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Hot Bass How-Tos

How to Play bass: Double stopswith tritones

How to Play Double-Stop Boogie with Rich Appleman and Danny Morris When you play double-stop, you have two techniques to choose from, like strumming two post strings at the same time. You could also play this by strumming 2 adjacent strings. Tritone means three tones. Try to slide in and out of the tritones to make a nice sound on the base coupled with an open string. Couple it with a nice chord, you can now play the double-stop boogie.

How To: Fret and play a C sharp or D flat note on bass guitar

In this bass guitar lesson for beginners, you'll learn how to fret and play a C sharp or D flat note on the bass. Regardless of your preferred style of music, if you want to be great, you'll need your head and hands on the same page. And there's no better way to get your head and hands on the same page than to practice. Happily, the Internet is awash in video tutorials like this one. For more information, and to get started playing this note yourself, watch this free video lesson for beginnin...

How To: Play "Message in a Bottle" by the Police on the bass

See how to play the Police's "Message in a Bottle" on the bass with this free video bass lesson, which presents a complete, step-by-step breakdown of the song. While this tutorial is best suited for intermediate players, bassists of all skill levels can play along given a little time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing this classic Sting song on your own bass guitar, watch this how-to!

How To: Play bass guitar for beginners using open strings

In this tutorial, we learn how to play bass guitar for beginners using open strings. Get used to look at written notes. To do this, look at open notes on a piece of paper and work on your right hand technique. You won't be pulling straight up, your finger should be resting on the string. Pull it slightly backwards and feel the string vibrate. A nice and eve stroke will be perfect, do this for all the notes to get them to all sound the same. Then, combine looking at sheet music with your right...

How To: Play the bassline from Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean"

Wanna play the bass like a pro? Paul Wolf provides a superlative video, for beginners, to learn how to play Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" on the bass guitar. The use of a picture within a picture provides beginners good closeups of where to place the fingers of both hands to accomplish the task. He includes a slower version and a breakdown of the parts of the piece, the chords and metronome settings to help with the changes in tempo of the song. He provides great insights to all of the rift...

How To: Play the main bassline to "Disco Inferno" by the Trammps

There's no better way to hone your bass wielding skills while shaking that fine backside of yours than grooving along to the superhit "Disco Inferno" by the Trammps. After being included on the soundtrack to John Travolta's "Saturday Night Fever," the song was catapaulted to the top of the charts and many of us still recognize the tune today.

How To: Bow an upright bass

Bowing an upright bass is a technique that diversifies the sounds and music that can be made by the instrument. Play with a bow on upright bass with tips from a music teacher in this free stringed instrument video series.

How To: Play jazz bass guitar in E flat (Eb)

In this video series, expert jazz musician Ryan Larson will teach you how to read and play jazz bass in the key of Eb major. Learn the different scales and techniques in this step by step bass guitar lesson. Improve your ability to groove with other musicians and move freely along the neck of the bass.

How To: Play the Beatles' "In My Life" on an electric bass

Want to know how to play the bass line to the Beatles' "In My Life"? Learn how with this free video bass lesson. While this tutorial is best suited for intermediate players, bassists of all skill levels can play along given a little time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing this John Lennon song on your own electric bass, watch this how-to!

How To: Play Earth, Wind & Fire's Let's Groove Tonight on bass

Looking for a quick video lesson on how to play Earth, Wind & Fire's "Let's Groove Tonight"? It's a pretty easy tune (and consequently one well suited for budding bassists) - there are only two parts to the song and this video provides a thorough breakdown of each. For more information, and to get started playing the bass line from "Let's Groove Tonight" yourself, watch this free video bass tutorial.

How to Play bass: Two handed tapping technique

This video is a bass lesson that demonstrates how to use a two-handed tapping technique often used by Eddie Van Halen and others on guitar. To do this on bass, you should put your middle finger over the top of your index finger to make a more solid tapping finger, and put your hand up the neck with your thumb on the back of the neck. Land your finger to tap, and pull to pluck the string. He places his left hand on the frets in anticipation of pulling the string with the right hand. He demonst...

How To: Play basic walking bass lines

If you are looking to begin playing the bass then this how to video is the place to start. This is a short demonstration lesson detailing the basic principles of walking bass lines. You will learn some easy scales and how to play a walking bass line for whatever song you are playing. With this tutorial you will learn tips to improve your walking bass technique.

How To: Play "Little Wing" by Jimi Hendrix on the bass

Want to know how to perform the bass part to Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing"? Learn how to lay it down with this free video bass lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song's bass line. While this tutorial is best suited for intermediate players, bassists of all skill levels can play along given a little time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing "Little Wing" on your own bass guitar, watch this how-to!

