StageAhead

On my YouTube channel i put together a Playlist with 16 sightreading exercise videos. Maybe it's a start:

I've done two video lessons on Duck Dunn's basslines. Maybe that'll help: [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlT9e6d_hHg"]She Caught The Katy (Blues Brothers)[/url] and [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSMIg1gDjV8"](Sitting On) The Dock Of The Bay (Otis Redding)[/url]

And yet another of Glenn Cornicks brilliant basslines: [url="http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2014/09/weekly-basslines-139-living-in-past.html"]http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2014/09/weekly-basslines-139-living-in-past.html[/url]

Glenn Gornick, bassist for Jethro Tull from 1968 - 1970 died on August 29th 2014. He was the one who played the wonderful bass solo on Jethro Tull's "Bourreé" which inspired thousands of bass players. Ian Anderson wrote this on the official Jethro Tull Website: [url="http://jethrotull.com/glenn-cornick-290814/"]http://jethrotull.co...cornick-290814/[/url] I did a transcription of this tune two years ago: [url="http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2012/03/weekly-basslines-67-bouree-jethro-tull.html"]http://four-strings-...ethro-tull.html[/url] R.I.P. Glenn Gornick

Here are Some easy song transcriptions without tabs to supplement my Sightreading Lessons for everyone who's trying to get into reading music! [url="http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2014/08/weekly-basslines-137-easy-songs-for.html"]http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2014/08/weekly-basslines-137-easy-songs-for.html[/url]

Thanks Grangur, I've been writing now in both english and deutsch for a while, maybe i can add a little german grammar section and you can correct my sloppy english ;-)

This is a small lesson on how to play a jazz standard tune by using only the "big letters" of the mostly complex chord symbols. A beginner student of mine was largely confused by chord symbols like A7(b9) and therefore refused to play jazz although he'd love to. So in one lesson I taught him an easy approach to play jazz basslines without bothering about complex chord symbols. To demonstrate this I improvised a bassline on one of my favorite jazz standards "When Sunny Gets Blue" and videotaped it, so he could have a closer look at home. Later on I decided to put this lesson in my bass-blog to share it. Take a look! [url="http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2014/05/jazz-bass-for-beginners-when-sunny-gets.html?view=magazine"]http://four-strings-...l?view=magazine[/url] Hope you like it!

I've been teaching electric bass for over 25 years and with a little pride i can say that every single one of my students has learned to read music in my lessons. Lately i started to write my concept down to make it accessible for more people who want to learn to sightread on bass. Here you can take a look at the first part: [url="http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2014/04/lessons-to-go-1-sightreading-for.html"]Sightreading for electric bass (part 1)[/url] Tell me what you think about it.

In my latest blog-entry I was asked to explain a special picking hand technique I apply when accompanying songs with a "[b]train groove[/b]". I call this technique "[b]Three stroke deadnote pattern[/b]" and it supplements perfectly the drummers "train groove" and I even substituted the drummer when we were playing as a duo or trio. Take a look: [url="http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2013/11/weekly-basslines-131-freight-train.html"]http://four-strings-...ight-train.html[/url]

Yes! My Funny Valentine can be played with this kind of "line cliché". It could be seen as a kind of reharmonising the chords by using the tool of line clichés. On this site of berklee college you can download a pdf-file on this subject: [url="http://www.berkleeshares.com/songwriting__arranging/line_cliches_jazz_reharmonization"]http://www.berkleesh...reharmonization[/url] I've just finished the second part of my little workshop on "line cliches". This time it includes one of the most beautiful basslines I've ever heard by [b]Oteil Burbridge[/b] in the song "[b]Midnight In Harlem[/b]" by the [b]Tedeschi Trucks Band[/b]. Amazing! [url="http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2013/11/weekly-basslines-126-line-cliches-part-2.html"]http://four-strings-...hes-part-2.html[/url]

This week I started a two-part series about songs that feature a so-called "line cliché". The first parts includes these transcriptions: Tom Petty - Into The Great Wide Open Beatles - Dear Prudence John Barry - James Bond Theme Take a look: [url="http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2013/10/weekly-basslines-125-line-cliches-part-1.html"]http://four-strings-...hes-part-1.html[/url] Do you know any other songs featuring line clichés???

I don't know why Paul McCartney's bass playing is mostly underrated. The bassline to this song proves that he deserves kudos not only for his excellent song-writing but also for being a versatile bass player. [url="http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2013/10/weekly-basslines-124-goodnight-tonight.html"]http://four-strings-...ht-tonight.html[/url] What are your favorite Paul McCartney basslines?

