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Bassline Basics

© Cindy Lee Haddock

BASSLINE BASICS

Depending on the genre of music you are writing, the bass line can make or break your song. True, if you play fingerstyle guitar, your thumb does so much work that it may sound like you have a bass player already, and you may not need one. The same can be said of piano parts—the left hand often does such a nice job of playing bass notes that some bands, like the Doors, don’t have a bassist, or in some bands like Rush or Led Zeppelin, the bass guitar player would double as a keyboardist to add the bass line as well as some additional meat to the song mix. In some song styles, especially much modern dance music, if you don’t have a decent bass part written, the song loses most of its character, so this is not just a throwaway part you can just fill with the bottom note of the main chord, paced out once each bar. Take a little time with this important, but often overlooked part, and you may have a runaway hit on your hands.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

True, many of us hate the idea of classical music if we write modern material, but there are some really valuable lessons to be learned by giving it a listen. In much classical music, there is often a wonderful element called counterpoint or counter melody, where the bass instruments play off of the higher pitched strings and so forth and actually carry the meat of the tune in many instances. This can carry a wonderful, dark feeling to the music, provide some wonderful comic relief, or add some wonderful drama to any piece where this approach is used. Where would the power of many film soundtracks be without that booming bass part coming in to let us know of the shark, dinosaur, huge spaceship or tornado approaching? As a supporting counter melody, the bass parts can add dimension and depth to most pieces—the wonderful, dancing bass line that counters the higher melody in a song like “Baby Elephant Walk” comes to mind—and the song wouldn’t be as comical and fun with another approach. Sit and check out some of this music next chance you get—especially some of the masters from a few hundred years ago if possible—it is just stuffed with ideas you can use in modern music, and, in fact, some modern songs just plain swipe many of these ideas to this day to incorporate in a more updated form of songwriting.

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