Search Results for: style

In this episode, we’ll continue to explore the Afro-Caribbean influence on the music that we know as Rock and Roll and R&B. I’m going to show you just a few ways that I use note length and some other “flavor packets” to spice up the 3:2 Clave and give it my own style and personality.  I’ve included some transcriptions of...

It has now been one week since my hero passed away. Like everyone else on the planet I am still in great shock and disbelief. Even though I had another episode “in the can” and ready to go I thought that it would be most fitting to share with you the first bass line that I ever learned, “Uptown” by...

The tresillo is derived from the fundamental Latin music groove called “habenera”. It can also be thought of as a variation on the Afro-Cuban son clave. Ragtime pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton famously called the tresillo that “Spanish tinge” that is a necessary ingredient for New Orleans jazz. The prominence of the tresillo in African-American music traditions and, particularly...

Time to add another lick lesson to the series. This time around, our focus is on this funky fingerstyle bass groove, which is in the key of Dm or D7, using mostly the D minor Dorian scale with chromatic connecting notes. This lick also relies heavily on open strings, for fast note doubling (D on open string to D on...

Last time, we got down and dirty with a overdrive-charged rock bass groove. This time around, we’re going to get a bit more funky with a modern Gospel-style lick, complete with all the slurs and slides. This groove is based on B minor Aolian, which is a great key and mode for this setting, especially on a 5-string bass, which...

Changing things up a bit this time around with a funky 5-string bass groove (which can also be played on a 4-string). The fill is based on the Em Dorian scale (E F? G A B C? D) and uses the open strings for a doubling effect. The doubling effect is something we’ve tried before (see: Soul/Funk Fingerstyle Bass Groove...

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...

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...

In this lesson we’re going to focus on a style known as finger-style funk (or “finger funk”), with the goal of developing both dexterity and accuracy in your playing. Finger-style funk is typically centered around the 16th note, and many of the notes are muted. You’ll notice in the notation for this lesson that those muted notes are indicated with...

Today’s “Keep It Groovy” lesson involves playing a blues shuffle in the key of E, and more specifically, a Texas style shuffle. Inspired by the bass line from Albert Collins’ “T Bone Shuffle,” this takes us through a 12-bar-blues progression.

In this “Keep It Groovy” episode, we’ll channel the power of George Porter Jr. to get our funk on. Check out this lesson Ryan Madora created around “Cissy Strut” by The Meters.