How To: Fret and play a G note on a bass guitar

In this bass guitar lesson for beginners, you'll learn how to fret and play a natural G. Regardless of your preferred style of music, if you want to be great, you'll need your head and hands on the same page. And there's no better way to get your head and hands on the same page than to practice. Happily, the Internet is awash in video tutorials like this one. For more information, and to get started playing this note yourself, watch this free video lesson for beginning bassists.

How To: Fret and play a G sharp note on a bass guitar

In this free video bass guitar lesson, you'll learn how to fret and play a G sharp note. Regardless of your preferred style of music, if you want to be great, you'll need your head and hands on the same page. And there's no better way to get your head and hands on the same page than to practice. Happily, the Internet is awash in video tutorials like this one. For more information, and to get started playing this note yourself, watch this guide for bassists.

How To: Fret and play an A sharp or B flat note on bass guitar

In this bass guitar lesson for beginners, you'll learn how to fret and play an A sharp or B flat. Regardless of your preferred style of music, if you want to be great, you'll need your head and hands on the same page. And there's no better way to get your head and hands on the same page than to practice. Happily, the Internet is awash in video tutorials like this one. For more information, and to get started playing this note yourself, watch this free video lesson for beginning bassists.

How To: Drop D tune a bass

This is a tutorial video on how to play bass, brought to you by How to Play Bass, hosted by Paul Wolf. In this lesson Paul teaches you how to tune your bass guitar down to what is called "Drop D" tuning. Follow along with him, as Paul demonstrates how to achieve this tuning by two different methods. The first method is done by tuning to the 'A' string, and de-tuning the 'E' string to 'D'. The second method involves a similar process, this time using the 'D' string to achieve the same effect.

How To: Fret and play a C note on the bass guitar

In this bass guitar lesson for beginners, you'll learn how to fret and play a natural C. Regardless of your preferred style of music, if you want to be great, you'll need your head and hands on the same page. And there's no better way to get your head and hands on the same page than to practice. Happily, the Internet is awash in video tutorials like this one. For more information, and to get started playing this note yourself, watch this free video lesson for beginning bassists.

How To: Play the bass line to "Rain" by the Beatles

Want to know how to play the bass line to the Beatles' "Rain"? Learn how with this free video bass lesson. While this tutorial is best suited for intermediate players, bassists of all skill levels can play along given a little time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing this John Lennon song on your own electric bass, watch this how-to!

How To: Play "Let It Be" by the Beatles on the bass

Want to know how to play the bassline to the Beatles' "Let It Be"? See how it's done with this free video bass lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song. While this tutorial is best suited for intermediate players, bassists of all skill levels can play along given a little time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing this great (and simple) Paul McCartney song on your own bass guitar, watch this how-to!

How To: Play the bassline for "Soul Man" by Sam & Dave

"Soul Man" was one of the biggest hits of 1967, and still holds its ground in success. Sam & Dave's hit single, written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, will forever live on in the music world, and through you… if you play bass. This video is a beginner's lesson to bass guitar, which teaches you how to play the baseline for "Soul Man" by Sam & Dave, with the baseline perfected by Duck Dunn. This is a good bass line for beginners who've played for a bit to get their fingers around.

How To: Walk on one chord

Extend one chord on upright bass for an extended period of time. Learn about one chord walking on upright bass in this free stringed instrument video from a jazz and classical bassist.

How To: Boil vigor into your bass guitar strings for a "brand new" tone

This is an old school trick to revitalizing your bass playing skills— on the cheap. If you're in desperate need of some new bass guitar strings, but can't afford the cost, then there's a solution to bringing new life into them for that "brand new" tone— boil them. Boiling bass guitar strings is a great trick to restoring your sounds, but you can only do this a couple times or it will stretch them out too much and break.

How To: Play the bassline from "Jamming" by Bob Marley

In this tutorial, we learn how to play the bass line from "Jamming" by Bob Marley. For the intro, you will set your metronome at 90, then start to play the notes. The first bar is a B at the seventh fret of the E string, playing a rhythm with that. The second bar is E on the seventh fret of the A string. Play these together, then start with the third bar of the song. The third and fourth bar are played together, and are D and F# on the third fret of the G string. Once you start to do this, yo...

How To: Play "Every Breath You Take" by the Police on the bass

Want to know how to perform the bass line from the Police's "Every Breath You Take"? See how to play it with this free video bass lesson, which presents a complete breakdown of the song's bass line. While this tutorial is best suited for intermediate players, bassists of all skill levels can play along given a little time and effort. For more information, and to get started playing this classic Sting song on your own bass guitar, watch this how-to!

How To: Play the song "Radioactive" by Kings of Leon on the bass

Radioactive by Kings of Leon is a very straightforward song for bass players, although as they say in the world of music "simple is almost always better". If you're just getting started on bass, or if you're just really into the song and want to learn it on bass, this video has what you need. In it you will get a full lesson on how to play "Radioactive" by Kings of Leon.

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