INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the monthly issue of the How To Play Bass Dot Com
newsletter.

In this month’s issue I’ve resurrected a detailed note by note tutorial

from my hard drive. It’s for the Bryan Adams tune SUMMER OF 69.

This tutorial dates back to the very early issues of what is now First Bass
And Beyond (in fact it featured in the second issue in September 2009!).
You can tell the tutorial is historic because:

1) I had less grey hair!

2) I hadn’t learn how to ‘crop’ my movie files. (There’s an irritating
‘white’ line to the right of the introductory shots.
3) When I playalong with the metronome it’s a really irritating
electronic beep. (This was from the CD version of the Tascam bass
trainer).

That being said, the tutorial is still highly detailed and definitely worth
clearing the virtual dust off it and putting it back out there.

I hope you enjoy it, and I’ll see you next month!

Paul Wolfe
London
May 2012

2  |  Free How To Play Bass Monthly Ezine | May 2012 | how-to-play-bass.com

TRANSCRIPTION - SUMMER OF 69 by BRYAN ADAMS

This song originally appeared on Bryan Adam’s

1984 Album called ‘Reckless.;

According to Wikipaedia the bassline was

played by a guy called Dave Taylor. I can’t tell
you much about him other than that - probably
he was the guy in Bryan’s band at the time.

This is one of Bryan Adams’ most well known

songs and it’s a good one to learn as it’s played a
lot by bands and at jams.

Here’s how the sections of the song work out, with approximate timings:

Letter A: Intro - 0.00

Letter B: Drums Enter - 0.17
Letter C: Pre Chorus - 0.31
Letter D: Verse 2 - 0.56
Letter E: Pre Chorus - 1.09
Letter F: “the best days of my life” - 1.27
Letter G: Bridge - 1.40
Letter H: Breakdown - 1.54
Letter I: Verse 3 - 2.09
Letter J: Pre Chorus - 2.22
Letter K: “Summer of 69”/Outro/Repeat and Fade

As with all transcriptions I’ve presented the trainsciption in both music notation,
and music notation with bass tab. Please note that the bass tab I’ve used is how I
would play it. It’s not how I think Dave Taylor played it on the record - but the most
logical places for ME to play this sequence of notes on my fingerboard. There are
other ways you can play it depending on your finger size, the scale of your fret-
board and what fingering system you use for your left hand (right hand if you’re a
leftie!).

So don’t be afraid to change the way it’s played to suit your own set of circumstanc-
es.

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 FIRST BASS AND BEYOND

As well as the free monthly ezine, I also publish a weekly magazine

called FIRST BASS AND BEYOND.

First Bass And Beyond is published every Friday, usually weighs in at

around 50 to 55 pages and follows this format:

1. Main Transcription: The main transcription each week is featured in

notation, and then in notation and tab. Recent transcriptions have in-
cluded basslines like Jewel Of The Summertime (Audioslave), 7 Rooms
Of Gloom (James Jamerson), Graceland (Paul Simon) and more.

2. Beginners Corner: The beginners corner is a bass line/lesson that is

suitable for beginners/intermediate players to play. The beginners cor-
ner lesson is also turned into a video - a basic version goes on YouTube,
and a High Def version is available for the members to download. (This
version features extra content including playalongs to the original re-
cording at normal speed and also slowed down). Currently the Begin-
ners Corner is featuring a mini series of Doors bass lines.

3. The Two Tone Bass Zone This is a guest column by a guy called Gor-
don Clayton and is scheduled to run for around 15 columns. And it will
draw heavily on Gordon’s recent experience where he had to cover a
friend in a ska band at short notice - and had to learn a ton of Ska/2 Tone
type songs (Specials, Madness, The Beat, and so on). Each column will
feature at least one bass line along with Gordon’s commentary on when
you can step away from the original line and build on it, and when you
have to stay faithful to the original line.

4. Blues Bass For Beginners

This is a new column for beginners in the weekly magazine that will
build on the 30 Module bass for beginners course that’s available to all
annual subscribers. There will be a song tutorial in every column.

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5. Bass Book/DVD Review There is a detailed bass book or bass DVD
review in each ezine too - recently I’ve been reviewing books from other
musical instruments and disciplines that we can use to create interest-
ing new exercises for the bass.

