Chords for How to Play Blues Bass - #4 Swing 8th Grooves - Bass Guitar Lessons for Beginners
Tempo:
83 bpm
Chords used:
E
A
Bm
B
C
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
Every bass player has got to be able to play some blues, right?
Well, that's the style that falls into this swing category.
And that's what you're going to learn, is how to play some nice blues grooves
that aren't too hard and just park on one note.
But boy, it's a nice toe-tapping groove.
So here we go.
We talked about this back in Rhythm 101.
Our first track is a slow blues.
We're going to go ahead and just play along with it with an open E.
And remember, your subdivision is 1 triplet, 2 triplet, 3 triplet, 4 triplet.
I'll start off [E]
playing quarter notes.
Open E.
Not very effective, is it?
So we've got to shorten them up.
That's where you apply that dampening, both hands.
But that still doesn't sound right.
Do you remember that I talked about going in this rhythm, where you are playing
the first and third eighth notes of each beat?
If you were counting, you went 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 3, 1, 2, 3,
[N] 3, 1.
Now, what's important is that you hear these bass lines.
So we've been talking about playing.
Well, I'm actually going to backtrack and tell you
something that is the most important thing for you to be an effective musician.
Notice I didn't say a bass player.
A musician.
You need to be able to sing what it is you're going to play.
This gives you the right pitches.
It gives you the right rhythm.
It gives you the right articulation.
And ultimately, you're going to hear things in your head.
You'll get familiar with your instrument.
And your brain and your inner ear are going to feed what you play,
as opposed to just hunting and pecking.
I want to play that same track again.
And I'm going to sing the bass line.
Because if I sing it, I'm not going to sing something that sounds silly.
Now, I'm not expecting you to be able to sing like Pavarotti
and sound really in tune.
But the idea is to at least hear these bass lines, OK?
So here we go.
We're going to play the same track.
You should sing, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, [E] bump.
And then you play it.
And you'll be amazed how you just get into the groove.
Now, this connection is really critical.
You'll automatically get your articulation right.
So that's a low E.
Let's go over and play the open A back to low E.
Then the B.
Sounds like a blues, doesn't it?
A back to E, OK?
That was just an example of how you could play a 12-bar blues
against this track.
I'm not going to teach you that in this lesson,
because we're just getting up and running, right?
But have some fun.
And the fretted notes are a little easier to control,
because you've got to get that dampening in there.
OK, so that was a slow blues.
Let's listen to our next track, which is a little different tempo.
[N]
A little more up-tempo.
It's chugging along.
We're going to go with this low E again.
[E]
And we're going to play that same rhythm of, make sure you can play this, OK?
We're just going to park on that E.
But now we're
going to play along that same track with a nice, dirty electric rhythm
guitar part in there, a little grimy blues thing going on here.
[A] [B] [Bm] [E]
[A] OK, [C] you see what that's supposed to sound like?
Well, remember when we talked about on the straight eighth groove some
of the things you could do playing the octaves.
I told you how an octave lays on the bass.
If you play any note on the low E string,
the octave is always two frets higher over on the D string.
Two strings over, two frets up.
That same pattern also applies to the first and third strings.
But what are we going to do [E] here on this E?
The octave would be right here.
This is where you learn how to play the same notes in different places.
Any note on the bass will be five frets higher on the next lowest string.
So here I am in the second fret.
This is that octave E.
You can see it on your diagram.
But I don't want to jump over there.
Now, you might say, why don't I want to jump over there?
I don't like the way it sounds because it's a bit thin sounding.
And also, when you jump strings, especially down here with open strings,
you're going to have a wrestling match with open strings giving you overtones
and dampening all that business.
So we're going to take this same E, which is in the second fret.
And 2 plus 5 is what?
7.
So I go over to the next lowest string in terms of pitch.
I go up five frets.
There's my E.
It sounds thicker.
I like the tone of it.
Now, when I play against the track, I'm going to throw in that octave E.
And it's not so difficult because I'm dealing with adjacent strings.
Let's listen to this.
[A] [Bm]
[E]
You can see you're just having some fun.
You're still playing the root of the chord because the song is just an E chord.
E7.
And it's an E blues.
You're just staying on that E.
Later on in future lessons,
we're going to talk about other things you could play,
little runs and fills.
But for now, just get solid on playing over the E blues right there.
Now, let's listen to our last track.
It's a little quicker, same feel.
And we're just going to go with a G, third fret of the low E string.
Still a shuffle.
We're playing the same figure.
A little quicker.
