bass groove library
This Bass Groove Library shows you classic grooves in the style of a successful bass player that stood the test of time.
The groove is always “In the Style of…” with all the crucial elements intact and only minimal alteration of non-essential notes (to steer clear of any potential copyright infringement).
You’ll find audio, notation and notation with TAB for each groove. Please check out each of these formidable bass players and listen to the original grooves to inspire your own.
These grooves will help you connect with all kinds of bass styles and you can forge your own groove path with confidence and authority!
Groove 1: Alain Caron
Alain Caron is a Canadian bassist whose work on fretless six-string bass is nothing short of extraordinary (he does play fretted as well…and not too shabby). This particular groove features a rich harmonic spectrum and fierce cross-string movement. You can hear him on recordings with his old group UZEB or his more recent work as a solo artist.
Groove 2: Chuck Rainey
One of the most recorded bassist of all time and a fabulous human being, Chuck’s discography is nothing short of stunning; as part of the New York City session scene in its heydays and laid down grooves for just about everybody. His articulation and dynamics of each note he plays are especially noteworthy. This particular groove covers the entire width of the neck and is actually quite a challenge to play, despite its laid back feel.
Groove 3: Darryl Jones
When Sting, Madonna and the Rolling Stones needed someone to lay down a rock solid foundation, they called on Darryl Jones, whose muscular and driving bass lines did a superstar’s music justice. Darryl possesses this rare gift of driving an 8th note bass line and still make it sound interesting by syncopating and playing the occasional grace note, which gives the line drive without weighing it down.
Groove 4: David Hood
David Hood was one of the cats laying down the bass parts for an array of stars who recorded at the famed Muscle Shoals studio, such as the Staple Singers. Hood’s lines are deep in the pocket and have an amazing feel, implying more harmony in a bass line than there actually is and giving each song a distinctive bass personality without getting in the way.
groove 5: James Jamerson
James Jamerson is often referred to as the father of modern electric bass. He was the house bassist at Motown and pumped life into countless hits by a long list of artists. His bass lines were solid as a rock while using syncopations and plenty of 16th notes to keep the groove lively and bouncy…without ever getting in the way.
Groove 6: Jaco Pastorius
One of the greatest electric bass players, and certainly one who propelled the instrument to far greater heights than ever before, is Jaco Pastorius. With grooves that had a jazz complexity with just the right amount of an R&B tinge and solo lines that where as fluid as any horn players, Jaco exploded onto the scene in the ‘70s…and really never left it…
Groove 7: Donald “Duck” Dunn
Duck Dunn was the house bassist for the very successful “Stax/Volt” label and provided the bottom end of countless classic recordings. As part of the group “Booker T. & the M.G.s” he was a fixture on the Memphis scene…and of course you can watch him lay it down in any of the “Blues Brothers” movies…
Groove 8: Patrick Pfeiffer
A groove that found its way onto one of the numerous recordings by the KMA Allstars, a group of studio musicians and the house-band for KMA studios in New York City, it’s a typical “percolator” groove that reaches beyond the range of an octave…
Groove 9: Gary Willis
Gary Willis is a pioneer on the 5-string fretless bass and you can hear his complex and awe-inspiring lines on recordings ranging from his band “Tribal Tech” to sessions with such greats as drummer Dennis Chambers and Wayne Shorter, to name but a few…
Groove 10: John Paul Jones
JPJ is the bassist responsible for the fabulous lines in Led Zeppelin songs, like the classics “Ramble On” and “The Lemon Song.”
He credits his ability to swing through his band’s Hard Rock style to his heavy Motown and Stax influences. John Paul comes from a highly musical family and his diversity in terms of music as well as instruments shows his vast talent.
The groove example shows a vast range, using three different octaves of the root (E).
Groove 11: John Entwistle
The “Ox” (Entwistle’s nickname) left an indelible mark on Rock’n’Roll with his amazing bass prowess as a member of the super-group “The Who.” Every bass player is very likely familiar with his famous bass solo on “My Generation.”
Known for his fast and furious fingerwork, Enwistle had a way of weaving through a song without ever letting you forget that it’s still rock.
The groove example is a rare example of a pattern starting on a non-root note.
Groove 12: Melvin Dunlap
Dunlap is one of those underappreciated bass players who has been heard by millions and is known to few.
He is the cat who lays down the amazing groove behind Bill Wither’s “Use Me” and quite a few more…
Groove 13: Richard Bona
Cameroon bassist Richard Bona is one of those rare bass players who comes along with a truly unique voice, both figuratively speaking as well as for real.
His travels took him from Africa, through Europe and finally to New York and he didn’t waste any time picking up musical influences along the way. With chops to spare, Bona is one of the most distinctive and expressive bassists on the scene today.
Groove 14: Tommy Cogbill
Tennessee bassist Cogbill was one of the true legends of the bass. One of the early pioneers of electric bass he laid down the classic grooves to numerous hits of the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Jaco credits him as an influence.
Being a producer, Cogbill had an uncanny ear for what the song needed and was unafraid to dive in with complex bass parts. “Son of a Preacher Man” is a prime example, one of quite a few.
Jaco often quoted his bass line in “Funky Broadway” when he was performing.
