Bass Lines

I've had a bass guitar on loan to me this month. I wanted bass on my album and it was suggested that I should be able to pick it right up, being that I play guitar. They are, essentially, the same instrument.

Yeah, right.

I wrote one bass line for my song "Good" that turned out fairly well. It happened very organically and sounds kind of like a real bass line. Yes, it all takes place on one string. But it works.

After that, I was out of ideas. I couldn't come up with anything other than just hitting the bass notes on a beat without giving myself a headache.

When the time came to record the bass lines for the album last Friday, I had picked the minimum number of songs that only really felt like they had to have bass on them. I plucked away cautiously at the strings. My producer suggested a funky little country rhythm for my song "Cast A Spell". After a couple of takes of me struggling to produce the sound, we gave up and stuck with my simple notes on singular strings.

(I did not look as cool as this cartoon chick.)

It's a very touchy instrument. Those big metal strings resonate strongly if even slightly brushed and it refuses to go unnoticed.

Things I had thought up at home recorded so differently. Buzzing and harmonics sounded throughout. I managed to get it recorded fairly decently on a few songs and then that was it. My relationship with the bass guitar has ended. I don't intend to ever pick it up again. Hopefully by the next album, I'll have a bass player.