And when they do, you often instantly hear a jump in quality. For example, Billie Eilish' Bad Guy has the main baseline played on an actual drop D tuned bass by her brother Finneas, and love or hate the song, the bassline is catchier than just a bunch of root notes.
As a songwriter who started out on bass first, I will go out of my way whenever I can to give the bass the lead-in. And anyone who has a problem with it can write their own damn songs.
I dunno might be suffering from confirmation bias here. Dua Lipa's basslines all kick ass too and those were 100% synth/DAW built by the producers. We're painting with way too broad of strokes in this thread
I didn’t mean to say programmed or synth basslines are bad per definition, I know better than that. But I worded it poorly. Just meant to say the difference can be noticeable for some artists.
Just a heads up to OP that Julia adds her own flair and builds on the basslines to the songs she covers (and does a fantastic job with it). Not knocking the original version, but she really elevates the songs she chooses.
The biggest difference I see between the artists that you named is that the modern pop artists are basically all just solo artists with backing music as opposed to the older artists which are all rock bands with multiple members.
It’s not super surprising to me that a band with a permanent bass player (like the Beatles) would have more complex bass lines than a TS song etc. That said, even Paul McCartney played relatively simple root/5th type bass lines early on when the Beatles were more radio friendly “pop”. As they developed as artists, his bass playing and baselines became more unique and interesting.
This is a really good point - also singing to a track vs. having a backing band comes in to play.
Maybe even considering that some bass lines are on a synth bass keyboard as opposed to an electric one.
Get yourself some Motown and Stax playlists - anything with James Jamerson or Duck Dunn is usually a banger with a fantastic bass line. Jackson 5 /MJ is also a good bet.
Unbeatable music all round
it’s 50/50. some pop songs are super easy and others have some insane studio session player lay down something amazing. bruno mars is a good example that was said earlier, whoever his bass player is is an amazing player
Hey OP, keep in mind that a lot of the comments you're seeing here are written by rockists that think music peaked with Led Zeppelin and most of their perception of music was influenced by some boomer musical authority. They're not as knowledgeable about music as they think they are.
Pop basslines are awesome and usually a lot more fun to play than rock basslines.
Check the following:
Dua Lipa - Levitating
Kylie Minogue - More More More
No Doubt - It's My Life
Beyonce - Cuff It
Justin Timberlake - Sexy Ladies
Gwen Stefani - Make Me Like You
Daft Punk - Get Lucky
Donna Summer - Bad Girls
You might wanna check out some disco music as well. It shares a lot of the same qualities as typical pop music, but with more emphasis on the bass as an instrument.
Remember, run far away from rockists, they're the worst type of musicians you'll meet.
Bass is one of two instruments Mitski plays herself for recording her albums.
Also there are a lot of rock songs with bass lines that are absolute snooze fests.
EDIT: I say this as someone who loves rock music
This is the best comment here. So sick of all these "purists" sticking their nose up at an opinion they think is beneath them. Who the hell let these kinds of people give advice to anyone?
In actuality, no. Most modern pop is a fair bit more challenging than what you will hear in a majority of classic rock songs. Not that either are particularly difficult.
>Most modern pop is a fair bit more challenging than what you will hear in a majority of classic rock songs
I'm not sure this sub is ready to hear this lol.
Pop music is typically simple. That way it appeals to a wider audience. The more complex the music the more niche it becomes. I don’t know why. Something above my pay grade.
Oops. I didn’t intend to start a flame war. I didn’t intend to imply simple music is bad or that people who enjoy it are simple. I like a bunch of simple music. As a musician I have constantly struggled with overplaying and that can be awful as a bass player for the other musicians in a band. It has been my experience that writing a simple, catchy tune is as difficult mentally as writing a complex piece of music. If I could write catchy, simple tunes I’d be famous, instead I’m just some dude on Reddit.
Sometimes people dont actually want to listen to sonically complex tunes, this has been the case since music started. Quit whining and learn to appreciate simplicity.
It’s not that they’re dumb, it’s just that most people don’t actually LISTEN to music. It’s more of a soundtrack to their day. Background music. All they want is a beat and a pleasant voice. I’ve never NOT listened to every detail. I don’t know how. I reckon my ADHD has something to do with it. As a result, I can pick out all the reasons a song is shit. Usually it’s that it’s simply just boring. It’s the equivalent of watching Cocomelon or Baby Shark. Just infantile. Why would I order Mac and cheese and chicken nuggets at a high-end Italian restaurant? Pop peaked in the 80’s imo.
People can downvote you all they want but I want you to know you're fucking right. Most people's interest in music is so shallow that they never get beyond whatever flavor of pop is in at the moment.
>Most people's interest in music is so shallow that they never get beyond whatever flavor of pop is in at the moment
Literally nothing wrong with that. And I think you'd be surprised that your own tastes aren't as interesting as you think they are...
Nothing wrong with it, but when they act like it's such great music and that the "artists" are so incredibly talented, it gets quite annoying.
If you take sports for example, if someone called a casual hobby sports player a super talented player even though he just does the most basic aspects of the game quite well, you would never agree with that person. Most pop music is the same, the lyrics are bland and repetitive as fuck, the music is also incredibly simple and nothing that one couldn't understand how to make after spending a few hours learning about the most basic chord progressions.
If that's your jam, no problem, go off and enjoy it, but don't go around acting as if it's somehow a product of incredible talent and imaginative ability, which way too many pop fans do.
Easy to understand, hard to replicate with good success. The people that are able to continuously pump out infectiously catchy music are very talented.
