‘Pick a Game to Play’ was written to represent legendary session bassist Carol Kaye and is a great workout for your plectrum technique. The bassline for this piece is based on a sixteenth note feel, which is something that can be challenging to play effectively with the plectrum. In keeping with some of Carol’s more […]

‘For the Benefit of Mr. McCartney’ was written to represent Paul McCartney’s bass work during the latter part of his time with The Beatles. The line features many elements often found in McCartney’s basslines, such as a strong use of chord tones, the use of inversions, and the straight repetition of established parts. The line […]

‘Miller Time!’ was written to represent Marcus Miller and features some advanced applications of the slap bass technique. This piece has a moderately slow tempo and is representative of the music that Marcus has written and performed on albums such as Silver Rain, Renaissance and Afrodeezia. It features slap and pop grooves built around minor […]

‘A Nightmare… for the Fingers’ has been written to illustrate all of the challenges typically encountered when tackling the parts John Myung has recorded with Dream Theater. These include upper register melodies, hard-hitting unison riffs, arpeggiated lines, and time signature and tempo changes. In addition to all of that, this track also includes a blisteringly […]

‘A Portrait of Jaco’ was written to reflect the work of legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius, both as a solo artist, and with pioneering fusion outfit Weather Report. The bassline for this piece is a busy, syncopated part that is very challenging to play up to tempo. As well as the groove elements, it also features […]

‘Lead Balloon’ was written to represent John Paul Jones’s bass work with legendary rock group Led Zeppelin. The bassline features many common elements of his playing style, such as the use of the blues scale, a variety of different bass fills, some heavily syncopated lines, and some parts played in unison with the guitar. The […]

‘Is This Hip?’ is a challenging track that was written to represent Rocco Prestia’s bass work with Tower of Power, with a particular focus on their material from the early seventies. The line features many common elements of his playing style, such as continuous sixteenth note grooves, the use of chord tones, the use of […]

‘Workin’ Like a Dog’ was written to showcase the virtuosic playing style of legendary rock bassist Billy Sheehan and is a great workout for your fingerstyle and tapping techniques. This piece has a very quick tempo and is typical of the kind of music that Billy has played with bands such as Talas, The Dave […]

‘Zender Jazz’ was written to represent Stuart Zender’s ground-breaking bass work on the first three Jamiroquai albums. The bassline features many common elements of his playing style, such as syncopated funk grooves, disco octave lines, and the use of both fingerstyle and slap techniques. If you enjoy working through this piece, you might also find […]

This exercise is a funk bass groove that was written to be played with the plectrum. The percussive use of the pick in lines such as this was originally pioneered by legendary session bassist Anthony Jackson, who used the technique on the O’Jays hit ‘For the Love of Money’ back in 1973. This style of […]