This is an excellent question! That’s the beauty of it... it is not the most readily audible thing when it is there, but say we mute the bass - then immediately you will sense that something is wrong, something is not quite rich... BASS is like the satin curtain arch behind the bride and groom. Bride and groom are obviously the focus of the picture and no one cares about the satin curtain when it is there... but if you remove the satin curtain, the picture will look bare and not rich, in a poor location.
Quite often, people ask me similar questions and I give them an analogy - What salt is to food, a bassline is to music. We never appreciate the salt in our food. But, If you take the salt away, you'd never like any food on this planet. When the same salt is right, our focus turns to other elements of the food :) It's not "inaudible". It's just that our ears are not tuned to that spectrum. You have not entered that spectrum yet :) Our ears are mostly used to the upper audio spectrum(treble and bass). But the fact that you nod your head or groove is mainly because of the drums and bass. The vocals or electric guitars are only the icing on the cake. Not the cake. The entire dough of the cake is the rhythm and that rhythm is heavily backed by BASS. Using a good pair of earphones/speakers with a subwoofer is what that allows you to enter that spectrum. All your favorite songs that sound phenomenal in theatre is mainly because of bass. One cannot listen to such bass on a phone speaker! Every favorite song of yours will have a great bassline. "Kaadhal sadugudu" 's main groove is the bass. "Endrendrum punnagai" 's hook is just bass. Bless Keith peters! It was not ARR who composed these, but Keith Peters who did it! Ilayaraja's brother in law - Sasi, is his bassist and is one of the phenomenal bass players this country has heard and seen. Those bass lines are so melodic that it travels on a different melody as opposed to what the main singer sings! What makes Ilayaraja's songs epic is actually the basslines, but people are not aware of that! Just youtube the name of your favorite song and add "bass cover" to the text and you'll discover the magic. Its a uncovered magic spectrum which most humans have not discovered yet. The day they do, the bassist would be allowed to sit/stand in the centre of the stage. We are just too distracted by lyrics and melody that we miss out on other aspects of music :) To summarise, its not "inaudible". You are yet to get into that audio spectrum. There is a secret world that purely listens to that spectrum. I would like to invite you to that spectrum :) Cheers.
@@adhithyasankar👏👏👏👌👌👌 They should be made to listen to the beginning piece of 'oorvasi oorvasi' from kadhalan without the bass and then they'll notice the striking difference.
@@LilyWhite-wj1md I'll give you a better example - kaadhal sadugudu without bassline would be a curse. Which reminds me that I need to make a proper bass cover of these songs!
Harris has maximized the use of the Bass guitar so beautifully in songs like Manjal veyil, Lolita, Ondra renda, Adharu adharu etc. 🎧🎸🎶 Waiting for your decoding for the above songs🤩🤞🏼
As usual, you are an awesome teacher Ma'm. No one could have given an introduction about bass lines in such a easier way. When i listen to a song, I always listen to the arrangement of the song. I still do it in the same way. I am very poor in listening to the lyrics but can easily anticipate and decode the instruments. The bass is one of my favorite instruments. It all started with the synth bass usage by ARR in his songs..then the natural curve ended in Raja Sir's songs. He is an absolute master when it came to bass. His bass progressions were out of the world. He was brilliant throughout the 80s but somewhere, I feel due to the revolution that happened