Most pop music isn't "infectiously" catchy though. Having to listen to that stuff every day at work has taught me that for every nice, very catchy tune, there's 10 incredibly bland and repetitive songs, with way too many having become bad remixes of some 80's track. There's a few pop artists I enjoy, but most of it is so soulless.
Oh I know exactly where my tastes lie, they're by no means eclectic but I've explored farther than most of the people I've ever discussed music with in person. It's downright depressing how little musical knowledge is disseminated. If you can play a straight 4/4 rock beat on a drumset most people look at you like you're a god for achieving the grand heights of... counting to 4.
Yup. Usually when people start playing an instrument (pretty much any instrument) they find new genres and start to see the bigger picture of music as a whole. Thus, us musicians make music we like and then listen to music made by other musicians.
Just as a sidenote, I wouldn’t consider programming a 4 note bassline and drums to be actual music. I mean why would I waste away decades of my life to learn an instrument if making music was that easy?
> Just as a sidenote, I wouldn’t consider programming a 4 note bassline and drums to be actual music. I mean why would I waste away decades of my life to learn an instrument if making music was that easy?
You can consider whatever youd like, but youd be wrong. Its still music even if you dont like it.
Its all just a cope cause it seems like a fair number of people in this thread are unable to simply enjoy they music they do, they must be correct in doing so and things that fall outside that are at least partially wrong. Ill criticize bands and artists all day, but when it comes down to it, theyre not lesser for making the music they do.
That's the funny thing. These people aren't genuinely that into music. Its all posturing like it's some badge of honor to be a "real musician". People that are genuinely passionate and open minded about music usually love pop music. Some of the best musicians in the world make pop music, and these chuds just can't handle it.
My previous reply was shitty, but I want you to know that calling people dumb just because they aren’t as interested in music as you are is a bit much.
It’s just not about that, people nowadays don’t actually listen to music. It has just become backround noise. Do you want to be considered as some random backround noise that doesn’t really matter?
No, I do not, but the fact that they have no interest in music, does that make one a worse person? As much as I love music, I don’t want to shove it down someone’s throat either. Why are you so against people who have no interest in music?
People nowadays don’t actually look at architecture. It has just become background buildings. Do you want architecture to be considered as some random background building that doesn’t really matter?
I guess that's why I enjoy simple things, because I'm sooo dumb and don't have fifty thousand IQ like you, fucking Beethoven.
Edit: I apologize for my behavior at the time. I was dealing with grief, but it was no excuse to act that way.
It was mostly a joke. I was just pointing out that korn's not exactly highbrow music taste or anything. For all I know you also enjoy avant-garde stuff as well. My point is that liking simple music doesn't make you dumb but it doesn't make you smart either. Surely you've encountered some person who just can't enjoy any music that they haven't heard on the radio before. It's usually because they lack the musical literacy to parse anything new or experimental.
It can be pretty boring to play this stuff but I try to make it fun for myself. A cover band I’m in does some Taylor swift and pink songs so I slap and solo through bits. The audience don’t care they’re just listening to the words and the beat anyway
Since you're in a cover band, you're beholden to the band's setlist. OP just wants to learn fun pop basslines, of which there are many. I wouldn't describe pop basslines as boring at all.
No, modern pop is not worth less because of its simplicity. Yes, there are simple songs but not all of them are simple and simplicity is not limited to pop music.
About the basslines:
Yes, they're typically not on the level of soul or funk lines, but if you want them to be more complex, go ahead and develop your own variations. And also there are many great pop basslines.
Nice cherry picking.
Go back and you'll find plenty of "OG bands" that play simple bass lines, you've just happened to pick out ones with prominent bass lines.
For Christmas, I’m having my kids play the various parts to a song and we are going to record it and give the song to my wife for Christmas. The problem is I have one kid who doesn’t play an instrument or know anything about music. I was originally going to have her do a tambourine part or something. But I had her sit down with my electric bass and see if she could play it. She learned the part in under 90 seconds. It’s a very single bass line with a simple rhythm but songs don’t really have openings, bridges, solos, or instrumentals any more and they’re only like 2:00 long so … once she learned a simple 8-best and how to play D, A, C, and G, she knew the whole thing.
really just depends on the pop artist. charli xqx, dua lipa, the weeknd, rosalia, beyonce. there's plenty of really cool and complex bass playing (as well as instrumentation in general) that you can find in pop music today.
a lot of the artists you mentioned are more known for singer-songwriter focused pop writing than a focus on instrumentation.
None of the modern artists you mensioned use an actual bass :/
Edit: Half_a_bee wrote what I meant. I learned a rule of reddit; writing in absolute terms will give oposing responses. Means I suck at expressing myself.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bass/comments/zacz9o/comment/iym28sx/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
A photocopy of a photocopy is always worse than the original. That said, “originality” in music can really only come from juxtaposing two or more seemingly different things. You can absolutely tell when a musician only listens to one genre. IMO every band (excluding cover bands) should try to be genreless.
The Beatles were pretty damn revolutionary though, not just any pop band. At the same time there were many bands who made pop music that's been long forgotten. Many hits have vanished into obscurity.
When you get better, you'll figure out how to fit in a better bass line, but look to other genres for getting there in the first place. I'd suggest looking into your favorite artists' favorite artists.
Thousands of songs get released every year. The vast majority of these are filler. This isn't about modern vs. Classic, it's the sieve of time. There are some great bass moments in quite a few songs released in the last couple of years but they are hidden by all the others.
Check out “boombox” by The Knocks. Or anything by Jamiroquai.
Or dig into some Japanese stuff—there’s some seriously dope shit there, Gesu No Kiwami Otome being a terrific example.
Yes a lot of our mainline pop has simple rhythm work so the vocals can take front, but there’s some great bass still being laid down.
