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i know what it's like. i love the way he played his basses, and i go for that sound.
basically, if you're going for a dilla-esque bass, try an analog synth along the lines of a moog. he made good use of filters too. you'll hear lot of that in his earlier stuff, but as time progressed, he used all different kinds of bass sounds. the magic in his bass was the way he played it, falling just behind or after beats... that way it became more than the bottom end to support the sample/melody... it became a rhythmic & percussive element to the track that gave it a completely different feel.
sometimes he'd use the bass like a kick, to accent the kicks on the 1 & 3. if you listen to his beats carefully, you'll notice that alot of his drum programming was REALLY simple, kick on the one, snare on the 2, especially later on (tracks like Pharcyde's "Runnin" being exceptions)
but the rhythm would be really complex because of how he played the basslines. i always assumed that he'd play the basses out for about 2 or 4 bars before he'd be ready to loop it, maybe even more.
try playing your bass out. if you're not a skilled keyboardist, figure out 4 or so notes that can be transposed and still match the sample and not clash, and practise a few patterns with those notes. then record for 3 or 4 bars with a metronome, but try to miss the metronome some, like just before, just after, and mix in stabs and long holds on the bass.. play against the track some. you'll start to get a better feel for it once you do it a few times.
(this is all assuming you have a keyboard or something... but you can also record notes via your computer keyboard too.. will be a lil harder though)
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shakin your block with a 6 million dollar bop
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www.davidevanmcdowell.com
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