In this bass lesson, you’re going to learn
5 beginner-friendly bass lines that are guaranteed
to impress and the best part is that they’re
super easy to play, so you can start playing
them today!
I’m Luke McIntosh from becomeabassist.com
and if you want to learn some bass lines that
people actually like and recognize, and get
people excited about your playing then keep
watching!
[Video Intro]
I love the bass - pretty much everything about
it.
The way it sounds, the way it feels, the way
it gets people to move, but there’s one
thing that kind of sucks about it.
If you’re a guitar player or a piano player
- even if you’re a drummer, if someone asks
you to play something, there’s tons of super
easy things you can play that people will
recognize and sing along with..
A guitar player might play a super famous
riff like Smoke On The Water or Sweet Child
Of Mine - or even strum a famous chord progression.
Something like Wonderwall always seems to
get a reaction.
Piano players can do this same thing - they
can play things like John Lennon’s Imagine
or pretty much anything by Elton John and
instantly people will be singing along and
having a great time.
However!
If you played the bass line to any of these
songs, people would just look at you funny
and say, “What the hell is that supposed
to be”.
Because the bass is so often a supporting
instrument, there aren’t a ton of examples
of bass lines that will prick people’s ears
up and get them excited.
However, there are a few absolute gems: bass
lines that you can play that get the same
kind of reaction as one of these other famous
guitar songs or piano songs.
The kind of bass line that almost defines
the song.
You don’t need anything BUT the bass line
for people to get into it and start yourself
a glorious sing along! [laughs]
The first song that’s great for this is
7-Nation Army from The White Stripes.
It’s super simple and it’s pretty much
the same thing the whole way through.
The funny part is that there’s not actually
a bass in the original recording - the thing
playing the bass line is a guitar that’s
been put down an octave.
It still sounds cool though and it’s easy
to play.
First, let’s listen to the whole thing really
quick.
[plays bass line] Super simple, right?
That’s the majority of the song!
So how do we play it?
We’re going to start this one on this E
right here - 2nd fret on your D-string.
From there, we’re going to go up to the
open G string, then back down.
Simple enough so far!
From here, we’re going to keep going down
- we’ll go to this open D-string right here.
Then, to round things off, you play a long
C - 3rd fret on your A-string right here,
and then take it down one fret to the B - 2nd
fret on your A-string.
Again, the whole thing and you get this.
[plays bass line]
Now there are 2 small variations in the bass
line.
The first comes right before the chorus where
we get 2 bars of straight 8th notes on G,
and then A. [plays bass notes] This also happens
at the end of the chorus.
You can use your 3rd fret on the E-string
and open A-string or you could use the 5th
fret on your E-string too.
Whatever works for you is fine.
In fact, you could play most of the bass line
further up the neck like this.
[plays bass line] That’d be fine too.
The 2nd variation I’m talking about happens
in the chorus of the song.
Instead of the regular bass line in the chorus,
every second time, we get this [plays bass
line] That first part is the same, but when
we get to the G - the 3rd fret on the E-string,
we go back up to the open A, back to the G
before we finally settle on the F#. [plays
bass line] Just like that.
Of course I’ve put the links to all the
songs in the description if you want to go
and play along with the real thing.
Let’s move on right now though!
For the next one, let’s go old school and
play Ben E. King’s Stand By Me.
This is a super iconic bassline and it’s
great for us because you can just play that
bass line and nothing else and people still
know exactly what the song is and they can
sing along - even if it’s just the chorus.
And one of the great things about it is it’s
the exact same the whole way through.
The whole thing will sound like this.
[plays bass line] Sound familiar?
Let’s get to playing it.
We’re going to start on this high A here
- 2nd fret on the G-string.
We’ve got 2 hits on this note [plays notes]
before we get an E on the D-string, 2nd fret,
followed by a G# on the G-string - that’s
the first fret there.
So we have this.
[plays bass line] Then we’re going to pass
through that G# again on the first fret and
land on the F# right here at the 4th fret
of our D-string and have 2 of them.
[plays bass line] It’s rhythmically identical
to the first one, yeah?
After these 2 F#s we go down the this E - 2nd
fret on the D-string - and back up.
[plays bass line]
We’re about halfway through by this point,
so now we’re going to go through that E
again to land on the open D-string and once
again, 2 hits just like we had on the A and
the F#. [plays bass line] This time though,
instead of going down from this note, we’re
actually going to go up to the F# again and
circle back around to the E and hit that one
twice.
