The short, snappy bass notes in this track are played on a Yamaha DX100 synthesizer.

Most synthesizers, including the DX100, provide a number of different pre-made sound settings (called presets). This specific sound is a DX100 preset called "Solid Bass" and was used on many techno and house tracks in the 90s.

In this early techno classic, the bassline plays short notes with an intricate rhythm. This creates an interesting contrast with the mostly four-on-the-floor drum pattern.

Experiment with your own basslines that use some of the defining characteristics of the original: short notes and intricate rhythms.

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Daft Punk don't share a lot of details about their process, so it's not entirely clear what instrument plays the bassline on this track. The style is consistent with the way a funk bassist might play a bass guitar, but this can also be done with a synthesizer.

This bassline has an interesting shape: a sort of "ascending stairs" pattern that repeats three times before "climbing" back down the notes of the scale. The use of three repeating variations followed by a new idea is a common composition technique.

Experiment with your own basslines that use some of the defining characteristics of the original: intricate rhythms, passing tones, and ideas that repeat three times.

Listen to this "implied" chord progression along with the bassline.

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This particular chord progression (1-3-5-4) might sound familiar. It's also used in another Daft Punk track: "Get Lucky" (but in a different key).

The bass sound — and also the pattern itself — is a preset from the Casiotone MT-40, an inexpensive electronic keyboard.

This dancehall track has spawned hundreds of additional songs that use the same bassline and drum pattern.

Notice that this bassline uses a similar design to the one in "Around the World": three repeated patterns, followed by a new idea. Try to create some variations of your own.

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Similarly to Daft Punk, Rhythm & Sound almost never share the secrets of their equipment and music-making process. But this bass sound was created on a synthesizer of some kind.

The bassline in this dub techno track is probably the most important element. There are chords but they're very much in the background. (Note that these chords are played with the same offbeat "skank" rhythm that is very common in reggae, dub, and related styles.)

Despite the central focus of the bassline, notice how little actually happens in it; most of the pattern is empty space, and when notes do occur, they're mostly in unusual rhythmic spaces "in between" the beats.

Try creating your own variations, using lots of space and unusual rhythms.

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Synthesizers play all of the instrumental parts in this song. Besides the vocals, the bassline is the most prominent layer here.

The bassline is eight bars long, but can be further broken down into two groups of four bars.

The first two bars are a pattern made from the notes in a D minor triad. The two bar pattern repeats twice.

In the second four bars, the same pattern is transposed down to play the notes of a B minor triad. This is also a two bar pattern, repeated twice.

A rhythmic pattern of single notes that outlines a chord is called an arpeggio, and this is a common technique for creating basslines. Many synthesizers come with arpeggiators, which automatically create arpeggiated patterns when you hold down the notes of a chord.

Experiment with your own basslines that use arpeggios.

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Now that you've learned a bit about basslines, spend some time creating your own.

You can also create beats that will play in sync with your note patterns.

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