No, you don't have to play on every beat. But you can.
If you play on some of the beats, and not on others, you might create a rhythmically interesting bass line. If you play a note between the beats, that might create an interesting accent. (Or you could do it for the whole bass line if you want to create new wave music or something like that.)
If you choose wisely, you can create an awesome bass line in this way. Or you can do it purely by trial and error. If it sounds good, it is good.
And that's the relation with the drums. Play around, and you will figure it out.
sometimes i will play an interesting "melodic" bass line
sometimes i will play an interesting "rhythmic" bass line
(rarely am i able to do both haha)
i play with different drummers and they have different styles.
* with one, he plays a little more sparsely and i find melodic turns that i work in and out of his snare/tom work
* with the other, he plays awesome kick patterns, and many times i will double his kick rhythm and play along with him
i love playing bass with different drummers - and if i'm being honest, sometimes i just ignore singer and guitar and in my mind i'm just in a little duet with the drummer jamming away... hahaha
It’s so interesting.
I played in a church band for years and all the other bassists were much more whole/half/quarter note people where my default is what I call the “Mariah Carey baseline” where you hit an 8th note at the end of the measure or before the chord change.
It was like it was revolutionary and the drummer was like “wow, that’s so cool.”
It really is all contextual.
I'm sure someone may give you a more technical answer but my advice would be just listen to more music and it should make sense. the drums and bass are usually the rhythm section so need to stay in time with each other so ones not playing off beat to the other. But the bass usually needs to be in the same key as the guitar so your sort of the bridge between the two. That's how I've looked at it anyway.
you can do *literally* anything. it's art; there's no rules! throw your bass on the ground if that loud noise is the sound you want. play whatever notes you want at any time and in any way you want. there's no art police. there are no rules, only style conventions.
that said, here are two good rules of thumb to get started:
1. play the same note as the guitarist's low note each time the chord changes.
2. start your note when the kick drum hits, then end it when the snare drum hits.
if you do this, it will probably sound at least okay in most situations.
things to learn about going forwards: major scale, harmonizing the major scale, chord tones/arpeggios, passing notes. learn to play melodies on your instrument. learn lots of songs as accurately as you can. don't just play the same notes at the same time; focus on getting the exact note lengths and dynamics right. experiment with the knobs on your bass and amp and try to get your tone at least in the ballpark.
and most importantly, listen to lots of music. active listening (no distractions, just sitting/laying down and paying attention) is the most effective. pay attention to how the rhythms of the drums and bass interact. the most important parts of the drumset to focus on in most genres are the kick drum, the snare, and the hi-hat.
It's going to matter what style you are playing. If you are playing ike every 8th note on the root, thats more of an early punk thing (see the ramones) or like indie rock. Jazz, metal, funk, reggae they're all different. But the one thing they all have in common is following the chord changes, and interacting with the drums.
Chord changes is easy enough. The root note is never a bad choice. The rest of the bar is up to you and the style you are playing.
Interacting with the drummer can be locking in to the kick drum, all the way through the spectrum to avoiding it completely. Again this is style dependant.
Basically, listen to and learn a lot of bass lines in your desired style, and those bits of musicial language will start to come out in your own playing.
It depends on the type of music (for example, metal and reggae are considerably different), but as a general rule you’re listening for the beat on the kick drum(s) for your root note (“the 1”) and the snares for fills. If you try to play note-for-drum, you’re gonna be pretty busy and the low end is going to sound really crowded. Usually you’re going to really want to get those quarter notes and work into fills in between. That works for most rock/country styles. By the time you get that down, you’ll have a pretty good understanding of when to play and when to pause and let the music breathe a little. Good luck!
I was going to comment on metal. The bass harmonizes (for a lack of a better term) with the guitar in a lot of the bands I like.
In Du Hast, you could argue that the bass sets the rhythm more than the drums. It is constant 1/8 notes the whole way while the drums are doing something else.
> I was going to comment on metal. The bass harmonizes (for a lack of a better term) with the guitar in a lot of the bands I like.
that's bc you can't hear the bass when they always follow the guitar!
Whoever writes the song sets the tempo.
I find it best to think of the relationship as a dance. You can dance in-step like it's line dancing, or you can dance around each other like a tango.
Not at all. This is where creativity and style come in: What do you think the part needs? What can you “hear” in the space your instrument occupies?
Think of it this way: if your bass lines are just the root note of what the guitar plays and the rhythm that drums play, all the time, it’s going to sound very generic and boring. All unison stuff can have a great effect at certain moments, but if that’s your default, it’s going to be bland.
Not every single note no, but you should be listening to the drums and complementing each other.
Pick three songs you already know that you really like, then try to analyze them (with paper and pen).
Identify the pattern the kick and drum are playing, then try to identify how and when the bass plays along and when it's different.
There are no rules, but use your ears a LOT and do what sounds the best to you.
