A great way for any beginner bass player to start developing solid rock chops is to learn the bass lines, progressions, and grooves that were commonly used in the classic rock era that are still being played today. Not only will you find yourself playing these grooves with your friends, or at the local jam, they also provide a solid foundation to build on as you progress into more modern styles of rock bass.
Andrew Ford’s 30 Rock Bass Grooves for Beginners is a versatile collection of timeless rock bass lines and grooves. ”I’ve selected 30 bass grooves that cover the full range of rhythmic approaches and techniques that every rock bass player should know. We’ll work on driving eighth-note grooves, straight ahead rockers, southern rock bass grooves, funky dotted quarter note rhythms, implied eighth-note rhythms, 12/8 grooves, latin influenced rock bass line, chromatic leading tones, boogie feels, and much more”
Andrew handpicked this collection of progressions, lines, and grooves similar to the ones used in rock classics like 25 or 6 to 4, You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, All Right Now, American Band, American Woman, Black Magic Woman, Jumping Jack Flash, Slow Ride, Do It Again, White Room, Another Brick in the Wall, Summer Breeze, Cinnamon Girl, Don’t Stop, Ramblin’ Man, Dreams, Long Cool Woman, Sweet Home Alabama, Lights, Up Around the Bend, Lay Down Sally, Long Time, Free Bird, Who Are You, Jet Airliner, Smoke on the Water, Take It Easy, Baba O’Riley, and many other popular rock songs.
For each of the 30 grooves, Andrew will demonstrate the bass line over a rhythm track and then break it down note-by-note, emphasizing the right and left-hand techniques being used.
All of the bass lines are tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes. You’ll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can play, loop and/or slow down the tab and notation as you work through the lessons. Plus, Andrew includes all of the rhythm tracks for you to work with on your own.
Grab your bass and let's rock out with Andrew Ford!
What you'll learn
Navigate position shifts smoothly
Execute chromatic passing tones in bass lines
Apply dotted quarter-eighth note rhythms in groove context
Hi, I'm Andrew Ford, and welcome to 30 Rock Bass Grooves for Beginners. A great way for any beginner bass player to start developing solid rock chops is to learn the bass lines and grooves from dozens of timeless classic rock hits, many of which are still being played on the radio today. Not only will you find yourself playing these songs with your friends, or at the local jam, they also provide a solid foundation to build on as you progress into more modern styles of rock bass.
I've selected 30 bass grooves that cover the full range of rhythmic approaches and techniques that you'll need to know to build your own foundation.
I'll break down each performance note for note, you'll get tab and notation for each, AND you'll get all of the rhythm tracks to work with as well. You can also loop and slow down any of the performances so you can work with the materials at your own pace.
So, grab your bass and lets get started!
2Quarter to Four
This driving groove is based on the song "25 or 6 to 4" by the band Chicago. It's a 4-bar phrase that repeats the same motif for the first 3 bars but with different notes. The focus here is driving those root notes and that repetitive but catchy rhythm.
In Bar 4, we deviate from the rhythm with some straight eighth notes to end the phrase and set up the new phrase. In the first bar, we use A on the D string to play those roots, I like playing higher on the fretboard, it tends to be a little warmer. Next, we move down to the G in the bass playing that same motif, then with Gb, and lastly, we change up the pattern using all 8ths to finish out the phrase, four 8th notes on the root F, and then 4 other notes on the G.
3Drivin' Blind
This groove is similar to the song "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" by Bachman Turner Overdrive. This medium tempo 2-bar phrase is an open melodic bass line that uses quite a bit of the range of the bass going from low G on the E string up to D at the 7th fret of the G string. The drum pattern with no snare allows for the bass line to really sing out.
We begin with a quarter note playing the root A on the E string and then jump up to the octave on beat 2. We hold this A all the way up until the eighth note leading note, E on the D string, that sets up the next bar which is a quarter note on G (the root), which can be open or at the 5th fret of the D string. Next, we have another rhythm on Beat 2, but this time it is two eighth notes, with the first, D, serving as the 5 of G and the next one (D) serving as the root to the next chord, which anticipates beat 3. We again hold this note all the way up until our final eighth note passing tone, E, which leads us back to the beginning of the phrase.
4Free Now
Groove 3 is based on the song "All Right Now" by the band Free. For this groove, we'll use a concept called pedaling. When you're asked to pedal a note as a bass player, it means that you play the same bass note even though the chords are changing, so obviously it must be a note which works over the different chords played. If someone asks you to pedal, just keep playing that same note.
This groove also has a strong quarter note pulse where the notes are more staccato, meaning shorter in length. In the first bar, we just hammer those quarter notes on A (the root). In the next bar, the band changes to a G chord but the bass will still drive that A for the first half of the bar. Next, we have a phrase with two eighths and a quarter note in which the last two notes (F# and E) get away from the pedal. We're still pedaling, this ending phrase just adds a little variation to the phrase. Bar 3 changes chords again to D, still with our A in the bass. After the 2 quarter notes, we have a similar phrase using the same 3 notes but sort of inverted: E, F#, A, instead of A, F#, E. In Bar 4, we return to the straight A chord, nailing those quarter notes on beats 1 and 2 but then using a full eighth note phrase as a pivot to get us back to the beginning. It's a 5-6-1-6 pentatonic lick starting on E to F# played on the D string, moving up to A on the G string before ending with the F# again.
5Grand Daddy
This groove is based on the song "American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad. This time, we'll use an 8-bar phrase to demonstrate the beginning, middle, and end of the motif. We need all 8 bars to see how it kind of rises and falls. This one will have all eighth notes each bar, except for the last one, sticking to the root for the first half of the bar and then playing a pivoting groove on beats 3 and 4.
