Members Noise... Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 I feel really stuck with bass. I can play, but I just don't have the creativity that I do with guitar. I play ambient/noise. With guitar, I can just sit and come up with eerie riffs, noises, and good melodies. But with bass, I just feel stuck. I can play the same riffs I come up with on guitar, but just playing the same thing on bass that's playing on guitar kind of defeats the point. My Bass teacher is very technical. He's an amazing player, but everything is theory and technique. And, when it comes to making music, it's usually 100% based around a certain mode or scale with limitations on what notes I can use. It's great for making sure you're in key, but horrible for being creative. Now, on my own I play through a bunch of effect pedals and I can do the noise part well. Fuzzes, oscillating delays, modulation...I use all of it. That's the easy part. What about being creative with basslines? What can I do to get to the point I am with guitar? I want to be able to just pick up my bass and come up with a good sounding line whenever I want. Does anyone have some suggestions? I know my style of playing isn't exactly the common style here on HCBF, but I'd appreciate any advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SelenaBassGirl Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 um...the thing is: do you want to play the bass? If you aren't happy with it, then your creativity and originalities will be more difficult to show. I am new with the bass, but learning fast b/c it is something I WANT to do-otherwards I am in love with the bass. My bass friend has showed me a lot of things on you tube of bass players doing amazing things on the bass-not just stand in the background-I mean some great {censored}!I don't just come up with amazing things either on the bass b/c I am new at it. Maybe you don't because your heart isn't really into it. Maybe you should have the knowledge of playing the bass but keep the guitar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Noise... Posted January 8, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 I want to play bass, and when I get into it I really enjoy it. However, I don't like playing the "standard" bass stuff. That seems to be what's hindering me. I don't have any inspiration for that type of playing, because I don't have any reference point. For guitar, there are tons of guitarists that I've gotten inspiration from. I just don't know of any bassists that play the style I'm looking at. IIRC, the last bass line I wrote was in 11/8 time. Not exactly stuff you hear from most bassists... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SelenaBassGirl Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 I want to play bass, and when I get into it I really enjoy it. However, I don't like playing the "standard" bass stuff. That seems to be what's hindering me. I don't have any inspiration for that type of playing, because I don't have any reference point. For guitar, there are tons of guitarists that I've gotten inspiration from. I just don't know of any bassists that play the style I'm looking at. IIRC, the last bass line I wrote was in 11/8 time. Not exactly stuff you hear from most bassists... Well, you can always start a band (unless you are in one already) and use some of your talents and creativeness and who know? You might be the next Geddy Lee or something! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pyralus Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 Well, who inspires you on bass? Do you like Flea's slap style?Geddy's flare and mean tone?Victor Wooten's precision? Once you find out the sounds you want to make, you can start creating your own style. Making noise is not the role of the bass, and a bassline reflects the songs movement more than any other part of the song. Play rockin' eighths and the song pumps, play a walking bassline and the song swings. It's all up to the way you feel the notes; you have to sing them in your head before they can be expressed in your fingers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jazz Ad Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 Les Claypool writes a dozen 11/8 songs everyday for breakfast.If you want to use bass in a specific genre, you'd better apply the recipes people use in this genre. You're not gonna get inspiration for experimental bass lines listening to classic rock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gruntollio Bass Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 I find seeing other bassplayers do their thing quite inspiring. Maybe try playing a fretless if you haven't done so already? You can make some real cool noises with one of these. What are you basses are you currently playing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Captain Fathead Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 I feel really stuck with bass. I can play, but I just don't have the creativity that I do with guitar. I play ambient/noise. With guitar, I can just sit and come up with eerie riffs, noises, and good melodies. But with bass, I just feel stuck. I can play the same riffs I come up with on guitar, but just playing the same thing on bass that's playing on guitar kind of defeats the point.My Bass teacher is very technical. He's an amazing player, but everything is theory and technique. And, when it comes to making music, it's usually 100% based around a certain mode or scale with limitations on what notes I can use. It's great for making sure you're in key, but horrible for being creative.Now, on my own I play through a bunch of effect pedals and I can do the noise part well. Fuzzes, oscillating delays, modulation...I use all of it. That's the easy part. What about being creative with basslines? What can I do to get to the point I am with guitar? I want to be able to just pick up my bass and come up with a good sounding line whenever I want. Does anyone have some suggestions? I know my style of playing isn't exactly the common style here on HCBF, but I'd appreciate any advice! Noises isn't exactly my cup o' tea. Last bassist I knew in a noise band got kicked out for writing parts that were too melodious. Try playing around the guitarist, maybe use a lot of harmonics w/ some fuzz? Fretless also could compliment an ambient type band IMO. I dunno. How does a bass line need to differ from a guitar line in a noise/ambient band? as long as you play something that's NOT the guitar line, it should work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Noise... Posted January 8, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 Well, who inspires you on bass? Do you like Flea's slap style? Geddy's flare and mean tone? Victor Wooten's precision? Once you find out the sounds you want to make, you can start creating your own style. Making noise is not the role of the bass, and a bassline reflects the songs movement more than any other part of the song. Play rockin' eighths and the song pumps, play a walking bassline and the song swings. It's all up to the way you feel the notes; you have to sing them in your head before they can be expressed in your fingers. I don't really have any inspirations from other bassists. I know it's odd, but I just don't really have any bassists that I hear and think "Damn, I want to sound like that." I know noisemaking isn't the role of the bass. It's something I like doing anyway. You can make different noises than you can with a guitar or keyboard, and that's why it appeals to me. It may not be common, but that doesn't mean I *shouldn't* make use of it. Maybe I'm just approaching bass wrong? I seem to almost look at it like a guitar that plays differently, rather than a different instrument that has a different place. Does anyone have some good examples of bass in ambient/noise music? