Bass Lessons

This lesson adds a new song to your blues repertoire, but don’t worry, it’s not another 12-bar. “She Caught The Katy” by Taj Mahal is simply a great tune with a funky bass line. We’ll dig into the chord progression, work through the different sections of the song, and get you playing in no time.

In this 75th episode of Talking Technique, we’ll break down the epic Joe Dart bass line to “Lost my Treble Long Ago.” This tune has some cool dead notes, trills, and more.

In this Keep It Groovy bass lesson, Ryan Madora walks us through how to play a blues shuffle by practicing along to drum backing tracks.

In this lesson, we do our best Duck Dunn impression and learn the bass line to the Otis Redding classic, “Down In The Valley.”

In this lesson, we’ll keep it groovy with a classic country bass line. We’re featuring “Jolene” by Dolly Parton and how this relatively easy bass line still requires us to be aware of many musical concepts.

The chorus of “Walk This Way” by Aerosmith features a cool pentatonic riff with slides that we can build on for cool-sounding variations. Buckle up for fretboard fitness, finger acrobatics, and rocking riffs!

This is a serious bass lesson. We’re digging into triads… different positions, using our pinky, major and minor shapes, the whole shebang!

In this lesson, we’ll explore the world of Soul and R&B bass lines and how major triads are used to create memorable parts. Bass players, including Duck Dunn, David Hood and more have used this approach to write iconic bass lines for songs we know and love.

Let’s dig into one of the truly great James Jamerson bass lines, the Motown classic “How Sweet It Is” by Marvin Gaye. This lesson will string together descending arpeggios, the blues box pattern, and root-fifth movement.

Alex Lofoco dives into Jaco Pastorius’s solo on “The Days Of Wine And Roses,” including the bass transcription and the background for the solo.

This bass lesson features a quick technique exercise that can seriously help your mobility on the bass. It’s about developing the adjacent string toggle, or the ability to quickly play the same fret on two strings that are next to one another.

This lesson focuses on one of the most popular eight-bar blues tunes, “Key To The Highway.” It features a shuffle feel, much like the version from Derek & The Dominos.