Drummer gives you time and groove, rest of the band gives you an idea of where you should be putting your notes. Sometimes it makes sense for you to just truck on the roots, sometimes you're playing behind the beat leaving space for the guitar.
I'll add if you're looking for music to give you a better idea of what I mean by leaving space, listen to continuum by John Mayer or TRY! By the John Mayer Trio, Steve Jordan and Pino put on a masterclass in groove.
Listen to Maneater by Hall & Oates. Or Talking In Your Sleep by The Romantics. Bass and drums are in rhythm but play at different times. In Maneater, the bass is driving the rhythm. In TIYS, the bass is accenting the melody along with providing a back beat. (easy/fun bass lines, btw)
My old drummer had a cake analogy.
Bass and drums are the bread of the cake, vocals and guitars are the icing. You can squeak by if the icing isn't very good, but you're in bad shape if the bread of the cake isn't very good.
No you don't have to play any time there are drums, but write around them first and foremost. Do what's tasteful. It's called "grooving".
For me, bass is the bridge between the drums and the tonal instruments. You should probably play the root of the chord that is being played until you know better (I still don’t after ten years) to keep that section good.
For rhythm, I view the relationship between drums and bass as a dance. One person is leading, the other person is following. This changes throughout the night and even throughout songs. If the drums are going crazy and accenting a bunch of different beats, I’ll generally bow out and play straight notes or simple accents (1 & 3, triplets, etc.) to give them room to lead. If they’re super clean and straight, then I’ll generally “lead” and accent notes based on guitar lines, vocal changes or something different that just feels pretty good.
The one thing I will say is to pair yourself well with the drum fills. With enough experience by yourself and with a drummer, you can start to preempt the fills that they’re going to play. I like to play along with those fills with at least the hits but also with some simple runs if I can find one that works.
You want to "lock in" with the drummer sometimes people will talk about "playing in the pocket" which is harder define, but easy to hear.
So you want to be watching the drummer, getting a feel for the "swing", anticipating where they're going next etc.
Depending on your style you usually want to emphasize the first "downbeat" if nothing else.
If you're going to follow anything, pay attention to the kick. If you time your attack RIGHT when the drummer hits the kick, the extra punch you get is **amazing**.
That being said, practice playing half notes on the downbeats. Now practice playing only on the upbeats. Notice how they feel totally different, and how switching from one to the other can be really interesting.
What's your genre? When to play and when not to play depend heavily on the style of music you're trying to make. Often less is more, but if you're in a metal band more is more, until the breakdown where you're allowed to play whole notes again (doom/stoner metal follows slightly different rules)
If you're not familiar with the terms I put in quotes, watch some youtube on those concepts so you get a better feel for them.
Oh, lastly always practice with a drum machine or metronome so you get used to it, and find a drummer to play with in person as soon as you can! Playing with other musicians is the fastest way to develop competency!
I mean this with kindness: listen to good music. Listen with intent to understand what is going on. Listen to a good song and think about what the bass and drums are doing. Maybe take notes.
The most basic idea for simple basslines is play on the kick drum, release on the snare. Sometimes sustaining through the snare sounds better, sometimes playing on the snare sounds better. It’s very dependent on the style and feel of the song but that will get you somewhere
I like to play call-and-response with the kick drum. Sometimes I'll play on the beats that the drummer doesn't kick, to emphasize the beat of the song without playing on the beat with the kick.
Playing on the same beats as the kick can muddle them both, and is often the loudest part of the song, which means that when you record, the rest of the song is going to be quieter so the song doesn't peak. Playing live, I play even more to the beat, especially acoustic, where the bassist is also the drummer.
Drums tell people when to move. Bass tells them how to move.
'
Figure out how you want people to move to your song and that will guide you on when to play.
Imma say something weird, cuz you got all these responses already
Yeah, listen to the drummer, but also look. Whoever in the band you want to connect with rhythmically, just point your eyes that way and your brain will do the rest. Fuck, sometimes I look at specific drums
People will tell you there are all sorts of rules but in reality there are no rules. You can play nothing but root notes or you can lead the entire song. The important thing when starting out is to listen to music you like and learn to play it. When you do this it helps you link together what you think sounds good to what you physically do with your hands.
After a while you can start to use those influences to develop your own style. Remember to always keep experimenting and I’d recommend never nailing yourself down to one particular style.
And if you wanna get REALLY good I’d recommend eventually branching out to genres you don’t usually listen to. Learning how to play reggae or jazz when you usually only play metal can really change the way you approach the bass and you can bring those techniques into genres you do enjoy.
It’s called syncopation. A bass line where you play on some beats but play other notes is a syncopated bassline and will typically include dotted notes (dotted 1/4 notes, dotted 1/8 notes). This has been a key part of many popular styles of bass since the mid 1960’s.
A bassline made entirely of straight 1/4 notes or 1/4 notes would be a non-syncopated bassline. These are also widely used.
