Welcome, I'm Josh with BassBuzz. I'm gonna show you some
fun beginner bass riffs that you don't stand a
chance of f***ing up. And I'm gonna show you some
bass essentials while we do it, so you walk away with
more than just cool riffs. Let's start with a tune
that'll get you grooving with the drums and keeping
your note lengths tight. The intro to Psycho Killer
is a great beginner bass riff because you instantly know what song it is but it's still easy to play. Thanks Tina Weymouth! I'm gonna start by teaching you the rhythm and the plucking pattern and
then we'll add in the notes later so you don't have to
think about too much at once. So here's the rhythm, it sounds like this. One, two, three, four,
one, two, three, and four. One, two, three, four,
one, two, three, and four. Let's try playing that
together on the open E string. So rest your thumb on the pickup and then use whatever plucking pattern you feel comfortable with and let's try that
together, nice and slow. One, two, here we go. One, two, three, four,
one, two, three, and four. One, two, three, four,
one, two, three, and four. One more time. One, two, three, four,
one, two, three, and four. And stop there. Nice, now let's add in the fretting hand. I'm gonna start with the
pinky on the fifth fret of the E string, I'm gonna
pluck that a number of times. And then go to the open E string and then grab that third
fret with our index finger. So the whole line is just
pinky, pinky, pinky, pinky, pinky, open index. Let's try that super
super slow just you and me and then we'll bring in the band. So here we go. One, two, three, four,
one, two, three, and four. One, two, three, and four,
one, two, and three, four. One, two, three and four. One more time, one and
two and three and four and one and two and three and four, and finish on the fifth fret. To get this to sound exactly
the way I'm playing it, you need to release your fretting
fingers in between plucks on that fifth fret note
to make them shorter. So here's what that looks and sounds like. If I just keep holding all
the way through the line, it sounds like this. ♪ Da da da da da ♪ Or you want this. Hear that lift? So the way I do that, is after each pluck, I just let go of the pressure
with the fretting finger but I keep touching the string, otherwise, it'll start ringing like
this every time I let go and you don't want that. So I switch from pressing to resting. Press, rest, press, rest, press, rest. So you can try that out if you
want to while we play along with the band, with a slow play-along. Here we go, one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four,
one, two, three, and four. Nice, so, because the
rhythm of this bass line has us playing on every
single beat of the song, it's a really good chance
to make sure that you're locking in with the drummer
and the rest of the band and playing all your
rhythms at the right time. So, if you have a little
extra space in your ears, try to open them up and make sure you're listening to the band and see if your plucks are landing in a place that feels good. Here we go with the full speed again. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four,
one, two, three and four. Nice! If you're digging the step
by step play-along style of this lesson, you will
also dig clicking subscribe and then clicking the bell
so that you get notified when new lessons come out. Let's move on to our
next beginner bass riff where you will tighten up your plucking and learn how to chug. We're gonna play Mike Dirnt's bass line from the chorus of 21 Guns. First, let's make sure you've got your alternating plucking happening. So we're gonna rest
our thumb on the pickup and we're gonna pluck
index-middle on the open E string with the first rhythm we
encounter in this chorus which is just one and two, three and four. So, pluck pluck rest, pluck pluck rest. Let's do that together
on the open E string, make sure you're going
index-middle every time. Here we go, one, two, three and four and one and two and three and four. One and two and three and four and index middle rest
and index middle rest. One and two and three and
four, finish on one more pluck. The other rhythm we play
is straight eighth notes all the way through the bar
which is called chugging and it happens in a million songs. One and two and three and
four and just move around the written notes, it happens so often. So let's do that together. Again, alternating index middle. We'll just do a couple of bars to this to make sure that you're
comfortable with your alternating. Here we go. One and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and index middle index
middle, pulling across not up and away from the bass. One and two and three
and four and stop on one. Great. Okay, let's add the notes in. Now that we've got the rhythms nailed, we'll start with our index finger on the first fret of the
E string for two plucks. Then we're gonna shift up
to pinky on the seventh fret of the A string for two plucks. Stay in that position
and put your index finger on the fifth fret of the A string then we're gonna shift our hand back down, get our pinky on that third
fret note for four plucks. And then index finger on the
first fret of the A string for four plucks to index on
the first fret of the E string and I'll talk about that move in a second. And then we finish with pinky on the third fret of the A string. So altogether, that's
index, pinky, index, pinky. Index index pinky. And then we're back to the top. So the trick with those
two first fret notes in the second half is to do a finger roll. So I'm using back on the
knuckle of my index finger to get the first fret of the A string. And then when I wanna
switch to the E string, I can just move the pressure over closer to the tip of my finger. And that way, I can do
this without having to jump my fingertip back and forth. If you don't already know
how to do a finger roll, you can just jump your finger. It just tends to be a little
