I have a question for bass players

[midget donkeys]

I need some advice about bass playing. I am not a bass player, I am a guitar player that also happens to own a bass. So I am a total hack. Anyway I read this quote in an interview:

“...My very first teacher taught me that regardless of what else goes on, you’ve got to play a bass note at the same time as the kick drum, which is 99 percent of how bass playing works….”
Billy Sheehan-

My question is does this cause serious problems when mixing? If the kick drum and the bass are both playing a note/hit at the same time it seems like there frequencies would totally get in each others way. Maybe this is problem is solved with eq? Or with a compressor ducking the bass, but then you wouldn’t here much bass guitar at all in a song.

What do you bass players think? Is generally playing a note whenever the bass drum hits the philosophy you use?

I am asking because I am interested in tracking a bunch of my songs and do not want to create problems for the guy I hire to mix it later. I had another fellow come over and play bass on a song, but I am not that impressed by his performance and considering redoing the bass myself.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[TheDude]

Billy Sheehan is right. Leave the problems to the guy you'll hire later.

 

[Mago]

yeah he's right.
But unfortunately a lot of metal bass players just play along with the guitar.
Why do you think it should be a major problem? If that would cause a lot of troubles what are bass players supposed to do during fast doublebass parts?

 

[drew_drummer]

I think you need to catagorized the kicks as important/not-so-important/not-important-at-all. Lets pretend that Sheehan said play a bass note every time the snare does ... well... you wouldn't play a bass note for ghost hits would you ??

Some hits on the kick should be left 'fallow' as it were. The great thing about creativity is that its up to you to decide where to put the notes - not Billy fucking Sheehan!

 

[TheDriller]

If the Kick and Bass tones are well crafted there shouldn't be much of a problem really.

I used to do the whole Side-Chain Ducking thing, until I realized that I was much better off getting the tones right in the first place.

 

[midget donkeys]

Thanks for the responses guys. I think I will redo those bass parts. My problem with the stuff the bass player layed down was that he pretty much played exactly what the guitar was doing. Which is what I have done when playing bass on my own songs in the past. This time I want to make the bass lines more creative.

 

[sprack]

I agree with that. Unless you are Bootsy Collins, Aston Barrett or Les Claypool, that's good advice for rock/metal.

 

[Erik Monsonis]

Bass and kick don't use the same frequencies, if they did, it would sound horrible when both play together.
Usually metal kicks have a deep cut between 100hz and 300hz, and a boost in 30-60Hz (at least mine) whereas bass guitar works more on 60-100Hz.

 

[Fragle]

use eq and/or tone choice to get things to sit together.
and yes, he's pretty much right....playing the same thing as the kick really emphasizes the low end punch and rhythm. of course, this doesn't work for every style - once you go into the heavier styles of metal it becomes sorta difficult to play along with all the 16th not kicks hehe. that's where the whole bass-playing-the-same-as-guitars thing comes from i guess.

 

[XnaySaturo]

use eq and/or tone choice to get things to sit together.
and yes, he's pretty much right....playing the same thing as the kick really emphasizes the low end punch and rhythm. of course, this doesn't work for every style - once you go into the heavier styles of metal it becomes sorta difficult to play along with all the 16th not kicks hehe. that's where the whole bass-playing-the-same-as-guitars thing comes from i guess.

This. You don't HAVE to do anything. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. In metal, most of the time it makes sense to play the same thing as the guitar, but sometimes it's pretty cool to hear the bass/drum combo. I'm listening to Katatonia right now and they have a few parts like that, and it sounds awesome. Try writing basslines with both perspectives in mind, and just do whatever fits the song best.

 

[egan.]

I play with the kick a lot. If it's not straight 8ths I'm probably trying to emphasize some part of the drums or bridge the drum and guitar parts. I love that stuff. It sounds great to me.

 

[Star Ark]

Don't just play because of a rule some guy told you about. You make your own rules

 

[plague_rider]

I normally do a mix of following the kick with following the guitarists...

...its too early and pre-caffeinne to give a more in depth answer than that...

 

[AudioPhile777]

The kick and bass guitar shouldn't be stepping on each other, frequency wise...

If they are, you're doing something wrong...

My honest opinion... for what its worth.

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

Just listen to Crimson Glory's Trancendance! Awesome drum/bass cooperation going on there