In the previous section we looked at and listened to the features of tango music and in this lesson we’re going to start composing. The first two tasks are going to be come up with a bass line and then a chord sequence – you can do this in any order.

In this lesson we’ll cover:

  1. Characteristic tango bass lines
  2. How to compose a bass line
  3. Using tonic-dominant and dotted rhythm

Composing approach

As tango music is structured in 8-bar sections, you could either compose a whole section at a time or, you might create all of your bass line material in one go and then all of your melodic ideas in one go.  Both approaches are fine and I’ve actually done a bit of both.

We’re going to aim for five 8-bar sections.  If your piece needs to be longer, you can always add another section.  I’ll show you how to do this near the end of the course in the Taking it to the next level lesson. 

1. Characteristic tango bass lines

We have already discovered that tango music typically includes a dotted rhythm bass line – have a listen to the examples below to hear the effective bass lines:

Bass Line Example 1

Habanera from Carmen by Georges Bizet

Listen to the opening bass line before the voice enters: it’s simple but effective and forms the basis for the whole piece.

Do you notice how the melody line descends chromatically (by semitone) over the unchanging bass line?

Bass Line Example 2

Tango instrumental

This tango is essentially two bars repeated, which change according to the harmony changes.

The dotted rhythm bass line is prominent right from the start of this example.

2. Composing your bass line

To compose a tango bass line we’re going to use two characteristic features:

  1. 4/4 time signature
  2. Minor key

I’ve chosen G minor for my piece.  It has 2 flats in the key signature:

G minor key signature

Remember that in a minor key the 7th degree of the scale is sharpened (moves up a semitone or ‘half-step’), so in G minor we’ll also see F # as an accidental in the music.

An ‘accidental’ is a sharp, flat or natural sign which doesn’t belong to the key of the passage or piece of music.  For example, in the key of F major, where there is 1 flat in the key signature, and accidental might include a B natural.

Bass line rhythm

As we saw in a previous lesson, a typical tango bass line often uses a dotted crotchet-quaver rhythm and tonic – dominant – tonic movement with a dotted rhythm, like this:

Here’s the same bass line now in A minor:

Feel free to use this bass line as a starting point – don’t worry about plagiarising as many composers have used this pattern!  You’ll create something original for the melodic line, and you can always develop the bass later on in the piece.

If you have a scale (starting on any note), each note of that scale has a name according to its position in the scale.

Tonic = the first note of a scale.  For example in a scale of C major the tonic is C.  In a scale of E flat major the tonic is E flat and so on.  It is the ‘home’ note.  Starting and finishing on the tonic helps a phrase to feel finished, and using this note also aids in establishing the key.  People also talk about the ‘tonic key’ – this is the first (‘home’) key that is used in a piece of music.  The music may then modulate to other keys before returning to the tonic later.

Dominant – the fifth note of a scale.  For example in a scale of C major the dominant is G.  In a scale of E flat major the dominant is B flat and so on.  Simply count 5 notes up from the tonic to find the dominant.  Using the dominant note also helps to establish the key and moving from tonic to dominant is a very strong interval.

Here are some further examples of tango bass lines:

Example 1

This example uses some chromatic notes (these are notes which are outside of the main key, e.g A flat and E natural).

Notice the use of the dotted rhythm in bars 1, 3 and 5:

Example 2

This example uses the dotted rhythm idea in bars 1, 3, 5 and 7 and some syncopation in bars 2, 4 and 6.

The final bar has descending scalic quavers to lead back to a repeat from bar 1.

3. Using tonic-dominant and dotted rhythm

To  develop the tonic-dominant idea, I decided to add a longer note in bars 2 and 4, after the dotted rhythm.

Can you see how the pitches highlighted in blue move down by semitone? This creates some musical interest and helps to give a sense of direction to the bass line.

Try it yourself

Practical task contentNow have a go at creating your bass line.  Here’s what you need to remember:

  • Choose a minor key (A minor is the easiest one – without a key signature)
  • Work out what the tonic and dominant notes are
  • Use the dotted rhythm from our examples
  • You can come up with 2, 4 or 8 bar phrases, but you’re aiming for 8 bars in total
  • Don’t worry about repetition – try to use it!

Once you’ve composed your first bass line, you could have it playing throughout your piece, or you might come up with a couple of different bass lines so that you change the bass in a new section.

Let’s Go!

Hopefully you now have a bass line that you’re happy with.  Next we’re going to add some chords to it so when you’re ready click the MARK COMPLETE button below to move on to the next lesson.