Expected to "make stuff up" -- what to do? (FREE BEGINNER LESSON)

To: ALL (1 of 1)
1414.1 I play bass, and I'm having troubling making up stuff to go with
pre-made guitar stuff. My friends made up a lot of songs with no bass,
and now they expect me to come in and make stuff up...I can't! I can play
any tab, and I can make up stuff alright on my own...but I have a lot of
trouble making up stuff to go with guitar, I just can't seem to hear it right, I
have to go by trial and error (and that takes forever). Help me!
(from an About.com Musicians Exchange post)

Dear Musicians Exchange poster,
Hello, and sorry for the delay in responding!
Here are some facts which may help. The four-string electric bass is
tuned E-A-D-G, from the thickest and lowest pitched string to the thinnest and
highest pitched. The six-string guitar is tuned E-A-D-G-B-E. Your four
strings are exactly one octave below the guitarist's E-A-D-G.

What are the implications of this? Well, if your guitar player is
playing any kind of single-note line or melody (meaning NOT chords) and it's on
those four strings, then you can watch the guitarist and play the exact
same line with the exact same fingering. Doubling the guitar line may be the
answer for a particular tune or part of a tune, but if not, at least
it's a place to start.

Further, if the music for which you're being asked to compose a bass
line has "power chords" in the guitar part, meaning those chunky sounding two
or three note chords played on the E, A and D strings or the A, D and G
strings, if you play the root note of that chord, you are guaranteed to
sound right on! What do I mean by the root note? It's the note that
gives the chord its name. For instance, if your guitar player is playing a G
at the third fret of his low E string, a D at the fifth fret of his A
string, and a G at the fifth fret of his D string, he's playing a G power chord.
If you play a G on the third fret of YOUR E string, or on the fifth fret of
your D string, you are going to sound good.
All of the above assumes that both you and the guitarist are tuning your
instruments to standard tuning -- the rules change otherwise!

There's one other important thing I haven't mentioned. Making parts
that compliment a song and sound like they belong there is something that
gets easier with time. As a kid, I learned all the parts for every tune my
band covered by listening to the records OVER AND OVER AGAIN until the
grooves were worn out. In the beginning it was very, very hard! But over time,
my ears improved from all the practice at figuring out parts from recordings.
Your experience with "trial and error" is not unique. After enough
trial and error, it gets easier. So hang in there!

Thanks for writing and good luck,
Andrew Pfaff

http://www.andrewpfaff.net