| In this section we explain some of the differences
between a bass line in jazz and in Latin music. Let’s start
with some very basic concepts about harmony:
A chord is more than one pitch at the same time. If you go to the
piano and play several pitches (keys) at the same time you are playing
a chord (unless luck helps you, you would have to know a little
more about music to play a chord that is beautiful.) When you play
in succession more than one chord after another you are creating
what we call a harmonic progression.
Now imagine you pick up a bass. What part of the music would you
play with it?
The bass and the bass-line is one of the most fundamental elements
of western music.
Instruments whose main purpose is to play very low pitches (like
the contrabass, tuba, bassoon, etc.) are rare in the music of cultures
other than western. Their fundamental role in western music is to
anchor and help define the successions of chords that we call the
harmonic progression. Remember: when more than one chord succeeds
one another, we call that a harmonic progression. The bass is assigned
one of the pitches of each chord and therefore a succession of chords
will generate a succession of pitches for the bass. We call that
succession of pitches for the bass a bass-line. In classical music
bass lines are commonly melodic in nature, that is, they are considered
another melody: one that is in the lowest register of the composition.
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Listen to a bass line like the one described above
in Bach’s Zion Hears the Watchmen Singing (listen to
the lowest notes in the music):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ B000001GKE/ref=pd_krex_np_t/104-6729694-1547129
Bass lines also are important to help define the rhythm of a composition.
Go back to the same site and now listen to Bach’s Oboe Concerto
in D Major:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000001GKE/
ref=pd_krex_np_t/104-6729694-1547129
In dance music, the bass approaches a more rhythmic role: it helps
define the harmonic progression but it also generates a rhythmic
pattern that people use in their dances.
Listen to Tales from the Vienna Woods by J. Strauss. Pay attention
to the pulsating bass after the introduction:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000000UVT/
qid=1078164052/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3/104-6729694-1547129 (waltzes)
In earlier jazz, the bass line functions were generally more melodic
than rhythmic. The bass in the early, straight kind of jazz has
a very important rhythmic function in defining the flow of beats,
but it does not have a very elaborate rhythmic character.
Listen to the bass in Ad Lib Blues; Just You, Just Me; Almost
Like Being in Love, from a Lester Young, Oscar Peterson trio record: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000047D9/ qid=1078165483/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/104-6729694-1547129
In Latin music, the bass line, besides having a harmonic function,
also works as if it were one more of the drums. This forces
the bass lines to have a more complex rhythmic character and lends
a big part of the uniqueness of Latin music. Bass lines in Latin
music are, therefore, more in line with the dance music in the classical
music examples above than with the melodic type in heard in the
jazz examples.
In the following examples, you’ll notice that bass lines
usually consist of a rhythmic pattern that is repeated consistently,
just like some of the patterns played by the percussion instruments.
Listen to the bass in these examples of charanga:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00002R0OL/ qid=1078160879/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/104-6729694-1547129
(charanga)
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