Hi again, Mark here from talkingbass.net.
This week, I'll be taking apart five of the
most popular and best bass riffs that you
can learn as a beginner. Now, riffs are a
great learning resource for beginning bass
players because they're short, and they're
a lot less time-consuming than learning full
songs where you'll need to learn all the form
and all the sections, etc.
So, they're great for quickly developing some
practice material, and they usually quite
catchy and melodic. So they're a little more
interesting to play than the basic root fifth
kind of compounds. If you've not been over
to talkingbass.net, then go check it out.
There's hours and hours of video lessons all
systemized and categorized in the lesson map,
and you can also download all the lesson material
from there too.
If you subscribe, also for free, you'll gain
access to the members' area and that contains
a load of resources there to help you learn
the instrument. And if you're a beginner,
be sure to check out the beginners course,
that's an 8-lesson course dealing with the
absolute basics of playing from holding the
instrument right through to the basics of
technique and how to learn songs.
So go check it out. So let's get started with
a really famous bass line, "Another One Bites
the Dust" by Queen. So, first of all, I'll
just play along with the backing track at
full speed.
[music]
 
Okay. The practice tracks for all these riffs
can be downloaded from talkingbass.net. So
just follow the link below this video, if
you're watching on YouTube, and if you're
watching on talkingbass.net, then simply click
on the big download button just below.
So even though this riff might sound really
simple, and a lot of players would probably
class it as an easy riff to play, there are
a few little challenges in there for the beginning
player because we need to do a few little
skips with the finger picking. So it's good
for developing the technique there. And also
we've got a change of the note durations,
so we have to vary them so that's good for
developing your feel.
So, we'll just start by going through the
notes, okay? So we start at the A there fifth
fret of the E string, okay? And I'm playing
that with the fourth finger. The reason I'm
playing with the fourth finger is because
we're going to move down. So we've got fourth
finger there on the A 5th fret of the E string,
then we're down to the G, third fret of the
E string, so we've got fifth fret, third fret,
A, G, and that's with the fourth finger, first
finger. And then we're down to the open E
string, okay?
So, A, G, E. Frets, five, three, zero. Fingers,
four to one, and then obviously, nothing.
So, that's your beginning part. Then, we've
got three Es, okay? Three open E strings,
so it's that really recognizable section of
it so we've got. So, three notes of E there.
Then, we repeat the E three more times. We've
got a little quick one and then two longer
ones, as you'll hear. So, they're all on an
E string.
So, from the start very slowly. Okay? So I'm
not gonna go...Because this is more for beginners,
I'm not going to go into the actual rhythms
that we're using. Just have a listen to how
I play it and then just copy. So we've got.
So it goes, babam-bam, babam-bam, on the opening.
And then we go to the G, then open E, then
A, G, E, A. So, so very slowly. A, G, E, E,
E, E, E, E, G, E, A, okay?
And you can see that I'm using the fourth
finger, first finger for coming down, open
string, open string, open string, Open string,
open string, open string, and then, first
finger for the G, open string, fourth finger.
So, I'm only using the first and then, you
know, metal. I'm only using the first and
fourth fingers there. So, just around and
round. So you want to start really, really
slowly, and then just build up speed. Don't
rush it because it'll start to get scrappy,
but pay particular attention to the rhythms,
okay?
So, I'll start very slowly so you can play
along with it, and then we'll try with the
drum beat. So. A little quicker. And. Okay?
Now, in terms of the picking hand, you can
pretty much try, you know, any way that feels
natural to you, but I'll just go through the
way that I usually play this because it can
be quite tricky with those little skips, you
know, the dadan, dan, dan, badandan, you know,
all that kind of stuff.
So, I'll just go through what fingering I'm
using on this hand. So, I'm starting on the
first finger. So, one, two, one, okay? So
I'm alternating picking. One, two, one. Then
I'm staying on with one finger for the. And
then finger one for the next one, then. There
I've got one, two, one, one, two, one. Two,
one, two, okay? Okay? So, I usually find that
starting with the first finger on the, seems
to help somewhat in getting that little skip.
But, if you have a different way of playing
it, you know, just go with it as long as you've
got that feeling, as long as, you know, getting
the notes right, it doesn't really matter.
Before we try playing with the backing track,
it's worth just mentioning one little aspect
of this just to prepare you for when we get
the counting. And that's the fact that it
has what's known as a pickup or an anacrusis.
So you get a little bit of musical terminology
there, with anacrusis, okay? So it's usually
called a pickup. And that just means that
it comes in before the beat, okay? So with
the counting, we would have one, two, three,
four and the one, okay? Dadadan.