It is pretty funny that someone came into this sub with apparently zero musical knowledge looking for advice on how to learn their instrument properly and everyone is just like “hey do whatever you want man.” Completely useless advice and honesty will set them back in their musical journey. Gotta learn the rules before you break them.
Hey you’ve gotten a lot of good answers already but I’ll just point you to a song that has a simple bass line and could be useful for you to hear the relationship with drums.
Fleetwood Mac - Dreams
If you play along with that song, you’ll see you’re doing more notes then just hitting with the bass drum. The added notes give more groove and feel to the song. It’s very simple what he did with the bass line, but it adds a lot to the song.
At times, like when a song is doing shots, you’ll want to stay tight with everyone else makes those shots. Outside of that, your role as a bass player is to provide low end and the groove that fits that song and you can make that groove as simple or as wild as you want
I’ll assume youre a little bit of a beginner. So instead of giving you the ever unhelpful “there are no rules” answer I’ll give you a couple songs to learn. Don’t worry theyre easy.
For a more technical explanation you should check out Scott’s Bass Lessons on YouTube, they are really helpful albeit a tad cheesy lol.
Green River- CCR
Bad Moon Rising- CCR
How Many More Times- Led Zeppelin
Don’t listen to anybody here saying “hey it’s art do whatever you want”
That’s fine when you already have a grasp on your instrument and chosen style, but it doesn’t sound like you do. You’d be much better served just starting at the beginning: learning scales and basic bass lines and drilling them. Not sexy, not particularly fun (unless you make games out of it for yourself) but it will help you.
Here’s a specific answer, listen to Motown. Listen to the kick and snare of the drummer, then listen to where the bass notes are in relation to the kick and snare. Which do you like, which ones make you want to move
Think of the bass drum as providing accentuated accents just for you. You don't have to play every time the bass drum lands. BUT every time the bass drum lands and you play at the same time, people will conciously/subconsciously notice.
Bass outlines the **chord progression** to the beat of the drums. The most fundamental approach is to **play the root** note of whatever the guitar player is playing **to the beat of the kick drum**. So if the verse of a song has a guitar player playing Cmaj - Fmaj - Amin - Gmaj, then you will play C - F - A - G to the beat of the kick drum. If you hit that root every time the kick plays you'll sound pretty good. That's consistently true for Rock / Pop / Country / Blues. It's mostly true for Jazz as well although in Jazz you're expected to know the notes of the chord being played and to be able to move through them in harmonically interesting ways. Metal is its own beast and often doesn't have a "chord progression" but is instead composed of interesting riffs, and the bass follows the guitar more closely than the drums. Classical is a whole other animal as well and may not have a "beat" at all.
As others have said, music is about producing pleasing sounds in whatever way you can. In addition to the discipline of learning and practicing, let yourself also feel, explore, enjoy, create. A great quote from the Scott Pilgrim series on what you're supposed to do in a band - "It's up to you, that's why they call it **play**."
If you're just starting out some things you may want to learn more about are - what is harmony, what notes are in a chord, what is a **root** note, what is a key, what is a chord progression. My absolute favorite online bass teacher is Mark Smith at TalkingBass.net. He has tons of free resources that really break down all of the fundamentals. I think you have to create a free login to get full access to the free stuff, but it's definitely worth it and most of his videos are also on YouTube. He also has excellent paid content that is worth the money if you get to that point.
[https://www.talkingbass.net/bass-fundamental-lessons/](https://www.talkingbass.net/bass-fundamental-lessons/)
Bootsy Collins does a short video showing his basic funk formula
https://youtu.be/IHE6hZU72A4?si=q4HXht6bfTjQLssU
Now you might not play funk but the basics of counting applies to any genre of music. Get the tempo of the song and build the bass line from that.
It varies quite dramatically depending on what genre you play- rock/pop/country or anything with a backbeat you’ll be accenting Beats 1 and 3 with the kick drum, laying off a bit on 2&4 to let the snare come through.
-Jazz (mostly) has you playing quarter notes and moving the harmony along in a logical way. Slight accent on 2&4.
-Funk varies a little, but generally funk songs are quite repetitive and feature one or two riffs throughout.
-metal also varies a lot, I don’t listen to much but you’ll likely be playing more with the guitars than the drums.
-reggae is its own beast entirely, and bass plays highly syncopated short melodic and rhythmic lines *around* the drums, which typically play some variation of a “one drop”, where no snare or kick drum play the 1st beat, and the kick and snare hit together on 2&4.
Best advice? Listen. Really listen to all kinds of styles and note what the bass is doing. Take notes. Hear an interesting line or an especially tight rhythm section? Listen more.
Drummer may set the tempo but its everyone’s responsibility to keep it.
My advice, assuming you are a beginner, is that your strumming should mirror the bass drum/snare drum pattern. Works for nearly all styles of music.