Groove 15: Paul McCartney
A lucky day indeed it was when McCartney was asked to switch to bass for the Beatles.
With his multi-instrumental skills, his awareness of the other parts and his compositional skills, not to mention his singing, Paul was in a truly unique position to establish the different ways a bass could accompany in a Pop/Rock format.
His lines are absolute classics and really well-constructed.
Groove 16: Jaco Pastorius
The quintessential Jaco groove is the middle section of “Come On, Come Over,” where the bass surges into a wicked 16th note feel, hitting between fourteen and fifteen 16th notes per measure.
It works due to Pastorius’ deft articulation using dead notes, ghost notes and hammer-ons to make the busy groove light and danceable.
Groove 17: Francis “Rocco” Prestia
Prestia keeps his grooves extremely busy without being overbearing, not an easy thing to do when you’re playing sixteen 16th notes per measure.
By displacing the notes into different octaves and spreading the harmonic spectrum in sudden bursts rather than gradually, he achieves a “horn-hit” like effect…which, of course, works quite well with one of the premier horn bands in the world.
Groove 18: Paul McCartney
McCartney has a way of keeping his grooves harmonically dense and “folding” them, going up partway and then going back down, without leaving a two- or three-string pattern.
He is unusually busy rhythmically (for a rock player) within that pattern.
Groove 19: Tommy Cogbill
Cogbill is the cat who originated (in the studio) the bass lines that put the groove into some of Aretha Franklin’s most famous tunes, such as “Respect.”
The interplay between the two measures of the groove, one being an “on-beat” pattern, the other being an “off-beat” pattern, first settles, then drives the groove.
Groove 20: Donald “Duck” Dunn
Dunn played on one of Johnny Taylor’s biggest hits… you may have heard of “Who’s Making Love…”.
A typical device of the great session players (Dunn, Jamerson, Cogbill, etc) was to use both the flat 7th as well as the 6th in the groove, tweaking it until the harmony was not too harsh (the 7th is pretty strident) and not too bland (the 6th can have that quality).
This device works especially well when the groove has to move and be busy.
Groove 21: Pino Palladino
Pino is one of the most outstanding bass players in the Pop field.
His playing has this rare combination of function, a hard groove, and beautiful lyricism. A master of the “Groove Tail.”
Groove 22: Bernard Edwards
Edwards is the perfect example of how hip disco could be for the bass player.
Long before mind-numbing octave patterns sent bass players into a coma, he found ways to supply dance music with a groove that is complex, interesting, challenging to play and contributes to the motion-inducing power of music…and he knows his dynamics…
Groove 23: Sting
The true power of the bass usually comes out when it is in the hands of a great composer who is aware of what else goes on in a song, especially in the melody, and responds to it from the bottom.
Sting is amazing in constructing unusual bass lines, perfect for the song and with ample space to breathe.
Groove 24: Bootsy Collins
Bootsy got his start with James Brown and was part of the young cadre of bassists who were at the fore establishing the new instrument as the center of the band, combining harmony and rhythm in equal measures.
Of course, his showmanship helped getting the bass noticed, although the fancy star basses and sunglasses came later.
Groove 25: Carol Kaye
One of the true legends of the electric bass, Carol Kaye contributed an astonishing body of work to music.
A first-call studio player in the heydays of the “California Rock Explosion” she laid down lines for an incredible roster of stars. Tasty, funky, controlled and inspiring.
Groove 26: Joe Osborne
Joe Osborne was (along with Carol Kaye and a few others) also part of the “California Rock Explosion.”
He backed up a number of artists and contributed greatly to the freedom of the bass when it came time to get a bit…well…wild.
You can hear him tearing into “Let the Sunshine In” in the “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” medley.
Groove 27: Chuck Rainey
Chuck Rainey is a master of the “ghost note,” a very lightly pitched percussive note (not quite a “dead note”) that deepens the groove by inducing another level of dynamics.
Besides that, he swings beautifully (he was usually the bass player when drummer Bernard Purdie played his famous “Purdie shuffle) How else could someone make a line like the one from Aretha’s “Rock Steady” so incredibly funky with just four notes…
Groove 28: David Hood
Hood was active as the go-to bassist at the famous “Muscle Shoals” studio in Alabama. His notes are usually deep in the pocket, centered, bold, sparse and flawlessly thought out and executed.
His work is predominant on the staple Singers’ recordings, such as the beautiful “I’ll Take You There.”
Groove 29: John Paul Jones
The remarkable John Paul Jones, the bassist responsible for the fabulous lines in Led Zeppelin songs, like the classics “Ramble On” and “The Lemon Song,” credits his ability to swing through his band’s Hard Rock style to his heavy Motown and Stax influences.
John Paul comes from a highly musical family and his diversity in terms of music as well as instruments shows his vast talent. This groove is incredibly melodic, especially in a hard rock genre. It’s one of those bass lines that is simply perfect for the song.
Groove 30: Robbie Shakespeare
Reggae wouldn’t be the same without the great contributions of Robbie Shakespeare (usually with Sly Dunbar on drums).
He infuses his heavy Motown and Stax influence into his reggae bass lines and provides not just the perfect deeply centered rhythm, but also an interesting harmonic line in his parts.
His work with Peter Tosh is marvelous.