Bass Tabs for Beginners

A bass guitar, exclusively used for generating a low musical range, is widely used in various genres of music like, jazz music, rock music and instrumental songs. Bass guitars are different from acoustic and electric guitars and have certain peculiar characteristics attached to them.

To learn how to play bass guitar, it is important to first learn and play the acoustic guitar. Since both these guitars have same number of frets, you can easily switch to bass guitars once you are able to play the acoustic guitar comfortably. Bass guitars normally have 4 strings, as against acoustic guitars which have 6. These guitars are bigger in size than electric guitars, as their fret-boards are a little longer and broader. A bass guitarist needs to have a good understanding of music beats, as the bass has to be in tune with drums.

Bass tabs are musical notations which instruct a bass guitarist on how to play bass guitar. Various aspects of bass tabs like frets, strings, bars and their interpretations are discussed below, along with a list of ultimate bass tabs for beginners to play.

Bass Tabs for Beginners : Strings

More often than not, bass tab is written keeping in mind a 4-string bass, as it is the most commonly used type. There are rare instances where you may come across bass tabs for 5 or 6-string guitars. It depends on the song. The lowest pitched string of a bass guitar is placed at the bottom, the pitch keeps increasing from lowest to highest when you move to the top.

G ----------------------------
D ----------------------------
A ----------------------------
E ----------------------------

Drawn above is the standard bass tuning, you will find in most bass guitars, from the lowest to the highest tuning E-A-D-G. Some songs may require a 5 or 6-string bass guitar. In any case, you will always find the lowest pitch at the bottom most string and the highest at the top most.

Bass Tabs for Beginners : Fret Numbers

Bass guitars have around 20 to 24 frets. These numbers will be indicated on the string which is being played. Fret numbers are used to suggest notes.

G -------------------------
D -----------------6-------
A ---------3----6----------
E -----4-------------------

In the example above, you have to start with playing the 4th fret on the E-string, then 3rd fret and the A-string, followed by 6th fret on the A-string, and lastly the 6th fret on the D-string.

Bass Tabs for Beginners : Bars

Bars represent a group of beats. It is observed that in most songs, a group of 4 beats form 1 bar. A normal steady pulse would go 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3,.......like this. The 1st beat will always represent beginning of the bar. It is not compulsory to have 4 beats, there could be even 3 or 2 beats grouped in a bar. It depends on the song structure.

G -------------|-------------
D -------------|-------------
A -------------|-------------
E -------------|-------------

In the above example, bars on all strings are shown by a vertical bar line. This is similar to the manner they are represented in standard notation.

Bass Tabs for Beginners : Rhythm

Not every time rhythm is shown in bass tab, rather you need to listen to the song and figure it out yourself. You will, though, get the order of notes for a song. If rhythm is given, it will indicated at the bottom, below the fret numbers.

G ------------------|------
D ---------------6---|-----
A -------3-----5---|-------
E ---2-------------|--------
1+2+3+4

In the above example, you will notice an eight note count mentioned below the fret numbers.

Bass Tabs for Beginners : Other Markings

You may come across a few more markings on bass tab apart from the regular ones. There are no set standards for these markings and therefore you may see changes in them. These markings only suggest the way you are supposed to play the notes. Markings can be on the strings, beneath the strings or sometimes even at the beginning.

Common markings on strings and their interpretations:

• Caret (^) = bend
• Back slash ( / ) = slide coming down in pitch
• Forward slash ( \ ) = slide coming up in pitch
• H (h) = hammer-on
• P (p) = pull-off
• X (x) = ghost note
• P = pop
• T = tap
• S = thumb slap

Note that the last three markings are indicated below the strings.

Easy Bass Tabs for Beginners

When you start learning how to play a bass guitar, it is recommended you start playing songs which are simpler to play. Mentioned here is a list of songs, which have simple bass tabs for beginners to play:

• Swing, Swing - The All-American Rejects
• Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple
• Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice
• With or Without You - U2
• Where the Streets Have no Name - U2
• Otherside - Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Can't Touch This - MC Hammer
• Pink Floyd - Money
• Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
• Come as You are - Nirvana
• Highway to Hell - AC/DC

You can find a lot of bass tabs for beginners on the internet, which are easy to learn and play. There are certain books available as well which serve this purpose. Start practicing as much as possible, as it will only help you learn quickly. Once you get the hang of it, you will be amazed at the tunes you are able to dish out.