Very nice @gcancella,
I really love the layering 
Cheers Brian
1 Like
The huge value in it, aside from just creating yourself, is what it does for your skills. You are learning to play to a beat. You are learning how to lay down a “traditional” bass part. You are learning to play along to something and coming up with another type of melody to play TO something. This skill translates to if you play along to a guitarist with something THEY wrote, and you come up with your bass part to it. Finally it helps your “lead” role as it applies to bass. I recommend doing it all the time!
3 Likes
So I’ve been detouring back into guitar territory and here is the first thing I’ve recorded with both guitar and bass parts. Super simple progression but I definitely got a little thrill listening afterwards knowing I made that music (and picked a drum loop 
).
Just a verse + chorus at the moment. Probably won’t expand it beyond this, but was a nice little confidence booster. I was going for “indie rock” vibe but I think I ended up closer to “praise and worship” lol.
4 Likes
Jangle pop!
Actually I could see that being a Replacements song, if it were a bit more sloppy and dirty.
1 Like
Haha yes, such jangly! I would have added a little dirt but I don’t have a cable long enough to make it from my pedalboard to my DAI yet… and Garageband’s built-in drive/distortion effects weren’t doing it for me. DAWs/Plugins… yet another world to explore one day.
I’ll take the Replacements comp for sure 
2 Likes
Seriously, play it again drunk and I bet it would fit right in on Tim 
2 Likes
Here is the thing…simple chord progression doesn’t even matter, this is LEGIT the meat and potatoes of a song, and a good one. Here is an example from a bass player writing a guitar part and the bass part. Only thing I didn’t originate was the guitar solo. The drums and vocals fell in around those two parts that I wrote, and we made a full fledged song out of it, check it out!
I say this because that whole song started with basically the same thing you just posted!
2 Likes
Yeah that’s cool, songwriting is something I’m definitely interesting in moving towards, and always gotta start somewhere. Kind of crazy how 2 or 3 different simple chord progressions are the foundation for like 80% of popular music. Gives a nice little “template” to start from.
1 Like
Yeah, I’m telling you you have the core of a song there! It’s just structure and layers now. So decide which part might work as a verse and what might work as a chorus. Then you can just do verse,chorus,verse,chorus,bridge,chorus and you have the length of the song. (There are other song structures, but this one is very strong and common). Then you get a melody that layers over the verse and chorus (typically this is vocals, but an instrument COULD do it). The bridge can be either a different part you write, or verse,chorus in some arrangement with a guitar/bass solo over it.
There are other things you can do in songs, intro, pre-chorus, breakdown, outro etc…
I’d recommend the formula I talked about to start. For one…it IS more simple. Keep in mind “simple” doesn’t mean bad. Simple can actually be good. Memorable and catchy comes from simple. To this day, even though we have done different structures, that simple one is still in play because it does work and makes great songs!
Polyphia is really cool. They are great musicians and are carving out a nice chunk of success and recognition for themselves. Their music is SUPER complex. But go ask 100 random people if they like a Polyphia song and if they like a Taylor Swift song and see who gets more recognition and positive feedback. Point being, there IS an art and a skill to what Tay Tay does in her music, and it’s as cool and as legitimate as what Polyphia does.
1 Like
Fun jam I posted above from the DAW but live performance of it.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sRLW7W7SnIjA5lGYq6JaSt96oRy1Imtl/view?usp=drivesdk
Here is a walking bass line I created to the song Tune Up in iReal pro. This was following a lesson I just had in creating walking lines using Root,3rd,5th and approach notes. I just thought I would share.
5 Likes
That’s cool! Walking lines are my kryptonite. Ever consider double bass? There is just something about the tone of those with walking basslines and you are well on your way!
1 Like
I never really considered playing double bass but these things are instrumental in the foundation of jazz music so I am trying to master them
It would more be a tonal decision, and of course fretless, but that is part of the tone. The skills would transfer.
I WAS interested in Cello until I learned it is tuned to 5ths. Almost nothing would transfer skills wise.
1 Like
Walking bass line creation just boggles the brain being able to look at a chart and play it walking on the first try. That was my in your face lesson on Tuesday Damian pulls up a chart sets the time and says give it go walk your way through it. I was flabbergasted at first but definitely seeing things come together with the transitions
I tell you what I have strongly considered a fretless bass over the last month or so
1 Like
It’s a different sound. Some of them do have fret markers still to orient yourself…and you have to press a bit harder. Not really my thing, but for Jazz it’s a great tone.
1 Like
I played one a while back I like them but I do not know if that is the next bass I am going to buy yet.
1 Like