from one song will be adaptable to another song but instead of using the same exact pattern change it up. As an example of this listen to recordings of "Mr. Pitiful" and "I Can't Turn You Loose" both by Otis Redding. These two songs have the same chords, although in a different order, played by the same bassist in the exact same band and yet are quite different parts. Either part work in those chords. You can even take some of the bass part from one song and it works fine with the other but the bassist didn't do that at all and instead played a completely different part for both tracks.

A lot of finding a new bass part for an original song involves your own stylistic interpretation of the individual song's rhythms, movements from one passage to the next and what everyone else is playing.

In my personal style I approach bass as primarily a rhythm instrument. I attack a piece first from the rhythmic angle. I suppose drumming some in band in high school is part of the reason I see it that way. Someone else who also plays guitar or keys may have a completely different approach where they attack what notes to play first and then worry about the rhythms. There is nothing wrong with either approach I suppose, but I start with the rhythm.

There is more than one right way to play a song. Taking an often played cover as an example "Mustang Sally" is seldom played the same way by two different bassists in two different bands. I've heard at least 200 different ways to play that bass line. Something is always different in each bassist's take on it. Part of this is stylistic difference based on the bassist's individual influences, talent, skill, interpretation, ability, etc. But beyond stylistic differences another reason for all the variations on "Mustang Sally" is because almost never will any two drummers, guitarists, horn players or keyboardists play it exactly alike nor will any two vocalists sing it alike either. Each player and singer will bring their own individual stylistic differences into the mix also.

What any musician plays has to work with everything else that is going on and the bass part is no different. That is part of the beauty of playing music with others, interweaving and meshing everything so that it all works well with everything else. This is precisely why a bass line you play for "Mustang Sally" that is absolutely drop-dead-perfect in one band may not work as well when playing "Mustang Sally" with another band.

Perhaps none of the above will help you build solos, but if you do not have a bass line that meshes well with everything else that is going on then you are never going to get to a place to play a solo anyway.


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