Guitar Noise Podcast #5 - “Adding a Basic Walking Bassline”
Hello to everyone and welcome to the latest Guitar Noise Podcast!
In this, our fifth GN Podcast, we’ll continue to make our playing more interesting by adding walking bass lines into our chord progression strumming. We’ll first work on a generic exercise to get ourselves geared to the task of adding a bass line. This involves altering our basic “bass / strum” pattern very simply.
From there we’ll use a progression of G to Am to C and back to G and work up to the following strumming pattern:
As in our previous Guitar Noise Podcasts, I’ll be walking you step by step through the lesson. So don’t think that you ain’t going nowhere, get your guitar, get down on that easy chair and come along and play! And, as always, please let us know what you think.
Peace
Guitar Noise Podcast #5 - “Adding a Basic Walking Bassline” [30:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
March 25th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
David,
This is the first time I have used one of your podcasts, I found it very easy to follow and have practised only for about 10 minutes after, and have it ‘in the can’. Great lesson, off looking at the previous podcasts now.
Many thanks
Geoff
March 25th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Hi Geoff
Glad to hear that this was a successful lesson for you! Hope you enjoy the other (past and future!) Guitar Noise podcasts as well.
Peace
March 27th, 2008 at 6:55 am
David,
I want to thank you for the podcsasts. I have learned more from the 5 podcasts than I have in the two years that I’ve been trying to teach myself to play. The lessons are great, and they give me a reason to look forward to Mondays (or at least every other one).
thank you so much!
Bill
March 27th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Hi Bill
You’re very welcome and I’m glad to hear that they are being of help. The podcasts are still a little on the weird side for me because recording them is kind of like teaching a class when there’s no one there! I’m simply glad that they aren’t coming across as stiff and unnatural.
While it’s way to early to tell as yet, but I think Paul and I would both like to get to the point where we’re doing a weekly podcast. There are a lot of things to work out in order for that to happen, but it’s a definite goal for me to be working toward.
In the meantime, I hope that these continue to be helpful. Don’t be shy about asking for future topics for us to explore. Everyone’s feedback has been instrumental in helping me plan ahead.
Peace
March 27th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Hi, David,
I have been remiss in not at least dropping you a line over the past year or so. I have been really impressed with all your tutorials at guitarnoise.com, even the theory stuff. These podcasts are another teriffic piece to the puzzle.
My 30 year old “closet guitar” is finally seeing some light and actually producing a couple recognizable tunes.
Many thanks!
Jim
March 28th, 2008 at 6:55 am
Hi Jim
Glad to hear that your old “closet guitar” is spending more time out of the closet! That’s as it should be.
And I’m also glad that our lesson on the Guitar Noise website are being of help, even the theoy ones! I find that the best way to approach theory is for the guitarist to understand that he or she, simply by playing guitar, already knows a good chunk of theory. But the guitarist may simply not know what he or she knows and it just becomes a matter of starting there and working toward a more “active” understading of it.
I look forward to hearing how things continue to progress with you.
Peace
April 1st, 2008 at 6:00 am
Hello from down under
You’ll be happy to know the heat wave is over down here. Hope your snow is on the ebb.
These podcasts are brilliant. They are really forcing me to visualise what is going on. 3rd fret A string now means something and I have to be a lot faster at recognising where I am at. If I ever am in a position to get together with other guitarists I am on my way to being able to communicate with them.
It is also nice to be able to connect to a real person and not just read text. I have only been at it for just on a year now, but without your on-line lessons and now your podcasts I think I would have really been struggling to keep going.
As we say down here
Thanks Mate
April 1st, 2008 at 6:15 am
Hi Keith
We got a small layer of the dreaded stuff yesterday morning while I was teaching. Looked out the window and thought I was living in a snow globe.
You’ll get faster as you do more and more guitar work. Pretty soon you’ll hear “have C in your bass” and you’ll automatically get either the third fret of the A string or the eighth fret of the low E (sixth) string. Just like playing, it simply takes practice and repetition.
One of the Guitar Noise moderators likes to say that I’m just a computer that Paul has programmed for the Guitar Noise website, so you may not be connecting with a real person at all! I like to think I am…
Happy April First! And thanks for the kudos concerning the Guitar Noise Podcasts!
Peace
April 1st, 2008 at 7:57 pm
David, I thought I programmed you not to talk about your programming.
–
Sometimes I feel guilty that David takes on so much work. He should be earning at least a million dollars a year for all he does here. Do they give out awards for the “world’s most down to earth person?”
April 26th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Here’s a helpful tip for users of iTunes (or possibly other software that lets you add artwork to mp3s as well).
Right click on the image of the sheet music above, click “copy” and then in iTunes right click on Guitar Noise Podcast number 5, click Get info, select the artwork tab, and then right click and paste.
I find this convenient because this way I can have the sheet music in front of me and still be able to pause the podcast.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:48 am
Hi David
Thanks alot for your efforts with these Podcasts. I’m finding I am making real progress.
I have been playing for only the last few of my fifty five years but up until now I felt like I was just learning to put my fingers in the right places at the right time - it didnt feel like music. The Podcast format has taught me to listen and to visualise. Instead of picking up some TAB I now find myself picking up the guitar and running through some of your exercises then before I realise it I am just playing some music.
It feels like fun instead of a chore.
Thanks again
Alistair
May 7th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Hi Alistair
The first thing I tell any of my students is that playing music (guitar or otherwise) is supposed to be fun. So I’m thrilled to hear about your progress and, more importantly, about how it’s making you feel.
I’m glad these Guitar Noise podcasts are helping and I hope you’ll continue to find them useful. The next one coming up (Monday, May 12, if I manage to get it all together!) starts us on the process of adding our own fills to some basic strumming. I hope you’ll find this one really helps to make playing even more fun.
Peace