Rock Bass Lesson 2
Building Blocks – Rock Bass
Rock music can use all different kinds of scales, from Prog rockers using exotic Eastern scales to classic rockers using the old familiar Blues scale. However, almost every rock style uses the minor Pentatonic scale. (5 note scale – ‘Penta’ from the Greek, meaning 5)
I’ve shown the E minor pentatonic scale here with 4 different fingerings – two that stay in position, one with a position shift and one in a higher octave.
They contain the same notes, but different fingerings can naturally bring out different types of phrase, using slides, hammer-ons etc. When you learn any scale, experiment with fingerings to see what you can come up with…
Getting some lines together
Most rock falls into 2 categories – riff based (e.g. Led Zep; R.A.T.M) or chordal. (e.g. AC/DC; Green Day).
Riff based rock usually has a short theme (often 2 or 4 bars) that the guitar and bass play as a unison line. (I.e. both playing the same thing.) The most important thing here is to play exactly what your guitarist plays – if he slides, you slide. If he bends, you bend. The heaviest bands out there rock because they’re so damn tight!
This riff is played as a unison line together with a heavily distorted guitar.
In bar 1, be very careful about note lengths – keep those 16th notes very short and tight – use a combination of the fretting hand and the heel of your picking hand palm to keep this part properly muted.
In bar 2 make sure you slide into the high E, sustain it, then the D note and leave a tiny rest before grabbing that low G and bending it up ever so slightly. Have a listen to this part on the mp3s to really cop the sound of a ¼ tone bend.
Bands like AC/DC love to use distorted chord parts to create classic riffs, and bassists in this style typically nail down pumping 8th note lines to provide the root note and lock in with the drum part.
Sometimes, rock bassists will just pump on one root note while the chords change. This is called using a ‘pedal tone’. It creates tension because the chords are moving but the bassline isn’t.
When playing this part, make sure to keep your rhythm solid, hit those accents nice and hard and lock in with the drummer – particularly with the kick drum.
When you want to resolve this tension, you can simply move with the chords. (A great way to develop a line in a long verse – 1st half with pedal tone, 2nd half with moving bassline.)
In this example, I’ve hit the accents on the chord changes to help them really leap out. I’ve also used an F# note under the D chord – this creates an ‘Inversion’. An inversion occurs when you use a chord tone other than the root for your bass note (In this case, the Major 3rd) and can make for a smoother and more interesting line than always using root notes.
For The Gig
Above all, remember that Rock music relies more on attitude and showmanship than any other style. Within the incredibly broad range of Rock styles there is room to be an incredible virtuoso player and/or powerhouse rhythm section member.
The most important thing for a Rock gig is confidence and presence on stage. If you’re well practiced and confident in your abilities, get up and Rock hard! Audiences love to hear great playing from a musician who puts on a show. Often, they’ll forgive a few stray notes if you deliver bucketfuls of energy and vibe!
Rock Bass lesson 3
