Harmony Parts

[Plagaristic]

Hey
I just joined another band playing Bass as I am a guitarist by trade, I thought I would try something new and try playing bass.
However, I want to write some harmony parts for some of the songs.
A typical riff in our songs beings something like this

||------------------|------------------||
||o-----------------|-----------------o||
||------------------|------------------||
||-0-0-7-0-8-0-7-0-|-3-3-3-5-1-1-1-3-||
||o-----------------|-----------------o||
||------------------|------------------||

My question is, how would I go about writing a harmony part for this?

Thanks

[darrell]

Figure out what chords those notes represent in the song. Then pick other chord tones for the other part.

Say the progression was C, F, G... one change per bar. I'm pressed for time, so here it goes. Very short.


||---0-------0------|---2--------2-----|-----4-------0----||
||------------------|------------------|------------------||
||---3-------3------|------------------|------------------||
||------------------|---1--------1-----|-----3-------3----||

That's very crappy, but they are all chord tones. The first measure is the fifth, the second is the tenth (3rd, octave higher) and the last one is a tenth and then an octave.

I've got to go though. I have to be to work. If no one can help you more, maybe I'll give it a go again later.

[jollygiantchris]

if you really wanna go nuts you could play the same thing the guitar is riffing but a 3rd or 5th higher lots of metal bands do that with guitar harmony havent really heard a bassist do it but give it a shot

since that riff is in d minor you could perhaps play in a relative mode (not sure if thats correct term) like g major

[White_Summer]

usually harmony is in the guitars, but in the bass it can work in moderation i find, too much tends to ruin what ever sort of colour your trying to create. as for a quick harmony go try major sevenths down, or minor thirds up, those tend to be the most common "hard rock/metal" harmonies.
so if the guitarist plays the part you showed, play something like
G||--------------------------|--17--17--17--19--15--15--15--17--||
D||--------------------------|--17--17--17--19--15--15--15--17--||
A||--------3-----5-----3-----|--15--15--15--17--13--13--13--15--||
D||--0--0-----0-----0-----0--|----------------------------------||

[katana_manatee]

Er... Wouldn't it be best doing things diatonically? That avoids the feeling that some notes are definately wrong. In general I don't harmonise much on the bass, but if I do it is generally in the upper registers. The bass helps really define a chord by playing its root (generally) and usually in heavy rock music you are looking for something rock solid that keeps the feel, but experiment and see what can sound good.

[cAPS_lOCK]

Also, try not to plagiarize Crazy Train.

[katana_manatee]

Also, try not to plagiarize Crazy Train.

:lol: Never noticed that before.