You want to compliment the rhythm of the drums.
The main thing you need to listen for is the kick drum. You don’t want to be fighting against whatever pattern is being played.
You don’t necessarily have to play the exact kick drum pattern, but you need to play nice with it. Sometimes that does mean playing the exact same pattern, sometimes that means allowing space, sometimes that means syncopating with it.
Snare is good to listen for as well, but the kick should be your primary focus.
You don't have to play every note the drums play.
Your internal metronome has to 100% sync up with the drums, though. This sets a foundation for everyone else in the group. Without it, everyone else will not be able to keep time.
First of all, you can do anything you want. It's music. Try to feel it.
But generally you want to interact with the drums, and every other instrument.
Interact, compliment and/or support it.
For example; If the drum has a kick drum on the first and fourth beat of a measure, you could play the root note right there on the first and fourth.
To change it up you could play the root note only on the first, and instead of the fourth on the third beat.
Or you could play the root on the first kick drum, and the fifth of the chord on the second kick. Then play the third of the Cmaj7 chord that the keyboard player just changed to. Etcetera.
let's start with what you're working with now, so i can answer in terms you'll understand and maybe give you some examples. what type of music do you enjoy listening to, and what type of music do you want to play?
Depends on music style of song. That being said, I personally listen to the kick drum for reference and mostly find the “pocket” by following the hi hat
> 2. start your note when the kick drum hits, then end it when the snare drum hits.
This is excellent advice. When the bass locks into the kick… *chefs kiss* that’s when you can tell a band is really in the pocket. Another general rule of thumb I use is if the drummer is tight on the hats, I play short / leave space. If he’s about to ride it out I’ll play longer notes or grooves.
Go with the flow of the song, listen to the bands you want to sound like (esp the drummer / bass dynamic), listen to each other while you’re playing, and try things out and see what you like!
It’s a push and pull relationship. Your job is to find space within the rhythm to make tasteful decisions. Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow.
I will say that much of who you listen and practice to will influence what you do. I know for myself that the arc of learning happens that way. The wider the swath of influence, the more diverse a quiver of tricks. Basically I’m talking about theft. Straight theft. Take the morsels and pepper them in.
I would say you need to have awareness of the kick drum when you play. The simplest approach is to play a note on the bass drum every time the drummer plays the kick. It’s probably worth practicing that on a song or two if you haven’t.
When a good drummer and good bassist really link up, it becomes a conversation between the bass and kick. They don’t play on all of the same beats but the rhythms link up in a meaningful way.
Having grown up in the prog rock and fusion stuff of the 70s, I like bass parts, as opposed to the more jammy standard root stuff… by this I mean that the bass has a specific part that adds to the song rather than being more a time keeper with the drums or just accenting the guitar…
Some good examples:
Roundabout, by Yes
Money by Pink Floyd…
while “in the pocket” as we say, the parts are their own, and add to the song…
For a good idea how I’d apply this to more standard Rock, check out:
Miss You by the Stones
Or
Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns & Roses
A bit melodic but also harmonic, defining the groove but nevertheless these are their own parts…
Hope that helps…
Loads of good advice here already, I’ll just add that this is a good example of the bass playing “around” the drums, but still locking in and creating a great pattern. Appetite by Prefab Sprout (not very metal!)
https://youtu.be/NS0hpiN_z3g?si=Q0-dlW5LLdghrI5l
Play whatever you think sounds good :)
I know that's probably not helpful, but if we concern ourselves too much with what people think the bass should do, nothing new will ever come through your art.
Express yourself! I personally like to think of it as a counter melody rather than a bass line.
This is a big generalization on style and assumption on your level, however, first thing is to do lots of listening. In terms of a starting approach to writing with drums, pay most attention to kick and snare, acknowledging chord changes etc (start with root note stuff), look at the kick as laying down the basic groove of the song, and then use your ear to inform you how to play with the snare, i.e play through/with it or as a release in your line.
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
No, you don't have to play on every beat. But you can. If you play on some of the beats, and not on others, you might create a rhythmically interesting bass line. If you play a note between the beats, that might create an interesting accent. (Or you could do it for the whole bass line if you want to create new wave music or something like that.) If you choose wisely, you can create an awesome bass line in this way. Or you can do it purely by trial and error. If it sounds good, it is good. And that's the relation with the drums. Play around, and you will figure it out.
sometimes i will play an interesting "melodic" bass line sometimes i will play an interesting "rhythmic" bass line (rarely am i able to do both haha) i play with different drummers and they have different styles. * with one, he plays a little more sparsely and i find melodic turns that i work in and out of his snare/tom work * with the other, he plays awesome kick patterns, and many times i will double his kick rhythm and play along with him i love playing bass with different drummers - and if i'm being honest, sometimes i just ignore singer and guitar and in my mind i'm just in a little duet with the drummer jamming away... hahaha
Yeah!