[G]
So your goal in this lesson is to get to where
you can play along with that track.
There you have some
Well, that's the style that falls into this swing category.
And that's what you're going to learn, is how to play some nice blues grooves
that aren't too hard and just park on one note.
But boy, it's a nice toe-tapping groove.
So here we go.
We talked about this back in Rhythm 101.
Our first track is a slow blues.
We're going to go ahead and just play along with it with an open E.
And remember, your subdivision is 1 triplet, 2 triplet, 3 triplet, 4 triplet.
I'll start off [E]
playing quarter notes.
Open E.
Not very effective, is it?
So we've got to shorten them up.
That's where you apply that dampening, both hands.
But that still doesn't sound right.
Do you remember that I talked about going in this rhythm, where you are playing
the first and third eighth notes of each beat?
If you were counting, you went 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 3, 1, 2, 3,
[N] 3, 1.
Now, what's important is that you hear these bass lines.
So we've been talking about playing.
Well, I'm actually going to backtrack and tell you
something that is the most important thing for you to be an effective musician.
Notice I didn't say a bass player.
A musician.
You need to be able to sing what it is you're going to play.
This gives you the right pitches.
It gives you the right rhythm.
It gives you the right articulation.
And ultimately, you're going to hear things in your head.
You'll get familiar with your instrument.
And your brain and your inner ear are going to feed what you play,
as opposed to just hunting and pecking.
I want to play that same track again.
And I'm going to sing the bass line.
Because if I sing it, I'm not going to sing something that sounds silly.
Now, I'm not expecting you to be able to sing like Pavarotti
and sound really in tune.
But the idea is to at least hear these bass lines, OK?
So here we go.
We're going to play the same track.
You should sing, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, [E] bump.
And then you play it.
And you'll be amazed how you just get into the groove.
Now, this connection is really critical.
You'll automatically get your articulation right.
So that's a low E.
Let's go over and play the open A back to low E.
Then the B.
Sounds like a blues, doesn't it?
A back to E, OK?
That was just an example of how you could play a 12-bar blues
against this track.
I'm not going to teach you that in this lesson,
because we're just getting up and running, right?
But have some fun.
And the fretted notes are a little easier to control,
because you've got to get that dampening in there.
OK, so that was a slow blues.
Let's listen to our next track, which is a little different tempo.
[N]
A little more up-tempo.
It's chugging along.
We're going to go with this low E again.
[E]
And we're going to play that same rhythm of, make sure you can play this, OK?
We're just going to park on that E.
But now we're
going to play along that same track with a nice, dirty electric rhythm
guitar part in there, a little grimy blues thing going on here.
[A] [B] [Bm] [E]
[A] OK, [C] you see what that's supposed to sound like?
Well, remember when we talked about on the straight eighth groove some
of the things you could do playing the octaves.
I told you how an octave lays on the bass.
If you play any note on the low E string,
the octave is always two frets higher over on the D string.
Two strings over, two frets up.
That same pattern also applies to the first and third strings.
But what are we going to do [E] here on this E?
The octave would be right here.
This is where you learn how to play the same notes in different places.
Any note on the bass will be five frets higher on the next lowest string.
So here I am in the second fret.
This is that octave E.
You can see it on your diagram.
But I don't want to jump over there.
Now, you might say, why don't I want to jump over there?
I don't like the way it sounds because it's a bit thin sounding.
And also, when you jump strings, especially down here with open strings,
you're going to have a wrestling match with open strings giving you overtones
and dampening all that business.
So we're going to take this same E, which is in the second fret.
And 2 plus 5 is what?
7.
So I go over to the next lowest string in terms of pitch.
I go up five frets.
There's my E.
It sounds thicker.
I like the tone of it.
Now, when I play against the track, I'm going to throw in that octave E.
And it's not so difficult because I'm dealing with adjacent strings.
Let's listen to this.
[A] [Bm]
[E]
You can see you're just having some fun.
You're still playing the root of the chord because the song is just an E chord.
E7.
And it's an E blues.
You're just staying on that E.
Later on in future lessons,
we're going to talk about other things you could play,
little runs and fills.
But for now, just get solid on playing over the E blues right there.
Now, let's listen to our last track.
It's a little quicker, same feel.
And we're just going to go with a G, third fret of the low E string.
Still a shuffle.
We're playing the same figure.
A little quicker.
[G]
So your goal in this lesson is to get to where
you can play along with that track.
There you have some
Key:
E
A
Bm
B
C
E
A
Bm
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Every bass player has got to be able to play some blues, right?
