The bass line

Depending on the context the «soprano» and/or the «bass» is most prominent. We don't take lightly on altering the «melody» of a piece. What makes me go nuts is when some of the standard and well reputable guitar editions, especially of Bach's music, seem to have the philosophy – go on for as long as possible – change what absolutely must be changed, and keep everything else as is. Well, that is a somewhat lame method, if you ask me.

In my opinion some sort of analysis is necessary in order to determine what can/must be done to the piece. I am extra concerned about the bass line (since it has so often been all too neglected). I care more about the horizontal linearity than just vertikal intervals. Now, an example to demonstrate what I'm talking about.
    The exemple is from the fugue in bwv997.

In the example above I change direction after the second eighth note in bar 79. That makes bar 79-80 somewhat more sequential, in comparison to the manuscript, but at least it kind of preserves the four octave leaps (the third becomes a falling fifth). For me it usually represents a big no-no to simply restrike-the-same-note (as in the «usual») instead of holding on to the original octave leaps. And there are so many alternative solutions that work well. Listen to the sound clips and check out if you agree...

I could probably go on «for ever» on this subject, but I will stop now . . .