Bass Magazine – Issue 4 2019

104 BASS MAGAZINE ; ISSUE 4 ; bassmagazine.com

er exactly halfway between the clicks. Keep

the volume of the notes even. Do this on all

your strings.

Finally, play four evenly timed notes for

each click of the metronome — the first note

on the click, and the other three before the

next click sounds. Again, practice this on

each of your strings.

If the click represents a quarter-note,

which is most often the case, then you’re

playing quarter-notes when you’re playing

one note per click, eighth-notes when play-

ing two per click (twice as fast as the quar-

ter-notes), and 16th-notes when playing four

notes (twice as fast as the eighth-notes). Take

a look at Ex 1 for a visual. If you want to hear

these rhythms in bass parts, listen to the in-

tro and pre-chorus of Elton John’s “Benny

and the Jets” for quarter-notes, U2’s “Where

the Streets Have No Name” for eighth-notes,

and Vulfpeck’s “Dean Town” for 16th-notes.

Once you have the individual rhythms

solidly under your fingers, it’s time to take

this exercise to another level. Bassists com-

monly play a combination of quarter-,

eighth-, and 16th-notes in any one song, so

you need to be able to seamlessly maneu-

ver among them. You can prepare yourself

for this by practicing alternating rhythms as

you’re playing. Don’t hesitate as you move

from one rhythm to the next.

Turn on the metronome and start playing

quarter-notes. Then, without stopping, play

eighth-notes. After a while, switch to 16th-

notes, still without stopping. When you’re

ready (still without stopping), work your way

back to eighth-notes and eventually to quar-

ter-notes. This exercise helps you keep track

of all your rhythmic subdivisions while exer-

cising your striking hand. Example 2 spells it

out for you in notation form.

Alternate your sequence between quar-

ter-, eighth-, and 16th-notes to break things

up and keep it interesting. You never know

when you need to go from a quarter-note

rhythm directly to a 16th-note rhythm or vice

versa. Example 3 shows you some common se-

quences to work with.

If you don’t have your bass handy and

you still want to exercise your rhythmic sub-

divisions, there’s a way to do it using your

feet, hands, and voice. Tap your feet in a

quarter-note rhythm (you can also go for a

slow walk), then clap your hands against your

thigh in an eighth-note rhythm (twice as fast

as your feet), and finally say “da” in a 16th-

note rhythm (twice as fast as your hands and

four times as fast as your feet). Pretty soon,

your rhythmic feel will be as solid as a drum-

mer’s. l

Beginner Bass Base