Relationship between the Bass Guitar and the Bass Drum

To my way of thinking you can’t use ANY preprogrammed sequences or prerecorded drum loops unless you’re doing a certain kind of hip hop or trance music and even then, it could always be better if they weren’t doing that. There is an inverse relationship between the bass guitar’s activity or the lack of it and the importance of the vocal line or the absence of the vocal line.

The bass guitar and the bass drum should be similar if not sometimes exactly the same. That’s how we know they’re supposed to be part of the same song and not completely unrelated gobbledygook. Let’s say you created a killer bass guitar part but don’t have a drummer and then slap some beat with that. They’re never going to sound like the close-knit family that they’re supposed to without significant tweaking of either the bass part or the drum part.

Another issue is making the drum part sound like a human could have played it even if everyone knows it’s a machine. I've got a handy dandy guide to drum programming which I'll put up here soon.

Hopefully, your drum or bass part won’t be as boring as this but, not surprisingly, preprogrammed bass drum parts often ARE as boring as this. Notice I’ve taken a basic four on the floor ala Copeland and repeated it with variation, then repeated all of that with variation again. The last four lines are the completed section of music, with stronger and stronger rhythmic cadences built right in.

The numbers below signify the importance of each rhythmic location both on and off the beat. 84627351. The least important is given a number 1. That is the first one I’ve chosen to change. I’m taking my rhythms from a pool of rhythms and going through them one by one. You don’t have to do this. It’s just one way of working. You could just as easily use the same one from the gene pool several times.

The off-beats are the least important and the on-beats go 4231 in descending order of importance and hence likelihood to change. As you can see form this, beat one is the least likely to be given an embellishing rhythmic event.

I got these ideas from someone who knows drum programming. This will help your bass drum and bass guitar stuff sound MUCH better. You would of course be using your ten times more interesting bass guitar rhythm in this bass drum part instead of the example I’ve created except with variations at the locations indicated.

There ARE other ways to create the variations in the bass drum. This is just one sure fire way.

There should also be a relationship between the high hat and the keyboard/guitar parts and most probably the vocal rhythm. The relationship to the other parts should be heard in either the high hat’s accents if it’s straight eighths or straight sixteenths or it’s actual rhythm it it’s not straight eighths or straight sixteenths. Just click on the picture to see it larger if it’s not large enough already.

Shamanic Percussion

Unlike the African trance tradition, the shaman goes on a journey to the spirit world with the aid of music essentially drumming/chanting/singing. He or she goes to the spirit world (usually the "under" world) accompanied by his/her spirit helpers in the belief that he can recover lost souls or to see what are called power intrusions in the body of the sick person which are causing the illness from several supposed sources such as bad spirits or sent by evil sorcerers.

Shaman’s Rattle:

An interesting aspect of this is that the shaman's rattle is held close to his own head while he shakes it. I think it was Kay Gardner's book on healing music where I read about this aspect. The sound of the loud random multiple strikes occurring inside the rattle may be affecting brainwaves and keeping a "sacred rattle" used only for the purpose of achieving altered states helps the shaman strongly associate this state to the sound of the rattle. It's always wrapped out of sight in the ordinary day until it's time to do shamanic work so as not to dilute it's potency with random associations from ordinary waking life the same as with sacred masks, pipes etc. The sound of the rattle may also help the sick person enter into an alpha state which is considered the healing frequency you want to be in to recover faster. Shamans are also known to shake the rattle over the sick person.

However, shamans usually consider the voice to be the source of the greatest healing power. It can more fully express the healing intent/compassion/love. Getting clear on the intent of the work is usually considered the thing to do first before beginning any healing whether its vocal, musical or not. I heard a flute player online associated with Mathew Montefort/scalloped fretboard guitarist and Ancient Future/world music ensemble. She played a piece whose title was something for world peace. I really felt her intent come through that performance even on little computer speakers. Something I would aspire to.

Trance and Style:

Some studies have shown that there is no relationship between the types of music used and the types of trance induced. It’s been proven that music can help trigger and maintain trance states but all sensory stimulus, along with cultural belief systems and individual expectations contribute. The musical component of trances invokes an entire mythology to which certain emotions and behaviors are attached. Incense, flowers, costumes and ritual all play their part in invoking trances, not just the music. Sometimes the music is not even needed with the right individual.