So beat one is bump so one, two, three, four.
So the open E is on beat one, so we're coming
in before it, just that little. That's why
it's called a pickup, so we're just leading
into beat one. And this is very common, it's
not like some complicated thing, loads of
tunes do it. So, that's just one thing to
bear in mind, so if you were to count it,
it will be, one, two, three, four, and then
one. Three, four, and then one, okay?
So now we'll try with the backing track, and
you can just go through the different tempos
that are provided. And we'll start with 80
beats per minute, okay? So this is quite slow.
So here it is with the backing track.
[music]
Okay? So you can just work your way through
all the different tempos there. It starts
at 80 works through. I'm not gonna waste time
by just going through each tempo, but we'll
go for the quickest tempo, which is 110 beats
per minute, so that's the original tempo,
tempo being the speed. And so this is what
it is that tempo.
[music]
Okay? So the next thing to look at is the
note duration in there. So, if I was to play
all of those notes in that riff fully held,
it would sound like this. Okay? So you can
hear out it doesn't have the same feel, it's
just a very much a laidback kind of feel.
Very, very different. Cutting those notes
short gives it a much more spiky kind of agitated
feel, so it's got more movement, it's got
more propulsion.
That's not to say that that's good or bad,
neither way is, it just depends on the kind
of feel that you try to create. And it's worth
bearing in mind even as a beginner that, well,
how much of an impact that can have. And it
can make the difference between sounding good
or bad or, you know, a beginner or a more
intermediate or advanced, you know. As you
get more control over the notes, it will make
a massive difference.
And people don't think about this when they
first start, they start thinking about notes
and about playing, you know, "One day I want
to be able to play like this," and the thing
about all the famous people and think about
the notes, but they don't really think about
little things like note duration. You know.
just the feel of it in there. And they're
the things that make such a difference, okay?
So when it's got notes short like this on
an open string, we can use this hand. We can
use either hand but well, first of all, we'll
just look at this hand.
So, all you need to do is pluck an open string
and then we just put the fingers down, likely.
So we're not hammering down like that. So
if you just play on each beat, okay? So we're
just gonna play, one, two, three, four, one,
two, three, four. Two, three, four, one, two,
three, four. So we're playing the notes on
the one and then on the next beat, we're bringing
the hand down to choke the note.
So when I say choke, I mean cut the note short,
okay? So, one, two, three, four. One, two,
or one, two, one, two, one, two. Hear all
that note is being cut short there, it's half
the duration. So without that, two, one, two,
one, two, one, two, one, two. Now, another
way that you can cut that note short is by
actually using this hand. So if I was to play,
so I'm not even using this hand. So, one,
two, one, two. So I'm just putting the finger
back on the string, okay? Now, when you do
that without any use of this hand, you do
get a bit of ringing out from the other notes.
You have to be careful but it's worth noticing
that you can do it that way.
So, I'll usually use both in conjunction with
each other, so, just to make sure everything
is nice and quiet, okay? So next, we want
to try staccato, so very detached, okay? So
we've got, so fully held. And so, that tempo.
So that's fully held. Okay? So
we've got three different durations there,
which is playing on each beat, two, three,
four. One, and two, and three, and four, and
so they're of they'll go a kinda that motion,
going on and then bap, bap. And it's not very
easy at first, it looks like or it sounds
like the easiest thing in the world to do,
but it does take quite a bit of getting used
to. But once you can do it and it's become
just a part of your technique, you'll just
be doing it without even thinking, it just
becomes a part you're playing, okay?
So, back to the riff. So we've got. Okay?
So all those first three open Es are all quite
short. And then that final A there, we're
quitting that shot. So I'm just stopping at
it with that fourth finger and then releasing
pressure, oops. Okay? So, all together very
slowly. Okay? So you wanna listen to the note
durations there, and just try and copy that,
okay?
So once more, just as a comparison, here the
riff is with completely held notes. And with
a different or with more feel. Okay? So for
our second riff, we have the riff from "Stand
By Me" by Ben E. King. Now, this is a great
riff to learn because it just repeats and
repeats all the way through the tune, so fantastic
for the rest in playing if you've got the
original. And it's a great example of how
some of these riffs actually just weave a
line through a core progression but we'll
get onto that in a second.
