Keep It Groovy

What should beginner bassists practice? Ryan Madora shares three essentials for building consistent technique, fretboard confidence, and steady eighth-note timing.

Learn to create funky bass lines with minor pentatonic shapes, upbeat syncopation, and simple variations in this Low Rider-inspired Keep It Groovy lesson.

Learn three major triad shapes on bass with this Keep It Groovy lesson, using a G–C–D–C progression in 6/8 to practice chord tones and move around the neck.

Learn to build a Motown-inspired bass line with a simple chord progression. Use roots, fifths, sixths, and rhythm to create a classic soul groove of your own.

Learn how Duck Dunn’s bass line locks with the drums on Albert King’s “Born Under a Bad Sign,” including its pickup, feel, form, and key rhythmic cues.

Learn how chord inversions work on bass, what slash chords like D/F# and G/B mean, and how to use them to create smoother, more musical bass lines.

Ryan Madora and drummer George Sluppick break down the Bo Diddley beat, showing how bass and drums lock in and turn the groove funky at slower tempos.

Learn how to build a killer bass groove over two chords using rhythm, chord tones, pentatonic scales, slides, fills, and call and response.

Learn how to use string raking to improve your bass right-hand technique, create smoother lines, and move efficiently across the strings.

Learn how to use open strings in a C blues walking bass line to improve fretboard navigation, create smoother position shifts, and add chromatic movement.

Learn two major pentatonic bass shapes and use them to create grooves, fills, slides, and smoother movement across a I-IV-V chord progression in G major.

Learn how to build a funk bass groove using a simple theme, dead notes, Dorian movement, and tasteful fills that support the pocket.