metal bass tips

[leonardobass]

Hello! So recently,i've been asked to join a metalcore style band. At first,I hesitated a bit,mostly because,even though I enjoy metal in general,I really never played it. I've only played covers for the last five years or so and the only originals band I had was in the rock genre.
Anyway,another thing that's new to me is the alternative tuning, (they play in drop D),so i changed my tuning to ADADG. Despite all this new stuff,I decided to give it a try.(hell,why not? At least,to check out something new...)

My question to any other metal bassists is, what would be the best way to aproach the bass lines for this kind of music? Do I just play roots and follow the guitars? I usually try to do some fills long the way but with the alternate tuning,I kinda mess it up a bit... Any advice? Thank you

[Truckstop]

It depends on how extreme the band is I suppose.

If you play 16ths under the main riffs then you could end up sounding a bit punky, whereas if you play the riffs alongside the guitar parts then you'll sound more thrashy and, depending on the drumming style, quite death or grind.

Because a lot of guitar riffs can be quite complex and span many keys, it's hard to put something underneath that's groovy or melodic. Again, the drum patterns can also be quite complex so the bass doesn't really have much room to breathe in metal.

The best advice I could give, would be to make sure you're locking in with the drummer properly and that you don't have a bass heavy tone. Depending on how extreme the band is, I'd probably avoid distortion and overdrive and instead focus on having quite a bright, well compressed tone. If the bass AND the guitars are distorted it can be quite hard to listen to!

[CamdenRob]

Depends how the songs have been written... I'm setting up a metalcore band at the moment and all the songs are diatonically correct, with only notes from a chosen key in each so the bass line can be anything from the corresponding modes to the chords used.

If the riffs are all written chromatically with random unrelated notes then playing anything other than roots is going to be difficult.

[leonardobass]

Thank you guys,that's great advice. They take influence with bands like In Flames,insomnium,etc. That's pretty much what i thought i should do,lock with the drums and play the roots,that's really all you can do,except for some intro or bridge where I can try to put something extra in the mix.

[CamdenRob]

In addition to everything truckstop says (as he's spot on) maybe try experimenting with using a pick? It can sometimes give those very low notes a bit more attack, allowing them to cut through a bit more.

Edited May 4, 2015 by CamdenRob

[TKenrick]

I think there's a lot to be said for 'doing your homework' on a genre of music if you're about to start playing in a band that specialises in a certain style that you might not be completely at home in. Identify 5 or so metalcore artists that the band really takes influence from and listen deeply to as much of their music as possible - this will give you a 'bluffer's guide' to the essential elements of what metalcore bassists tend to play, which should help you to get through the first few rehearsals without feeling like you're faking it!

Not exactly metalcore, but interesting metal bassists (to my ears, at least) include Justin Chancellor (Tool), James Leach (Sikth), Evan Brewer (Faceless) and Adam Getgood (Periphery).