The rhythm section and bass lines in pop songs

Hi, I'm Dr. Southall, and I'm gonna be teaching you this unit, which is an introduction to pop music. Let's begin. In this lesson, we're going to compose an idiomatic bassline for a pop song. There's three key terms for this lesson. The first is rhythm section, the group of instruments supporting the singer in a band, including the guitar, piano, bass and drum kit. The second is a passing note, a non-chord note that provides a melodic link between two chord notes. And the third is octave, the interval of eight notes. Middle C to the next C on a keyboard, for example, is an octave. There are two parts to this lesson. The first is the rhythm section in popular music. The rhythm section refers to the group of instruments that provide the rhythm and harmony in a band. They were first used in blues and jazz bands, and are found in many small ensembles. They usually consist of a guitarist or keyboard player, a bass guitar and a drum kit. Each instrument has a specific role to play within the accompaniment. Chords are played by a guitarist or keyboard player. The bass player plays the bassline. And the drummer provides a steady drum groove. Quick check that you were listening. Which of the following would you not expect in a traditional rhythm section? Is it a guitar, a drum kit, or vocals? The answer is C, vocals. In this rock song extract, which instrument is playing the chords, the bassline and the steady drum groove? Pause the video and listen to the clip. Well, the chords are done by an electric guitar, the bassline by a bass guitar, and the steady drum groove is a drum kit. Time for some practice. Let's listen to the following clips and identify the instruments in the rhythm section. There are three clips to listen to. After listening to each one, identify the instrument in the rhythm section. Pause the video, and listen to the clips. Well, in the first extract, we had a piano. The second, an electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit. And in the third one, we had an acoustic bass guitar. Part two, writing an idiomatic bassline. Basslines support the chords and harmony by outlining the root notes of each chord in the sequence. If the chord sequence was C, G, A-minor, F, the bassline would likely be C, G, A, F. Many basslines are rhythmically simple in order to allow space for the other instrumental and vocal parts. This bassline is an example of mostly semibrieves playing the root note of each chord. Pause the video and listen to the clip. We can make basslines more interesting by using passing notes, octaves and more complex rhythms, such as syncopation. A passing note is a non-chord note that provides a melodic link between two chord notes. Can you spot the passing note in the example below? Pause the video to listen to an audio sample of this. (upbeat bass music) Here was the passing note. Hopefully you spotted that. It's a non-chord note that provides a melodic link. Syncopation is used to add complexity and drive the music forward. Rhythms that fit in between beats are syncopated. Listen to the following clips, which of the two basslines is syncopated? Pause the video and listen to each clip. Well, the second example used syncopation and octave leaps in the bassline. Octaves add movement to a groove and are often used in disco, dance genres and hip hop. Octave leaps can add interest to the bassline. Let's have a listen to an example. (upbeat music) Here are our octave leaps. We have an E to an E in the first example. A G to a G in the second one. D to D in the third. And C to C in the fourth. Let's watch a clip that explains how to compose basslines using passing notes, octave leaps and syncopated rhythms. When writing a pop song bassline, the easiest thing you can do is play the root notes of each chord as semibrieves. Now, I've used the same riff and chord progression pattern from the previous video, and I've just played in C, D, A and F as semibrieves using a electric basic guitar sound. And I'll play that for you quickly before we move on to the other bassline techniques. (upbeat music) Nice and simple, sounds nice, would be entirely appropriate for an introduction section, perhaps a verse section. But if I wanted to add a little bit more interest and go ahead and experiment with playing with octaves in a bassline, I would use the same notes, so C, D, A and F, but I could use different pitches and different rhythms. So for example, I could play. (upbeat bassline music) Crochets and quavers. I could play in minims. (upbeat bass music) Really, I can do any rhythm I want. I'm going to do some quaver patterns as I record in this section now. (metronome rhythmically clonking) (upbeat music) Okay, there we go. That was pretty nice, it sounds a little bit more energetic. The octaves give it a little bit more movement. The next thing I can do is play some passing notes. So I could pass from C to D by playing the C sharp in between. (upbeat bass music) Which feels quite natural. And then from perhaps the A-minor to the F, I can just play a G in between. (upbeat bass music) So I'll just record that in. And I'll do a simpler rhythm. So I'm gonna go back to sort of that semibrieves rhythm, but I'm gonna add in a couple of passing notes. (metronome rhythmically clonking) (upbeat music) So as you can see, that was mostly semibrieve, or at least very long notes. And then right at the end of the bar, I just do a little passing note. And for syncopation, I'm going to try and combine all of those different things. So I'm gonna have a few octaves in there, I'm gonna have some passing notes in there and I'm gonna have some syncopated rhythms. I'm actually going to use a similar rhythm to the Dua Lipa song, "Don't Start Now," as you've just seen in the slides. And that would sound a little bit something like this. (metronome rhythmically clonking) (upbeat music) So I used passing notes, I used syncopation, I use octaves, and that created a lot of energy in that bassline. So perhaps that could be for a chorus. Now, you can go ahead and experiment with all of these different styles of basslines. And later when we decide how we're going to arrange our song, it might be that you have no bassline in the introduction, you might have semibrieves in the verse, you might have some octaves in a pre-chorus, and you might have some syncopation and passing notes in a chorus. And that's how you can use different basslines for different parts of the song, depending on what kind of energy level you're looking for, or even what kind of genre you are writing in. In summary, some of the key points there are that the bassline should support the harmony by using mainly root notes of the chords, and when composing, it helps to have your chord sequence first. Time for a check for understanding. Which of the following should be used in a successful bassline? Mainly chord root notes, all of the notes in the chord, or complex rhythms? The answer is mainly chord root notes. Suggest three ways that you can add interest to a bassline. We may have said using passing notes, octave leaps, and more complex rhythms, such as syncopation. Time for some more practice. I'd like you to compose a bassline to accompany an existing chord sequence. And to be successful, each bar must start with the root note of the chord, and you need to record your bassline using a metronome. And for interest, include either passing notes, or octave leaps, or syncopation, or more complex rhythms. Pause the video and start to practice. How does this example of a bassline meet the success criteria? And how could it be improved? Let's watch. (upbeat music) Well, the bassline mainly uses the notes of the chord sequence, but the metronome was not used in the recording, and therefore it was out of time. A piano sound is used instead of an electric bass sound, but the bassline did use a passing note towards the end. Let's summarize the key points from today's lesson. The rhythm section is the name given to the group of accompanying instruments in a pop ensemble. They support the singer with rhythm and harmony. The guitar or keyboard play chords, and the drummer plays a steady drum groove. The bass player supports the harmony by playing the root notes of each chord. And interest is created in the bassline by using passing notes, octave leaps and syncopated rhythms. I hope you've enjoyed this lesson and created some interesting basslines. I look forward to seeing you next time. Goodbye.