Recording Bass, Cubase LE Options

[AlexLion]

Hi guys, so i know how to record drums and would be very great if someone could help me with bass I use Trilogy, and i have some questions - can i see somehow a bass fretboard like in guitarpro? Or i need to do it with piano roll? And what channel it should be for bass, as for drums is 10?
And of course more important - what is basic rules for bass guitar? For example i know that when guitar plays chords i can play root note of chord and it will sound ok, but what should i do with other rhytmic\solo patterns, for example something with pinch harmonics, whammy bar, bending? Bass just can`t follow this, so any tips?

[Emir Hot]

Hi guys, so i know how to record drums and would be very great if someone could help me with bass I use Trilogy, and i have some questions - can i see somehow a bass fretboard like in guitarpro? Or i need to do it with piano roll? And what channel it should be for bass, as for drums is 10?
And of course more important - what is basic rules for bass guitar? For example i know that when guitar plays chords i can play root note of chord and it will sound ok, but what should i do with other rhytmic\solo patterns, for example something with pinch harmonics, whammy bar, bending? Bass just can`t follow this, so any tips?

You have to work with piano roll. Alternatively you can program it in Guitar Pro and save as midi file. Then import the midi file into Cubase (just like for EZ drummer). Load your Trilogy and set it to any channel other than 10 as 10 is reserved for drums. Then set your midi track to that channel as well. Set your track output to Trilogy and you should hear it.

About the technique, you don't really need too complex stuff on bass. Mostly root notes and some other notes from the scale depending on the chord. Arpegios work good for bass. For example if the chord is A minor, bass line could play some patterns using A, C and E notes. There are more complex approaches but if you program midi bass keep it simple. You won't find any good pinched harmonic sample for bass guitar. For that stuff you should record live bass.

[AlexLion]

You have to work with piano roll. Alternatively you can program it in Guitar Pro and save as midi file. Then import the midi file into Cubase (just like for EZ drummer). Load your Trilogy and set it to any channel other than 10 as 10 is reserved for drums. Then set your midi track to that channel as well. Set your track output to Trilogy and you should hear it.

About the technique, you don't really need too complex stuff on bass. Mostly root notes and some other notes from the scale depending on the chord. Arpegios work good for bass. For example if the chord is A minor, bass line could play some patterns using A, C and E notes. There are more complex approaches but if you program midi bass keep it simple. You won't find any good pinched harmonic sample for bass guitar. For that stuff you should record live bass.

I didn`t say i need complex stuff =) i meant when guitar plays pinch harmonics, bends etc, what bass should do. Nice i didn`t know about arpeggios on bass, i`ll go try to do something I guess i owe you YOu are very helpful, thanks!

[Pedja Simovic]

Alex Pop Rock Blues Metal and all popular music styles in general have very restricted bass parts.

Your rule number one is to stick to roots of the chords. Thats the primary role of the bass player in any band. You can play octave, do different rhythmic patterns or constant eight notes etc. Also, you can do arpeggios like Emir mentioned, thats next step. Last step is to introduce scale tones in between all your arpeggios. That creates almost soloing like effect on bass. Just remember not to overdo it - bass needs to keep tonality and harmony recognizable thats why roots work best for music styles I mentioned.

[Emir Hot]

Alex Pop Rock Blues Metal and all popular music styles in general have very restricted bass parts.

Your rule number one is to stick to roots of the chords. Thats the primary role of the bass player in any band. You can play octave, do different rhythmic patterns or constant eight notes etc. Also, you can do arpeggios like Emir mentioned, thats next step. Last step is to introduce scale tones in between all your arpeggios. That creates almost soloing like effect on bass. Just remember not to overdo it - bass needs to keep tonality and harmony recognizable thats why roots work best for music styles I mentioned.

I agree 100% here

[AlexLion]

Alex Pop Rock Blues Metal and all popular music styles in general have very restricted bass parts.

Your rule number one is to stick to roots of the chords. Thats the primary role of the bass player in any band. You can play octave, do different rhythmic patterns or constant eight notes etc. Also, you can do arpeggios like Emir mentioned, thats next step. Last step is to introduce scale tones in between all your arpeggios. That creates almost soloing like effect on bass. Just remember not to overdo it - bass needs to keep tonality and harmony recognizable thats why roots work best for music styles I mentioned.

Thanks a lot Pedja, i already recognized that when i stick with root on a bass, chords sound good Guess i don`t need to "go far" with bass:)

[Pedja Simovic]

Thanks a lot Pedja, i already recognized that when i stick with root on a bass, chords sound good Guess i don`t need to "go far" with bass:)

You welcome Alex.
Perhaps you can use chord tones in bass ?

For example C maj chord is C E G
If you play in bass E note you get C/E chord which means C triad with E in the bass. This is pretty cool to do if you are going to F chord for example because then your E bass note moves up a half step to F , while if you played C and then play F you would have that perfect 4th jump up!

Things like that you know ? Its all about rhythm , experiment and see what works.
The most important thing is for your bass to work well with Drums rhythmically (all the kicks should sync well) and then you can start thinking about notes as shapes etc

Hope that helps

[Bogdan Radovic]

Lots of it is already said in here..You need to type in the midi track inside the piano roll..Good option to thing about is programming the track in guitar pro and exporting as midi from GP.Than you can import the midi in your recording software and assign the track to proper channel (there is no rule which channel bass should be (audio channel order?).Load your Trilogy VST.Then assign the midi bass track to output into Trilogy.You will be able to hear Trilogy playing the bass midi track.

Regarding programming the bass my advice would be to keep it simple (especially if you are not a bass player).Safest bet would be to stick to roots , chord tones and arpeggios.Listen to the drums groove and try to make up small repetitive phrases using mentioned notes choice - the bass groove to go along the drums well...

Check out this thread where I elaborated some ideas how to improvise bass against a backing track.
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=21527

Also you can always check out some of my lessons to get some ideas..

Cheers

[AlexLion]

Guys you are very kind and helpful! I don`t expected such response Thank you all once again! I`ll go check your lessons Bogdan, and see that thread.

[Ivan Milenkovic]

Bass notes usually follow the drums, and harmony of the track. So using notes from the chords from rhythm guitar backing track may be a good starting point.

Another useful tip would be for you to dial in only the roots on the MIDI track, and then insert a MIDI plugin that will arpeggiate those roots. There are several plugins for this in Cubase, and they can be programmed to do some very interesting stuff.

[AlexLion]

Bass notes usually follow the drums, and harmony of the track. So using notes from the chords from rhythm guitar backing track may be a good starting point.

Another useful tip would be for you to dial in only the roots on the MIDI track, and then insert a MIDI plugin that will arpeggiate those roots. There are several plugins for this in Cubase, and they can be programmed to do some very interesting stuff.

Ivan, thanks, but where are that plugins?? And how do I use them:) That`s very cool if i don`t need to create arpeggios myself, saves time.

[Ivan Milenkovic]

In Cubase insert a MIDI plugin on a MIDI track, just as you would insert audio inserts. There you can see the list of stock plugins like Arpache or Step Designer. Also check out this free plug:
http://www.audiomastermind.com/detail-chordworx-9334.html

They need some time tweaking and working with them but various combinations can give you some very interesting results.

[AlexLion]

Thanks i appreciate that !

This post has been edited by AlexLion: Mar 4 2009, 10:42 AM

[Ivan Milenkovic]

No prob mate!

If you need a nice handy little instrument that only needs root notes in MIDI, you can check out Virtual Bassist from Steinberg. It has premade grooves that you can additionally change and it has some nice array of sounds as well. Not as good as trilogy, but good enough for some pilot and demo stuff.