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20 Rock & Metal Basslines

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This video course is the first of three that will focus specifically on a single genre of music. First up: rock and metal. These exercises cover a wide range of styles, including classic rock, punk, funk rock, alternative rock and more. Rock and metal are perfect genres for getting stuck in with the plectrum and you should have a great time learning these exercises.

The majority of the exercises in this chapter are quite hard-hitting and you can afford to play them with a little more aggression. For these exercises ¬– and those in the next two courses – no picking guides have been written. This has been done to encourage you to use everything that you have learnt to find the most logical picking patterns. Remember that it’s very rare to see picking guides written in bass guitar notation.

As you work through this material, you might find the following courses useful (all included in the monthly subscription cost):

Don’t forget to hit the Download Resources button above to get the PDF worksheet and audio files for this piece (available to subscribers only).

This course is 1 HOUR & 39 MINUTES long and contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:

1. Exercise #1

This first exercise is a meaty unison riff in the style of classic rock acts such as Led Zeppelin. Watch out for the heavily syncopated figure in the fourth bar.

2. Exercise #2

This exercise makes good use of the blues scale in the first and third bars. This scale is a popular device in rock and metal basslines.

3. Exercise #3

This funk rock riff has an awkward four-note motif at the beginning of each bar that requires you to cross strings between the last two notes.

4. Exercise #4

This is a busy rock bassline that is based on a sixteenth note feel. The second and fourth bars feature pentatonic fills – another popular scale for rock and metal.

5. Exercise #5

This is another busy exercise. This time each of the first three bars is the same, aside from the descending figure: this moves to the G-string in the second bar.

6. Exercise #6

This exercise is a slow tempo classic rock riff that’s great fun to play. This one is based on the E minor pentatonic scale, with some chromatic passing notes.

7. Exercise #7

This is a fast punk bassline in the style of groups such as The Ramones. Punk bassists typically favour downstrokes only, although this is not recommended.

8. Exercise #8

Here’s another funk rock groove. This line is built on the E blues scale (E-G-A-Bb-B-D-E) and uses ghost notes for percussive effect.

9. Exercise #9

This exercise is written in the style of Rage Against the Machine. The blues scale is used again here and there are also some double stop power chords in the second bar.

10. Exercise #10

This exercise is a classic rock bassline that recalls the well-known song ‘My Sharona’ by The Knack. This line is a great opportunity to practice your string crossing.

11. Exercise #11

This is a sixteenth note line that has some tricky octave patterns. When playing this line, allow the notes on the G-string to continue ringing whilst you play the root notes.

12. Exercise #12

This exercise is an up-tempo rock bassline that is based off of a simple chromatic figure. The turnaround in the fourth bar follows a popular chord sequence.

13. Exercise #13

This is an arpeggiated chordal line that would be perfect for a song intro. Be sure to let all of the notes ring into one another when playing this.

14. Exercise #14

This exercise is another chordal line that is mostly played in the upper register. You should allow the open A-string to continue ringing through the first three bars.

15. Exercise #15

This exercise is another chordal line, this time a tip-of-the-hat to Dave Ellefson’s fantastic bass part on the Megadeth track ‘Five Magics’.

16. Exercise #16

This exercise is a fast pop punk bassline. The line itself is relatively simple, but the speed complicates matters somewhat.

17. Exercise #17

This is a classic rock riff. The first half is similar to Rainbow’s classic song ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ and features a bassline built on a descending major scale.

18. Exercise #18

This exercise was written in the style of The Jam. After a sparse opening eight bars, the line moves to a continuous eighth note pattern that is similar to a walking bassline.

19. Exercise #19

This is a sixteenth note-based line. There are numerous power chord figures in this line which are arpeggiated – an opportunity to work on your string crossing.

20. Exercise #20

This final exercise is a progressive rock bassline written with an odd time signature: 5/4. This line should be played quite aggressively.