We start with D, playing four eighth notes on the root then moving to a D-G-A-G on beats 3 and 4. The next bar repeats this, then Bars 3 and 4 move to a C chord where we play the root for the first half of the bar using those four eighth notes and ending playing a similar C-F-G-F pivot. In Bar 5, we switch to a Bb chord again starting on the root (Bb) and then play a Bb-F-G-F pivot. It's basically the same pivot we used over the C chord, but the notes are functioning as 5-6-5 instead of 4-5-4 as in the previous 4 bars. We have a quick chord change in Bar 6, going back to C using the root and then a C-G-A-G pivot, notice we used a C-F-G-F on the previous C chord. Bar 7 repeats our D chord pattern from Bars 1 and 2, and we end with a C chord, but our first note is D for a little variety, creating an anticipation for the listener to look for the root C that comes up on the next eighth note. We end that bar with the G-A-G pivot, different from the Bar 3 and 4 F-G-F pivot.
6Stay Away
Groove 5 is in the style of "American Woman" by the band Guess Who. This is a funkier groove that basically has one chord, E5. The nice thing about those open 5 chords is that they don't dictate the notes you have to play like other chords do. This groove focuses on the popular dotted quarter/eighth note rhythm, featured in all 4 bars. The first bar is just the root playing the dotted quarter/eighth with another dotted quarter/eighth.
In Bar 2, we start with that dotted rhythm again but a couple things happen: There is a G5 chord that happens on beat 3 which changes the harmony to more like E minor. The riff over that chord is a slurred rhythm indicated by the symbol connecting the notes together. To slur two notes, we play the first note but don't articulate the next note with your plucking finger, only fingering it with the left hand. These two notes are A and B. We end this phrase on a D giving it a minor type sound.
The next bar is the dotted quarter and eighth rhythm twice on the root E. In the last bar, we again have the dotted rhythm but yet another variation also very E minor sounding over the G5 chord. These notes, as do the notes in Bar 2 also outline the G major chord. The notes for the second half of that phrase are G on the D string, E, and D. It winds up being a nice 4 bar riff that goes up in Bar 2 and the opposite direction in Bar 4.
7Latin Magic
Now here's a Latin rock style groove in the style of "Black Magic Woman" by Carlos Santana. Here is yet another use of that dotted quarter/eighth note but in a different context. We have a Latin flavor with a little more edge and emphasis on beats two and four like you find in rock and roll. We have a 4-bar pattern with the same rhythm throughout.
In the first two bars, the rhythm and bass notes stay the same, not uncommon for this style of music in order to establish a solid foundation for dancing, for all the other instruments, and the soloist. So, in Bar 1, we have the dotted quarter on the root D, followed by the 5 (A), playing an eighth note, then we have a rolling sort of four eighth note pattern that uses the notes C, C again, D, and back to C. We call that C the minor 7th, which is used a lot when we have minor chords like we have here. As I said, the next bar repeats, and then we have a new chord (A minor) in which we play the same exact pattern but using the notes that make up the chord. That is the root (A), the 5 (E), and then that b7 riff using 2 G's, an A, and another G.
In the last bar, we go back to G and do a slightly different pattern still starting the same with the root (G) and the 5 (D), but then flipping the riff a little by starting on the b7 (F), and going down to the 5 (D), up to the root (G), and then going up higher to the 2nd (A). This actually leads us nicely back to the D chord, since the A leads nicely to D.
I love this course! Not only is Andrew a fantastic player and teacher, and the choice of example lines is excellent, the best about this course is that every example is taken from a real song! Once you get the line from the lesson down it's only a small step toward learning the whole song, and this way I've learned more than 15 songs from this course alone!
I really, really wish ALL courses on TrueFire would be like this! I'm a guitar veteran but new to bass guitar, and learning (parts of) songs is much more motivating and productive than learning the toy examples presented in most other TF courses, sadly. Thank you Andrew!!!
J
Jeff
01/29/22
Andrew Ford's 30 Rock Bass Grooves for Beginners You MUST Know
As a 6 string guitar player it is interesting to work through some of these bass videos to learn how other band members approach the songs. I like the patterns that Andrew teaches and how they relate to songs which sounds oddly familiar. ;-> There is always something to learn different!
W
wholmer
12/31/20
Way to get going!
Essential Grooves the right way! These lessons will get you on the right path for a solid foundation right from the start. I know, I’ve taken a LOT of self-taught courses over the years and kept realizing I had holes where I missed some techniques. The many different grooves presented here are going to expand your horizons!
M
Matt
06/17/20
What a Fun Class
I loved this course. Andrew's track selection has a certain familiarity similar to the types of songs that you might encounter at any "open mic night" type of setting. I personally enjoyed the progression of the skills required for each song that one encounters throughout the course. I am not a beginner, but I am way out of practice when it comes to basic bass guitar grooves. The tracks keep your fingers moving and your head bopping as you work through the tunes.
I really enjoyed Andrew's tone. It is in no way condescending, and his tone makes this a very enjoyable course. I played straight through in one sitting, then gave my fingers rest for the evening. I revisited the course the next day, and I could see a very noticeable difference in my ability to play along with the tracks. I will be looking for additional courses by Andrew.
Thank you,
Matt
G
George
11/30/19
Fun, easy, musical
This course is filled with really fun and very easy to play classic rock grooves. The jam tracks are very useful for practicing basic technique when learning getting started learning to play bass. The grooves are all very musical and immediately useful when playing with others. It's all rock, but it's also quite a variety of rock grooves. Everything in there is something you've gotta know, presented in a way that's easy to learn.