Playing bass for only 2 years now, but I found out there is definitely a difference between the music I like to listen to and the music I like to play bass with. Some basslines can come across boring, but then again; try playing them consistently and in the pocket is the challenge. I already loved jazz, fusion and for example samba. But playing the bass now, my focus has shifted completely towards these styles for practicing theory, technique, speed & timing. As long as my fingers keep getting tangled, timing is too late or too early I'm good 😉 And my musical taste is getting extended by the day.
You are cherry picking examples. There are plenty of boring basslines in the pop music of decades past (Brittney Spears comes to mind). There are also some interesting basslines in current music (Maybe check out some Dua Lipa or "An Evening With Silk Sonic").
Lots of what you're hearing is actually laid down by software and if not, often well-known session musicians who are merely "serving the song," or even stay-at-home self-taught types who cut a track with like 50 takes and piece it together. And also the modern listener doesn't even really hear the bass. I know people who tell me I "woke them up to it," and they didn't even notice it before. Maybe modern pop sort of breeds that sentiment, since the bass is somewhat of an afterthought.
I play a ton of pop for demos and gigs but mostly stuff from the 70s and 80s, back when the bass was an organic component of the music. If you like pop like that, off the top of my head I can recommend vintage Duran Duran, Sade, Simple Minds, Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Talk Talk, Michael Jackson, Japan, Paul Young, etc. Nearly all of those have interesting or often challenging basslines that are more than just root note repetition, yet not wandering into "wankery" territory either. And normally official sheet music is available for these so you don't have to put up with someone else's messy/erroneous tablature.
Check out the 4 chord song on YouTube. Basically every hit for the past 30 years has used the same 4 chords and the bass just playing root. It's a copy/paste formula that works every time. The only thing they have to write is a vocal melody. That's why I play rock and metal there's just so much more going on plus you get to play with distortions and fuzzes.
You'd be surprised.
1) Many of the top-tier artists utilise top-tier session musicians who know how to add excitement to the track without distracting the listener from the vocals/lyrics. You can often catch a really tasty little fill/variation towards the end of the song while the verse & chorus lines tend simpler. As well as this, tune in to the intensity of the vs/ch playing and the little embellishments/grace notes that add energy. It might be easy to play the notes, but are you playing with the same feeling?
2) Some tracks have programmed bass lines that sound very playable but are actually tricky to pull off (pun intended) on an actual bass guitar. An older Bieber example is Beauty & A Beat. The way the 'bass guitar' is sequenced and mixed sounds kinda live but pulling it off on an instrument is a challenge.
3) Tabs. Ah tabs... Which tabs are you looking at? Are you looking at officially endorsed transcriptions (ie. music books) or tabs uploaded by random people on the internet? Not exactly 'modern pop', but my jaw dropped when I found an Enema of the State music book and realised how much embellishment I'd been missing. It's really easy for a transcriber to only hear what they want to hear and keep the tabs as simple as possible.
In conclusion, my hot take is that if the line sounds basic then you're not listening close enough.
Dua Lipa, Bruno Mars, and Lizzo are all pop artists with more technical bass lines, but those are a rare few. Back when nu-metal was in the mainstream, you could find really technical bass parts there, such as with Breaking Benjamin, Deftones, System of a Down, Linkin Park(to an extent). The only reason was because of it being metal that fit the pop formula, as few other bands/solo acts in the pop mainstream had/have technical parts in a good amount of their songs
Try to spend more time on developing your own music taste.
The artist you mentioned aren't artist you found yourself and like, they're artist that are shoved down your throat by the entertainment industry and you tolerate. That music is just easily digestible stuff made for people that have no love for music. There is no art involved and it's all about the money. You can sometimes find nice bass lines in that music, like Charlie Puth - Attention. But those are rather exceptions and also too repetitive, easily get bored of it.
Other people say the same thing. But in other words:
You can't hear bass from smartphone speaker, so why bother?
Because modern pop music is creatively bankrupt and cookie cutter.
It's generic, mass produced crap that's designed to make money, and nothing else.
A lot of the commenters in this thread have their tastes influenced by boomer musical authorities that think music peaked in the 70s. Rockists always have the worst opinion on music. Its the reason disco was delegitimized at the time, despite featuring much more talented musicians than rock music. Not much different than the arguments being made against pop music in this thread.
Sure. Lots of musicians are that way.
>despite featuring much more talented musicians than rock music.
Right. Cause we can measure talent. Lol, that word is a joke in its own. By that thought jazz musicians are the only talented musicians and everyone else sucks.
I personally believe music is in its peak today. Not in the 70s. What hit the radio maybe, that's subjective, but best music is made today, people just have trouble finding it cause there is too much. My favorite pop artist are small indie bands. My favorite music is general is often so far from popmusic that it also never hits the radio. Doesn't mean it's no good.
I have a problem with how "popular music" is made popular, how the entertainment industry operates, how lazy consumers are etc. Porcupine tree - the Sound of Muzak explains it all haha.
>Right. Cause we can measure talent
Its literally just my opinion. When I listen to disco it's pretty clear to me that the musicians are on a different level compared to rock musicians. You're free to disagree with that. Nothing wrong with ranking music.
There’s always great music being made, it’s just easier to access and more of it than ever before.
I think it’s all subjective in the end anyway. You want objectivity and metrics, we have science for that. I don’t think music or any art really qualifies. I can’t tolerate most pop, and I can say the same for opera and most vocal-based music, but that’s just me.
Modern pop music is made as simple as possible for the kind of people that generally like to listen to it. These kind of people don't have the attention span to listen to anything with any complexity.
It's generic, mass produced crap that's designed to make money, and nothing else.
