Bassline
Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of
In unaccompanied solo performance, basslines may simply be played in the lower register of any instrument while melody and/or further accompaniment is provided in the middle or upper register. In solo music and pipe organ, these have an excellent lower that can be used to play a deep bassline. On organs, the bass line is typically played using the pedal keyboard and massive 16' and 32' bass pipes.
Riffs and grooves
Basslines in popular music often use "riffs" or "grooves", which are usually defining harmonic motion. It does so at levels ranging from immediate, chord-by-chord events to the larger harmonic organization of a [sic] entire work."[1]
Bassline riffs usually (but not ) emphasize the chord of each chord (usually the root note, the third note, or the fifth note), which helps to define a song's key. Basslines align or syncopate with the drums. Other rhythm instruments join in to create a more interesting rhythmic variations. The type of rhythmic pulse used in basslines varies widely in different types of music. In
Though basslines may be played by many different types of
Instruments
Most popular musical ensembles include an instrument capable of playing bass notes. In the 1890s, a tuba was often used. From the 1920s to the 1940s, most popular music groups used the double bass as the bass instrument. Starting in the 1950s, the bass guitar began to replace the double bass in most types of popular music, such as rock and roll, blues, and folk. The bass guitar was easier to transport and, given that it uses magnetic pickups, easier to amplify to loud stage volumes without the risk of audio feedback, a common problem with the amplified double bass. By the 1970s and 1980s, the electric bass was used in most rock bands and jazz fusion groups. The double bass was still used in some types of popular music that recreated styles from the 1940s and 1950s such as jazz (especially swing and bebop), traditional 1950s blues, jump blues, country, and rockabilly.
In some popular music bands, keyboard instruments are used to play the bass line. In
Basslines are important in many forms of
Chinese orchestras use the zhōng ruǎn (中阮) and dà ruǎn (大阮) for creating basslines. Other, less common bass instruments are the lā ruǎn (拉阮), dī yīn gé hú (低音革胡), and da dī hú (大低胡) developed during the 1930s.[citation needed] Russian balalaika orchestra use bass balalaika and contrabass balalaika.
Australia's indigenous music and some
Classical music
In classical music, the bassline is always written out for the performers in musical notation. In orchestral repertoire, the basslines are played by the double basses and cellos in the string section, by bassoons, contrabassoons, and bass clarinets in the woodwinds and by bass trombones, tubas and a variety of other low brass instruments. In symphonies from the Classical period, a single bassline was often written for the cellos and basses; however, since the bass is a transposing instrument, and it is notated an octave higher than it sounds, when cellos and basses play the same bassline, the line is performed in octaves, with the basses an octave below the cellos. By the end of the Classical period, with Beethoven's symphonies, cellos and double basses were often given separate parts. In general, the more complex passages and rapid note sequences are given to the cellos, while the basses play a simpler bassline. The timpani (or kettledrums) also play a role in orchestral basslines, albeit confined in 17th and early 18th century works to a few notes, often the tonic and the dominant below it. In a small number of symphonies, the pipe organ is used to play basslines.
In chamber music, the bassline is played by the cello in string quartets and the bassoon in wind chamber music. In some larger chamber music works, both a cello and a double bass are used to play the bassline. In a Baroque era (c. 1600–1750) piece accompanied by basso continuo, the accompanying musicians would include a chordal instrument (e.g., harpsichord, pipe organ or lute) and a number of bass instruments might perform the same bassline, such as the cello, viol, double bass, theorbo, serpent (an early wind instrument), and, if an organist was present, the lower manual of the organ and the low-pitched pedal keyboard. In 2000s-era performances of Baroque music, the basso continuo is typically performed by just two instruments: a chordal instrument and one bass instrument (often harpsichord and cello).
[The bass part is] the groundwork or foundation upon which all musical composition is to be erected.
— Christopher Simpson 1667:19[3]
[The bass part is] the base and foundation of the other parts, since one builds them upon it.
— Charles Masson 1669:31[3]
[The bass part is] the foundation of harmony.
