6 Proven Rhythmic Formulas To Use In Your Basslines
When it comes to creating your own basslines, the notes will often take care of themselves. If you have a chord chart or a lyric sheet, the roots of the chords are already given to you, but rarely give any indication of the rhythm.
And the rhythm may be even more important than the notes. After all, if you play the wrong notes with strong rhythm, it’s not going to sound right, but it won’t sound horrible. But if you play the right notes with horrible rhythm, it’s going to sound really bad.
If you’re ever having trouble coming up with a compelling rhythmic ‘core’ for your bassline, try some of these out to create basslines that sound great and feel good.
Rhythmic Formula #1
The first formula is ‘double-barreled’ - there are 2 versions. It’s a very simple monorhythmic idea using either quarter notes or 8th notes: These are very common in tons of music and they can create a feeling of movement or momentum in the music. For some examples of the quarter note formula in action, check these songs out:
The Pointer Sisters – I’m So Excited
Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger
The 8th note version is very common as well and it can either use constant 8th notes where the notes don’t change. For example:
AC/DC – Thunderstruck
Or the 8th notes can be constant, but there can be movement in the line:
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Bon Jovi – Livin’ On A Prayer
Basslines that use constant 16th notes are much more rare, but they do sometimes happen. Check out some Tower Of Power or some Jaco Pastorius basslines for some examples of these kinds of lines.
Rhythmic Formula #2
The next formula is one that gets used a lot in rock music, but also other styles as well. It looks like this: This is a great formula for ‘grounding’ the song. It’s very obvious where the tempo is in this formula - everything is outlined in just 3 notes. For some examples of this formula in action, check out the basslines in these songs:
Pink Floyd – Another Brick In The Wall
Stevie Wonder – You Are The Sunshine Of My Life
Wild Cherry – Play That Funky Music
Notice that there is a fair bit of variation in all these. The Pink Floyd example is a 2 bar phrase that alters the 2nd bar, the Stevie example adds an 8th note on the ‘and’ of beat 4 to create more of a Bossa Nova type of feel and the the Wild Cherry song has a string of 16ths at the end of the line.
These formulas are merely a place to start from, and while these all share the same core, they’re all distinctly different.
Rhythmic Formula #3
This formula is kind of like the 16th note version of formula #2. Instead of having an 8th note right before beat 3, we get a 16th note:
You’ll find this formula in a lot of funk music in different incarnations. Sometimes the first note is very long, other times it’s very short: KC And The Sunshine Band – Shake Your Booty
Lionel Richie – All Night Long
Jean Knight – Mr. Big Stuff
Again, there’s a ton of variation in these basslines. The formulas are just there to get you started and there’s no rule that says you have to use these formulas exactly the way they’re presented. You can let your own creativity take over.
Rhythmic Formula #4
Formula #4 is a quintessential funk rhythm, although it’s become a very popular rhythm in the last few years to make entire songs out of. It looks like this:
In this formula, you’re essentially getting groupings of 3-3-2. It can work with 8th notes, but also in 16th notes. Usually this kind of figure comes at the end of phrases, but not all the time. For some examples of this rhythm in real-world basslines, check these out:
The Commodores – Brick House
Sly And The Family Stone – Thank You (Falletin’ Me Be Mice Elf Again) Herbie Hancock – Chameleon
Rhythmic Formula #5
Formula #5 is a 2-bar phrase known that got very popular during the time of Motown and James Jamerson. It’s very bouncy, drives the song forward and has a very old-school feel.
For some example of this rhythmic figure in action, check out these songs:
The Supremes – You Can’t Hurry Love
Hall And Oates – Maneater
Jet – Are You Gonna Be My Girl
Rhythmic Formula #6
Our final formula is known as the ‘Bo Diddley Rhythm’ or the ‘Bo Diddley Beat’ - named after the man that made it popular, guitarist and singer, Bo Diddley. It looks like this: There are plenty of songs that are based on this rhythmic formula you can listen to:
George Michael – Faith
U2 – Desire
As a final reminder, these formulas are just somewhere to start if you’re not sure what to do with the rhythm in your own basslines. If you find that you try one out and that sparks you to go in a completely different direction, that’s fine!
As long as you’re always serving the song, you’re doing the right thing. So next time you’re not sure what to make the rhythmic core of a bassline you’re working on, try one of these and see how you go.