in 1992, he had to change his sounding. His arrangements supported by Karthik Raja started sounding more close to the style of Karthik Raja. I am a fan of ARR but slowly realized the magic that IR churned out in his bass lines. No one wrote and perfected the basslines like him. After that I admire the basslines composed by ARR. People immediately point out to the basslines programmed by Harris. Before Harris, I would say that Karthik Raja created a sensation when it came to basslines. His initial movies stand as a testimony to his prowess in orchestration. His songs in Aathmaa, Maanikam,Ullaasam,Naam Iruvar Namakku Iruvar, Kadhala Kadhala and Ullam Kollai Poguthe had memorable basslines. ARR was and is still the best and consistent when it come to basslines. In the 90s, his collaboration with Keith Peters produced monstrous hits. His bass programming skills with his synthesizer for the song "Oho Megam Vandhadho (Mouna Ragam) " under the baton of Raja is one superb example. I am one of those few who long for a Keith Peters-ARR collab once again..Seriously miss their combination. If i start writing, I can write several episodes about ARR and his bass usage. Some of the ARR songs (that got released in the 90s) that I could remember (not in order) : 1) Kadhal Rojave (new sound along with the arps in Pudhu Vellai Mazhai) 2) July Madam Vandhaal and Netrillaatha Maatram (he stamped his authority in bass) 3) Paarkaathey Paarkaathey 4) Thee Thee (a magic) 5) Idhu Sugam Sugam 6) Kathirikka Kathirikka 7) Ennavale (beautiful bass progressions throughout) 8) Mottu Vittadhaa (beautiful programming) 9) Kaadu Potta Kaadu (neat bass with Afro rhythms) 10) Idhu Annai Bhoomi (great programming) 11) Akadanu Naanga 12) Thanga Thaamarai and Ooo lalala 13) Sandhosha Kaneere (with the great Guy Pratt) 14) Tauba Tauba (Vande Mataram album) 15) Kurukku Siruthavale.. still more to come....
Thank you - very useful comment. This episode was about Kuthu song bass only. But will note your suggestions for overall nice bass lines in Tamil cinema... great ones.
This type of video is very rare...keep doing lot of stuff like this😊...one of my most favorite bass lines are 1.Bille Jean, Thriller, Bad, Smooth Criminal by Mj 2. kadhal sadugudu, urvasi, kadhalikkum pennin and many more by ARR 3. Aagaaya sooriyanai, vizhiye vizhiye....lots of Harris jayaraj sir works
Harris Jairaj did this telugu song called 'Paataku praanam' from the movie Vamsi. That's one of my favourite baselines. Among the countless masterpieces of Ilayaraja, 'Sumam prathi sumam' from 'Maharshi' has all 3 types of basslines you explained in the video. In the same movie, 'Maatarani mounamidi' also has a very interesting bassline.
Good explanation mam👏🏻 For those who confuse with the Bass guitar and the Electric lead guitar (like you said in the Ghilli theme case)... The preludes of Uyirin uyire, Adiye kolludhey and Alaika laika begin with the rocking sound of the Electric lead guitar. Also these songs have the bass guitar lines in them throughout.
Another bass I can’t stop listening to is in ARR’s Ratchgan film song “Lucky Lucky, especially in the middle when SPB sings “piriyam kaatu pazhayapadi”. IMO a song ahead of it’s time.
Madam, you always rock. Nobody can explain better than you. Even a normal person can easily understand. When I listen a song, my concentration always goes to bass lines. I enjoy that. But when i try to make my friends to feel the magic of bass, they can't even feel the sound and I can't explain them. Now I'll definitely show this video to them. & Sorry madam for my long gap. I'm going through some bad days in my life, So.
Awesome video as always. Could you continue the series please? Variya by Yuvan Shankar raja has a sick slap bass, enjoy enjaami has an unorthodox baseline played by Napier Naveen.