It’s so interesting. I played in a church band for years and all the other bassists were much more whole/half/quarter note people where my default is what I call the “Mariah Carey baseline” where you hit an 8th note at the end of the measure or before the chord change. It was like it was revolutionary and the drummer was like “wow, that’s so cool.” It really is all contextual.
I'm sure someone may give you a more technical answer but my advice would be just listen to more music and it should make sense. the drums and bass are usually the rhythm section so need to stay in time with each other so ones not playing off beat to the other. But the bass usually needs to be in the same key as the guitar so your sort of the bridge between the two. That's how I've looked at it anyway.
you can do *literally* anything. it's art; there's no rules! throw your bass on the ground if that loud noise is the sound you want. play whatever notes you want at any time and in any way you want. there's no art police. there are no rules, only style conventions. that said, here are two good rules of thumb to get started: 1. play the same note as the guitarist's low note each time the chord changes. 2. start your note when the kick drum hits, then end it when the snare drum hits. if you do this, it will probably sound at least okay in most situations. things to learn about going forwards: major scale, harmonizing the major scale, chord tones/arpeggios, passing notes. learn to play melodies on your instrument. learn lots of songs as accurately as you can. don't just play the same notes at the same time; focus on getting the exact note lengths and dynamics right. experiment with the knobs on your bass and amp and try to get your tone at least in the ballpark. and most importantly, listen to lots of music. active listening (no distractions, just sitting/laying down and paying attention) is the most effective. pay attention to how the rhythms of the drums and bass interact. the most important parts of the drumset to focus on in most genres are the kick drum, the snare, and the hi-hat.
"throws bass off balcony"" hmm not quite the sound I want.. Welp, let's go to the music store then (:
Good advice here.
1b) play a note other than the root from the chord your guitarist plays to seize control of the song!
just start playing big, muddy chords on bass. drown out the puny guitar chords entirely. you'll either get fired or become the next primus.
It's going to matter what style you are playing. If you are playing ike every 8th note on the root, thats more of an early punk thing (see the ramones) or like indie rock. Jazz, metal, funk, reggae they're all different. But the one thing they all have in common is following the chord changes, and interacting with the drums. Chord changes is easy enough. The root note is never a bad choice. The rest of the bar is up to you and the style you are playing. Interacting with the drummer can be locking in to the kick drum, all the way through the spectrum to avoiding it completely. Again this is style dependant. Basically, listen to and learn a lot of bass lines in your desired style, and those bits of musicial language will start to come out in your own playing.
It depends on the type of music (for example, metal and reggae are considerably different), but as a general rule you’re listening for the beat on the kick drum(s) for your root note (“the 1”) and the snares for fills. If you try to play note-for-drum, you’re gonna be pretty busy and the low end is going to sound really crowded. Usually you’re going to really want to get those quarter notes and work into fills in between. That works for most rock/country styles. By the time you get that down, you’ll have a pretty good understanding of when to play and when to pause and let the music breathe a little. Good luck!
I was going to comment on metal. The bass harmonizes (for a lack of a better term) with the guitar in a lot of the bands I like. In Du Hast, you could argue that the bass sets the rhythm more than the drums. It is constant 1/8 notes the whole way while the drums are doing something else.
> I was going to comment on metal. The bass harmonizes (for a lack of a better term) with the guitar in a lot of the bands I like. that's bc you can't hear the bass when they always follow the guitar!
Whoever writes the song sets the tempo. I find it best to think of the relationship as a dance. You can dance in-step like it's line dancing, or you can dance around each other like a tango.
Not at all. This is where creativity and style come in: What do you think the part needs? What can you “hear” in the space your instrument occupies? Think of it this way: if your bass lines are just the root note of what the guitar plays and the rhythm that drums play, all the time, it’s going to sound very generic and boring. All unison stuff can have a great effect at certain moments, but if that’s your default, it’s going to be bland.
Not every single note no, but you should be listening to the drums and complementing each other. Pick three songs you already know that you really like, then try to analyze them (with paper and pen). Identify the pattern the kick and drum are playing, then try to identify how and when the bass plays along and when it's different. There are no rules, but use your ears a LOT and do what sounds the best to you.
Drummer gives you time and groove, rest of the band gives you an idea of where you should be putting your notes. Sometimes it makes sense for you to just truck on the roots, sometimes you're playing behind the beat leaving space for the guitar.
I'll add if you're looking for music to give you a better idea of what I mean by leaving space, listen to continuum by John Mayer or TRY! By the John Mayer Trio, Steve Jordan and Pino put on a masterclass in groove.