— Gioseffo Zarlino 1561:239, 1558:179[3]
Popular music
In many genres of modern
"In any style, the bass's role in the
groove is the same: to keep time and to outline the tonality. When developing bass lines, these two things should always be your goal"[4]
[One] may view in it [(the bass part)] all the other parts in their original essence.Thomas Campion 1967:327[3]
Walking bass
A walking bass is a style of bass accompaniment or line, common in
Walking basslines are usually performed on the
Examples
Walking bass in the pedal keyboard part of Baroque organ music (J.S. Bach's Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659, from the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes):
Other walking bass lines can be heard in the opening movements of Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 22 (nicknamed "The Philosopher"), Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 and Edward Elgar's Symphony No. 1.
Walking bass often alternates quarter notes:
giving rise to the term.
Many
Walking bass often moves in stepwise (scalar) motion to successive chord roots, such as often in country music:
In this example, the last two quarter notes of the second measure, D and E, "walk" up from the first quarter note in that measure, C, to the first note of the third measure, F (C and F are the roots of the chords in the first through second and third through fourth measures, respectively).
In both cases, "walking" refers both to the steady duple rhythm (one step after the other) and to the strong directional motion created;[7] in the examples above, from C to F and back in the second, and from root to seventh and back in the first.
In bebop jazz, the walking bass has a stabilising effect, offsetting and providing a foil to the complexity of the improvised melodic lines, for example in Sonny Rollins’ “Blue Seven”.
Bass run
A bass run (or "bass break") is a short
A bass run may be composed by the performer or by an
Electric bass
In a rock song in which the bassline consists of low-pitched quarter notes played on the electric bass, a bass run may consist of a rapid sequence of sixteenth notes in a higher register, or of a melodic riff played in a higher register. In some cases, the bassist will select a "brighter"-sounding pickup or increase the treble response of the instrument for a bass run, so that it will be easier to hear.
In a
In a
In a
In a funk song in which the bassline already consists of percussive slapping and popping, a bass run may consist of a virtuosic display of rapid slapping and popping techniques combined with techniques such as glissando, note-bending, and harmonics.
Double bass
In a jump blues tune in which the bassline consists of low-pitched quarter notes played on the double bass in a scalar walking bass style, a bass run may consist of a bar of swung eighth notes played using a percussive slap bass style, in which the right hand strikes the strings against the fingerboard.
In a swing tune in which the bassline consists of low-pitched quarter notes played on the double bass in a scalar walking bass style, a bass run may consist of a descending chromatic scale played in a higher register.
In a bluegrass tune in which the bassline consists of low-pitched quarter notes played on the double bass on the root and fifth of each chord on beats one and three (of a 4/4 tune), a bass run may consist of a walking bass line played for several bars.
In a psychobilly band, a bass solo will often consist of a virtuosic display of triple and quadruple slaps, creating a percussive, drum solo-like sound.
Wind bass
In a marching band, a bass run may consist of a several bar unaccompanied passage composed for the tubas and sousaphones which displays either rapid passages of notes or higher-register techniques. In New Orleans jazz, the tuba may provide a walking bass line similar to that of the double bass.
See also
- Ground bass
- Lament bass
- Drum and bass
- Bassline (music genre)
Notes
- ISBN 0195102320.
- ^ Leight, Elias (6 December 2016). "8 ways the 808 drum machine changed pop music". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 7 December 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
- ^ ISBN 9780520239562. "fondamento dell'harmonica"
- ^ Santerre 2001, p. iv
- ^ Buelow 2004, p. 40
- ^ Friedland 1995, p. 44
- ^ a b Friedland 1995, p. 4
- ^ a b van der Merwe 1989, p. 283
References
- Buelow, George J. (2004), A history of baroque music, Indiana University Press, p. 40, ISBN 0-253-34365-8
- Friedland, Ed (1995), Building Walking Bass Lines, ISBN 0-7935-4204-9
- ISBN 0-19-316121-4
- Cadwallader, Allen (1998), Analysis of Tonal Music: A Schenkerian Approach, p. 45, ISBN 0-19-510232-0
- Santerre, Joe (2001), Slap Bass Lines, ISBN 0-634-02144-3
External links
- "Bass Lines" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-03-18. (41.4 KB) - 244 million bass lines in F
- An audio/video example of a walking bass line played on electric bass guitar
- Walking Bass Lines and Comping on Guitar