So I'll just play with the backing track but
it's also worth bearing in mind that in the
original, there's no drum beat, it's like
a triangle and some percussion and stuff like
that with all the orchestra. So I've devised
a little drum beat that works with it, so
we'll use that, okay? So at full speed, it
goes like this. [music]
Okay? So we're in the key of G major, and
we start on a G note, fifth fret of the D
string, okay? Play it twice until we play
them quite short just as we looked at with
"Another One Bites the Dust."
So, then move down to the D, fifth fret of
the A string, up to the F sharp, that's the
fourth fret of the D string, and then back
to the G. So, okay? G, G, D, F sharp, G, G.
Then once you put the G again twice, we have
G, F sharp, E, okay? So, fifth fret, fourth
fret, second fret, all on the D string. Then
we play the E twice, so. Then down to the
D, fifth fret of the A string, and then back
to the E. So all together so far we have.
Then 
we have E again second fret of the D string,
down to the D fifth fret of the A string,
then down to the C third fret of the A string.
So then we'll play it twice on the C, so.
So again, just from the beginning. So that's
C, then we have C, E, second fret of the D
string, and then back to the D at the fifth
fret of the A string, twice. And then we play
D, F sharp, G, okay? Just as we did at the
beginning. So fifth fret of the E string,
fourth fret of D string, and back to the fifth
fret. And the last material these riffs are
all transcribed in the lesson in the PDF that's
downloadable from talkingbass.net.
And if you're at talkingbass.net, you can
just download it with the download button
below. Through at YouTube, click the link
in the info below to take you there. So, if
you look at that, they'll be the tablature
and the written music in there, and you can
just work your way through it, okay? So that
suits me going over and over again with this
stuff. So I'll play it very, very slowly,
just follow along with the music, and it goes
like this.
Okay? And then we're back to the beginning.
So, well, as I said there are a few different
ways that you could finger out. I could play
it like this also. And play the E there. That's
probably how I would play it but because I
want to keep it more in the kind of beginners
then, I'm keeping it down here in this kind
of lower area, so you don't have that big
stretch, okay?
So, yeah, just play it very slowly, and then
just build it up to speed. So as before, let's
try with the backing track and the backing
tracks that's at 90 beats per minute, so.
[music]
Okay? So just work through those tempos again,
and then up to full speed, 118 beats per minute.
[music]
Now, one of the main issues that you might
have with learning this riff is the timing,
and it's just with the first note...that with
the second note there, sorry. So, and if you're
having any problems with that, just subdivide,
so we just think one and two, and three and
four, and so we think eighth notes. So instead
of thinking one, two, three, four, I think
one and two, and three and four. And what
we do is we hit on the one, one and two and
three and four and one and two and three and
four and one and two and three and four and
one and two and three and four ones.
And the other hit is on the end of two. So
we have one and two and, okay? So very, very
slowly, one and two and three and four and
one and two and three and four and...Okay?
So you want to say it out loud and play it,
get used to that and then gradually you can
take the talking out so you don't have to
keep saying it, and then just keep thinking
of it in your head. So one and two and three
and four and one and two and three and four
and...
Okay? And you wanna hear how it is in relation
to that clip. So, bap, bap, bap, bap, one
and two and three, okay? So that's how to
do that and you just build up speed. So you
start off slow, bap, bap, and then, bum, bum,
bum, bum. And it's worth getting used to that
kind of rhythm because it's very, very, very
popular in, you know, pop tunes, whatever.
Now, rather than just seeing this riff as
just a melody, you know, standalone melody
unrelated to anything, it's worth seeing how
it relates to the chord progression.
And it's worth doing this with lots and lots
of other riffs as well. And what that does
is it gives you a bit of an insight into how
this thing was written and can also make it
a little bit easier to learn especially if
you, you know, apply this to any other riffs
that you're learning. And you know if you're
finding it quite difficult to learn, if you
just learn the basic chord progression, which
might actually be easier, you can kind of
see where things are coming from.
So the chords, G major, E minor, C major,
and D major, just round and round and round.
So G major, E minor, C major, D major. Now,
I'm obviously not expecting you to be playing
the cords on the bass there, but that gives
you an idea of how that sounds. So if I was
to play that of the track.
[music]
That's G major, E minor, C major, D major.
So the G major is for two bars, E minor for
two bars, C for one, and D for one. Back to
D, okay? So the letters that we have, and
those chords like G major, E minor, C major,
D major, they are the root notes of the chord,
okay? So they're the notes that those chords
are built from. So as a bass player, all we
need to do is play those root notes. So let's
just try going through that chord progression,
and we'll use the same riff...oh sorry, the
same rhythm that "Stand By Me" riff has. And
we'll just see how it works. So we'll just
play G there, third fret of the E string,
E open E string, C third fret of the A string,
D fifth fret of the A string, okay? So we'll
just try that with the drumbeat.
