Basic Bass Techniques in the Key of C

Let's start off with something really basic, and we'll move up through all kinds of different bass lines up to more complicated ones.

Introduction to Boogie Bass Lines

Essentially, we're looking at things in the key of C here, kind of rooted around the octave and the fifth as strong intervals. A very simple boogie bass line could be something like this:

• Playing crotchets or quarter notes: Not particularly exciting or interesting, but the fundamentals are in there.
• It's that strong movement going between those two intervals.

Adding Rhythm

One thing we can do is add a kind of swing rhythm to it. Very simply, it instantly becomes more identifiable.

Let's extend that rather than just playing it straight. Makes it a bit more interesting.

In fact, Meadlux Lewis uses something quite similar in one of his tunes, which I'll show you in a bit.

Incorporating the Third

Another way we could do this is to use the third. So we still have that fundamental bass line, but we can add the third as well.

• Moving from the minor third to the major third: This is something inherent to the broad world of blues and American music in general.
• If you listen to bluegrass and other genres, there's always that tension between the major and minor third.

If that tempo were sped up, it would sound a bit more like the boogie, you know, that kind of thing. However, that might mean it's too quick to consistently play triplets over the top, which I think takes it away from that blues feel.

Exploring New Bass Lines

So, we've looked at those bass techniques so far. Why not combine the two? Something like this:

Encouragement to Explore: I'm trying to encourage you to explore your own ways of creating new bass lines. Look at combining different techniques.

People like Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson took this bass line and did something which gave it a different quality. They might play it like this:

• You could add something at the end or keep a repeated C at the bottom.
• This allows the strings to resonate more and gives it extra weight, which is really effective.

Contextual Application

In context, we could do something like this, which is based on a boogie woogie stomp by Albert Allen.

You'll notice that the left hand has a bit more gravity to it. What you could do is add a third to that part of the bass, which gives you something like this:

• This adds weight and can be developed into a bass line used frequently by Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons.
• For me, this is a go-to bass line; it's a sort of default thing which sounds like this.

I kind of like it because it has that dissonant quality, which you can really snap onto as if it's a snare drum on beats two and four.

So you get a rhythm that sounds like this:

• I'm sort of slightly exaggerating that accent there, but there you go!

Conclusion: So there you have it! Explore these techniques, and don't hesitate to experiment with your own style as you create new bass lines.