Paying Attention to Bass Lines
Of all the non-melody lines we could listen to, bass lines may be both the most important and the most well-defined. Bass lines are important because they have long been recognized to give a kind of “foundation” to the music, and because they are strongly associated with chords—so following a bass line gets you a long way toward figuring out a chord progression.
Bass lines, like inner voices, are not usually as prominent to most listeners as the highest voice. But they have an additional, unique challenge: they tend to leap, making them more difficult to follow.
In a later chapter, we’ll work a bit more on learning to “think like a bass line.” For now, we’ll simply work on ways to direct our attention to them, through a series of practice activities.
Exercise: Follow that bass!
Goal: Direct your attention to the bass line of different songs
Before you start: Headphones or high-quality speakers are recommended!
Instructions: Listen to the following songs. Pay close attention to following the bass line. On your second listen through, try humming along in a comfortable octave or tracing the line in the air or on paper. Bass lines leap a lot, so your movements or tracing may feel jerky. See if you can follow the bass line through the song, even as the texture of the song may become thicker.
Activity: Scaffolding bass line listening
Goal: Help those who have a lot of difficulty following the bass to find a more scaffolded way to practice this skill
Before you start: You’ll need to download the MidiTrail application and find a MIDI file of a song whose bass line you are interested in following. Searching the name of the song with the term MIDI may turn up results.
Instructions:
- Open the MIDI file in MidiTrail.
- Listen to the bass line as MidiTrail plays the file, using the visualization to give your brain some idea of where the bass line is and what it is doing.
- Since MIDI playback often leaves much to be desired, once you feel comfortable following the MIDI version, find a recording of a more musical performance and see if you can transfer your bass-following skills to the recording.
