Sabra’s Bass

This guy has seen lots of people teaching the 1234 exercise to beginner bassists at the bottom of the neck. It’s a recipe for disaster! Here’s some advice on how to keep that exercise safe and approachable for beginners as well as a well versed players. Avoid carpal tunnel syndrome or worse … all you have to do is check it out.

The first song that I learned on the bass guitar was Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes. This is also the first song I mastered on the bass guitar. It is pretty easy, and the rhythm is slow enough to pick up quickly. After reviewing other site’s tablature and picking it out the first few times, I realized that it was a bit difficult to read these tabs since I was coming from a sheet music background. I decided to tab it out here very clearly for anyone who is just picking up this song for the first time or is a beginning bassist. I have also included the video with lyrics at the bottom of the Seven Nation Army bass tabs page.

The fact about this song is that there is no actual bass guitar being played. The sound is actually created by running Jack White’s semi-acoustic guitar through a Digitech Whammy pedal set down an octave. The riff was composed at a sound check prior to a show at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne, Australia.

I’m getting excited. I am going to see Carbon Leaf on the 19th and this is a show that I thought I would never see. For the longest time they only played the East Coast. I don’t live anywhere near there.

In light of the occasion, I have been working on a Carbon Leaf song called Let Your Troubles Roll By. The video to the original song is below and when I get it perfected, I will add my own. The bass lines are fairly easy. There is a part that I have not quite figured out yet, but the majority of it is the same few notes. I have not found any tabs online for free or otherwise. I’ll keep my eyes out, but if I figure it out first, I will post my own bass tabs for this song.

The guitar chords are very easy, too. It consists of two chords, A & D. I have about mastered the basic chords on the guitar, so now to completely master it on the bass. I am close…so close.