Melody and Bassline Compatibility

M

MM22

New member
Hi all,

I've just discovered this website and been reading a bit - a lot of interesting stuff!

I've been experimenting in writing music for about a year on and off now, and I'm struggling with a recurrent problem...

I'll get the kicks and the snares going, then I'll add a bassline, adjusting till I get a good groovy feeling.

Now comes time to create an accompanying melody. The way I proceed is usually to playback what I have so far, pick an instrument and dabble some notes on my midi controller until I come up with something I like.

The problem I'm having is that 80% of the time, I'll come up with a good melody, but it won't necessarily match with the bassline. So I end up with 2 different ideas for two different songs. At this point I can either save this melody for later and continue to find another one, or keep this melody but discard the bassline and try to create a new one that matches the melody.

And I go round and round...!! ;-) I don't know if this is a common phenomena but this is driving me nuts. I've made tons of skeletal tracks, each of them with great potential, but I can never finish one completly.

Could be the way I work too. I work mostly on house music and I usually set up a 16 or 32 bar loop to get the main idea and once I feel I have enough instruments/direction, then I start making arrangements.

So that's it. I've said it! If you read this far, Thanks! I hope some of you relate to all this, and I would love to hear your thoughts/comments.

Thanks!

MM22
 
That sometimes happens to me. You are right to split your work into two songs. Two for the price of one.

I don't know how much you know about bass playing, but if when you start with bass you then follow with chords (making sure the bass note is in your chord), and then add the melody, you won't get too far away from the bass line because you limit your chords to fit the bass. That then forces you to keep the melody aligned with the rest of the song.

On the other hand, if you start with a chord progression, you just make sure your bass is the root, fifth, or octave of the chord. Automatic fit. Then work on the melody.

If I am really at a loss for a bass line, I just figure the chord progression and use eighth notes in the bass (using the root of the chord)to get the rest of the song. Once I get the rest of the song, I erase the bass and noodle around till the bass fits with the song.

At some point in the learning curve you can use bass that is not root/fifth/octave and you will do it instinctively. It will sound good and you won't have to think about the technical aspects of it.

I hope that doesn't insult your intelligence. You may have been playing the bass a long time. I love a good bassline and find that root/fifth/octave works most of the time.
 
I write my melody/chord progression and then work my bassline over that. If I sample I'll do the same thing. Then I'll lay down a drum pattern. I always have my kicks hitting on the bass notes. This works really well.

Peace.
 
Tenth,

No you're not insulting my intelligence!

You've actually helped me understand some important fundamentals just there and and you've explained it nice and simple. Thank you.

I'm not playing bass or any other instruments for that matter, though I'm learning to play piano, so my knowledge of music theory is very little. I rely on my ears most of the time, and try to read as much as possible to learn all the theory behind it.

I will try what you suggested! Thanks again.

Komplex,

Thanks also for the idea, I will definitely check this out!

MM22

PS: For anyone who wants to learn piano in a very flexible way, try out Pianonanny.com, I find it pretty nice!
 
the bass line can follow the melody of the song but it has to be locked into the Kick drum also!
 
make sure you try and keep it in a single key signature, and yes, root and 5ths sound good, but you can also throw in the occasional 7th or 9th or something just to funk it up. Or if you want disco house, just do an alternating octave c2-c3-c2-c3 lol


tim
 
Thanks Tim! That helps too! Do you have any other tricks for disco-house sounding bass/melodies ? ;-)
 
tenthvictim said:


On the other hand, if you start with a chord progression, you just make sure your bass is the root, fifth, or octave of the chord. Automatic fit. Then work on the melody.

If I am really at a loss for a bass line, I just figure the chord progression and use eighth notes in the bass (using the root of the chord)to get the rest of the song. Once I get the rest of the song, I erase the bass and noodle around till the bass fits with the song.
Click to expand...

Co-sign.
Good advice. That is exactly what I do at times. Can also help with smoother songs where something else can come in and groove.
 
"I always have my kicks hitting on the bass notes. This works really well."

Sure, this is common RnB knowledge from WAY back, and it's solid. But it can be nice to vary it up so that sometimes they hit at different places and kind of play off each other too. I heard quite a bit of this on the Lauren Hill CD.
 
MM22 said:
The problem I'm having is that 80% of the time, I'll come up with a good melody, but it won't necessarily match with the bassline. So I end up with 2 different ideas for two different songs. At this point I can either save this melody for later and continue to find another one, or keep this melody but discard the bassline and try to create a new one that matches the melody.
Click to expand...


Hello MM22,

First off, I want to say that what I am about to write is meant to be a serious constructive helpful response... please do not take it in an insulting way... :)

anyway...

Just a question... how do your melodies not fit with your basslines if you are writing them along with the bassline that is in the track?

Since you say you mess around with a sound, making a melody over your backing track, maybe you are just not messing around for long enough... if your melody does not fit with the bassline you are writing on top of, then you haven't written a melody for that track yet. What you have done is written a random melody that just happens to be played on top of an unrelated bassline... because the truth is that you have not written a melody for that track if it does not fit with that track.

...and, if you are inspired to create a melody that does not completely fit with the bassline (or other parts in the song) then it is perfectly acceptable to modify the other parts to fit with your new melody (unless you feel that you have created the perfect bassline for the song and would rather not change it)... that is all part of songwriting and the creative process.

i think you need to pay attention to the backing track/bassline more while you are coming up with your melody.

Also, since you say you are new to this, you probably just need to have more time and experience in understanding melody and harmony and how different lines work together... it is all part of the learning process.
 
Buddha said:
"I always have my kicks hitting on the bass notes. This works really well."

Sure, this is common RnB knowledge from WAY back, and it's solid. But it can be nice to vary it up so that sometimes they hit at different places and kind of play off each other too. I heard quite a bit of this on the Lauren Hill CD.
Click to expand...

yeah of course its good to very it up but I was just letting him know. Its common knowledge to people who've been producing for awhile but not everyone.

Peace
 
How about writing the melody THEN the bassline and chords. I used to do this a lot, and it frees you up to go where you want with the melody. You still then have to match the bassline to what you've done. Either way at some stage you have to write something that fits with something that's already there, it's challenging, but that's why we like right?
 
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