6. Monthly Ezine Archive Annual Subscribers will also get access to the
archive of all previous monthly ezines. (So far that’s 20 Video/PDF les-
sons)

7. Bass For Beginners Course Annual Subscribers also get access to the
30 Module Bass For Beginners Course that’s been running over the last 7
onths in First Bass And Beyond. There’s a detailed overview below.

Here’s the First Bass And Beyond page- for more information if you’re
interested in joining:

http://www.how-to-play-bass.com/first-bass-and-beyond.html

The Bass For Beginners Course

I used to teach an interactive series of lessons for beginners - but I got

full up pretty quickly. So I started a waiting list. That got full up too.

And I hated emailing people and telling them that I was full. So I de-
cided to revamp my course and turn it into a series of lessons that a be-
ginner could follow and go from just picking up the bass to being able to
play though a bunch of songs, to have a simple yet robust left and right
hand technique, and be aiming to ramp up to a low intermediate stan-
dard by the end of the course.

That course is 30 lessons long. Here’s the syllabus:

Lesson 1 Lesson 1 is about plucking hand technique. The technique I

teach is called the 2 Finger Rest Stroke and I go into how it works, anchor
points for your thumb, and some simple exercises to get you to start
working on this technique.

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Lesson 2 Lesson 2 is a further development of Lesson 1 - we’re still work-
ing on plucking hand technique. In Lesson 2 we’re looking at how the
plucking hand deals with string crossing.

Lesson 3 So far we’ve been working on our right hand technique in an

ascending fashion - now we’re adding the ‘rest’ to the rest stroke and
working on descending as well.

Lesson 4 In Lesson 4 we introduce the fretting hand and look at basic

fretting hand exercises. We talk about finger independence and digital
exercises. And then we get to the heart of my method - applying this
information to songs. In Lesson 4 we’re learning one of the easiest bass
lines in history - With Or Without You by U2.

Lesson 5 In Lesson 5 we’re going to start systematically learning the

notes on our bass guitar fretboard. We’re going to use an exercise called
The Notefinder to learn every location where you can play the notes
‘E’ or ‘F’ on your fretboard. In the song tutorial part of the lesson we’re
looking at the first part of a simplified version of Every Breath You Take
by The Police.

Lesson 6 In Lesson 6 we’re continuing our explorations of the finger-

board - we’re learning all the locations of the notes ‘F#’ and ‘G’. And in
the song tutorial section of the lesson we’re learning the rest of Every
Breath You Take.

Lesson 7 In Lesson 7 we’re adding two more notes to our ‘palette’ of

learned notes - this week it’s ‘Ab’ and ‘A.’ And in the song tutorial we’re
learning So Lonely by The Police.

Lesson 8 In Lesson 8 we’re moving further up the fretboard and learn-

ing the location of ‘Bb’ and B. And we’re having an introductory look at
rhythm.

Lesson 9 In Lesson 9 we’re learning the locations of ‘C’ and ‘Db.’ And
we’re looking at a bassline that uses whole notes and eighth notes - that’s
Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol.

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Lesson 10 In this lesson we’re going to learn the last two notes we need
to learn to complete our 12 note palette - ‘Eb’ and ‘E.’ And we’re spend-
ing some time looking at quarter note bass lines - we’re looking at some
bass line snippets like Moondance and My Baby Just Cares For Me and
then we have a detailed song tutorial and we’re using Rock Around The
Clock by Bill Haley as our ‘quarter note rhythm’ tune.

Lesson 11 In this lesson we’re doing two things with the note finder
exercises we’ve been working on. Firstly we’re creating a composite ex-
ercise with all 12 notes. And we’re using a pack of playing cards to ‘ran-
domize’ what we play so that we can be sure we truly know it. We’re also
looking at how you can use a Tascam Bass Trainer to slow a piece of mu-
sic down to learn it, and why this is important. We’re doing this with an
8 bar section of Superstition.

Lesson 12 In this lesson we’re developing on our left hand technique

with some digital permutation exercises, we’re learning a specific rhyth-
mic pattern and how to count it, and then we’re learning a song based
on that rhythmic pattern. That song is My Girl by The Temptations.

Lesson 13 In this lesson we’re got another set of left hand technique/
digital permutation exercises, we’re learning a specific rhythmic pattern
and how to count it, and then we’re learning a song based on that rhyth-
mic pattern. That song is Tramp by Otis Redding.

