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Melodic bass · Exercise 01

Bass as a second melody

Goal
Write a bass counter-melody that answers a vocal line: move when the singer holds, hold when the singer moves.
Time
20 min

You'll

  • Hum the vocal line and find where it holds still
  • Fill those gaps with chord tones that move the other way
  • Play the counter-line under the vocal and tab yours

Bass as a second melody

The rule

  • Singer holds, you move. Long vocal notes and breaths are your windows.
  • Singer moves, you hold. Busy vocal, simple bass: a root, a long note, or nothing.
  • Go the other way. Vocal climbs, line falls (contrary motion). The two lines stay distinct.
  • Land on chord tones on beat 1 so the harmony still reads.
  • Stay under the vocal. The counter-line lives in the gap between the kick drum and the singer.
  • Roots on beat 1 keep the band anchored; the melody happens on beats 2 to 4.
  • tetsuya’s habit: lines that keep moving through the chord, major or minor, without stepping on the voice.
  • A second guitar does the same job one register up: a counter-line in the windows, thirds or sixths against the vocal.
  • Or play the bass tab below: it redraws on your four lowest strings, same frets, an octave above the bass.
  • In nagauta and min’yō the shamisen already shadows the singer, a beat ahead or behind, rarely in unison for long.
  • Lean on open strings (honchōshi C F C): they ring with sawari and give the line its home notes.
  • Use tsubo notes to fill the windows, and leave the voice room when it moves.

The loaner

Chords, one bar each: A, F#m, D, E. The vocal holds a long note in every bar; the bass moves under it and turns the other way when the vocal climbs in bar 3.

  • Five or six strings: the same frets on your E A D G strings. Leave the low B out here; the line wants space, not depth.
  • Six strings: as a second pass, play the counter-line an octave up on strings 1 to 3 (C, G, D). tetsuya often overdubs a high second melody like this on top of his main part.

Hear it

Do this

  1. Play the vocal, then the counter-line. Hear where the line moves while the vocal holds.
  2. Play the line slowly from the tab until it flows.
  3. Pick a song you love. Hum one verse or chorus; mark the long notes and breaths.
  4. Over the song’s chords, write a line: chord tone on beat 1, movement only in the windows.
  5. Where the vocal climbs, make the line fall (or the other way round).
  6. Play it under the recording, or hum the vocal and play under it. Busy against busy? Cut notes.
  7. Tab it and send it to your tutor.

Check

  • Beat 1 of every bar is a chord tone
  • You can hum the vocal and the line separately, and both sound like tunes