"Scott's Bass Riff of Doom!”… Bass Riff of the Week #7 (L#125)

So first, let me prepare you...

This week's Bass Riff of the Week is a real stinker to play, hence the name.

I was actually going to call it "The Ball Breaker" but that name was vetoed by Geoff (community manager inside the S.B.L Academy and overall bass bad-ass) and my wife.

And, in these situations they're generally right so I settled on "The Bass Riff of Doom" ;)

The riff itself was inspired by Sibylline who's one of our Academy members. She's been working hard to get her singing and bass playing synced up, and has been checking out some old Police songs to act as "study pieces". This prompted me to have a "Police revival month".

One of my favorite Police songs of all time is "">Message in a Bottle". It's a great song in itself, but it was also the first time I'd heard the root-fifth-ninth interval movement being used to such an extent. The verse of Message in a Bottle is based around four chords, and the guitar riff is playing the root-fifth-ninth intervals of each of those chords within the sequence.

For this bass riff of the week I decided to expand on this idea, but instead of using multiple chords I have a sustained Em9 that I substitute multiple stacked fifth patterns (root-5th-9th) over the top of.

The end result is a really cool sounding riff... but, it's a little tough to get your fingers around at first because of the stretches and slides between some of the notes. Hence the name - "The Bass Riff of Doom".

Make sure you download the workbook including the full TAB and notation as you'll be able to see exactly where I'm using slides to get from one shape to the next - this is essential when it comes to playing this riff up to speed.

Until next week, take it easy... and I'll see you in the shed! As always, see you in the shed…

Scott :)

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