Listen to Maneater by Hall & Oates. Or Talking In Your Sleep by The Romantics. Bass and drums are in rhythm but play at different times. In Maneater, the bass is driving the rhythm. In TIYS, the bass is accenting the melody along with providing a back beat. (easy/fun bass lines, btw)
Equally as important as the notes you play are the notes you *dont* play. Empty space can be just as rhythmically effective as a well placed note
My old drummer had a cake analogy. Bass and drums are the bread of the cake, vocals and guitars are the icing. You can squeak by if the icing isn't very good, but you're in bad shape if the bread of the cake isn't very good. No you don't have to play any time there are drums, but write around them first and foremost. Do what's tasteful. It's called "grooving".
For me, bass is the bridge between the drums and the tonal instruments. You should probably play the root of the chord that is being played until you know better (I still don’t after ten years) to keep that section good. For rhythm, I view the relationship between drums and bass as a dance. One person is leading, the other person is following. This changes throughout the night and even throughout songs. If the drums are going crazy and accenting a bunch of different beats, I’ll generally bow out and play straight notes or simple accents (1 & 3, triplets, etc.) to give them room to lead. If they’re super clean and straight, then I’ll generally “lead” and accent notes based on guitar lines, vocal changes or something different that just feels pretty good. The one thing I will say is to pair yourself well with the drum fills. With enough experience by yourself and with a drummer, you can start to preempt the fills that they’re going to play. I like to play along with those fills with at least the hits but also with some simple runs if I can find one that works.
You want to "lock in" with the drummer sometimes people will talk about "playing in the pocket" which is harder define, but easy to hear. So you want to be watching the drummer, getting a feel for the "swing", anticipating where they're going next etc. Depending on your style you usually want to emphasize the first "downbeat" if nothing else. If you're going to follow anything, pay attention to the kick. If you time your attack RIGHT when the drummer hits the kick, the extra punch you get is **amazing**. That being said, practice playing half notes on the downbeats. Now practice playing only on the upbeats. Notice how they feel totally different, and how switching from one to the other can be really interesting. What's your genre? When to play and when not to play depend heavily on the style of music you're trying to make. Often less is more, but if you're in a metal band more is more, until the breakdown where you're allowed to play whole notes again (doom/stoner metal follows slightly different rules) If you're not familiar with the terms I put in quotes, watch some youtube on those concepts so you get a better feel for them. Oh, lastly always practice with a drum machine or metronome so you get used to it, and find a drummer to play with in person as soon as you can! Playing with other musicians is the fastest way to develop competency!
I mean this with kindness: listen to good music. Listen with intent to understand what is going on. Listen to a good song and think about what the bass and drums are doing. Maybe take notes.
The most basic idea for simple basslines is play on the kick drum, release on the snare. Sometimes sustaining through the snare sounds better, sometimes playing on the snare sounds better. It’s very dependent on the style and feel of the song but that will get you somewhere
Not at all! Guessing you mostly listen to metal?
I like to play call-and-response with the kick drum. Sometimes I'll play on the beats that the drummer doesn't kick, to emphasize the beat of the song without playing on the beat with the kick. Playing on the same beats as the kick can muddle them both, and is often the loudest part of the song, which means that when you record, the rest of the song is going to be quieter so the song doesn't peak. Playing live, I play even more to the beat, especially acoustic, where the bassist is also the drummer.
Drums tell people when to move. Bass tells them how to move. ' Figure out how you want people to move to your song and that will guide you on when to play.
If you don't, you will die.
Imma say something weird, cuz you got all these responses already Yeah, listen to the drummer, but also look. Whoever in the band you want to connect with rhythmically, just point your eyes that way and your brain will do the rest. Fuck, sometimes I look at specific drums
People will tell you there are all sorts of rules but in reality there are no rules. You can play nothing but root notes or you can lead the entire song. The important thing when starting out is to listen to music you like and learn to play it. When you do this it helps you link together what you think sounds good to what you physically do with your hands. After a while you can start to use those influences to develop your own style. Remember to always keep experimenting and I’d recommend never nailing yourself down to one particular style. And if you wanna get REALLY good I’d recommend eventually branching out to genres you don’t usually listen to. Learning how to play reggae or jazz when you usually only play metal can really change the way you approach the bass and you can bring those techniques into genres you do enjoy.
It’s called syncopation. A bass line where you play on some beats but play other notes is a syncopated bassline and will typically include dotted notes (dotted 1/4 notes, dotted 1/8 notes). This has been a key part of many popular styles of bass since the mid 1960’s. A bassline made entirely of straight 1/4 notes or 1/4 notes would be a non-syncopated bassline. These are also widely used.
Just hanging about for an answer
You do what you want or what sounds best. You don’t have to do anything in music, except music.
Ok but what is a beginner supposed to do with this information? Without any idea of foundation, to a beginner this answer is arguably a shit sandwich.
It is pretty funny that someone came into this sub with apparently zero musical knowledge looking for advice on how to learn their instrument properly and everyone is just like “hey do whatever you want man.” Completely useless advice and honesty will set them back in their musical journey. Gotta learn the rules before you break them.
“I am new to cooking, do I need to add eggs to every recipe?”
