Why not Beat Girl or Optical Sound?
Beat Girl starts with the lead (on one of the lower strings, probably), with the bass line coming in a couple of measures later.
For Optical Sound, the bass line and lead line start simultaneously.
Can a bassline be melodic?
Sometimes. Hec mentioned Entwistle, and Graham Maby, who played with Joe Jackson, did on occasion. Dave Edmunds occasionally plays his leads on a six-string bass, although you probably wouldn't call them bass lines.
In every reggae song, the bassist is playing a counter-melody.
On the 1 and 3 off-beats, moreover.
::head spins dizzily round::
Right 'round, baby. Right 'round.
Serial:
So music theory is Theo's math?
Much like one with an off-center hole.
Does Beat Girl even have a lead guitar? It sounds more like a bass to me, because I thought the horns were carrying the melody? (Granted, it's not what I'd term terribly melodic.)
Maybe I'm being fooled because that "dim dim dim" sound seems played in a basslike manner.
Another stupid question: are bass guitars picked or plucked or strummed, generally? I'm realizing that I don't know. My areas of ignorance are vaster than even I suspected.
Quick, have her write 500 words on the differences between discordance, dissonance and cacaphony.
Music theory is an enigma wrapped in a roast beef sandwich to me.