Lesson 14 In this lesson we’re got another set of left hand technique/
digital permutation exercises, we’re learning a specific rhythmic pattern
and how to count it, and then we’re learning a song based on that rhyth-
mic pattern. That song is Tramp by Otis Redding.

Lesson 15 In this lesson we’ve got a composite set of rhythmic exer-

cises and we’re looking in more detail at straight 8th note rhythms - and
the song we’re using to illustrate this is Dancing In The Dark by Bruce
Springsteen.

Lesson 16 In this lesson we’ve got some more rhythmic exercises and the
song we’re using to illustrate this is New Years Day by U2.

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Lesson 17 In this lesson we start a mini-series on practice thoughts. Plus
there’s a new set of rhythms and song that illustrates them. That song is
Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen.

Lesson 18 In this lesson we’re continuing with our thoughts on practic-

ing. Then we’re moving on with our rhythmic studies - and looking at
the simple bass line to Stand By Me as our song tutorial.

Lesson 19 In Lesson 19 we’ve got more thoughts on practicing, and we’re

continuing our rhythmic studies and our song tutorial is a song that
blends two different rhythmic styles together - that song is Roxanne by
The Police.

Lesson 20 In Lesson 20 we’ve got more thoughts on practicing and we’re

looking at a rhythm that has a rest on the downbeat. The song tutorial
that illustrates this unique rhythm is Addicted To Love by Robert Palmer.

Lesson 21 In Lesson 21we’re starting to move towards the ‘goal’ of the

course - being able to play driving and dynamic 8th note based lines.
The tutorial this week is Living On A Prayer by Bon Jovi.

Lesson 22 Lesson 22 focuses on practicing and a song tutorial called

Keep On Running by Spencer Davis. This is a great bass line and willen-
hance your left and right hand techniques.

Lesson 23 Lesson 23 has some more thoughts on practicing - and the

song tutorial we’re looking at is that hoary old rock classic Smoke On The
Water.

Lesson 24 Lesson 24 includes information on the Deliberate Practice

concept of Comfort Zone/Learnign Zone and Panic Zone. And the song
tutorial introduces the ‘slow learning’ method of mastering a song or
bass line - and we’re using the Riff from Daytripper by the Beatles as our
practical example.

Lesson 25 Lesson 25 looks at how to use the principles of Deliberate

Practice to audit your practice sessions and make sure you are practicing
efficiently. The song tutorial part of the lesson is a complete note by

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note tutorial for Daytripper by The Beatles.

Lesson 26 Lesson 26 looks at a really powerful exercise that I learned

from Jerry Jemmott - this exercise is called Say It Sing It Play it. The song
tutorial is Jamerson’s driving 8th note line on This Old Heart Of Mine by
The Isley Brothers.

Lesson 27 In Lesson 27 we’re looking at simple exercises that will in-

crease your facility in playing in every key. The song tutorial for this
lesson is another Jamerson 8th note line - it’s Get Ready by The Tempta-
tions.

Lesson 28 In Lesson 28 we’re continuing to look at increasing your facil-

ity in every key. And the song tutorial for this lesson is Nowhere To Run
by Martha And The Vandellas

Lesson 29 In Lesson 29 we’re finishing up at our look at increasing your

facility in every key. And the song tutorial for this lesson is I Saw Her
Standing There by The Beatles/Paul McCartney. Great finger burner!

Lesson 30 In the final lesson of the course we’re looking at where to

go from here, and the final song tutorial is Shake A Tailfeather by Duck
Dunn/The Blues Brothers.

NOTE: all of these lessons are available to annual subscribers irre-

spective of when they join. All the lessons feature notation and tab. All
of the lessons feature the teaching in PDF and Video Format. There
are downloadable backing tracks for most of the lessons at different
tempos to help you practice and learn.

If you figure what the cost of 30 lessons with a private instructor would
be then this resource on its own justifies the $127 Annual Subscription
fee.

And don’t forget that you’d get another 50 Video Lessons on top of this
course.

And the Blues for Bass Beginners column.

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And a whole lot more too.

Here’s the link to the First Bass And Beyond page again.

http://www.how-to-play-bass.com/first-bass-and-beyond.html

Contact

If you’ve got any other questions don’t hesitate to email me via the con-
tact form on the website - or leave a comment on my Facebook Wall.

Have a great month, and enjoy.

Paul

15  |  Free How To Play Bass Monthly Ezine | May 2012 | how-to-play-bass.com