Between the Licks

Learn to play bass lines in your songs.

Pop-up instructional video to the left.

The bass line is the driving force in a blues song. It's got to be solid and appropriate for the style. In this lesson you will learn a few common and a few obscure bass lines found in the blues. Each of my examples will be in the key of A. We'll start with something simple and common and then move onto more interesting parts.

It's very easy to move these lines to your guitar for accompaniment or rhythm work. The four strings on the bass are tuned the same as the bottom four (fatter) strings of the guitar. The bass is just an octave lower. 

Simple blues:

Just play the root note of the chord with a shuffle feel. This may seem extremely easy but staying in perfect time can be more difficult than you think. This is useful for weaving in and out of other other bass lines to keep it interesting. Best served over up-tempo shuffle or blues rock.

Classic blues:

This is the line you'll find in many medium and slow tempo blues songs. It follows a very simple four note pattern which is repeated for each chord in the progression. Play the tab below with a medium-slow shuffle feel:

A good example of a song that utilizes the classic blues bass pattern is "Texas Flood" by Stevie Ray Vaughan.

The classic blues bass line contains three notes that make up a major chord. The root, the major third, the fifth and then back to the major third. For example, the notes played under and A chord are A, C#, E, and C# before repeating.

Below is an example of the pattern extended over the E and D chords.

A common twist is to continue walking up the chord tones and back down as below.

Simply continue the pattern over the other chords to complete the progression.

This bass line employs the same note pattern as above but adds the sixth and dominant seventh. The new lick contains the root, major third, fifth, sixth, and seventh before walking back down.

Drop blues:

Another common bass line is the drop blues. It is more appropriate in medium and up tempo blues but can fit pretty much anywhere. It also follows a very simple four note pattern which is the same for each chord in the progression. Play the tab below with an up-tempo shuffle feel:

A song in which the drop blues is used in the bass is "Pride and Joy" by Stevie Ray Vaughan. It varies in style but the basic notes are the same.

The drop blues contains four notes over each chord. The root, the dominant seventh (or b7th), the sixth, and the fifth. The notes as played for an A chord would be A, G, F#, and E before repeating.

Below is an example of the pattern extended over the E and D chords:

Minor straight blues:

Commonly, you'll find that slow blues in a minor key is straight or without swing or shuffle. Below is a more complicated but great sounding bass line for these types of blues:

"The Thrill is Gone" by B.B. King is a good example of a song with this style of bass line.

The two primary notes are the root and the fifth of each chord. The flatted root and flatted fifth are bump notes that lead to the next note. They give a dissonant quality that nicely complements the minor tonality of the song.

A full 12-bar progression in slow blues style is shown below. Each time you lead into a new chord, adjust the bump note to match.

Bouncing blues:

This is a common shuffle blues pattern best for bouncing up-beat songs. This is a generic bass line that works great while jamming. You can even play around with the timing and notes to create your own.

It is easy to play and has that bouncing effect.

The bouncing blues is composed of a basic minor pentatonic scale. The notes contained are the root, root-octave, dominant seventh, and fifth. The notes played for an A chord are A, A octave, G, and E.

Below is the pattern continued over the E and D chords.

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