In a mix, the participating instruments are always arranged and assigned roles subtly and reasonably, creating the necessary emotions for the listener and conveying the musician’s personality, even expressing the player’s own style. In this article, we will talk about the role of the bass guitar in harmony.
Role of bass guitar in harmony
In normal, a mix includes two main parts: the chorus and the melody (sometimes called solo or lead). The lead part is mainly played by an instrument or the voice of the singer (vocal). Sometimes it is performed by 2 instruments at the same time, complementing each other with different melodies, but still following the same harmonious background.
With the bassline, the lead is often created by multiple instruments at the same time. With modern band-playing music, a full beat can be created as follows:
- An electric bass guitar takes over the bass;
- Electric guitars, acoustic guitars, or keyboards take over the mids and highs to create the harmonic notes;
- A drum set to create the rhythm for the whole band.
In the low range, there is usually only one instrument, and only one note is played. Musicians are limited to playing harmony in the range, the notes that make up the chord are often played in the higher range.
The basic guitar has the same playing style as a traditional guitar, the way of dividing compartments, and arranging notes on strings is no different. However, a bass guitar has strings that are more than twice as thick as a regular guitar, making it sound an octave deeper and it is often played in the same rhythm as kicks in drum kits. Although listeners often overlook its melody because of the low range, it plays an important role in the mix. Without the sound of bass, it seems that the drum will sound very dry. Some genres such as funky, rock, jazz, and bass guitar are often easier to notice because the melody can play more notes, thicker, and sometimes even lead up to the midrange.
Tune your bass with Guitar Tunio
For perfect harmony, your bass first needs to be perfectly in tune. Guitar Tunio is the best bass tuner app that helps you easily and accurately tune your bass. It directly works with your smartphone’s mic and speakers. There are two operating modes as the Manual mode and the Auto mode to tune.
The Manual mode allows you to choose which string you want to tune while the Auto mode is even easier. In the mode, all you have to do is play a string, and our app will automatically determine what string you are trying to tune and the string deviation. You’ll see a small indicator right above the picture of the instrument headstock. As you adjust the tension on the string by turning the tuning pegs, the indicator will move on the screen and let you know whether the pitch is too high or too low. Once the indicator reaches the middle of the screen, the string is in tune. Then, you can move on to the next.
Guitar Tunio is available on App Store and Play Store, download now and explore its all pro features.
Thanks for reading!
