The sixties were an experimental time for musicians, none more so than The Beatles in the UK, and The Beach Boys over in the U.S. Although The Beach Boys began life as a surf rock band, under the stewardship of chief songwriter Brian Wilson they evolved into a far more sophisticated outfit during the mid-late […]

This piece of music was originally written and performed on the acoustic guitar by Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt. I’ve always loved it and have spent many years figuring out the best way to translate it onto the bass. Fortunately, it works well on the instrument, although as you’ll see from the video, it is a very […]

This video course will show you how to play a solo bass arrangement of the Cantina Band Theme from Star Wars. This piece is performed using several different playing techniques, making it a very challenging study piece. A backing track and a PDF transcription are available for this course. To download them, hit the Download […]

This study piece is a 12-bar blues in the key of E. The bass plays a walking line throughout much of the piece, albeit one with a lot of variations to get your teeth into. There’s also a short bass solo, which is full of blues licks; these will be useful to know when it […]

This is a jazz-funk composition that is based around some heavily syncopated bass grooves that are challenging to both read and play. It also makes use of sliding octave figures and unison licks and features some slippery bass fills. Don’t forget to hit the Download Resources button above in order to download the PDF transcription […]

This piece is a jazz-funk fingerstyle workout built around harmony that is relatively static. As a result, the bass part has more of an improvisational feel to it, with there being a lot of opportunities to play fills and develop the fundamental parts. The piece also includes an eight-bar bass solo, meaning that there’s plenty […]

This piece is a solo bass composition that explores the use of the chordal fingerstyle technique. This technique requires the player to play the strings using the thumb and fingers of the picking hand in a similar manner to the way acoustic guitarists often play. Although there is limited call for this technique on bass, […]

This study piece explores how tenths can be used effectively on the bass guitar, both as a support for a melody, and as part of a groove. This piece features a melody line that is similar in style to ‘Dune Tune’ by Level 42, as well as a tricky fingerstyle funk groove. Don’t forget to […]

This harmonics study is a solo bass composition that really explores the potential of harmonics. In working through this piece you’ll hear how harmonics can be used to play melodic ideas, and how they can be combined with fretted notes to create very full sounding chords. Don’t forget to hit the Download Resources button above […]

This study is a rock track written with a focus on playing more complex sixteenth note-based lines with the plectrum. It also features some unison lines that were inspired by bands such as Mr. Big and Extreme.  Don’t forget to hit the Download Resources button above in order to download the PDF transcription and audio […]