This video course will demonstrate how to play a solo bass arrangement of the Cantina Band Theme from the original Star Wars movie. This piece is performed using several different playing techniques, making it a very challenging study piece.
Click HERE to download the PDF transcription and the audio files for this piece. If you enjoy working through this lesson, consider subscribing to our video courses – we have hundreds of hours of great content available!
This course contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above.
This video is a demonstration of the piece, performed on a Zon Sonus bass. A ‘crunch modulator’ effect was applied to the bass once it was recorded in order to make it sound more alien…
In this video I’ll demonstrate how to play the simple eight-bar Intro section. This part is performed using conventional fingerstyle technique and uses accents on the second and fourth beats to mark the backbeat. Although simple to play, this line establishes the fast, cut-common time tempo of the piece. This lesson covers bars 1 – 8 in the transcription.
This video covers the A section, which is the main (and most memorable) section of the piece. To play this part, you will need to use the chordal fingerstyle technique, where the thumb and first two fingers of the picking hand pluck the strings in a chordal manner. This lesson covers bars 9 – 24 in the accompanying transcription.
This lesson covers the B section of the piece, which is based around a repeating figure, once again performed using the chordal fingerstyle technique. This video covers bars 25 – 40 in the transcription.
In this video we’ll be working through the C section. This is a complex part featuring two independent lines which are performed with each separately, using the two-handed tapping technique. When learning this section, it’s important that you learn to play each part independently of the other to begin with. This lesson covers bars 41 – 56 in the transcription.
In this final video we’ll be working on the D section, which is a reprise of the A Section, with an extended ending. This lesson covers bars 57 – 78.