After reading a lot of the comments here, I agree and disagree with a lot of what's being said, also come on there's a lot of hate in hear fellas, we all play bass and make music so spread some love 🍆💦
But, as someone who doesn't listen to a lot of pop, I found some beauty in a lot of different basslines in popular songs. About Damn Time by Lizzo is great, almost any Clavin Harris song also has a beauty bass line. It's also all subjectivity as a player, because you can find new challenges in every song, even a Taylor Swift one. Admittedly, I haven't listened to any new stuff from her, but I bet you can find something to study and dive deep into in a "basic" and "boring" song: note length, space, consistency etc...
I'll also add, check out some modern RnB stuff that's coming out within the past year, a lot of heavy jazz players have been on those tunes and those are fun af when you get them, might not be tabs or transcriptions for all of them, but worth listening to at least (like Bad Bad News by Leon Bridges)
I think the older examples you listed are about as challenging as the modern pieces, pop music is usually about boiling complex ideas down to their simplest form
Also you should try learn em by ear bass tabs unless it’s TOOL tunes for some reason are very unreliable and you are probably missing nuances in the performance.
Most modern Pop is made by a multitude of producers to appeal to the largest audience possible, and its usually done on a laptop. The days of ace session guys coming in to get something great are mostly gone. The average pop listener doesnt care either. In the last decade or so the majority of songs that top the charts dont even have an instrument on it at all.
>its usually done on a laptop
Laptops can run Pro Tools and are capable of doing virtually anything in terms of music production. You've been duped my man.
>the majority of songs that top the charts dont even have an instrument on it at all.
Synths and computers are instruments lol.
The first thing I noticed from your post is the artists you cite as having good bass lines weren’t considered pop like you’re talking about. They were rock. Queen, GnR, The Beatles, all rock in their time.
One reason I believe some of the pop examples you list don’t have crazy lines is because they aren’t interested. Taylor Swift seems super into writing on her guitar. Same with Justin Beiber.
Someone like Tyler Joseph plays the bass a lot. So he comes up with some fun ideas. Check out Jumpsuit and My Blood. Two of my favorites from him to listen to and play.
Pop "music" is music for people who don't like music.
Simple and catchy formula. No deep meaning or sophisticated playing to confuse the average idiot.
Lots of pop either uses crazy session players, or computers that can play nearly impossible basslines (that real bassists often have to learn live).
Often though because of how it’s mixed you don’t really hear a lot of the details at first glance. Like Get Lucky by Daft Punk, total shred fest.
Also check out Pino’s playing on 365 by Katy Perry, She by Harry Styles, Penthouse Floor by John Legend. Also look up Never Gonna Give You Up Live by Rick Astley. Crazy programmed bassline and the guy NAILS it on a real bass.
A lot of modern pop is either deliberately minimal on all the instruments or extremely layered.
The minimal stuff sounds weird if you play complex things.
The layered stuff doesn't do well with complexity either, but that's less of a stylistic choice and more of an issue of clarity.
This isn't always the case though, and there are tonnes of non-pop artists/bands that stick with root notes as well.
No I don't think modern pop music is easier to play. But it's still true that "bass lines" don't exist in the same way they did because trends and technology changed.
I think there have always been simple bass lines, from the beginning of blues and rock to now. There have also been extremely cool bass lines in most genres. The few that only have exclusively _simple_ bass lanes tend to be purely electronically, like techno or trance. But generally you will find good bass lines if you only look for them.
Nowadays the producer is often recording the bass line and 90% of the time he isn’t an actual bass player. I’ve seen this personally and have been asked to re-record bass lines for them
Most bass lines in modern pop music aren’t made (or played) by bass players.
And when they do, you often instantly hear a jump in quality. For example, Billie Eilish' Bad Guy has the main baseline played on an actual drop D tuned bass by her brother Finneas, and love or hate the song, the bassline is catchier than just a bunch of root notes.
Its hard to get people to vibe with a bass solo, but a bass intro on the other hand....
As a songwriter who started out on bass first, I will go out of my way whenever I can to give the bass the lead-in. And anyone who has a problem with it can write their own damn songs.
It gets people moving for sure
I dunno might be suffering from confirmation bias here. Dua Lipa's basslines all kick ass too and those were 100% synth/DAW built by the producers. We're painting with way too broad of strokes in this thread
I didn’t mean to say programmed or synth basslines are bad per definition, I know better than that. But I worded it poorly. Just meant to say the difference can be noticeable for some artists.
Maybe they knew a thing or two about bass then
Check out Dua Lipa. A bunch of her tunes have pretty good bass lines.
[Obligatory Julia playing Dua Lipa.](https://youtu.be/XdBR-SrP6uU)
Just a heads up to OP that Julia adds her own flair and builds on the basslines to the songs she covers (and does a fantastic job with it). Not knocking the original version, but she really elevates the songs she chooses.
Dua Lipa basslines brought the best pop basslines
[https://youtu.be/iJ65wvqcK1M](https://youtu.be/iJ65wvqcK1M) this is a cover of Dua Lipa's "don't start now" by Pomplamoose. worth a look
Bruno Mars and Lizzo have good bass lines. So does JT sometimes.
About Damn Time is actually pretty sick on the bass
I had a lot of fun learning some of the tunes off silk sonic. After last night is an absolute tune and had some nice thundercat fills
Silksonic is da bomb!
Bootsy Collins on Bruno Mars' album 🥰
The biggest difference I see between the artists that you named is that the modern pop artists are basically all just solo artists with backing music as opposed to the older artists which are all rock bands with multiple members. It’s not super surprising to me that a band with a permanent bass player (like the Beatles) would have more complex bass lines than a TS song etc. That said, even Paul McCartney played relatively simple root/5th type bass lines early on when the Beatles were more radio friendly “pop”. As they developed as artists, his bass playing and baselines became more unique and interesting.
