100 Bass Riffs: A Brief History of Groove on Bass and Drums

I love checking out these groove compilations, and the guys at Chicago Music Exchange hit it out of the park on this one.

Bassist Marc Najjar teamed with drummer Nate Bauman to put together 100 of the most iconic bass riffs starting with 1955’s “Ain’t That A Shame” by Fats Domino and winding up the 2013 track “My God is the Sun” by Queens of the Stone Age.

Which one is your favorite?

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Share your thoughts

  1. Number 23 reminds me on Brain Stew.
    Could listen the whole day to a full length version of this compilation.

  2. Pail

    Chics Good times is wrong.
    And the beards aren’t right also.

  3. Oroch

    Agree on the beards, cool idea though

  4. Terence Rabe

    Glad Tool got a mention :-) Also, I’m always struck by how some of the simplest riffs are the most effective… it’s all good and well to set the fretboard alight with blazing 32nd note fireworks but does it reach into your soul and light up a smile?

  5. Jakub

    This guy have no groove ! When he plays other stuff than rock he just sucks – sorry man !

    • Bassopotamus

      I don’t think any of the funk stuff is right. Not only groove, but notes too. Flashlight’s 2nd note is off and changes the whole riff. I’m pretty sure Brick House, Express yourself, etc had errors too.

      still, it is a fun clip

  6. I am sorry but I can’t find anything good in this: not the playing (it’s just awful at moments), not the tone and not the choice of songs. .

  7. Nick

    This is splendid, thank you very much indeed.

  8. No problem with mistakes.. is a great idea…

  9. Nice I enjoyed it. forget about what the rhythm section police say.. i dont see any of vids from them…

  10. edit: Playing a song note for note is an amature thing… taking a songs flavor and playing it from inside.. play your groove but keeping the flavor of the tune ..that’s another level ;)

  11. There were definitely some points where I thought to myself “I would have played that better!” but then I remember I haven’t because I have never had used my time to do something cool like this so I shut up and say GOOD JOB FELLAS.

  12. Sterling

    No Mike Watt? I think funk/disco is underrepresented as well.

  13. James Giles

    A labor of love; nice work. Working bassists take heed – in a month of work I will play Tchaikowsy 4, a tribute to Motown, a Broadway show, a Movie Music pops show (double bass and electric), a Halloween Spooktacular kid show, and Mahler 2. This wide variety is not unusual. If you want to work, you have to play it ll these days.

  14. He plays a dozen or so incorrectly, and has a lot of rhythm issues. He does play most of the slap stuff pretty well, over all not too bad I also don’t like a few of the choices and feel there are some omissions. For one day tripper has a better bass drum groove than taxman. My favorite bass line is hard to say, out the ones he played n.i.b but it was one of the ones he played wrong.

  15. Dal'Rok

    Good idea but absolutely muddy sound.

  16. For those of you giving the guy a hard time, please post your own videos. I would love to see how good you all are.

    • Tony

      Thank you for that comment, Liam. I agree 100%. I’m just starting out as a bassist and nowhere near what this guy can do. I’ve not played for others yet but used to sing with a band in front of an audience. It’s never easy putting yourself out there – no matter what your experience level – and doubly so on the Internet where people can make comments like this anonymously and/or conveniently forget they’re talking to another person.

    • RoyJV

      Yes, yes, yes! Let’s be realistic.
      I can play some of those better, you can probably play some other ones better too. But all the songs in a row that quickly in one single take is not easy. I can’t do it and I’m damn good.
      Give them a lot of credit. It’s hard enough to remember what song comes next.

  17. L. Brown

    Express Yourself is probably my favorite. There were a ton of others that I appreciated though.

  18. fawltytowersonnetflix

    Pretty good, pretty good. But I like how even on this, highlighting the history of ther baseline, the bass is too low in the mix, and gets drowned out by the cymbals. Could you not turn him up in the mix for once in your lives?

  19. Can’t listen to a bass player who sits down

    • RoyJV

      Close your eyes.

    • RoyJV

      Do you know Carol Kaye?
      Incase you don’t you should Google her and the rest of The Wrecking Crew.
      Long story short, a lot of songs you know and love from the late 50’s to the mid 70’s were played by her and her colleagues … while she was all sitting down.

  20. Mass Jack

    Missing: “Down in the Tube Station at Midnight” – The Jam, and “Is She Really Going Out with Him?” – Joe Jackson. Also, only one song by the Who? Great stuff overall, bravo!

    • RoyJV

      “Is she really going out with him? ”
      *Are you really bringing up that song?
      (*sung in the same tune)

  21. Justin

    Marc, you killed it man!

  22. i tried to enjoy, decent selection of lines just some of them the notes are so off it hurts, keep it up tho, cool idea

  23. John

    I found this to be a lovely interpretation and presentation. Great work, guys!

  24. RoyJV

    Wow, so many haters on here. I know this could’ve been better or that might have gone like this but come on, they played 100 songs in a row for almost 20 minutes in one shot! I’m just amazed they knew what song was next and when to change. Bravo, guys, on your playing and your beards.

  25. Hurricane Jimmie

    Well Done Gentlemen! You’re part of the 1% who can do something like this straight through…. I’d be happy if I had one or two chops in my trick bag. Taxman!

  26. I had so much fun watching this and got some great ideas for things to learn – thank you!