Music Theory for Electronic Musicians: The Unified Theory of Basslines Pt. 1

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I see a lot of posts around the interwebs about how to create a techno bassline, or how to create a dubstep bassline, or how to create a rockabilly bassline. But could it be that there are a few rules that underpin all successful basslines?

Good news: there are.

In these videos (divided into 2 for your viewing pleasure), I will explain how to use the music theory from our last few posts to create a bassline that is unstoppable.

The first video deals with deciding which notes to play and the second video shows a cool trick for deciding when to play them. Check 'em out!

When deciding which notes to play in your bassline, I would recommend that you stick to the notes of the triad. These are a can't miss way to make a bassline that is dead-on, keywise. The first choice would be to start with the root note, but you can get fancy and start with another tone if you'd like. After you've assembled some notes that sound good, you can add some passing tones, taken from the scales that we wrote about in our last music theory post. You did read that, didn't you?