Well, that's the style that falls into this swing category.
And that's what you're going to learn, is how to play some nice blues grooves
that aren't too hard and just park on one note.
But boy, it's a nice toe-tapping groove.
So here we go.
We talked about this back in Rhythm 101.
Our first track is a slow blues.
We're going to go ahead and just play along with it with an open E.
And remember, your subdivision is 1 triplet, 2 triplet, 3 triplet, 4 triplet.
I'll start off [E]
playing quarter notes.
_ _ Open E. _ _
_ _ _ Not very effective, is it? _
So we've got to shorten them up.
That's where you apply that dampening, both hands.
But that still doesn't sound right.
Do you remember that I talked about going in this rhythm, _ where you are playing
the first and third eighth notes of each beat?
If you were counting, you went 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 3, 1, 2, 3,
[N] 3, 1. _
_ _ _ Now, what's important is that you hear these bass lines.
So we've been talking about playing.
Well, I'm actually going to backtrack and tell you
something that is the most important thing for you to be an effective musician.
Notice I didn't say a bass player.
A musician.
You need to be able to sing what it is you're going to play.
This gives you the right pitches.
It gives you the right rhythm.
It gives you the right articulation.
And ultimately, you're going to hear things in your head.
You'll get familiar with your instrument.
And your brain and your inner ear are going to feed what you play,
as opposed to just hunting and pecking.
I want to play that same track again.
And I'm going to sing the bass line.
Because if I sing it, I'm not going to sing something that sounds silly.
Now, I'm not expecting you to be able to sing like Pavarotti
and sound really in tune.
But the idea is to at least hear these bass lines, OK?
So here we go.
We're going to play the same track.
_ You should sing, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, [E] bump.
And then you play it.
And _ _ _ you'll be amazed how you just get into the groove.
Now, this connection is really critical.
_ _ _ You'll automatically get your articulation right.
So that's a low E.
Let's go over and play the open A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ back to low E.
_ _ _ _ _ Then the B.
Sounds like a blues, doesn't it?
A _ back to E, OK?
That was just an example of how you could play a 12-bar blues
against this track.
I'm not going to teach you that in this lesson,
because we're just getting up and running, right?
But have some fun.
And the fretted notes are a little easier to control,
because you've got to get that dampening in there.
OK, so that was a slow blues.
Let's listen to our next track, which is a little different tempo.
_ _ [N] _
_ A little more up-tempo.
It's chugging along.
We're going to go with this low E again.
[E]
And we're going to play that same rhythm of, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ make sure you can play this, OK?
We're just going to park on that E.
But now we're
going to play along that same track with a nice, dirty electric rhythm
guitar part in there, a little grimy blues thing going on here. _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ [B] _ _ [Bm] _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] OK, [C] you see what that's supposed to sound like?
Well, remember when we talked about on the straight eighth groove some
of the things you could do playing the octaves.
I told you how an octave lays on the bass.
If you play any note on the low E string,
the octave is always two frets higher over on the D string.
Two strings over, two frets up.
That same pattern also applies to the first and third strings.
But what are we going to do [E] here on this E?
The octave would be right here.
_ This is where you learn how to play the same notes in different places.
Any note on the bass will be five frets higher on the next lowest string.
So here I am in the second fret.
This is that octave E.
You can see it on your diagram.
But I don't want to jump over there.
Now, you might say, why don't I want to jump over there?
I don't like the way it sounds because it's a bit thin sounding.
And also, when you jump strings, especially down here with open strings,
you're going to have a wrestling match with open strings giving you overtones
and dampening all that business.
So we're going to take this same E, which is in the second fret.
And 2 plus 5 is what?
7.
So I go over to the next lowest string in terms of pitch.
I go up five frets.
There's my E.
It sounds thicker.
I like the tone of it.
Now, when I play against the track, I'm going to throw in that octave E.
And it's not so difficult because I'm dealing with adjacent strings.
Let's listen to this.
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ [Bm] _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ You can see you're just having some fun.
You're still playing the root of the chord because the song is just an E chord.
E7.
And it's an E blues.
You're just staying on that E.
Later on in future lessons,
we're going to talk about other things you could play,
little runs and fills.
But for now, just get solid on playing over the E blues right there.
Now, let's listen to our last track.
It's a little quicker, same feel.
And we're just going to go with a G, third fret of the low E string.
Still a shuffle.
We're playing the same figure. _ _
A little quicker.
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ So your goal _ _ in this lesson is to get to where
you can play along with that track.
There you have some
Every bass player has got to be able to play some blues, right?
