when writing a song?

[zfmt]

so i play drums. cleaned the dust of my guitar and started writing songs. I bought a bass (today), dont know if its any good or anything but it feels fun to play, its a series 10 picked it up for like 120$cdn. what i wold like to know is how to write bass to songs? what are the general rules. should it follow guitar, vocals, drums? or should i just do what ever in the same time. do octives really matter, should it just sound good?

thanks
zak

[mastrrbasser]

so i play drums. cleaned the dust of my guitar and started writing songs. I bought a bass (today), dont know if its any good or anything but it feels fun to play, its a series 10 picked it up for like 120$cdn. what i wold like to know is how to write bass to songs? what are the general rules. should it follow guitar, vocals, drums? or should i just do what ever in the same time. do octives really matter, should it just sound good?

thanks
zak


You should try to follow the drums rhythmically, but tie it to the melody. I think of the bass as teh glue to the song. You need to be tight with the drummer, but link it to the guitar and vocals somehow. When the guitar changes chords it's a wise move to hit the root note, but you can use differnet chord tones to bring out the quality of that chord. If it's a minor chord, you might want to use the minor third in your bassline and so on.

[gaslight]

The most basic/important thing to do is outline the chord movement with root notes.

[CalPhoenix]

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm new to playing myself, is the root note the lowest note in the chord? I'm just looking for clarification on what a root note is more or less.

[gaslight]

Usually, but not always. If the chord is being played in an inversion, the root note can be anywhere.

It can be a little tricky, but the root note will always be the note the chord is named for. So in a C major chord, the C will be the root note, no matter where in the chord it is voiced (played).

[Billy_Silvers]

The root note is always safe, but you can get a cool sound if you occasionally have the bass line follow the melody.

[CabbageStabbage]

For starters, follow the guitar, or if the guitar is strumming chords, follow the bass drum pattern or just do a steady 8th-note or quarter-note line.

e.g. for a song I played I came up with this bass line. Guitar chords are on top of the tab.
Gmaj Emin Cmaj Dmaj
G---------|--------|--------|--------
D-5-5-4-0-|2-2-0---|----0-2-|0-0-2-4-
A---------|------2-|3-3-----|--------
E---------|--------|--------|--------

First 2 beats of each bar are root notes. Last beat of each bar is a note from the chord (3rd or 5th). In between is a note that connects the two that is part of the scale.

[GhostMice]

The root note is always safe, but you can get a cool sound if you occasionally have the bass line follow the melody.

How do you follow the melody of a song?

[CabbageStabbage]

You just play the exact same notes that the guitarist plays. See: most metal.

[gaslight]

If you want to follow the melody it will depend on what instrument is taking it. In most rock and pop songs, the melody will be taken by the vocals. It depends on the song.