Groove Archives - Page 3

One of the most important things we do as bass players is to create and lock into a groove. When I practice this I prefer a drum machine to a metronome. Here’s a guide to working with a drum machine to master the groove: 1. Set the tempo and style. Choose all the styles you are trying to be competent...

One of the important aspects of playing bass is your ability to groove. In this new lesson, I’ll offer up some beginner-level concepts to help you start down the path. We’ll explore keeping time and using percussive an ghost notes to make the lines come to life… the recipe for getting people out of their seats and dancing. Follow along...

Continuing our bass groove lesson series, here’s a cool (and relaxed) groove and exercise for you. In this groove, we’re employing double stops with one of the most common shapes: Major 10th, root note, and a Major 3rd (an octave above). Follow along with the video and this lesson transcription (PDF download). For the gear heads, I’m playing my Sandberg...

Bassist Henrique Corrêa sent us this video of him laying down a sweet groove. What more needs to be said?

Here’s a neat little fingerstyle groove lick lesson, complete with double stops and that open string trick we’ve been playing around with over a couple of the recent lessons. I can’t seem to stop using this technique when playing licks. Maybe it is becoming my signature thing! Follow along with the video and the transcription (PDF). We’re in the key...

In this lesson, we’ll explore some fingerstyle soul/funk with a nice groove in A. As with the previous lesson, I’m making use of open strings to achieve some fast note doubling (this time, A and D). Follow along with the video and this transcription (PDF). For the gear heads: I’m playing a Sandberg California TT MarloweDK Signature bass through a...

Q: What’s your suggestion for someone trying to get a better feeling on where to put a “pop” on a bass line? Sometimes I want to put a pop on a slap or a pizzicato line, but I always end up putting it on the beats 2 or 4. How to develop a better feeling, to be able to place...

Keeping up with this recent series of quick bass lick lessons, here’s a short groove in Em. I’m playing this with an open D string to achieve a note doubling effect. Follow along with the video and this transcription (PDF). For the gear heads: I’m playing a 1964 Fender Jazz bass with Dunlop nickel strings, gauge 45-105 running through a...

Here’s another quick lesson for you, this time focusing on a disco-style bass groove. As with any excercise, it is important to keep playing it without stopping until you find that groove. Follow along with the video and this transcription (PDF). The tempo on this one is 105 bpm. For the gear heads: I’m playing a 1966 Fender Precision bass...

Bassist Damien Langkamer put together this funky video to teach us how to build on the groove. (And how about that tone?) Damien shares, “I’m taking a few simple groove ideas and expanding them each time round, to build on the groove. There’s two main ideas in this, a funky melody section and a choppy bridge section, both start off...

Here are some cool patterns for you to try out, using open strings for creating fast passages and note doubling. In the video demonstration, I first play it at full speed, followed by a reduced speed. Follow along with the notation/TAB (PDF). For the gear heads: I’m playing my 1966 Fender Precision bass (I don’t use the Jazz bass bridge...

Photo Credit: Mika Hiironniemi As bassists, one of our main goals is to make the band groove. The only problem is that the term can be vague. Many young players that begin their quest for the elusive groove are met with descriptions like, “If you have to ask, you’ll never know.” In an effort to share ideas and bring us...