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Learning path, lesson 4 of 8

A bass that follows the chords

The simplest bass line is the one under most records: the root of each chord, low, on the first beat of its bar. It ties the harmony to the drums.

Try it in the studio Opens a new song with lessons 1 to 3 already done, so you start right here. Free, no account.

The lesson, step by step

In the studio each step is one sentence in a strip over the real controls. Its check lights when your song does what the step says; Show me opens the tool and points at the control.

  1. Add a Bass track: + Add track, then Bass.
  2. Give it a four-bar clip from bar 1 too, the same way as the Keys.
  3. Play each chord's root, low, on beat 1 of its bar: the strongest tinted row.

Roots

The root is the note a chord is named after: A for Am, F for F. For a slash chord like C/G the bass takes the note after the slash, G. Under Am, F, C, G the bass plays A, F, C, G, one per bar.

BarChordBass note
1AmA
2FF
3CC
4GG

What the studio checks

For each of bars 1 to 4 it reads the chord in the chord lane and the first bass note that starts on beat 1 of that bar (a note pushed a hair before the bar line counts). That note must be the chord's root, and below middle C. Anything after beat 1 is yours to play: repeat the root, walk to the next one.

Bar 2 is F, so its root is F. The bass plays G there.

The right notes, but high: select them and press Shift+Down to drop an octave, below middle C.

Questions

Why low?

Below middle C the bass sits under the chords instead of among them, where it fills the bottom of the mix without muddying the keys.

Does the bass track have to be called Bass?

No. The studio treats a track as the bass when it uses a bass sound, has bass or 808 in its name, or plays mostly below C3.

Do I need the AI to finish the lesson?

No. Every lesson is done by hand, with a check that reads your song. Gusta, the studio's AI, can make an example you can study, keep or undo, but that is optional and it uses tokens; the lessons themselves are free.

The whole path

Eight lessons of about ten minutes, each building part of the same song, ending with a finished file.

Next lesson: A melody hook.

  1. A beat
  2. Hats and groove
  3. Chords from the key
  4. A bass that follows the chords
  5. A melody hook
  6. A verse and a chorus
  7. A clear mix
  8. Out the door

Learn it in the real studio

Gusta Music is a free browser studio: a timeline, a note editor, a mixer and an AI copilot that edits your song with you instead of generating one for you. The lessons run on top of it, and the song you make is yours.

Start lesson 4