budding wannabe homesongmaker

Ash.J.Williams

cloptrop wrote: »

time is not the problem,,,, i have a bass line and i want to add guitar to see what the song would sound like ,
anyone that plays bass would know a good bass line could make a song but a bass on its own doesnt do much use unless you are someone like flea
im trying to tab a bass line with guitar chords id choose for it to see if im right but boards seems to not like guitar tabs

while you're waiting on the definitive answer, download "audacity" and provided you have amps for your bass and guitar, simply use a mic plugged into your pc and record both track.....simple...not professional but it will do the job...if you do not have amps, you will need a intrument input for your pc, this ranges from the cheap and simple to infinity.

heres one from a quick goolgle...this is the lower end i guess...an intrument jack to USB
http://www.musiconmypc.co.uk/guitarlinkplus

ps
i have all sorts of equipment, but if an idea pops into my head, i would literally turn on audacity and jam the riff acousticly and the laptop mic picks it up so i won't lose it....job done

cloptrop

excellent eoin dont hold back , think of yourself like a credible simon cowell , ill be one of them freaks that turn up in week one , add some sad music with your comments and ill walk of stage turning to stare at you a few times
itll be t.v.gold

Echoes675

I've had a listen to your tune so far. The G chord works fine, assuming we are in G major here the opening chord is the I and therefore is establishing the key.
The F chord clashes with some of the notes in your bass line. The root of F is obviously F natural, but your bass line has F-sharps throughout causing clashing. While it depends what sound you want and how you are hearing this is up to you whether it works or not. Going on a purely harmony stand point it doesn't really fit.
Again assuming we're in G major the triads / chords available are:
I- G Maj - G, B, D
ii - A min - A, C, E
iii - B min - B, D, F#
IV - C Maj - C, E, G
V - D Maj dominant 7 (also written as D7) - D, F#, A, C
vi - E min - E, G, B
vii - F# diminished - F#, A, C

So using the info El Pr0n gave earlier, in this key certain movements between chords will work better than others, such as the V (D7) to the I (G Maj) at the end of a phrase, this could be the end of a verse or something. All the while your bassline can be repeated over and over. A common chord to start this V - I movement is the ii (A min) chord. This ii - V - I is the basis of many songs and is the bread and butter of Jazz.
Other chord movements that work well are: any chord above to the V (D7), this movement will create some suspense. This works well to create the feeling on being incomplete.

An example of a simple chord progression in G Major could be something like: G Major (I), E minor (vi), B minor (iii), A minor (ii), D7 (V), G Major (I).
Have a go at fitting this progression over your bassline. Use whatever rhythm you want just to get the feel of the chords moving.

Of course this is only an example, you aren't limited to just those 7 chords detailed above, but they are just there for the sake of having a selection that will fit, whichever you use.

I think the best thing you could do next would be pick a pop / rock tune and find the chords (Something simple) and see how they relate to one another.

Also, there are many pop and rock tunes that will simply alternate between 2 chords simply because they sound good. There's nothing wrong with this at all and if you want to write your tune by this method then no problem. Music is something that has been going on so long that there is really no exact method. There are some guidelines you can follow if you want but if you don't it doesn't matter. As long as it sounds good and you like it that's all that matters.

cloptrop

thanks alot man , ill work around with it as soon as i get a chance , im starting to think iv too many kids round here haha
its great to be getting some sort of guidelines around what goes with what rather than stabbing in the dark ,
ill let you know how i got on