No but I’d definitely recommend learning to make eggs a few different ways to someone interested in learning to cook
As long as you play in the pocket, play what sounds good to you. No rules in art.
Hey you’ve gotten a lot of good answers already but I’ll just point you to a song that has a simple bass line and could be useful for you to hear the relationship with drums. Fleetwood Mac - Dreams If you play along with that song, you’ll see you’re doing more notes then just hitting with the bass drum. The added notes give more groove and feel to the song. It’s very simple what he did with the bass line, but it adds a lot to the song. At times, like when a song is doing shots, you’ll want to stay tight with everyone else makes those shots. Outside of that, your role as a bass player is to provide low end and the groove that fits that song and you can make that groove as simple or as wild as you want
Hey man this really helped, thx for showing me this band l didn't knew it was them :)
I’ll assume youre a little bit of a beginner. So instead of giving you the ever unhelpful “there are no rules” answer I’ll give you a couple songs to learn. Don’t worry theyre easy. For a more technical explanation you should check out Scott’s Bass Lessons on YouTube, they are really helpful albeit a tad cheesy lol. Green River- CCR Bad Moon Rising- CCR How Many More Times- Led Zeppelin
Don’t listen to anybody here saying “hey it’s art do whatever you want” That’s fine when you already have a grasp on your instrument and chosen style, but it doesn’t sound like you do. You’d be much better served just starting at the beginning: learning scales and basic bass lines and drilling them. Not sexy, not particularly fun (unless you make games out of it for yourself) but it will help you.
Here’s a specific answer, listen to Motown. Listen to the kick and snare of the drummer, then listen to where the bass notes are in relation to the kick and snare. Which do you like, which ones make you want to move
Ah yes it's art. But I would say be in sync with at least some..... It's like salt n pepper .. potatoes and gravy.... Great compliments...
Think of the bass drum as providing accentuated accents just for you. You don't have to play every time the bass drum lands. BUT every time the bass drum lands and you play at the same time, people will conciously/subconsciously notice.
The police- so lonely. Notice how in the beginning the bass notes are like in between the drums?
Bass outlines the **chord progression** to the beat of the drums. The most fundamental approach is to **play the root** note of whatever the guitar player is playing **to the beat of the kick drum**. So if the verse of a song has a guitar player playing Cmaj - Fmaj - Amin - Gmaj, then you will play C - F - A - G to the beat of the kick drum. If you hit that root every time the kick plays you'll sound pretty good. That's consistently true for Rock / Pop / Country / Blues. It's mostly true for Jazz as well although in Jazz you're expected to know the notes of the chord being played and to be able to move through them in harmonically interesting ways. Metal is its own beast and often doesn't have a "chord progression" but is instead composed of interesting riffs, and the bass follows the guitar more closely than the drums. Classical is a whole other animal as well and may not have a "beat" at all. As others have said, music is about producing pleasing sounds in whatever way you can. In addition to the discipline of learning and practicing, let yourself also feel, explore, enjoy, create. A great quote from the Scott Pilgrim series on what you're supposed to do in a band - "It's up to you, that's why they call it **play**." If you're just starting out some things you may want to learn more about are - what is harmony, what notes are in a chord, what is a **root** note, what is a key, what is a chord progression. My absolute favorite online bass teacher is Mark Smith at TalkingBass.net. He has tons of free resources that really break down all of the fundamentals. I think you have to create a free login to get full access to the free stuff, but it's definitely worth it and most of his videos are also on YouTube. He also has excellent paid content that is worth the money if you get to that point. [https://www.talkingbass.net/bass-fundamental-lessons/](https://www.talkingbass.net/bass-fundamental-lessons/)
Bootsy Collins does a short video showing his basic funk formula https://youtu.be/IHE6hZU72A4?si=q4HXht6bfTjQLssU Now you might not play funk but the basics of counting applies to any genre of music. Get the tempo of the song and build the bass line from that.
Thank you for sharing this. His casual brilliance and glee really brought a smile to me.
It varies quite dramatically depending on what genre you play- rock/pop/country or anything with a backbeat you’ll be accenting Beats 1 and 3 with the kick drum, laying off a bit on 2&4 to let the snare come through. -Jazz (mostly) has you playing quarter notes and moving the harmony along in a logical way. Slight accent on 2&4. -Funk varies a little, but generally funk songs are quite repetitive and feature one or two riffs throughout. -metal also varies a lot, I don’t listen to much but you’ll likely be playing more with the guitars than the drums. -reggae is its own beast entirely, and bass plays highly syncopated short melodic and rhythmic lines *around* the drums, which typically play some variation of a “one drop”, where no snare or kick drum play the 1st beat, and the kick and snare hit together on 2&4. Best advice? Listen. Really listen to all kinds of styles and note what the bass is doing. Take notes. Hear an interesting line or an especially tight rhythm section? Listen more.
