Hey everyone, I'm new to this site (as a member, i have been referencing it for a few years now) and as the title suggests I am TERRIBLE at making basslines. I have a basic understanding of music theory, no expert but enough to get tracks how I want them to sound apart from the bass. It's not a mixing issue I just have no idea how to make decent ones consistently. If I could just master that I'd be very grateful to anyone who could help me with some tips in terms of how and where to place notes. I make mostly hip hop and grime music (grime is a uk sub genre of hip hop and soundsystem music) All suggestions are welcome!

EDIT/UPDATE: I'd just like to say thank you to everyone for all the warm welcomes and varied chunks of advice in such a short time and on my first post too!. I can tell you now I genuinely appreciate it and will be taking everything on board. To anyone else that wants to throw their two cents in, I'm sure there are more people here (myself included) that would love your input. This seems to be a very interesting and quite polarising topic

 

Last edited: Jan 26, 2018

Me too. I've to use midi tools for that. But, since you want to master it from theory point of view, maybe this course might help as starting point: https://www.askvideo.com/course/musictheory-105-basslines
And then move on to genre specific bassline, found some plenty on youtube including grimey here: youtube.com/watch?v=De26t3J27OY

 

listen to music in the genre you want to make, drop it your DAW and listen, i was crap at basslines as well, but my genre is trance & proghouse,

 

@MJ hi there, welcomes apart, grime came from uk garage (big ups its 20 years birthday this year), since u.s. are great on appropriate others culture and call it own, just like dubstep, hip hop was once funky and r&b grooves, then lots happened since the seventies, what was the question anyway?! : )

 

Watch this, 6 simple easy tricks to spice up basslines. Theese tricks are usefull in nearly any style of music...

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jan 26, 2018

hi @MJ & welcome to the forum

here are some thoughts :

create a drum pattern that you like

create a melody on top

then use your melody as the "call" & create a bass line as the "answer" to that,you can use the root note of your chords/melody/riff

you can even remove/mute the main melody/riff & listen to it & see if you can create a new melody that fits your track better

make /try your drums & bass to have a right groove & lock

last but not least remove the "idea" in your mind that "I am TERRIBLE at making basslines" & trust your intuition

Grime music is Massive

hope this info helps you

 

Listen to first song "This vibe" and you will find why is bass line so important for some songs

http://www.deezer.com/us/album/48731122

 

Absolutely, you should stay positive and that's first important step!
Another thing is, how many time did you spend on creating bass line?
If you start to investigate and read about other musicians you'll be surprised that for example guy from Boards of Canada spent full month just to find great sounding hi-hat and pattern line for it for one of songs from album.
It's creative process and can't be done in 5 mins, sometimes it can... it depends on kind of a pot

 

You should ignore theory, "hacks", tutorials and instead listen to a lot of music from all the genres you like, and focus on what you love on the bass.
Composing basslines, leads, melodies, is not about theory, there is no magic formula, it's about creating what you like.

 

I disagree here. Jaming around, finding ideas is creating what you like.(Most of the time) Composing is hard work. And theory, experience and formulas are what you need to bring your ideas to the next level.

 

There is a "magic formula" & that is to go with the flow & follow your bliss always
Don't ignore theory, "hacks" & tutorials,you might find something useful & inspiring
Listen to a lot of music & play/practice on your keyboard/instrument of choice
Don't pretend you know it all,music is unlimited,non local & you will always learn new things & techniques even if you are 100 years old
Enjoy life & love what you do !

 

There is a neat little trick to learning basslines of ANY genre. Take a midi file. Import it into your DAW. Minimize the bass track, and build the rest of the song (I find this works best without percussion of any kind)
Now you are left with the actual song (less the drums and the bass) Build the bass YOU think would fit nicely to the track. When you have finished, then mute yours and replace it with the bass from the song. Compare the two. Whilst this trick wont work straight away. It is a great way to help you fill in the blanks with regards to Bass.
In fact, this trick will work with ANY instrument you wish to learn!

EDIT:-

Where are my manners??? AND welcome to the forum

 

Last edited: Jan 26, 2018

Here's a secret for you:
the bass becomes the melody

Case in point:

Hey Lana

 

They say the magic happens when the bass and drums play well together nicely, like one. Everything else happens on top of that. So if you make a cool drum line, try making a bass line that complements the drums, especially kick, as perfectly as possible, no matter how cheesy it sounds. The shit I make is actually bass based and I do it the other way round, but the formula to success is to get the two to "speak" to each other nicely.

Cheers!

back to tunes...

 

The only formula = There's no formula = Other ones' suggestions wouldn't work for your workflow or maybe deteriorate it.

Every song ought to be treated separately and creativeness dominates even your previous skill.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jan 26, 2018

I would have thought that writing your melodies would be far more challenging..... and then the chord structure that compliments your wonderful tunes is not easy either or the other way round if that's how you work. Bass lines? what's the problem? You have any one of the notes in each chord to use plus passing notes between chords. Just make it tight with the drums.
However if your piece is rhythm based with not much else going on, it will need to be sexy......decide on your beat, memorise it, think about it all day and come up with whatever bass line you can until you think ...mmm that's it and get it on your phone if it does.... just sing it , before you lose it or loose it in the common parlance.

 

This jives really well with my anarchy-sex-pistol soul. However, what I said is a generally acceptable definition. This guy is always open for experimentation, though. All of us should be. There's always new territory to conquer.

 

From a bass player's perspective:

1. Place the root note of the chord you're at at the same place as every drum kick. Take a listen. It's going to be damn boring.
2. Identify where you'd like some melodic variation for the bass line, usually the upbeats of the bar (2 and 4 in a 4/4 bar).
Choose the fifth of every root note you used and spice them up where you feel you want some variety.
3. For more variation, alternate some of the root notes with their higher octave and see if they add to the groove.

It's not going to be the most creative line, but musical it will be. That's how I approach playing a song I don't know and don't want to screw up. Safe and sound.

 

here is a skill i used to have

i was good in the past blowing up some Tannoy mercury m5 floor standing speakers with this song :

love you foster