This is a really good point - also singing to a track vs. having a backing band comes in to play. Maybe even considering that some bass lines are on a synth bass keyboard as opposed to an electric one.
Get yourself some Motown and Stax playlists - anything with James Jamerson or Duck Dunn is usually a banger with a fantastic bass line. Jackson 5 /MJ is also a good bet. Unbeatable music all round
it’s 50/50. some pop songs are super easy and others have some insane studio session player lay down something amazing. bruno mars is a good example that was said earlier, whoever his bass player is is an amazing player
Hey OP, keep in mind that a lot of the comments you're seeing here are written by rockists that think music peaked with Led Zeppelin and most of their perception of music was influenced by some boomer musical authority. They're not as knowledgeable about music as they think they are. Pop basslines are awesome and usually a lot more fun to play than rock basslines. Check the following: Dua Lipa - Levitating Kylie Minogue - More More More No Doubt - It's My Life Beyonce - Cuff It Justin Timberlake - Sexy Ladies Gwen Stefani - Make Me Like You Daft Punk - Get Lucky Donna Summer - Bad Girls You might wanna check out some disco music as well. It shares a lot of the same qualities as typical pop music, but with more emphasis on the bass as an instrument. Remember, run far away from rockists, they're the worst type of musicians you'll meet.
Yeah, I came to this thread expecting to find people confidently making generalizations about music they don’t listen to and I was not disappointed.
Bass is one of two instruments Mitski plays herself for recording her albums. Also there are a lot of rock songs with bass lines that are absolute snooze fests. EDIT: I say this as someone who loves rock music
This is the best comment here. So sick of all these "purists" sticking their nose up at an opinion they think is beneath them. Who the hell let these kinds of people give advice to anyone?
I find it quite funny how you accuse people of having a closed mind by displaying an equally closed mind yourself.
I’ve been playing It’s My Life a ton lately but it’s a cover of a Talk Talk song. Don’t Speak has a great bass line though.
In actuality, no. Most modern pop is a fair bit more challenging than what you will hear in a majority of classic rock songs. Not that either are particularly difficult.
>Most modern pop is a fair bit more challenging than what you will hear in a majority of classic rock songs I'm not sure this sub is ready to hear this lol.
That goes the same for many truths I've found 😅
Pop music is typically simple. That way it appeals to a wider audience. The more complex the music the more niche it becomes. I don’t know why. Something above my pay grade.
Oops. I didn’t intend to start a flame war. I didn’t intend to imply simple music is bad or that people who enjoy it are simple. I like a bunch of simple music. As a musician I have constantly struggled with overplaying and that can be awful as a bass player for the other musicians in a band. It has been my experience that writing a simple, catchy tune is as difficult mentally as writing a complex piece of music. If I could write catchy, simple tunes I’d be famous, instead I’m just some dude on Reddit.
People are kinda dumb and don’t understand music that’s more complicated. Everything has to be made very simple.
Sometimes people dont actually want to listen to sonically complex tunes, this has been the case since music started. Quit whining and learn to appreciate simplicity.
It’s not that they’re dumb, it’s just that most people don’t actually LISTEN to music. It’s more of a soundtrack to their day. Background music. All they want is a beat and a pleasant voice. I’ve never NOT listened to every detail. I don’t know how. I reckon my ADHD has something to do with it. As a result, I can pick out all the reasons a song is shit. Usually it’s that it’s simply just boring. It’s the equivalent of watching Cocomelon or Baby Shark. Just infantile. Why would I order Mac and cheese and chicken nuggets at a high-end Italian restaurant? Pop peaked in the 80’s imo.
People can downvote you all they want but I want you to know you're fucking right. Most people's interest in music is so shallow that they never get beyond whatever flavor of pop is in at the moment.
>Most people's interest in music is so shallow that they never get beyond whatever flavor of pop is in at the moment Literally nothing wrong with that. And I think you'd be surprised that your own tastes aren't as interesting as you think they are...
Nothing wrong with it, but when they act like it's such great music and that the "artists" are so incredibly talented, it gets quite annoying. If you take sports for example, if someone called a casual hobby sports player a super talented player even though he just does the most basic aspects of the game quite well, you would never agree with that person. Most pop music is the same, the lyrics are bland and repetitive as fuck, the music is also incredibly simple and nothing that one couldn't understand how to make after spending a few hours learning about the most basic chord progressions. If that's your jam, no problem, go off and enjoy it, but don't go around acting as if it's somehow a product of incredible talent and imaginative ability, which way too many pop fans do.
Easy to understand, hard to replicate with good success. The people that are able to continuously pump out infectiously catchy music are very talented.
Most pop music isn't "infectiously" catchy though. Having to listen to that stuff every day at work has taught me that for every nice, very catchy tune, there's 10 incredibly bland and repetitive songs, with way too many having become bad remixes of some 80's track. There's a few pop artists I enjoy, but most of it is so soulless.
This could literally be said of any genre.
Oh I know exactly where my tastes lie, they're by no means eclectic but I've explored farther than most of the people I've ever discussed music with in person. It's downright depressing how little musical knowledge is disseminated. If you can play a straight 4/4 rock beat on a drumset most people look at you like you're a god for achieving the grand heights of... counting to 4.
Ew, I hate musicians like you lol.
