Warm Up Exercise
Country Bass Line Exercise in 6/8 Time
Lesson #297
Video lesson
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Editorβs notes
Hey friends! Todayβs lesson teaches a 16-measure exercise focusing on country bass lines in 6/8 time β specifically looking at the techniques of walking bass lines (between chord changes) along with alternating bass notes (while strumming). Together, these are techniques youβll find use in many country and folk songs. My hope is this exercise gives you a nice & distilled opportunity to practice this without the burden of an entire songs (lyrics, additional chord progressions, etc). I play this exercise at 2 speeds: one slow (45 BPM) and another fast (60 BPM), for you to reference. Finally, I should note that this exercise was inspired by the song βPiece of Your Heartβ by Gabe Lee β an up-and-coming country singer & excellent songwriter who I canβt recommend enough. I hope you enjoy!
Timestamps for this lesson:
- 0:00 Lesson overview
- 1:50 Playthrough (slow @ 45 BPM)
- 2:38 Playthrough (fast @ 60 BPM)
- 3:26 Chord shapes used
- 4:48 Alternating bass notes
- 6:08 Walking bass lines
- 7:48 Additional tips & advice
- 11:50 Farewell & Gabe Lee plug
Full exercise
See the PDF chord sheet (linked above) for the full tab.
Chords
Hereβs the chord shapes this exercise uses.
E βββ2βββ3βββ0βββ βββ2ββββ3ββββ0ββββ0ββββ0ββββ
B βββ3βββ0βββ2βββ βββ1ββββ2ββββ2ββββ3ββββ0ββββ
G βββ2βββ0βββ2βββ βββ2ββββ0ββββ0ββββ2ββββ1ββββ
D βββ0βββ0βββ2βββ βββ0ββββ2ββββ2ββββ2ββββ2ββββ
A βββββββ2βββ0βββ ββββββββ0ββββ0ββββ0ββββ2ββββ
E βββββββ3βββββββ βββββββββββββββββββββββ0ββββ
D G A D7 A7 A7 Asus4 E
Alternating bass-line basics
One core technique used in this exercise is that of playing an alternating bass note for the D and A chords. The idea is to (1) pluck the normal bass note (e.g., open 4th string on a D); (2) then strum the full D chord; (3) then play a lower bass note before (4) playing the full chord again. Then repeat! See my video lesson for reference. Be able to do this fluidly, even if it means you have to start quite slowly.
In 4/4 time: In 6/8 time:
E βββββ2βββ2ββ βββββ0βββ0βββ E βββββ2β2βββ2β2ββ βββββ0β0βββ0β0βββ
B βββββ3βββ3ββ βββββ2βββ2βββ B βββββ3β3βββ3β3ββ βββββ2β2βββ2β2βββ
G βββββ2βββ2ββ βββββ2βββ2βββ G βββββ2β2βββ2β2ββ βββββ2β2βββ2β2βββ
D βββ0ββββββββ βββββ2βββ2βββ D βββ0ββββββββββββ βββββ2β2βββ2β2βββ
A βββββββ0ββββ βββ0βββββββββ A βββββββββ0ββββββ βββ0βββββββββββββ
E ββββββββββββ βββββββ0βββββ E ββββββββββββββββ βββββββββ0βββββββ
D A D A
Walk up basics
Hereβs the technique of walking up the bass line before playing the chord (used for both D and A). When you practice this, work up to the point where you can combine the alternating bass note pattern above with these walk-in sequences used occasionally. For both walk-ups shown here, left index finger is on the 2nd fret of the 5th or 6th string (left middle on 3rd fret, left ring on 4th fret).
D walk-up... A walk-up...
E ββββββββββ2ββ E ββββββββββ0ββββ
B ββββββββββ3ββ B ββββββββββ2ββββ
G ββββββββββ2ββ G ββββββββββ2ββββ
D ββββββββ0β0ββ D ββββββββββ2ββββ
A ββ0β2β4ββββββ A ββββββββ0β0ββββ
E βββββββββββββ E ββ2β3β4ββββββββ
D A
Shout out to Gabe Lee
Gabe Lee is a young country artist whose song βPiece of Your Heartβ is the inspiration for this exercise. He has two albums out (as of early 2020), both of which are great! I recommend his music for sure. Hereβs the the album with the song that inspired this exercise β track 2, specifically.
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