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Noise... Posted January 8, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 I find seeing other bassplayers do their thing quite inspiring. Maybe try playing a fretless if you haven't done so already? You can make some real cool noises with one of these. What are you basses are you currently playing? I love fretless bass. I don't have one, but I'd really like to. However, the one I want (a Fender standard Fretless Jazz) is about $500, and I really can't drop that much money at the moment. I'm currently playing a Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Bass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jazz Ad Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 It looks like you're self limiting yourself. The bass is an instrument like any other and can be used to do whatever you want. Steve LawsonCxw4IoRxBpM Mick KarnqskcymLljyw Wauter Wormser2138hhvWhjU SquarepusherUqjY6dWA7G0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ministryoflower Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 Does anyone have some good examples of bass in ambient/noise music? Black Engine http://www.myspace.com/blackengineisalive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jazz Ad Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 My own contribution to the bizarre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members georgestrings Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 Well, I can see how this could happen - as a bassist who played guitar for a long time beforehand, I rarely write anything that starts out from the bass... Instead, I come up with some riffs on the guitar, THEN write basslines to that... I can write a bassline to pretty much anything, but as for creating musical pieces on the bass, I just don't seem to do it that often... - georgestrings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Noise... Posted January 8, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 You guys are great. I was feeling all crappy about it, but with all this awesome stuff that you guys have posted I really feel like going and playing. In fact, that's just what I'm going to do. Jazz Ad, what ring mod are you using in that clip? It sounds really good on bass! Are you tweaking knobs while playing, or are you using an expression pedal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jazz Ad Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 The only effect I used in this clip was my trusty Korg AX-1B.It's a cheapo but it packs a lot of great tones.It's a dynamic exciter feeding a ring mod with a lot of bass in the EQ.And yeah I control the frequency of the carrier with the expression pedal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twostone Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 You need a drummer then you'll figure out why you switch to bass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Noise... Posted January 8, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 Well, I just had an absolutely great jam. I got the drum machine on my keyboard going and messed with a few good beats. I started with a simple 4/4 beat, which got boring fast, so I switched it to a 6/8 beat, which I dug a lot more. I got my pedal board going as well - Stereo Memory Man w/ Hazari running a nice, washy delay and a Flanger Hoax doing a sort of pulse-flange effect. I also used the 300ms+mod mode on the SMMH to get some really wild feedingback flanger effects. I used a Fender Blender for some robot sounds high on the neck as well. After the 6/8 beat, I switched over to a latin-style beat and played some dub bass over it. I just played clean for this one. I guess I was focusing too much on technique and theory and not enough on actually enjoying and being creative with my bass. I was having a bit of the same issue on piano as well - mainly because I prefer to play synthy, wild stuff that goes more with what I play, rather than traditional piano. After I played bass for a good while,I jumped on the keyboard. I did the same thing - instead of focusing on technique and theory, I just flipped on some effects and started to play. It was the same type of thing. I just played to make music, rather than to practice, which is really all I've been doing on both instruments lately. And Twostone, I play drums as well as guitar, bass, and piano. However, like with guitar, I feel a lot more natural on drums. I guess being good from the start at 2 out of 4 instruments is pretty lucky as it is, and I should expect to hit a roadblock here and there. Thanks for the help everyone. It really got me out of my funk and back to playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Kindness Posted January 8, 2008 Moderators Share Posted January 8, 2008 Nice posts JA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members basste Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 One thing can help you too: take a song and try playing by ears all that you hear: bassline, but guitar parts, horn solo, Voice melody, drums (with slap technics) etc etc... It's funny to do and improve your bass vocabulary in other ways, new path for your playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Super Bass Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 Does anyone have some good examples of bass in ambient/noise music? Not much but I like messing around combining pedals to get uncontrollable mess the odd time. http://www.briandowling.ie/crazybass.mp3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jazz Ad Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 Oooh, cool tones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Goofball Jones Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 You may also want to go to this instead if you're looking to play ambient/noise: I'm just saying...:poke: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Super Bass Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 You may also want to go to this instead if you're looking to play ambient/noise: I'm just saying...:poke: Nah you don't need that for noise, just pick up an old "toy" Casio keyboard from eBay and google "circuit bending". Hours of fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Perfessor Posted January 8, 2008 Members Share Posted January 8, 2008 Can you walk a bass line? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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