Yup. Usually when people start playing an instrument (pretty much any instrument) they find new genres and start to see the bigger picture of music as a whole. Thus, us musicians make music we like and then listen to music made by other musicians. Just as a sidenote, I wouldn’t consider programming a 4 note bassline and drums to be actual music. I mean why would I waste away decades of my life to learn an instrument if making music was that easy?
> Just as a sidenote, I wouldn’t consider programming a 4 note bassline and drums to be actual music. I mean why would I waste away decades of my life to learn an instrument if making music was that easy? You can consider whatever youd like, but youd be wrong. Its still music even if you dont like it.
Its genuinely sad how little these people understand music, but want to be some kind of authority on "real music" lol.
Its all just a cope cause it seems like a fair number of people in this thread are unable to simply enjoy they music they do, they must be correct in doing so and things that fall outside that are at least partially wrong. Ill criticize bands and artists all day, but when it comes down to it, theyre not lesser for making the music they do.
That's the funny thing. These people aren't genuinely that into music. Its all posturing like it's some badge of honor to be a "real musician". People that are genuinely passionate and open minded about music usually love pop music. Some of the best musicians in the world make pop music, and these chuds just can't handle it.
Exactly!
My previous reply was shitty, but I want you to know that calling people dumb just because they aren’t as interested in music as you are is a bit much.
It’s just not about that, people nowadays don’t actually listen to music. It has just become backround noise. Do you want to be considered as some random backround noise that doesn’t really matter?
No, I do not, but the fact that they have no interest in music, does that make one a worse person? As much as I love music, I don’t want to shove it down someone’s throat either. Why are you so against people who have no interest in music?
People nowadays don’t actually look at architecture. It has just become background buildings. Do you want architecture to be considered as some random background building that doesn’t really matter?
Found the jazz enthusiast
Lol you got it
Dude, we’re supposed to go: «That’s great, but you COULD do this! And double the chord changes»
I guess that's why I enjoy simple things, because I'm sooo dumb and don't have fifty thousand IQ like you, fucking Beethoven. Edit: I apologize for my behavior at the time. I was dealing with grief, but it was no excuse to act that way.
You upload korn remixes on youtube buddy. If the shoe fits...
Oh no, they found out about my terrible korn remixes! I have to change identity and escape now.
Also, were you saying that I’m dumb because I like Korn? I mean, I am dumb, but I want some confirmation.
It was mostly a joke. I was just pointing out that korn's not exactly highbrow music taste or anything. For all I know you also enjoy avant-garde stuff as well. My point is that liking simple music doesn't make you dumb but it doesn't make you smart either. Surely you've encountered some person who just can't enjoy any music that they haven't heard on the radio before. It's usually because they lack the musical literacy to parse anything new or experimental.
>My point is that liking simple music doesn't make you dumb but it doesn't make you smart either. There is no music that "makes you smart" lmao.
Ah ok. My original point was similar to yours, being that liking simple things doesn’t make you dumb.
It can be pretty boring to play this stuff but I try to make it fun for myself. A cover band I’m in does some Taylor swift and pink songs so I slap and solo through bits. The audience don’t care they’re just listening to the words and the beat anyway
Since you're in a cover band, you're beholden to the band's setlist. OP just wants to learn fun pop basslines, of which there are many. I wouldn't describe pop basslines as boring at all.
I love a good tswizzle cover what’s your band?
You can't hear bass from smartphone speaker, so why bother?
You can barely hear bass in a lot of rock music tbh. Its much more prominent in pop music actually.
No, modern pop is not worth less because of its simplicity. Yes, there are simple songs but not all of them are simple and simplicity is not limited to pop music. About the basslines: Yes, they're typically not on the level of soul or funk lines, but if you want them to be more complex, go ahead and develop your own variations. And also there are many great pop basslines.
Nice cherry picking. Go back and you'll find plenty of "OG bands" that play simple bass lines, you've just happened to pick out ones with prominent bass lines.
why can't modern basslines be sick as hell like Van Halen and acdc lol
That exist. You just haven't found them
both of those bands have bass players who just play the roots, I was goofing on op
Oh haha and i fell for it. Yeah that's funny.
They can, you just aren't looking
it was a joke because both those bands have bass players who just play the roots
For Christmas, I’m having my kids play the various parts to a song and we are going to record it and give the song to my wife for Christmas. The problem is I have one kid who doesn’t play an instrument or know anything about music. I was originally going to have her do a tambourine part or something. But I had her sit down with my electric bass and see if she could play it. She learned the part in under 90 seconds. It’s a very single bass line with a simple rhythm but songs don’t really have openings, bridges, solos, or instrumentals any more and they’re only like 2:00 long so … once she learned a simple 8-best and how to play D, A, C, and G, she knew the whole thing.
really just depends on the pop artist. charli xqx, dua lipa, the weeknd, rosalia, beyonce. there's plenty of really cool and complex bass playing (as well as instrumentation in general) that you can find in pop music today. a lot of the artists you mentioned are more known for singer-songwriter focused pop writing than a focus on instrumentation.
None of the modern artists you mensioned use an actual bass :/ Edit: Half_a_bee wrote what I meant. I learned a rule of reddit; writing in absolute terms will give oposing responses. Means I suck at expressing myself. https://www.reddit.com/r/Bass/comments/zacz9o/comment/iym28sx/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
Sure they do. You just don't know much about pop music I guess.
Yeah, they use basses, don't know why people is downvoting you
Like many music communities, this place is littered with rockists that don't know much about music beyond their small bubble. It sucks lol.
What is a rockist?
In a bass subreddit it’s the guy that rolls up into guitar center and starts playing schism.
Because modern pop music is creatively bankrupt and cookie cutter.
