Bass Intermediate
14 lessons. Slap, funk, modes, and your first 12-bar blues bass solo.
You can hold down a root and groove. Now we add slap technique, funk grooves with ghost notes, walking bass for jazz/blues, modal bass (Dorian for funk), reading walking-bass charts, and composing your own lines.
The bass player's mindset, intermediate
Beginner is "play the right notes." Intermediate is "play the right notes with feel."
Slap technique: the thumb
The thumb slap, the percussive backbone of funk bass. Larry Graham invented it; everyone since uses it.
Slap technique: the pop
The high-string counterpart to the slap. Together: slap-pop, the rhythm of funk.
Ghost notes
A muted "note" that adds rhythm without pitch. The secret ingredient of every funk bass line.
Funk grooves with sixteenth notes
Four notes per beat instead of two. The bass equivalent of running.
Reggae and Latin grooves
Same bass, same notes, completely different feel. How rhythm reshapes a line.
Bass solos
For 8-16 bars, the bass is the lead instrument. Here's how to step up without overplaying.
12-bar blues bass in A
The most-played progression in popular music. Here's the walking bass line that fits over it.
Modal bass: Dorian for funk
Minor scale with a major 6th. The sound of funk, fusion, and most modal jazz.
Composing your own bass line
A four-step method for writing a bass line that grooves and fits the song.
5-string bass + extended range
A fifth string adds a low B, opening up modern rock, metal, and gospel music. Should you switch?
Superstition bass line
Stevie Wonder's Superstition has one of the most-copied bass grooves in funk. We'll learn it slowly.
Bass and the band: advanced
When to play, when not to, and how to communicate without words.
Where to next
You finished intermediate bass. Three directions to go from here.