Good songs for playing along to....

[The Saint]

Having spent the last 40 years bashing the hell out of guitars, I've recently decided to try my hand at learning the bass.

When I started out on guitar,a friend told me the best way to learn was by playing along to records. Remember them..?? It helped me get going, although I'm still playing at the same standard! But it helped with chord changes and hearing them coming.

So following on from that theme, what songs would you recommend for a beginner to play along to? I've got 'Stand by Me' but I need a few more. You know the sort of thing, a song you probably hate playing live because it's so repetitive, but has a simple bass line that doesn't change too much during the verse and chorus but will help get my fingers landing on the right fret.

Any suggestions?

Ta

Graham

[icastle]

Brown Eyed Girl?

[lxxwj]

What's a record?

I suggest anything by Rage Against the Machine (if you're into that kind of stuff), it's really
fun/energetic and easy to improvise over. Other easy stuff: Smiths, Nirvana, Pixies. Moderate stuff:
Franz Ferdinand, Strokes, Death From above 1979, etc.

[Lozz196]

Depends on musical tastes, but AC/DC are a great band to play along with. Not particularly difficult basslines, so a good way to develop timing and groove, without having to be complicated as well. Likewise The Ramones.

[The Saint]

Thanks, I'm thinking of something well known that doesn't gallop along too much. I have a couple of books/CD's and I'm about to start lessons next week

My tastes are mainly blues (so 12 bars are on the list!) but anything that has a repetitive bass line that I can pick up easily, bearing in mind this is the first time I've played bass.

Keep 'em coming...

[Thunderpaws]

Just been playing along to Feeder Buck Rogers....quality, really quite easy
Pearl Jam....lots of groove and not too super difficult for most of us
Cream....if you like your blues there are a few that groove and are not to hard to learn
There are millions!

[Silvia Bluejay]

Some of the first songs I learned at my beginners course were In The Midnight Hour, Seven Nation Army, Lithium, Beat It, Stir It Up and Gimme Some Lovin'.

[GarethFlatlands]

Love Cats!

[Mudpup]

Foo Fighters singles.
Rope, Learning to Fly, Pretender, Times Like These are all pretty straightforward but sound like theres more going on than there really is.
Nate really got the less is more thing happening there!

[deepbass5]

Hi, I always recommend and used Madonna’s [b]Isla Bonita[/b]. It is a reasonable pace but is great for your left hand to get use to arpeggio shapes major and minor both forward and backwards without moving your hand.

http://youtu.be/zpzdgmqIHOQ

[gary mac]

[quote name='Mudpup' timestamp='1338236350' post='1671424']
Foo Fighters singles.
Rope, Learning to Fly, Pretender, Times Like These are all pretty straightforward but sound like theres more going on than there really is.
Nate really got the less is more thing happening there!
[/quote]

Times Like These might be a bit challenging timing wise

[Mudpup]

Its just a chunk of "7's"

[Mike Ed]

How about [i]Born Under A Bad Sign [/i]if it's blues you're after. It's a classic, and an opportunity to play along with Duck Dunn or Jack Bruce.

It's not a really difficult one, even I can play along with it.

Good luck. Mike

[psychojoy]

Pentatonic stuff is always a good start.

Cochise by Audioslave
Hair of the Dog by Nazareth
Black Night by Deep Purple

I'm not sure what I can provide in the blues arena though.....

[waynepunkdude]

Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay.

[GregBass]

If you want blues stuff, early Fleetwood Mac could be good for you. Also, Check Berry.

[Musky]

[quote name='The Saint' timestamp='1338233303' post='1671331']
Thanks, I'm thinking of something well known that doesn't gallop along too much. I have a couple of books/CD's and I'm about to start lessons next week

My tastes are mainly blues (so 12 bars are on the list!) but anything that has a repetitive bass line that I can pick up easily, bearing in mind this is the first time I've played bass.

Keep 'em coming...
[/quote]
I recently talked someone through Just Got Back From Baby's by ZZ Top, which seems to be the sort of thing you're looking for. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/176755-help-or-advise-required/"]http://basschat.co.u...dvise-required/[/url]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c070W9BpyM[/media]

Oh, and an edit just to agree with Lozz - timing and groove are probably the most important things you can learn on bass.

Edited May 28, 2012 by Musky

[flyfisher]

I used to play along to JJ Cale's 'Pack My Jack' when learning walking blues lines.

Bizarrely, the only link I could find had it being used as the soundtrack for this youtube appreciation of some newsreader.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elVre2Uf1ME

[Paul S]

Anything by Status Quo. That's what I did!

[fretmeister]

Come as you are - Bev Knight.

Lovely bass line.

[dave_bass5]

In the Midnight Hour has a great, repetitive bass line. My current fav is Lets get retarded by the Black eyed peas. fantastic bass line IMO.

This website has some good, easy to follow video lessons on it.

[url="http://www.how-to-play-bass.com/songs-group.html"]http://www.how-to-play-bass.com/songs-group.html[/url]

[deefer_dog]

Isn't she lovely is always good to learn.

I think the first song I ever learned was ( don't laugh ) - Papa Roach: Last resort.

[tredders]

Subscribe to this guy on Youtube. He's got nearly 900 songs on there - just him and his acoustic guitar.

Just add bass for instant rehearsal experience. Apart from the fact you can turn his volume down without causing an argument!

http://www.youtube.com/user/georgiarose16/videos

[xgsjx]

I'm gonna go out & suggest learning all of your favourite songs that you currently play on guitar.
Learn the basslines to them, you know the chord changes already!

[Stag]

Hendrix amd Cream would be a good start point