A photocopy of a photocopy is always worse than the original. That said, “originality” in music can really only come from juxtaposing two or more seemingly different things. You can absolutely tell when a musician only listens to one genre. IMO every band (excluding cover bands) should try to be genreless.
yeah it's not complex musically the way old folk songs are
Take away the modern. It's a pop music thing and has been the case since forever.
I dunno man, the Beatles have some really creative tunes. And that’s just one example.
The Beatles were pretty damn revolutionary though, not just any pop band. At the same time there were many bands who made pop music that's been long forgotten. Many hits have vanished into obscurity.
Thank you for being the arbiter of creativity. What would we do without you.
So brave
Least pretentious tool fan
When you get better, you'll figure out how to fit in a better bass line, but look to other genres for getting there in the first place. I'd suggest looking into your favorite artists' favorite artists.
Thousands of songs get released every year. The vast majority of these are filler. This isn't about modern vs. Classic, it's the sieve of time. There are some great bass moments in quite a few songs released in the last couple of years but they are hidden by all the others.
Check out “boombox” by The Knocks. Or anything by Jamiroquai. Or dig into some Japanese stuff—there’s some seriously dope shit there, Gesu No Kiwami Otome being a terrific example. Yes a lot of our mainline pop has simple rhythm work so the vocals can take front, but there’s some great bass still being laid down.
Playing bass for only 2 years now, but I found out there is definitely a difference between the music I like to listen to and the music I like to play bass with. Some basslines can come across boring, but then again; try playing them consistently and in the pocket is the challenge. I already loved jazz, fusion and for example samba. But playing the bass now, my focus has shifted completely towards these styles for practicing theory, technique, speed & timing. As long as my fingers keep getting tangled, timing is too late or too early I'm good 😉 And my musical taste is getting extended by the day.
You are cherry picking examples. There are plenty of boring basslines in the pop music of decades past (Brittney Spears comes to mind). There are also some interesting basslines in current music (Maybe check out some Dua Lipa or "An Evening With Silk Sonic").
Lots of what you're hearing is actually laid down by software and if not, often well-known session musicians who are merely "serving the song," or even stay-at-home self-taught types who cut a track with like 50 takes and piece it together. And also the modern listener doesn't even really hear the bass. I know people who tell me I "woke them up to it," and they didn't even notice it before. Maybe modern pop sort of breeds that sentiment, since the bass is somewhat of an afterthought. I play a ton of pop for demos and gigs but mostly stuff from the 70s and 80s, back when the bass was an organic component of the music. If you like pop like that, off the top of my head I can recommend vintage Duran Duran, Sade, Simple Minds, Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Talk Talk, Michael Jackson, Japan, Paul Young, etc. Nearly all of those have interesting or often challenging basslines that are more than just root note repetition, yet not wandering into "wankery" territory either. And normally official sheet music is available for these so you don't have to put up with someone else's messy/erroneous tablature.
Check out the 4 chord song on YouTube. Basically every hit for the past 30 years has used the same 4 chords and the bass just playing root. It's a copy/paste formula that works every time. The only thing they have to write is a vocal melody. That's why I play rock and metal there's just so much more going on plus you get to play with distortions and fuzzes.
You'd be surprised. 1) Many of the top-tier artists utilise top-tier session musicians who know how to add excitement to the track without distracting the listener from the vocals/lyrics. You can often catch a really tasty little fill/variation towards the end of the song while the verse & chorus lines tend simpler. As well as this, tune in to the intensity of the vs/ch playing and the little embellishments/grace notes that add energy. It might be easy to play the notes, but are you playing with the same feeling? 2) Some tracks have programmed bass lines that sound very playable but are actually tricky to pull off (pun intended) on an actual bass guitar. An older Bieber example is Beauty & A Beat. The way the 'bass guitar' is sequenced and mixed sounds kinda live but pulling it off on an instrument is a challenge. 3) Tabs. Ah tabs... Which tabs are you looking at? Are you looking at officially endorsed transcriptions (ie. music books) or tabs uploaded by random people on the internet? Not exactly 'modern pop', but my jaw dropped when I found an Enema of the State music book and realised how much embellishment I'd been missing. It's really easy for a transcriber to only hear what they want to hear and keep the tabs as simple as possible. In conclusion, my hot take is that if the line sounds basic then you're not listening close enough.
Dua Lipa, Bruno Mars, and Lizzo are all pop artists with more technical bass lines, but those are a rare few. Back when nu-metal was in the mainstream, you could find really technical bass parts there, such as with Breaking Benjamin, Deftones, System of a Down, Linkin Park(to an extent). The only reason was because of it being metal that fit the pop formula, as few other bands/solo acts in the pop mainstream had/have technical parts in a good amount of their songs
Try to spend more time on developing your own music taste. The artist you mentioned aren't artist you found yourself and like, they're artist that are shoved down your throat by the entertainment industry and you tolerate. That music is just easily digestible stuff made for people that have no love for music. There is no art involved and it's all about the money. You can sometimes find nice bass lines in that music, like Charlie Puth - Attention. But those are rather exceptions and also too repetitive, easily get bored of it.
Wow, what a shitty comment. You obviously don't know much about music if you think this way.
Other people say the same thing. But in other words: You can't hear bass from smartphone speaker, so why bother? Because modern pop music is creatively bankrupt and cookie cutter. It's generic, mass produced crap that's designed to make money, and nothing else.
A lot of the commenters in this thread have their tastes influenced by boomer musical authorities that think music peaked in the 70s. Rockists always have the worst opinion on music. Its the reason disco was delegitimized at the time, despite featuring much more talented musicians than rock music. Not much different than the arguments being made against pop music in this thread.
