Bass Playcrafts

Bass is one of the fundamental instruments in contemporary music. It’s no surprise that when a track lacks a bass line, it also loses dynamics and groove. According to the Fletcher–Munson curves, a mix with rich low frequencies is even perceived as louder than one without them.

It’s also no wonder Motown records were so popular in the 70s: James Jamerson’s legendary bass playing shaped the entire Motown sound. I even found a full list of the songs he played on – check it out here.

I try to spend at least two days a week playing bass parts from songs I enjoy. I don’t force myself to master entire pieces or to play like Jaco Pastorius or Flea — I’m not a professional bassist anyway – but I do take grooves I love and try to internalize them by analyzing and memorizing them.

By “bass grooves” I mean iconic lines like I Want You Back by The Jackson 5 or Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out by Freak Power, and many others.

I highly recommend Andrew Ford’s “50 R&B Bass Grooves You MUST Know” on TrueFire. This tutorial is not only a fun way to improve your R&B bass technique – more importantly, it inspires you to creatively ‘steal’ bass grooves. Ford doesn’t teach famous lines note-for-note - instead, he shows what makes a groove captivating and effective by inventing new lines in the style of Francis Rocco Prestia, James Jamerson, Fred Thomas, and others.