Bass Central

This page is show how to create bass line in your concept or your song.
I would like to suggress in chord progression that you will be play what notes in these chord.

One of the most important aspects of playing bass is to be able to write effective bass lines. First, we can start with the basics (or bass-ics, if you're a fan of crappy puns--such as yours truly):

One way to start a bass line is to play the root of the chords in a progression. For example over a progression such as

Bm7 E7 C#m7 F#7

Your bass line could simply be:

G------------------------------------
D----------2-2-2-2-------------------
A-2-2-2-2-----------4-4-4-4----------
E----------------------------2-2-2-2-

Another method is to alternate between the root and the fifth, which would give you a bass line like this:

G------------------------------------
D----------2---2---------------------
A-2---2------2---2--4---4------4---4-
E---2---2-------------4---4--2---2---

Notice that to get to the fifth, you can just play the note on the adjacent higher string two frets up, or on the adjacent lower string on the same fret.

Also, in the major scale on the seventh degree and in the minor scale on the second degree, going down a fifth will bring you to a note that's not in the scale, so watch out for that.

Another way to play a bass line is to arpeggiate the chord you're playing over, which would give you a bass line like this:

G-------2------4-7--------4----------
D-----4----2-6----------6----4-----2-
A-2-5---------------4-7--------1-4---
E------------------------------------

Note: to do this, you need to know a bit of music theory, namely being able to spell the notes in a seventh chord of any tonality based off any root.

Now, that's still pretty vanilla, so you could add some non-harmonic (notes not in the chord you're playing over) tones:

G------------1-4--------1-0----------
D-----4-3--2-----0----2------4-------
A-2-5---------------4------------0-1-
E------------------------------4-----

Notice that I left out the seventh degree in some of the chords in order to add a passing tone. It's fine to leave out the seventh, because the guitar will definitely have it covered. Also notice that I changed the last chord. That was to make a chromatic lead up to the root, which is pretty hip.

This is just the beginning of what you can do with bass lines. There are many types of non-harmonic tones that you can choose to employ, such as:

1. Passing tones - a note that is approached by a step and leaves by a step in the same direction. They can either be on the beat or between beats.
2. 
   Neighboring tones - a note that leaves and returns to the same chord tone by a step.
3. 
   Suspensions - a note that is held over from the last chord that resolves down a step in the next chord. The two types are 9/8 suspensions and 4/3 suspensions. In a 9/8 suspension, the note that is held over functions as the ninth (same as second) in the chord, and resolves down a step to the root of a chord. In a 4/3 suspension, the note that is held over functions as the fourth in the chord, and resolves down a step to the third of a chord.
   
4. Anticipations - a note in the next chord that arrives before the next chord itself does.
   
5. Pedal tones - a single note that is played over an entire progression.
   
6. Appoggiaturas - a note that is approached by leap and resolves to a chord tone by step.
   Escape tones - a note that is approached by step and resolved to a chord tone by leap. Basically, the opposite of an appoggiatura.