[plays bass line] And finally, you play the
first part again starting on the E, going
to the G# and A. [plays bass line] So the
whole thing together sounds like this.
[plays bass line] Like I said - it’s the
same the whole way through so just start it
up, wait for someone to recognize it and you’re
off to the races!
For bass line #3, we’re going to look at
Rick James’ Superfreak.
It was also sampled by MC Hammer for Can’t
Touch This, and that probably ended up being
more well-known.
It’s virtually the same the whole way through
as well though!
We start with a really quick hammer on from
the C on our A-string to the D. That’s from
the 3rd fret to the 5th fret, and then we
come straight back down to the C, the B - 2nd
fret on the A string - to the open A or the
5th fret on the E-string.
Whichever you prefer.
This one [plays open A] or this one.
[plays A on E-string] Either is fine.
From here you’ve got 2 variations.
The first one that happens sounds like this
[plays bass line] We have the open E-string,
then up to the G - 3rd fret on the E-string.
They’re like a little pair.
Then we get another pair from the B - 2nd
fret on the A-string down to the open A or
again, if you want, you can use the 5th fret
on 
the E-string.
The second variation just replaces that open
E-string with that B on the A-string.
[plays bass line] So the 
first time you use that open E and the 2nd
time, you use the B instead.
The whole phrase will sound like this.
[plays bass line] Again, this is another one
that people will immediately recognize and
they’ll probably say at some point that
you can’t touch this.
[laughs]
Bass line #4, we’re going to go old school
again and have a look at Queen’s Another
One Bites The Dust - maybe one of the most
well recognized bass lines, maybe ever!
And to get started with it, it’s super simple
- just 3 notes.
The part that everyone knows and the part
we’re going to be looking at sounds like
this [plays bass line] Super simple, right?
We start with a quick run down from the A
- 5th fret on the E-string - to the G - 3rd
fret on the E-string - and then 3 super heavy
Es. [plays bass line] The next part is a little
bit tricky rhythmically, but I’m sure you’ll
be able to handle it.
We get three more quick Es before going back
up to the G. [plays bass line] Yeah?
Just like that.
Da-da-da-daaah.
Then to finish it off we’ve got one more
E, and then a quick jump up to the A right
here.
[plays bass line] The whole thing will sound
like this.
[plays bass line] There are a few more sections
in the song, but this one is the one that
people will know and will sing along to.
For our last bass line, let’s get a bit
more modern, yeah?
Let’s take a look at Meghan Trainor’s
All About That Bass.
Super popular song with a simple bass line
and I’m sure if you played this in a room
full of people, you’d have at least a few
who knew all the words and are probably just
looking for an opportunity to sing it!
It’s just got 3 chords and the same kind
of idea is played over all three.
So first of all, let’s play the whole thing.
Altogether, it’ll sound like this.
[plays bass line] Again - fairly simple.
Let’s break it down.
We’ll start with this open A-string right
here and go up to a C on the same string - 3rd
fret - and from here you go up one fret to
the C#.
You can either hammer on or just pluck it
regularly.
And from here, you go up to this E on the
D-string - 2nd fret.
So far we have this.
[plays bass line] to finish off the idea,
we just go down to the C# and then down to
the A-string.
So the first bit sounds like this.
[plays bass line] In the intro, that’s all
you get, but for pretty much the rest of the
song, that idea gets repeated twice like this.
[plays bass line] The next part starts on
a B - 2nd fret on the A-string and we’re
going to have the exact same rhythm, but different
notes.
So we’re starting on that B, then going
up to our C#, then to D - 5th fret - before
going up to an F# and back down.
[plays bass line] Again, it’s repeated twice
throughout the song.
The last idea is the exact same as the first
one, but we’re starting on our open E-string
rather than our open A. That means we’ll
have open E, G and G# - 3rd and 4th fret on
the E-string - then up to B - 2nd fret on
the A-string and then back down to the G#
and then to the E. [plays bass line]
You put it all together, you’ll get this.
[plays bass line]
Now like I said, I’ve put all the links
to these songs below so you can go ahead and
play along with the actual recordings and
get a feel for each of them.
If you liked this lesson, be sure to head
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you’d ever need to play on bass.
Thanks so much for watching - I really do
appreciate it.
I’m Luke McIntosh from becomeabassist.com
and I’ll see you soon.