Gajanii Orumalai song harris used the basslines 🤌🏻😍 Grrate stuffs inn malayalam music 1)Vartthiinnkal mozhiyaalle song 2)Ariyaathe ariyathe ee pavizha varthhinkal
What salt is to food, a bassline is, to Music. We never appreciate the salt in our food. But, If you take the salt away, you'd never like any food on this planet. When the same salt is right, our focus turns to other elements of the food :) It's never inaudible. It's just that our ears are not tuned to that spectrum. So many of us have not entered that spectrum yet :) Our ears are mostly used to the upper audio spectrum(treble and bass). But the fact that you nod your head or groove is mainly because of the drums and bass. The vocals or electric guitars are only the icing on the cake. Not the cake. The entire dough of the cake is the rhythm and that rhythm is heavily backed by BASS. Using a good pair of earphones/speakers with a subwoofer is what that allows you to enter that spectrum. All our favorite songs that sound phenomenal in theatre, is mainly because of BASS. One cannot listen to such bass on a phone speaker! Every favorite song of yours will have a great bassline. "Kaadhal sadugudu" 's main groove is the bass. "Endrendrum punnagai" 's hook is just bass. Bless Keith peters! It was not ARR who composed these, but Keith Peters who did it! For Ilayaraja, his brother in law - Sasi, is his bassist and is one of the phenomenal bass players this country has heard and seen. Those bass lines are so melodic that it travels on a different melody as opposed to what the main singer sings! What makes Ilayaraja's songs epic is actually the basslines, but people are not aware of that! Just youtube the name of your favorite song and add "bass cover" to the text and you'll discover the magic. Its a uncovered magic spectrum which most humans have not discovered yet. The day they do, the bassist would be allowed to sit/stand in the centre of the stage. We are just too distracted by lyrics and melody that we miss out on other aspects of music :) There is a secret world that purely listens to that spectrum :) Great video! We need more "Bass-fluencers" in our country who bring these unsung bass heroes to limelight. Cheers ♥️
Very interesting video on bass. You should definitely make a video on the Bass Guitarist called Mohini Dey. I am pretty sure you must know her. Decoding her work would be an amazing video ❤
@@suvaissance Thank you. I am not sure if I can send you the link. One of her works. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hbcW7nxcP3E.htmlsi=7MgJcMEWDXHNnKZi
You might like the “why Kuthu songs are like cheese dosa” video 😂: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-W4iKhm3J2Ag.htmlsi=6FGvg4revDrdzXf0 (I think my greatest joy is telling about a subject to people who don’t know the subject but have some interest… )
@@suvaissance loved it. The link I sent earlier got disappeared. You can serach for "mohini dey thee thee" She performed in berklee college of music. One of her works
Please speak on the bass of 'Thee thee' from thiruda thiruda. I came to know about something called bass only from that song. Till then i was wondering what was that sound for over long years.
@@suvaissance Veerapandi kottayile whatttt a composition and orchestration!!!!! That too a few decades ago. I'm happy that you read my comment and replied😊😊😊. I'm glad that i could share a few things with you. In 'Kilimanjaro' song there will be a recurrent beat throughout the song. I don't know how to articulate. But that beat fits so well in several places with the lyrics. Were the lyrics written to fit the beat or vice versa? Whenever i listen to the song, i'll mimic the background beat rather than singing the lyrics. Just like you wait for the 'bam bam' bass in dandanakka I'll be waiting for the two large beats in this piece. I've noticed a mild similarity in 'Aska laska'. But its not as recurring as Kilimanjaro. Are there anyother songs like this one? Could you make a video on this?
You never know EXACTLY how and what order a song happened until you actually stick a mic and ask them (and they tell you the whole truth) 😂… but… Seeing as this is from my “Gurunaatha” ARR I would take a wild guess this is how it happened: (1) Director Shankar becoming fond of Kilimanjaro Mohenjo Daro Ajanta Ellora and other such rhyming exotic locations (2) “ARR, these sorts of words must be there, rest of the lyrics are not there. But we are going to have an exotic location tribal song, with outrageous costumes and light-hearted mood” - Shankar’s instructions to ARR (3) ARR hums the tune (main melody) (4) Then lyricist writes everything according to the hum… including the main Kilimanjaro keyword wanted by Shankar (5) Then ARR works out layers and layers of background instruments, including your favorite beat. They make sure the beat vibes against Shankar’s fav word. (6) Singers sing their part (7) ARR polishes the layers (8) Then sound mixing and mastering is done. Totally wild guess. 🤪
Wow i understood the base guitar! Let me you tell you the example from a famous vidhyaji song and let me know if it is correct. "Malare.....( Base guitar) .....mounama". the silence between malare and mounama is filled by base guitar in a great way😁😁😁