Rita Coolidge's version of "Higher and Higher" is another good example for the 1-5-6-Pattern. The De La Soul song is something totally different. It seems to be: 1-5-11-b7-8-5-11-b7

Well I'm indeed an early bird, but we're also an hour up front in Germany. The pattern you described is very similar to the patterns I mentoined, but not exactly the same as you repeat the 6-5 part more often. But it's only a little variation and I'm sure there's also a song using right this.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1381378715' post='2238222'] Isn't it also on Gaynor's version of 'Substitute', from about 3:35 on this: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSlztAQcU1o[/media] [/quote] Yes! It's also in the verses, just added by a low octave of the root at the end. As I said before I think if you take a closer look to seventies disco music you'll probably find hundreds of examples.

Great! Quiet a few additions to my list. Thanks to all contributors. A few comments: [b]Black is Black (Los Bravos) [/b]- Here the 1-5-6-Pattern is combined with another frequent pattern that I would call 1-5-b7-Pattern. Usually the 1-5-6-Pattern is mainly used for major chords. The correspondent pattern for minor chords would be the 1-5-b7-Pattern. [b]Time Is Tight (Booker T. & The MG's)[/b] - Excactly. Duck Dunn it again ;-) [b]Son Of My Father (Chicory Tip)[/b] - This is a pattern utilizing the sixth and fifth, but it's different because here you play those chord tones above the root note, while the pattern that I described has them below the root. [b]Love Really Hurts without you (Billy Ocean)[/b] - Yes, again the 1-5-6-Pattern and it's also interesting how the rhythmic patterns do resemble amongst the different songs.

YESSS!! I think a lot of Discosongs from Seventies might have used this pattern!!

Sure, "A Kind of Magic" is certainly a 1-5-6-Pattern. It's quiet obvious, you can tell by just hearing it!

At first it was just a requested bassline, but finally I came up with a short lesson about a very famous and commonly used bass pattern. Take A Look: [url="http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2013/10/weekly-basslines-122-burning-love-elvis.html"]http://four-strings-...love-elvis.html[/url] Do you know more songs utilizing this bass pattern?

I just finished transcribing the bassline to this wonderful song. Thanks to Paul for the request. I've almost forgotten about this beautiful song. The bassline is played on frettless bass. [url="http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2013/09/weekly-basslines-119-wuthering-heights.html"]http://four-strings-...ng-heights.html[/url] Have fun!

Hey, I've done a transcription to this tune in my bass blog earlier this year. I did a little lesson about "[b]The legendary Motown Groove"[/b], especially known from Diana Ross & The Supremes hit "[b]You Can't Hurry Love[/b]" which happened to have a big renaissance during the 80ies in songs like "[b]I'm so excited[/b]" (Pointer Sisters), "[b]Footloose[/b]" (Kenny Loggins) or "[b]Wake me up before you Go Go[/b]" (Wham) and more. The post is unfortunately written in german (I'll have to translate this one day, because it's a really interesting topic), but you can still use the transcription.Have a look: [url="http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2013/02/special-request-wake-me-up-before-you.html"]http://four-strings-...before-you.html[/url] Tom

I finally managed to get the whole song transcribed: [url="http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2013/09/weekly-basslines-116-get-lucky-daft-punk.html"]http://four-strings-...-daft-punk.html[/url] Get Lucky!!!

One of my students recently asked me about the bassline to this song. I tried to transcribe the original Nathan East bassline. It was really hard, because you can't barely hear the five-string bass and it's low frequencies in the mix. I finally transcribed only the first part 'til the first chorus and I share it with you.

I've just finished part 2 of my online basslesson about using the pentatonic scale to create basslines, riffs and fills: [url="http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2013/08/basslesson-basslines-using-pentatonic.html"]http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2013/08/basslesson-basslines-using-pentatonic.html[/url]

Hello, the issue of how to build good sounding basslines to a given chord progressions seems to be a very hot topic to bass beginners and so I decided to translate a series of online basslessons I've done a while ago on my bass-blog from german into english, so you all can benefit from my efforts originally aimed at my german students. So here's the first part restricted to major chord arpeggios: Building Basslines Using Major Triad Arpeggios (part 1) [url="http://four-strings-basslessons.blogspot.de/2013/07/basslesson-basslines-with-major.html"]http://four-strings-...with-major.html[/url] Have Fun!