Lesson 15

Bassline & chords

Step-sequence a simple bassline and a pair of chords that fit together with your drums.

You’ll need:

A Move that is switched on
A Set with a drum beat in it (the beat from Lesson 9 is perfect)

The idea

Your beat has rhythm. Now it needs notes. Most songs rest on two layers of notes under the melody: a bassline and chords.

A bassline is a part made of low notes. It works best when it hits together with the kick drum: the two lock into one deep thump that people feel as much as hear. The simplest bassline plays just one note, the root. That is the home note of your key (C, unless you changed it in Lesson 7). On the pads, the root is every pad that glows in the track’s colour.

A chord is three or more notes played at the same moment. With the pads in In-Key mode (the setting Move starts with), every pad is a note of your scale, so there is an easy trick: press one pad, skip one, press the next, skip one, press the next. That three-note shape always gives you a chord that fits your key. Start the shape on the root and you get the home chord. Start it three pads further right and you get a different chord that still belongs to the same key.

CDEFGABCCDEFGABCCDEFGABCCDEFGABC

The skip-one shape in C major: C, E and G, the 1st, 3rd and 5th pads of a row, make the home chord. The 4th, 6th and 8th pads (F, A and C) make a second chord.

On a melodic track you build a pattern the same way as on drums, but with notes. Hold the pad (or pads) you want, then press a step button: those notes go on that step. For a single note, tapping the pad and then the step also works, as you did in Lesson 13. Holding is what lets you put several notes on one step at once. Here is where the bass will go, on the four beats of the bar:

1234

Beat 1

5678

Beat 2

9101112

Beat 3

13141516

Beat 4

A simple bassline: the root note on steps 1, 5, 9 and 13, the first step of each beat. These are the same steps as the four-on-the-floor kick from Lesson 9, so bass and kick hit together.

Press the second track button from the top. In a brand-new Set this track holds a bass sound.
Didn’t work?
Demo Sets, or tracks whose sound you swapped, may hold something else. Tap a few pads: if the sound is deep and low, you’re in the right place. If not, try the other track buttons, or load a bass sound as in Lesson 8.
You should see: The second track is selected, and its pads light up with its notes.
Hold Shift and press Step 14. This gives the bass track a new, empty clip, so the bass notes from Lesson 13 stay safe in their own clip.
Didn’t work?
Keep Shift held down until you have pressed Step 14. If something unexpected changed, press Undo and try again.
You should see: The step buttons show an empty bar: the bass track has a fresh clip to fill.
Tap a pad that glows in the track’s colour, at the left end of a row. That’s a root note.
Didn’t work?
If it sounds too high for a bass, press Minus (−) once or twice to shift the pads down an octave.
You should hear: A low bass note: the root of your key.
Keep holding that root pad, and press Step 1. Then let go of both.
Didn’t work?
If the music was stopped, it starts by itself when this first note goes into the empty clip. A quick press on a step that already has a note removes that note, so if Step 1 went dark again, hold the pad and press Step 1 once more.
You should hear: The bass note plays on the first step of every bar, along with your drums.
Put the same root note on Step 5, Step 9 and Step 13: for each one, hold the root pad and press the step.
Didn’t work?
Did your beat from Lesson 9 end up with the kick on other steps? Put the bass on those steps instead, so the two land together.
You should hear: Four bass notes per bar, one on each beat.
Press the third track button from the top. In a brand-new Set it holds a pad, keys, plucked or rhythmic sound: good for chords.
Didn’t work?
Tap a few pads first. If they each play a different drum hit, this track is a drum kit; pick another track or sound. If some step buttons on this track are already lit white, it has notes from earlier: hold Shift and press Step 14 to start a fresh clip here too.
You should see: The third track is selected. Your bassline keeps playing.
In one row, hold three pads at once: the root on the left, the 3rd pad and the 5th pad. While holding them, press Step 1.
Didn’t work?
If the chord sounds sour, the pads may not be in In-Key mode, or the scale may have fewer than seven notes. Hold Shift and press Step 9 to check, as in Lesson 7.
You should hear: A full chord on the first step of the bar, over your bass.
Now hold the 4th, 6th and 8th pads of the same row, and press Step 5.
Didn’t work?
To fix a chord later, hold its step: the pads that belong to it light up white. While you keep holding the step, tap pads to add or remove notes.
You should hear: Two chords now take turns: the home chord, then a new one.
Hold Copy. Keep it down, press and hold Step 1, then press Step 8. Now let go of Copy and Step 1.
Didn’t work?
Changed your mind? Press Copy again to empty the clipboard.
You should see: The sound doesn't change yet: Steps 1 to 8 are waiting on the clipboard.
Press Step 9. The copied steps are pasted from there on, in the same order, with the gaps kept.
Didn’t work?
Nothing pasted? Make sure you let go of both Copy and Step 1 before you press Step 9. If in doubt, repeat the copy step and try again.
You should hear: Both chords now play twice per bar, in the second half as well as the first.

Listen to all three parts together: drums, bass and chords. When you’re done, press Play to stop.

Try it yourself

Give the bassline a little movement. On the bass track, hold the 5th pad of the row (a note that always fits under the home chord) and put it on Step 15, just before the loop starts again.
Try the skip-one shape starting on other pads, such as the 2nd or the 3rd. Every start gives a chord in your key. Which pair of chords sounds happiest? Which sounds saddest?
Copy the whole chord part (Steps 1 to 16), press the bottom track button, and paste it there with Step 1. Now the same chords play on a lead sound too. To move them higher, hold their steps and change the pitch as in Lesson 13.

Good to know

Notes you put on a step are short. On soft pad or keys sounds, chords may sound like quick blips. To stretch a chord, hold its step and turn the wheel to the right, as in Lesson 13. Hold several steps at once to stretch them all together.
Each track has its own clip, so the bass and the chords can be changed without touching the drums.
The copy and paste trick works across tracks, clips and even Sets. It’s a quick way to reuse a chord pattern you like.