[00:25:37]
[music]
[00:25:53]\
Okay? So, we're getting there. G, G, G, G,
E, E, E, E, C, C, D, D, G, G, okay? So, well,
you can hear how it's trying to sound a little
bit already like the "Stand By Me" riff. So
now if we take that G up the octave, up to
this G here at the fifth fret of the D string,
and we take the E, the open E there that we
played, up to the second fret of the D string
there. It'll start to sound even more like
it.
[00:26:30]
[music]
[00:26:46]
Okay? So we're quite close to the original
riff there with just the notes that were playing
the root notes, but there's a few more notes
in there. So where do they come from? Well,
as I mentioned before, we're in the key of
G major. And when you're in the key of G major
or whatever major key it is, we use the major
scale that, you know, the appropriate major
scale. So, in G major, the key of G major
we use the G major scale, okay? And that's
the palette of notes, they're the notes that
we generally use, like an artist's palette,
you know, for painting a picture.
So we've got G major. If you don't know the
G major scale already, I'll just go through
it. So we have G, A, B , C, D, E, F sharp,
G, okay? So third fret, fifth fret on the
E string. Second fret, third fret, fifth fret
on the A string. And then second fret, fourth
fret, fifth fret on the D string, and you
can go up, and down, okay? So that's the G
major scale.
So that's the palette of notes that we use
for the key of G major. Now, if we have a
look at the riff, you'll see that those notes
are all within that key of G major. So we've
jumped down to the fifth below, I won't go
too far into all the intervals and stuff but
just so you can see kind of where it's come
from. We're using those notes to come back
up to the G. Then we just want to weave a
line down to join up the notes.
So, G, F sharp, E, so I've just come down
through the scale to come down to the next
note. Then down a note and then back, then
come down through the scale again to get down
to the C, then just overshot the D to come
back to it, okay? So that's a very, very basic
look at it, but if you look at riffs in this
way, you know, if you're learning a riff and
you're wondering how it was written or how
to come up with stuff for yourself, analyze
them in this way, look at what the key is
and then just start to look at how the notes
move from one chord to another.
And that's the really important thing, look
at the chord progression. It's one of the
things that bass players don't do when they
very first start, you know, because chord
progressions that's for guitarists, you know.
So it is for bass players. It is incredibly
important for bass players because part of
our role in a band is to reinforce that sense
of the harmony, okay? And if there's a chord
progression, we work through the chords.
We might only work through the root notes
a lot of the time, but all these other notes
in there we use, you know, with scales and
arpeggios and all that. We use it those notes
to join up those root notes, okay? So we're...yeah,
just a little look at that there. Next step,
let's try "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson.
Now, this is a really short riff in the key
of F sharp minor. And it's really popular
with beginners because it's so recognizable.
And there's several different ways of playing
this, you know, fingering of the hand there,
but I'm gonna show you a way that's just easy
for beginners. But I will go over some of
the other ways that you could play it too
just so you can get a bit of practice.
So, the original sounds like this.
[00:30:20]
[music]
[00:30:37]
Okay? So as I mentioned before, this is in
the key of F sharp minor. And we'll start
at the F sharp here at the fourth fret of
the D string, okay? And the best way to learn
this riff freely is to split it up into two
sections, each of them four notes. [inaudible
00:30:55] One, two, three, four, yeah. So
we've got F sharp, C sharp, E, F sharp, that's
the first part.
So F sharp fourth fret of the D string, C
sharp fourth fret of the A string, E second
fret of D string, and then back to F sharp
fourth fret of the D string. So very slowly.
Then the second bit start from the E. So a
second fret of the D string, C sharp fourth
fret of the A string, B second fret of the
A string, and then C sharp fourth fret of
the A string, so. And then we just put those
two together, so.
All together. One of the easiest ways for
beginners to finger this is to start with
the third finger and kind of play with that
part of the finger and then just bar across
down onto the C sharp. So use the third finger
for both of those first two notes. And then
it's just a case of using the first finger
and third finger for the rest of them, so.
See I'm barring across there. If that's too
difficult, you could try with the fourth finger,
fourth finger there on the F sharp and then
use the third finger for, so you just use
the fourth finger for the first F sharp. It's
just loads of different ways you can do this.
So I'll just, you know, try out a few different
ways yourself. None of them are right or wrong,
it's whatever works for you, okay? So with
the backing track at the slow tempo, 90 beats
per minute.
