Hey, I am a guitarist in a band and our bassist left. He didn't really know how to go about writing death metal for bass but he did ok. But no that he's gone I am going to be left with that responsibility until we get a new bassist. So can anyone give me a few tips. I really have no clue what to do other than just have the bass follow the guitar.

Dude, just throw in some in key licks, along with the occasional scale run, and you can do pretty well. Get a bass player though, an experienced one, and let tehm play.

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Thanx for the advice. Yeah I would to get a bass player, but we're having trouble finding anyone who plays death metal.

Just add a few fills in with the notes, going up and down in minor/major whatever your in, add some hammer ons, some arpeggios, some slides from the notes in the scale.. just spice it up if you want some interesting bass parts.

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follow the guitar make it easy on yourself. your not trying to impress anyone you just need some low end to fill it up.

I'm going to go with Tattered on this one. I usually follow the guitar part while throwing in little fills everywhere. Just stay in the right key and it should work out fine.

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Make sure the bass stays in line with the drums otherwise it sounds messy.

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Lord Pestilence nailed it there. When I write parts for our band, I try to make sure I'm in synch with the kicks in the music, while staying in key with the root note of the guitar. From there, you can do exactly what Tattered was saying, by putting in fills, or even playing a similar line but a minor 3rd or 4th up the neck. This'll give it that dark feel you want.

Modulation is good.

Cheers

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Yeah definetely you have to stay tight with the drums, but add something in now and then, but make sure its in time, and stays in with the drums..

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Don't use a distortion pedal, it sounds a hell of alot better if you don't.

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it's sounds bad with a distortion pedal if you play fast. If you play slowly you will get a real heavy sound.

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I'll go with what most are saying about following the guitar. But during slower parts, try to scale and harmonize. I always did that because I'm a selfish ass and wanted some of my parts to stick out on the track.

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Here's a funny thing to do: play in the major scale corresponding to the minor scale of the song (assuming the song's minor). Just to clarify, I don't mean go dissonant, I mean play a C major riff over an A minor riff. This can be quite hillarious and stupid, but it can really add something at times.

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