Table of Contents
How do you come up with a bass line?
How to Write a Bass Line in 5 Steps
- Know the root note. Knowing the root note of each chord is the starting point for all great bass lines.
- Choose your chords.
- Play notes in the same scale.
- Play some notes off-beat.
- Add variation.
What makes a good bass line?
Bassline represents the core of every modern song. An awesome sounding bassline almost always consists of two factors, an excellent sound, and a great groove. In other words, the bassline uses low notes that provide rhythm while simultaneously setting out the foundation of the chord progression.
What are root notes bass?
What Are the Root Notes? Root notes are the main (root) notes of a chord. So the root note of the chord A major is “A”. If a song has the chords of Amajor, Cminor, and Dmajor the root notes would be A, C, and D.
Do you play chords on the bass?
Bassists don’t play chords as often as guitarists or pianists do. Instead of playing chords directly, bassists outline the notes of chords. Bassists emphasize the individual notes that make up chords. By outlining the notes of chords a bassist implies the sound of a particular chord.
Should bass line follow melody?
The melody is the “tune” of the music and it’s what most commonly defines the song’s identity. The bassline underpins the harmony of the song. It most commonly provides the root note of each chord, so that listening for the bass line is closely related to listening for the chord progression.
What are bass chords?
A chord is a group of notes played together at the same time. Bassists don’t play chords as often as guitarists or pianists do. Instead of playing chords directly, bassists outline the notes of chords. Bassists emphasize the individual notes that make up chords.
What notes should I play on bass?
Chord structure
- Scale notes.
- D major: D – E – F# – G – A – B – C# Chord notes: D – F# – A.
- A major: A – B – C# – D – E – F# – G# Chord notes: A – C# – E.
- B minor: B – C# – D – E – F# – G – A Chord notes: B – D – F#
- C major: C – D – E – F – G – A – B Chord notes: C – E – G.
Do we need to use all of these notes when writing bass-line?
We don’t need to use all of these notes when writing our bass-line, but we should be able to use any of them, should we wish. A great starting point, when writing a bass-line to compliment a chord progression, is to use the root-note of each chord in the progression as the note for the bass-line.
How do you play a bass line?
Simply take the ‘root’ of each chord and play this for the bass line. For example, the chord C Major has a root of ‘C’, so we play a ‘C’ bass note. The G Major chord has a root of ‘G’, so the bass line follows with a ‘G’ note. And so on. Here’s how this really basic bass line would sound with our example song.
How does the key of a song determine the bass-line?
The key of a song does not determine which notes you use for the bass-line on a particular chord – the key represents the overall sonority of a song, not all the chords, or the notes they comprise. The chord itself, its function in the music, and its derivation determine that.
What is the root note on a bass guitar?
The C is the root. The root note of a chord is one of the most common notes for the bassist to play. When all else fails, you can hold the root. The third and fifth are the next most common notes in the bass. The third establishes whether the chord is major or minor.