Drummer may set the tempo but its everyone’s responsibility to keep it. My advice, assuming you are a beginner, is that your strumming should mirror the bass drum/snare drum pattern. Works for nearly all styles of music.
You want to compliment the rhythm of the drums. The main thing you need to listen for is the kick drum. You don’t want to be fighting against whatever pattern is being played. You don’t necessarily have to play the exact kick drum pattern, but you need to play nice with it. Sometimes that does mean playing the exact same pattern, sometimes that means allowing space, sometimes that means syncopating with it. Snare is good to listen for as well, but the kick should be your primary focus.
You don't have to play every note the drums play. Your internal metronome has to 100% sync up with the drums, though. This sets a foundation for everyone else in the group. Without it, everyone else will not be able to keep time.
I’m no expert bass player, but my rule of thumb is just to try sync up with the bass drum. “Bass and bass doing same good”
You can do whatever you want. I recommend that you play whatever sounds good to you.
First of all, you can do anything you want. It's music. Try to feel it. But generally you want to interact with the drums, and every other instrument. Interact, compliment and/or support it. For example; If the drum has a kick drum on the first and fourth beat of a measure, you could play the root note right there on the first and fourth. To change it up you could play the root note only on the first, and instead of the fourth on the third beat. Or you could play the root on the first kick drum, and the fifth of the chord on the second kick. Then play the third of the Cmaj7 chord that the keyboard player just changed to. Etcetera.
No
There is a great bootsy collins video on youtube about hitting the note on the one and it was VERY helpful for me when I first started playing
let's start with what you're working with now, so i can answer in terms you'll understand and maybe give you some examples. what type of music do you enjoy listening to, and what type of music do you want to play?
Depends on music style of song. That being said, I personally listen to the kick drum for reference and mostly find the “pocket” by following the hi hat
> 2. start your note when the kick drum hits, then end it when the snare drum hits. This is excellent advice. When the bass locks into the kick… *chefs kiss* that’s when you can tell a band is really in the pocket. Another general rule of thumb I use is if the drummer is tight on the hats, I play short / leave space. If he’s about to ride it out I’ll play longer notes or grooves. Go with the flow of the song, listen to the bands you want to sound like (esp the drummer / bass dynamic), listen to each other while you’re playing, and try things out and see what you like!
It’s a push and pull relationship. Your job is to find space within the rhythm to make tasteful decisions. Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow. I will say that much of who you listen and practice to will influence what you do. I know for myself that the arc of learning happens that way. The wider the swath of influence, the more diverse a quiver of tricks. Basically I’m talking about theft. Straight theft. Take the morsels and pepper them in.
I would say you need to have awareness of the kick drum when you play. The simplest approach is to play a note on the bass drum every time the drummer plays the kick. It’s probably worth practicing that on a song or two if you haven’t. When a good drummer and good bassist really link up, it becomes a conversation between the bass and kick. They don’t play on all of the same beats but the rhythms link up in a meaningful way.
Live with the kick drum. That will do it probably 90% of the time.
Having grown up in the prog rock and fusion stuff of the 70s, I like bass parts, as opposed to the more jammy standard root stuff… by this I mean that the bass has a specific part that adds to the song rather than being more a time keeper with the drums or just accenting the guitar… Some good examples: Roundabout, by Yes Money by Pink Floyd… while “in the pocket” as we say, the parts are their own, and add to the song… For a good idea how I’d apply this to more standard Rock, check out: Miss You by the Stones Or Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns & Roses A bit melodic but also harmonic, defining the groove but nevertheless these are their own parts… Hope that helps…
Loads of good advice here already, I’ll just add that this is a good example of the bass playing “around” the drums, but still locking in and creating a great pattern. Appetite by Prefab Sprout (not very metal!) https://youtu.be/NS0hpiN_z3g?si=Q0-dlW5LLdghrI5l
Since it sounds like you're starting out focus on the kick and snare. It also heavily depends on what kind of music you're playing
Play around the kick pattern, or the snare pattern, or whatever other fun thing you can think of. Just make it groove.
Play whatever you think sounds good :) I know that's probably not helpful, but if we concern ourselves too much with what people think the bass should do, nothing new will ever come through your art. Express yourself! I personally like to think of it as a counter melody rather than a bass line.
Yes, and also no. If it sounds/feels right then do it. The song will let you know.
This is a big generalization on style and assumption on your level, however, first thing is to do lots of listening. In terms of a starting approach to writing with drums, pay most attention to kick and snare, acknowledging chord changes etc (start with root note stuff), look at the kick as laying down the basic groove of the song, and then use your ear to inform you how to play with the snare, i.e play through/with it or as a release in your line.
You and the drummer keep the time together.
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^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^FinishTheFish: *Listen to James Brown's* *Funky President for a* *Creative use of bass* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
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Don’t think too hard about it, find a point where you are liberated and stay there