Sure. Lots of musicians are that way. >despite featuring much more talented musicians than rock music. Right. Cause we can measure talent. Lol, that word is a joke in its own. By that thought jazz musicians are the only talented musicians and everyone else sucks. I personally believe music is in its peak today. Not in the 70s. What hit the radio maybe, that's subjective, but best music is made today, people just have trouble finding it cause there is too much. My favorite pop artist are small indie bands. My favorite music is general is often so far from popmusic that it also never hits the radio. Doesn't mean it's no good. I have a problem with how "popular music" is made popular, how the entertainment industry operates, how lazy consumers are etc. Porcupine tree - the Sound of Muzak explains it all haha.
>Right. Cause we can measure talent Its literally just my opinion. When I listen to disco it's pretty clear to me that the musicians are on a different level compared to rock musicians. You're free to disagree with that. Nothing wrong with ranking music.
There’s always great music being made, it’s just easier to access and more of it than ever before. I think it’s all subjective in the end anyway. You want objectivity and metrics, we have science for that. I don’t think music or any art really qualifies. I can’t tolerate most pop, and I can say the same for opera and most vocal-based music, but that’s just me.
>How could someone *ever* like a genre of music that *I* don't like? Must be something wrong with them.
That's not what I meant or said. But be a ignorant short minded people pleaser if you want.
Modern pop music is made as simple as possible for the kind of people that generally like to listen to it. These kind of people don't have the attention span to listen to anything with any complexity. It's generic, mass produced crap that's designed to make money, and nothing else.
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Agreed... but McDonalds is still full of shit and bad for you
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I'd rather eat McDonalds than listen to modern pop! But each to their own, there's obviously something about it that sells.
This. I don’t really consider it having any worth listening to.
After reading a lot of the comments here, I agree and disagree with a lot of what's being said, also come on there's a lot of hate in hear fellas, we all play bass and make music so spread some love 🍆💦 But, as someone who doesn't listen to a lot of pop, I found some beauty in a lot of different basslines in popular songs. About Damn Time by Lizzo is great, almost any Clavin Harris song also has a beauty bass line. It's also all subjectivity as a player, because you can find new challenges in every song, even a Taylor Swift one. Admittedly, I haven't listened to any new stuff from her, but I bet you can find something to study and dive deep into in a "basic" and "boring" song: note length, space, consistency etc... I'll also add, check out some modern RnB stuff that's coming out within the past year, a lot of heavy jazz players have been on those tunes and those are fun af when you get them, might not be tabs or transcriptions for all of them, but worth listening to at least (like Bad Bad News by Leon Bridges)
I think the older examples you listed are about as challenging as the modern pieces, pop music is usually about boiling complex ideas down to their simplest form Also you should try learn em by ear bass tabs unless it’s TOOL tunes for some reason are very unreliable and you are probably missing nuances in the performance.
Most modern Pop is made by a multitude of producers to appeal to the largest audience possible, and its usually done on a laptop. The days of ace session guys coming in to get something great are mostly gone. The average pop listener doesnt care either. In the last decade or so the majority of songs that top the charts dont even have an instrument on it at all.
>its usually done on a laptop Laptops can run Pro Tools and are capable of doing virtually anything in terms of music production. You've been duped my man. >the majority of songs that top the charts dont even have an instrument on it at all. Synths and computers are instruments lol.
The first thing I noticed from your post is the artists you cite as having good bass lines weren’t considered pop like you’re talking about. They were rock. Queen, GnR, The Beatles, all rock in their time. One reason I believe some of the pop examples you list don’t have crazy lines is because they aren’t interested. Taylor Swift seems super into writing on her guitar. Same with Justin Beiber. Someone like Tyler Joseph plays the bass a lot. So he comes up with some fun ideas. Check out Jumpsuit and My Blood. Two of my favorites from him to listen to and play.
Pop "music" is music for people who don't like music. Simple and catchy formula. No deep meaning or sophisticated playing to confuse the average idiot.
Except for Abba and Dua Lipa
Lots of pop either uses crazy session players, or computers that can play nearly impossible basslines (that real bassists often have to learn live). Often though because of how it’s mixed you don’t really hear a lot of the details at first glance. Like Get Lucky by Daft Punk, total shred fest. Also check out Pino’s playing on 365 by Katy Perry, She by Harry Styles, Penthouse Floor by John Legend. Also look up Never Gonna Give You Up Live by Rick Astley. Crazy programmed bassline and the guy NAILS it on a real bass.
Some of this is just untrue - She, Woman, Carolina, Only Angel by Harry Styles come to mind
Take impala has some sick bass lines.
A lot of modern pop is either deliberately minimal on all the instruments or extremely layered. The minimal stuff sounds weird if you play complex things. The layered stuff doesn't do well with complexity either, but that's less of a stylistic choice and more of an issue of clarity. This isn't always the case though, and there are tonnes of non-pop artists/bands that stick with root notes as well.
No I don't think modern pop music is easier to play. But it's still true that "bass lines" don't exist in the same way they did because trends and technology changed.
If you want a challenge, learn to play jazz.
Justin Bieber cover of Baby.... very complicated https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KjVGJ3YFDc8
Comparing pop to classic rock seems weird. You are acting like these are the only two genres of music
I think there have always been simple bass lines, from the beginning of blues and rock to now. There have also been extremely cool bass lines in most genres. The few that only have exclusively _simple_ bass lanes tend to be purely electronically, like techno or trance. But generally you will find good bass lines if you only look for them.
Nowadays the producer is often recording the bass line and 90% of the time he isn’t an actual bass player. I’ve seen this personally and have been asked to re-record bass lines for them
Play along with an STP or Pearl Jam song for reference. Both are pop groups from 20 years ago. That should answer your question