In this bass guitar lesson we’re talking reggae bass guitar for beginners and some of the core ideas associated to this amazing style of music.
I strongly encourage you to listen to seminal reggae artists such as Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Burning Spear and Desmond Dekker (to name a few), but also join the Bass Lab PLUS membership so you can get the backing tracks that go with the lesson. Experimenting and jamming is an enormous part of learning this unique feel.
We’re going to cover major concepts in reggae bass called “Downbeat Reggae” and “Non Downbeat Reggae”. Three Little Birds uses the first option, but what you’ll discover is both work brilliantly over the feel and have a different vibe to them.
Part 1 - Chorus
In part one of this lesson we’re going to be looking at the chorus section of the song which has the legendary lyric “Don’t worry about a thing…”. This is simple 8 bar section which consists of the following chord sequence:
|| A | % | D | A ||
| A | % | D | A ||
The Bass Groove
Example 1:
Aston Barrett (the bassist in Bob Marley & The Wailers) has a beautifully loose feel, so he’s often changing things up. However, there is a core 2 bar groove you’ll find running through the verse section. I recommend learning this first thoroughly before starting to improvise your own lines.
It’s a very balanced bass line because the first bar is simple and the second bar answers by being more rhythmically complex.
Example 2:
You can easily ‘superimpose” this 2 bar groove over the 8 bar chord sequence by transposing the 3rd bar (up a 4th) into D.
Example 3:
There is a VERY cool fill that Aston Barrett uses, that works brilliantly over both the A and D chord. You can hear it very clearly in the introduction of the song. The fill works best in the last two bars of the 2 bar groove idea from example 1. It’s shown with the bracket above.
Example 4:
Here is a note for note transcription of the first chorus of the song. See if you can spot Aston using the ideas we’ve discussed in example 1-3.
Non Downbeat Reggae
Example 5:
All of the ideas above are based on a concept called ‘Downbeat Reggae’. The term ‘downbeat’ music refers to beat 1 of each bar. In examples 1-4 Aston is playing on the downbeat (or beat 1) of every bar.
‘Non Downbeat’ reggae is an amazing feel also (in my humble opinion) works brilliantly over Three Little Birds. As the name suggests it omits the downbeat that gives amazing ‘space’ to the bass line and overall feel of the music.
Part 2 - Verse
In part 2 we’re going to take apart the verse section which has the lyric “Rise up this morning, smile with the rising sun”. Again this is an 8 bar section but it adds a 3rd chord and a unique unison line in the last two bars. Here’s an overview of the chord sequence:
|| A | E | A | D ||
| A | E | D | A ||
Example 6:
You can break down the bass line for the verse section into a simple 2 beat pattern, shown with the bracket above. It’s rhythmically the same pattern as you’ve played in bar 2 example 1. It’s a great starting place to learn the verse as this rhythmic idea will work across the first 6 bars of the verse.
Example 7:
Once you are comfortable with that basic feel and moving it through the chord sequence you could try making it into a 2 bar groove with a simple fill at the end of the second bar.
Example 8 (A):
Here you’ll discover the bass line from bars 7-8 of the verse. This is a bizarre yet amazing cool bass line the that takes us from the D chord to the A. As I explain in the video this doesn’t do what you expect. It’s a great example of how you can break the rules and create something completely unique.
Example 8 (B):
Here’s a note for note transcription of what Aston Barrett plays in the first verse. Try and break down all of the ideas he uses here, because many of the fills you’ll find in examples 1-4. Also make sure you check out the chromatic note that links the E to D (bar 6-7) on the last 8th note of the bar. There is an arrow above it.
Example 9:
In this last example I’ve superimposed the idea of ‘Downbeat Reggae’ across the verse chord sequence. The idea shown used the Root, 5th Octave to harmonically create the bass line and it’s works well across each chord.
The critical thing when doing this is to leave the unison phase that the whole band plays in bars 7 and 8 exactly as it is because it is a key element to the song’s construction.
The Backing Tracks:
For this lesson I have created 3 backing tracks so you can practise each section in isolation round and round. Once you have got the notes down really concentrate on the ‘feel’. Here are the backing tracks
The Chorus - Practise just the chorus section round and round.
The Verse - Practise just the the verse section round and round
Chorus / Verse Alternating - Practise switching from section to section.
You can get the backing tracks as part of a Bass Lab PLUS membership by clicking this link: