20 Great and Famous Basslines to Play on Bass (Free Tab)

Download these instantly recognisable 20 basslines selected for you. From Marcus Miller to Pink Floyd or Toto, these basslines belong to a variety of different styles and use various techniques. Grab your bass!

“20_Basslines_For_Guitar_Pro_7.zip”
(click on the image to download the .zip file for Guitar Pro 7)

“20_Basslines_For_Guitar_Pro_6.zip”
(click on the image to download the .zip file for Guitar Pro 6)

What you will find in this bundle

These basslines are excerpts from the music scores available on www.mysongbook.com.

Chic – Le Freak C’est Chic

Donna Summer – Hot Stuff

James Brown – Get Up (I Fell Like Being) A Sex Machine

Lenny Kravitz – Fly Away

Marcus Miller – Run for Cover

Michael Jackson – Beat it

Pink Floyd – Money

Rage Against The Machine – Killing in the Name

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication

Rush – YYZ

Telephone – Ça (C’est Vraiment Toi)

The Beatles – Come Together

The Cure – Close to Me

The Doors – Riders on the Storm

The Steve Miller Band – The Joker

The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army

Tool – Schism

Toto – Don’t Chain My Heart

Tower Of Power – What is Hip?

Yes – Roundabout

What are the techniques used in these extracts?

• The staccato: This implies stopping the string from ringing. Lightly touching a string usually stops it. The note is therefore shortened. You can practice it with James Brown’s famous song “Get Up”.

• Dead notes: You just need to release the pressure with your finger on the string but still keep your finger on it. Make sure not to press the string down onto the fingerboard. Then strike that string with your right-hand index or middle finger. The result is a non-pitched thud. The musical notation of a dead note, also called mute note, muffled string or silenced note is represented by an “x” on the staff or the tablature.

• Accents: Accented notes are punctuated with a bit more emphasis than a ‘regularly’ played note. Simply impart a little bit more finger strength into a note to pop it out of the mix. Take a look at the song “Le Freak C’est Chic”.

• Slap and Pop: Slap the string with your thumb. When performing the slap, you will use the bone part of your thumb to strike the strings. You can start by practicing Lenny Kravitz’s song “Fly Away” and then Marcus Miller’s “Run for Cover”. The pop is when you slide your finger underneath a string and “pull” it away from the fretboard – and when you let the string go, the string snaps back and strikes the fretboard, making a popping sound.
• Slides/Glissando: The idea is that you are going to fret a note and then “slide” to another fret without taking the pressure off your finger as you move.

Feel free to leave comments about those basslines, or suggestions for upcoming packs of this kind.