Well, that's the style that falls into this swing category.
And that's what you're going to learn, is how to play some nice blues grooves
that aren't too hard and just park on one note.
But boy, it's a nice toe-tapping groove.
So here we go.
We talked about this back in Rhythm 101.
Our first track is a slow blues.
We're going to go ahead and just play along with it with an open E.
And remember, your subdivision is 1 triplet, 2 triplet, 3 triplet, 4 triplet.
I'll start off [E]
playing quarter notes.
_ _ Open E. _ _
_ _ _ Not very effective, is it? _
So we've got to shorten them up.
That's where you apply that dampening, both hands.
But that still doesn't sound right.
Do you remember that I talked about going in this rhythm, _ where you are playing
the first and third eighth notes of each beat?
If you were counting, you went 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 3, 1, 2, 3,
[N] 3, 1. _
_ _ _ Now, what's important is that you hear these bass lines.
So we've been talking about playing.
Well, I'm actually going to backtrack and tell you
something that is the most important thing for you to be an effective musician.
Notice I didn't say a bass player.
A musician.
You need to be able to sing what it is you're going to play.
This gives you the right pitches.
It gives you the right rhythm.
It gives you the right articulation.
And ultimately, you're going to hear things in your head.
You'll get familiar with your instrument.
And your brain and your inner ear are going to feed what you play,
as opposed to just hunting and pecking.
I want to play that same track again.
And I'm going to sing the bass line.
Because if I sing it, I'm not going to sing something that sounds silly.
Now, I'm not expecting you to be able to sing like Pavarotti
and sound really in tune.
But the idea is to at least hear these bass lines, OK?
So here we go.
We're going to play the same track.
_ You should sing, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, [E] bump.
And then you play it.
And _ _ _ you'll be amazed how you just get into the groove.
Now, this connection is really critical.
_ _ _ You'll automatically get your articulation right.
So that's a low E.
Let's go over and play the open A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ back to low E.
_ _ _ _ _ Then the B.
Sounds like a blues, doesn't it?
A _ back to E, OK?
That was just an example of how you could play a 12-bar blues
against this track.
I'm not going to teach you that in this lesson,
because we're just getting up and running, right?
But have some fun.
And the fretted notes are a little easier to control,
because you've got to get that dampening in there.
OK, so that was a slow blues.
Let's listen to our next track, which is a little different tempo.
_ _ [N] _
_ A little more up-tempo.
It's chugging along.
We're going to go with this low E again.
[E]
And we're going to play that same rhythm of, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ make sure you can play this, OK?
We're just going to park on that E.
But now we're
going to play along that same track with a nice, dirty electric rhythm
guitar part in there, a little grimy blues thing going on here. _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ [B] _ _ [Bm] _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] OK, [C] you see what that's supposed to sound like?
Well, remember when we talked about on the straight eighth groove some
of the things you could do playing the octaves.
I told you how an octave lays on the bass.
If you play any note on the low E string,
the octave is always two frets higher over on the D string.
Two strings over, two frets up.
That same pattern also applies to the first and third strings.
But what are we going to do [E] here on this E?
The octave would be right here.
_ This is where you learn how to play the same notes in different places.
Any note on the bass will be five frets higher on the next lowest string.
So here I am in the second fret.
This is that octave E.
You can see it on your diagram.
But I don't want to jump over there.
Now, you might say, why don't I want to jump over there?
I don't like the way it sounds because it's a bit thin sounding.
And also, when you jump strings, especially down here with open strings,
you're going to have a wrestling match with open strings giving you overtones
and dampening all that business.
So we're going to take this same E, which is in the second fret.
And 2 plus 5 is what?
7.
So I go over to the next lowest string in terms of pitch.
I go up five frets.
There's my E.
It sounds thicker.
I like the tone of it.
Now, when I play against the track, I'm going to throw in that octave E.
And it's not so difficult because I'm dealing with adjacent strings.
Let's listen to this.
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ [Bm] _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ You can see you're just having some fun.
You're still playing the root of the chord because the song is just an E chord.
E7.
And it's an E blues.
You're just staying on that E.
Later on in future lessons,
we're going to talk about other things you could play,
little runs and fills.
But for now, just get solid on playing over the E blues right there.
Now, let's listen to our last track.
It's a little quicker, same feel.
And we're just going to go with a G, third fret of the low E string.
Still a shuffle.
We're playing the same figure. _ _
A little quicker.
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ So your goal _ _ in this lesson is to get to where
you can play along with that track.
There you have some