bit sloppier that way. But that's the finger roll
trick if you wanna do that. Let's try that in rhythm,
just you and me, super slow and then we'll bring in the band. Here we go, one and
two and three and four. And one and two and three and four. And one and two, shift three and four. And one and two and three and four. And one and two and three
and four, one more time. Index, rest and pinky rest. And index rest shift pinky four and index two and index four and pinky two and three and four, finish
on the starting note. Great, let's try a slowed-down version of that now with the band, here we go. One, two, three, four. 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. And index. Cool, so to make sure that
those rests in between notes are really rests, you
can use a similar trick to what we did on Psycho
Killer to keep our notes short so we pluck our first two notes. And then I wanna make sure
that I'm touching the neck with my fingers somehow, otherwise, it's gonna sound like this. I'm gonna hear ringing strings
after I finish my note. So I go pluck pluck, touch the strings, but don't press as I shift. Pluck pluck, still touching, pluck pluck still touching,
just not pressing. And then once you get to the
chugging in the second half, you don't have to worry about that 'cause all of our notes are nice and long. Okay, let's try that together with the full speed play-along. Here we go. One, two, three, four. One and two and three and four. And one and two and three and four. One and two and three and four. And one and two and three and four. And index, pinky, index, pinky. Index, index, pinky. Nice work! Let's move on to our final riff which will help you with
your epic bass slides. All right, this is a fun one,
because there are actually two bass parts, a low upright bass and a higher electric bass, both played by Herbie Flowers, session legend. I'm gonna show you both
parts because they both have awesome bass slides and this way, you can play a bass duet
with a friend sometime. Let's start with the low part, it's just two notes and we can play 'em both with our index finger. So, index finger on the
eighth fret of the E string, and then we're gonna slide down to the first fret of the E string. To get that slide sound, all you gotta do is keep the pressure on
with your fretting finger as you move to the first fret and then the same thing coming
back up first fret to A. So, if you keep the pressure on, then you'll hear that sliding sound. Let's try that together
with the slowed-down version of the track. Here we go. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, slide. One, two, three, slide. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Okay, so you may have gotten lost on some of your slides and
ended up in the wrong place. I'm gonna show you how
to fix that right now. The trick is to move your eyes, before you move your fingers. So we're on the eighth fret,
you're probably looking at the eighth fret 'cause you wanted to get your finger there. But now, you wanna move
your eyes to the first fret, which is where you want to
be before the slide happens. Then, when the time for the slide, you just move your finger to
where your eyes already are. Then, before it's time to
get back to the eighth fret, I move my eyes to the eighth
fret so I'm looking here even though my finger is here and then when it's time to slide, I just put my finger right
where my eyes already are. If your eyes aren't ahead of your fingers, crazy stuff's gonna happen. So, keep your eyes on
your target destination a beat or so before the slide
starts and you won't get lost. Let's try that together with
the full speed play-along. Here we go, one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. So I move my eyes now, then shift, then move my eyes again. Move my eyes. Move my eyes. Okay, it's time for the high part. Put your index finger on the
ninth fret of the G string. Then we're gonna slide up to the 14th fret on that same finger and then put the pinky on the 17th fret note and
then that'll slide down and switch to the index
back on the ninth fret. So this slide technique's
a little bit different because you're switching
from the pinky to the index. But it doesn't really matter. There'll be a little gap in your slide from about here to here when
you just switch fingers. But you can't really hear that in context. So it doesn't matter,
don't worry about it. Just go pinky, index,
index, index, pinky, index. Let's try that together
with the slowed down version of the track. Here we go, one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Index, goes to index, pinky. And remember to look ahead
for your slides, look ahead. Look back in the ninth fret. Look up to the 14th. Nice, so, if you're hearing
any low strings ringing while you're playing this
since it's all in the G string, anchor your thumb on the A string and then angle it so that you're
also touching the E string. That'll mute both of those strings and then your plucks should
mute the D string automatically if you're pulling across and not up and that covers all your strings. Let's try this together at the full speed. Here we go. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Remember to look ahead
so you don't get lost. Nice work. Click subscribe and then click the bell if you wanna know when
new lessons come out and now you've got three
beginner bass riffs under your belt and you know
how to alternating pluck and how to chug, how to
keep your notes short, how to keep from getting
lost from your sliding. This is all really useful
stuff for your bass tool bag. And I'm curious what your
favorite beginner bass riff is to play so let me know
in the comments below and I'll see you next time. Whoa whoa whoa, you're
not ready to leave yet. First, click over here and subscribe to get all the latest free
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