Beginner Bass Lines: Bass Bangers from Queen to Gorillaz
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Beginner bass lines; bangers to impress your friends and help you feel like a bass god in minutes! From Queen to Gorillaz, here are five classic bass lines you can learn quickly. Whether you’ve just picked up a bass, or you’re a seasoned pro, these bass lines should be in every low-end junkie’s toolbox!
Beginner Bass Lines: Bass Bangers from Queen to Gorillaz
Bass parts are vital to any musical composition. You should feel a solid bass line just as much as a set of relatable lyrics. Players are often joked about, but what musician isn’t, right?
If you’re a beginner, then you’ve probably got a rough idea of where you want to go. Regardless, this list of beginner bass lines will help establish some core skills that you’ll keep coming back to.
Moreover, you will further your musical education in terms of theory, and taste. Let’s jump right into it.
Another One Bites The Dust – Queen
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Kicking us off in our pick of the top 5 beginner bass lines is this absolute gem from Queen, played, of course, by John Deacon.
Deacon vanished from public life after the Freddie Mercury tribute concert in 1992. However, his heavily underrated bass playing still lives on very much in plain sight.
This makes for an ideal beginner bass line as it is played on one string across a few frets. Additionally, this bass riff returns again and again throughout the song, ensuring you can get it nailed to impress your friends.
Beginner Bass Lines – Another One Bites The Dust
To help get that fat bass sound, I’d recommend some flatwound bass strings, as used by John Deacon throughout most of his career.
Smoke On The Water – Deep Purple
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Now, a look at beginner riffs wouldn’t be complete without Smoke On The Water, would it? This isn’t quite what you’d expect though…
With our next beginner bass line, we’re not playing the main melody of the song. Unlike 99.9% of other guitarists. Here, we’re providing a chunky rhythmic section that drives momentum during that iconic intro.
Starting from the 12th bar of the song, we want to chug on the 3rd fret on the E string, which is a G note. There are a few transition notes, but that G is what counts. Go on, give it a try.
Beginner Bass Lines – Smoke On The Water
Stand By Me – Ben. E. King
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Here we have the oldest bass part on our list. Despite its senior years, there are a lot of important lessons to be learnt from this one.
Fundamentally, we’ve got a repeating riff here. This means that the riff repeats throughout the song, but moves with the chord progression. Typically a bass part will follow the chord progression, and with this song we have; A, F#m, D and E.
Take a look at the TAB, but if you’re struggling there is another way to have a go. Simply follow the route notes that we just looked at and you’ll be making your way around the fretboard easily.
Beginner Bass Lines – Stand By Me
Beginner Bass Lines: Peaches – The Stranglers
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Next up, a slice of 1970s grit. And, the first of our beginner bass lines that is played with a plectrum.
Similar to others in this list, the bass section of Peaches repeats throughout the vast majority of this piece. Although repetitive, this establishes the main theme within a piece of music and is therefore memorable for the listener.
This time we’ve got plenty of rests where we want to stop the note from ringing. To do this, place your picking hand over the string. Doing this will stop the string from making a sound, and will provide some grit and aggression to your playing.
Beginner Bass Lines – Peaches
Jean-Jacques Burnel’s harsh playing style is aided by the use of a plectrum. Used commonly with electric guitars, but you can use one with a bass. Here’s a good place to start:
Feel Good Inc. – Gorillaz
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Concluding our look at beginner bass lines is a cult anthem from the 2010s. Not heard of it before? Give it a listen and I guarantee you’ll know the tune.
Why is it so familiar then? The bass! It’s all about the bass. Again, we’ve got repetition which helps us to play it and makes it memorable for listeners.
As a beginner bass player, this one is great for utilising open strings whilst fretting notes too. Although it’s potentially more advanced than the others within this round-up, there’s no reason that you can’t give it a good go!
Beginner Bass Lines – Feel Good Inc.
Damon Albarn, bass player for Gorillaz, goes on record to say that he used a Gibson Flying V bass to record this song. Getting your hands on one of them is quite tricky these days! Otherwise, Albarn uses the tried and tested Fender Jazz Bass.
Beginner Bass Lines: Fingers at the ready!
Hopefully, this quick look at some cracking bass lines has inspired you to pick up your axe again! All you need is a basic understanding of TAB, along with some simple determination. What was the first bass line that you learned as a beginner?
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