Blues Bass Guitar

Lessons

Scales

Blues Bass Guitar is easy! If you can learn one simple pattern.

If you're ever asked to play blues bass guitar at a jam session, you can get through almost any song by learning the pattern I'll show you on the bass guitar fingering chart below.

First let's have a listen...

Sound familiar? It should!

This bass line can be heard on many hit songs by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and Jerry Lee Lewis, when rock music was at it's early stages in the 1950's. It's also called a BOOGIE WOOGIE bass line.

Here is the line written out, as everything else in my lessons, it's in the key of G.

Boogie Woogie Bass Line

"The blues" as a form of music can be defined many different ways, but if you look at the basic structure from a music theory standpoint it's actually pretty simple.

12 bars of music, (hence the name 12 bar blues), and three numbers, 1... 4... 5.

The "1" is the first chord in the key of G..... G
The "4" is the fourth chord in the key of G..... C
The "5" is the fifth chord in the key of G..... D

Now the easy part!
Playing the whole line is just one fingering pattern on the bass guitar.

Here's what this blues bass guitar pattern looks like on the fret board.

For the G7, or the 1 chord, this is the pattern:


G_________________________________________________

D|______|___1__|______|_____|__4__|_____|_____|____|____

A|______|___1__|______|_____|__4__|_____|_____|____|____

E|______|______|___2__|_____|_____|_____|_____|____|____



For the C7, or the 4 chord, this is the pattern:

G __________1__________________4___________________

D|______|___1__|______|_____|__4__|_____|_____|____|____

A|______|______|___2__|_____|_____|_____|_____|____|____


E|______|______|______|_____|_____|_____|_____|____|____



For the D7, or the 5 chord, this is the pattern:

G _______________________1_________________4_____________

D|______|______|______|__1__|_____|_____|__4__|____|____

A|______|______|______|_____|__2__|_____|_____|____|____

E|______|______|______|_____|_____|_____|_____|____|____

Notice that just like the major scale once your get this finger pattern down,
2----1--4-----1--4--1------4--1

What ever note you start on with your middle finger is the correct line for the Chord.

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