One of the more common questions I hear is “how do I go about creating my own bass lines and grooves?” One of the simplest ways that I’ve found is to breakdown an existing bass line (how ’bout a Sting groove, for example?) and analyze what makes it tick.
In this full episode of Talking Technique, I use a great bass line from Sting as our inspiration, to demonstrate how to build one of your own. The steps I like to take are:
- Rhythm – start with a solid rhythmic idea (take cues from drummer, melody and style)
- Tonal material – Build off the chord progression. And again, take cues from rhythm section, melody and style
Once you have these as a framework, you can create something interesting that serves the song like the Sting groove we examined here. Think in terms of repeating rhythmic and tonal phrases that stay out of the way of the melody or soloist. But provide a complimentary foundation for what they are doing.
Follow along with this transcription and the video below.
Hear the entire song in my all bass version here.
Why we want you to create your own bass lines right from the start
