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Depending on the song it might not even need to blend with the chords. Dissonance can be a great tool.
The example you gave could have all manner of possibilities. You could play G C Em G for example. Or B C G G. Or B C G Em... Or...
You could easily have a song where the bass plays the same note over and over and the chords change around it
Perhaps that’s fine, as it’s only the sound that matters, but presumably there’s a way of knowing what’s more likely to work.
For example, why specifically suggest G C Em G @flying_pie? Is there a reason for those?
Apologies if this is very basic, but you’ve got to start somewhere, right?
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Telecaster American Deluxe, Cornell Romany amp, without the talent to use them properly
G major is G B D
C major is C E G
E minor is E G B
G major is G B D
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Telecaster American Deluxe, Cornell Romany amp, without the talent to use them properly
Often a bass line will make use of the notes in the chords and the scale the song is in. But sometimes notes outwith the scale work well.
It totally depends on what you want to write.
Just to be different from flying_pie, consider this.
B is the root of B Major
C is the major 7th of C# Major
B is the minor 3rd of G# Minor
G is the major 5th of C Minor
I'm not sure that you would want to sing a melody over this chord progression but it is valid. Not all theoretically valid permutations sound pleasing to the human ear.
Whenever something sounds contrived, it is probably wise to change it. Simplify if you can. For instance, you could hold an A Minor or A Minor 7 chord over the BCBG bass line and it would work.
Bassists and guitarists need to both know what the other is doing.
For instance if the guitarist plays an Emajor (EG#B) chord but the bassist sticks to the note D you won't hear the chord as an Emajor 7, you’ll hear it as a D chord with a major 2nd, b5, 6.
If the bassist lands on the D temporarily and makes the E their ‘home note’ then you’ll hear the chord as an E major chord.
It is all about playing sympathetically.
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Generally speaking, simple baselines hang around the root, 5th and octave of the chord being played, but you can also add other notes if they sound good. You should know about chord tones and non-chord tones too .. i.e. stable and unstable. That's how you create tension.
PS it would probably help if they let you know what Key they were playing in
A good bass player can use all 12 notes of the scale if he has good ears and plays judiciously.
Also, it's strikes me you may be better giving a chord sequence/idea to your bass player and let him work something out from there.
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The other way of answering the OP’s question is that walking bass lines have passing notes which aren’t in the chord.
Ok, so this is all really helpful, thanks. Just highlighted a few people's comments above that I wanted to follow up:
Basically, our songwriting process is: drummer has the most experience and a wealth of partly done songs we work on. He lays down a drum track, a simple bass line, and a vocal. Then I or the other guitarist take it, put guitar on the track, then we rehearse it with the other guitarist and bassist.
So that of course means that the songs are currently driven by the bass (perhaps the way Sting was describing). The vocal melody our drummer records is tied to the bass line, because at that stage, there isn't any guitar at all. So in answer to @BigLicks67, that's why I'm currently doing it that way round. The alternative I guess would be to take the drummer's demo, just work from the drum track, and start again with guitar first, then suggest a different bass line and vocal after that.
The answer to both @Funkfingers and @Freebird is the same - I've not got a clue about either keys nor scales. I don't think the drummer is writing this stuff with either of those concepts in mind. None of us has any theory. I'm presuming that doesn't necessarily matter, but perhaps understanding keys and scales would help...
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Telecaster American Deluxe, Cornell Romany amp, without the talent to use them properly
I would stick the audio into a DAW and loop the various sections, then try some different chords until you come up with something that sounds good. Have you got access to the individual tracks, or has it been recorded as a single track?
Generally speaking, it's easier to start a song with guitar and melody or piano and melody, but you can also use the drums and bass as a starting point. Using the bass and melody as the starting point is probably the worst option, but I would accept the challenge! You just have to make the chords fit the bass AND the melody
You may even want to do some technical analysis, either by ear to pick out some of the notes that have been used, or run the piece through software such as Melodyne to see visually what is going on.
PS you could also just harmonize the melody and redo the bass part, or do both options and compare them.
The young Gordon had sufficient grasp of harmony and counterpoint to realise that, by deviating from the mundane "root, fifth, octave" sort of bass parts, he could twist the harmony of the ensemble in which he was playing. This was especially handy when he worked in improvisational Jazz Rock Fusion music settings.
Okay. If you identify the notes in the bass part AND in the vocal melody, by a process of elimination, you should be able to hear which notes sound in tune with both the bass and the melody.
Once you have some notes that sound in tune with what the drummer started, you can build guitar chords using those notes.
At this point, I would love to be able to hand you a no effort solution to acquiring this knowledge. Unfortunately, I know of none.
In my opinion, it is useful to know the rules. Once you have some rudimentary understanding of these rules, you can set about bending them waaaaaaay out of shape.
flying_pie said:
I guess indie alternative, though that's more based on the covers we started off playing when we first got together, rather than our own 'style', which after only four original tracks, is yet to emerge!
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Telecaster American Deluxe, Cornell Romany amp, without the talent to use them properly
Another question - have you thought of writing your own songs to take to the band? There might be a good reason why your drummers tracks are not fully finished. It might be worth trying something and seeing how it goes when you get your bassist to do his job instead of playing the drummer's suggestion.
It initially felt like it was a more gradual introduction to writing by adding my bits to something else, rather than starting from scratch. However, as has become clear with this thread, the fact that these songs already have bass and vocal melody could well be making it harder, not easier!
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Telecaster American Deluxe, Cornell Romany amp, without the talent to use them properly