[music]
Then you just work through the tempos until
you can build up to the fastest tempo of 117.
[music]
The next riff is going to be, "Come As You
Are" by Nirvana, which sounds like this.
[music]
Now, I'm gonna be playing the riff in E minor
like the original, but the live versions always
seem to be an F minor. And I think that's
possibly due to it being tuned down to D on
the original and then down to E flat on the
live versions but either way the way I'm gonna
show you will work for playing along with
the studio version, okay? So where you have
to worry about D tuning or anything like that.
So we start with a pick up like we did in
"Another One Bites the Dust." So we have D,
D sharp, and then went to the E. So, fifth
fret of the A string, sixth fret of the A
string, seventh fret of the A string. So five
and six and seven. So and I'm just using fingers
one, two, three. So that's the pickup. And
then we've got, so we've got E, the seventh
fret there, then we played the G there at
the fifth fret of the D string, E, G, E, G,
E. So we just go between them.
So, G, E, G, E. Then we play a repeat on the
E and then come back down. So seven, six,
five. So E, D sharp, D or E, E flat, D. So
I will just stop there. And you do also have
the option of holding that down while you
do this, which gives you that kind of chord
[inaudible 00:35:54], but don't worry about
it, if it's too tricky.
So that's the first bit. Then we put the fourth
finger there or third finger, whichever one
you wanna use, on the A there just at the
seventh fret of the D string. We've got D,
D, A, and then we have to pick up again, okay?
So very slowly. Okay? So then just build up
speed. And as I said when you played that
fifth part in there, you can either play with
the third finger there or the fourth finger
there, either one, either way, it doesn't
matter.
And as I've said before, you can also hold
the top notes down so you kinda get this chordal effect
Although a lot of people
think that the intro to that on the original
is the bass but it's not, it's Cobain down
the octave in on the guitar with an effect
on. So that very beginning part is not the
bass and then it comes in. So I think people
like doing the chord thing there just to kind
of mimic that but either way it doesn't really
matter.
So with the backing track 90 beats per minute.
[music]
And you can just go round and round. So work
through the tempos and then up to full speed
120.
[music]
Now, lastly let's look at one of the most
famous riffs of all time, "Sunshine Of Your
Love" by Cream, which is played by Jack Bruce.
So when the several different variations on
this riff depending on where you want to play
the end part of the or the beginning part
of the riff, but we'll just go with the version
that's in the intro, okay? So it sounds like
this.
[music]
So this riff's in D minor and it uses the
D blues scale. So we'll have a look at the
D blues scale first because it might help
with actually learning the riff. So, normally,
the most popular fingering for a D blues scale
would be D there, fifth fret of the A string,
then the F there eighth fret of the A string,
then we have fifth fret, sixth fret seventh
fret of the D string, so G, G sharp, A then
C, D on the top, fifth fret seventh fret.
This is all in the downloadable lesson material.
So D, F, G, G sharp, A, C, D, okay? You can
always get the bluesy, that kind of bluesy
sound. So, we can take that F that's there
at the eighth fret, and actually take that
down here to the third fret of the D string,
and that gives us a different pattern. Same
notes, different patterns. So D, F, third
fret there, D string, and then these notes
are just the same. So five, six, seven, five,
seven.
So above the same, just a different pattern.
And the second pattern that we've used is
what we'll be using with the riff. So, now
let's come down the riff. So we start on the
D there at the seventh fret of the G string,
then down to the C and back to the D, okay?
So seven, seven, five, seven. That's the frets.
So, then we'll come down onto the D string,
and we play the frets seven, six, five...Sorry,
it's A, A flat, G.
So we're coming down that blues scale, then
we just drop down to the D fifth fret of the
A string up to the F of the third fret of
the D string, and then back to the D. So,
it's just between those two notes there. So
all together. And for the rhythm, we've got
some offbeat's in there just mimic how I'm
playing it there. Start slow and then just
build up speed. So with the track at 90 beats
per minute.
[music]
Again, work up speed until you get up to full
speed, 116.
[music]
Okay. So that's my Top Five Riffs for Beginners.
If you are a beginner and you like learning
these riffs, then just sign up to the free
talkingbass.net membership and you'll find
a load of different bass riffs, all complete
with PDFs of the tab and standard notation.
And that should give you plenty of practice
material to be working on.
Also, be sure to check out the beginner's
course over at talkingbass.net. It's an eight-lesson
course designed for absolute beginners and
takes you through from the very basics of
holding the bass through to technique and
learning how to play songs and all that stuff,
okay? See you later.
