How To Play “La Grange” Blues Shuffle By ZZ Top

This is the opening bass part to the song “La Grange” by ZZ Top. It’s a really cool example of how to handle a rockin’ shuffle groove. Dusty Hill has always been one of my favorite bass players. He doesn’t play super impossible Victor Wooten -like parts, he just lays down a hard driving blues groove that gets everybody pumped. Dusty is a master at this. Just listen to all the ZZ Top recordings over the years. Dusty, Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard are Blues(/Rock) geniuses, no doubt about it.

Anyway, this is the bass part he does for the first section of the tune after the guitar/vocal intro. It’s just chugging away on the A, just playing that one note (plus the little ending/turnaround). It’s all about the rhythm he’s using. He doesn’t do what the guitar is doing, he’s using a different rhythm. Just a steady 8th note shuffle. You could also call it swing 8th’s. Or you could think of it as triplets with just the first and third note. The first note is strong and the second is weak. You could even think of it as a pair of notes, one long  and one short note over and over. Don’t even lift your finger up as your playing (like to mute/ghost note that second weak note and “give it some feel” – which I have a tendency to do and it totally ruins it for this particular hard driving rock type shuffle groove)

There’s the first verse section, then there’s a stop/break. Then it comes back in for the guitar solo and the bass does the same thing on C. Then for the third section, the bass comes in playing the same thing, but hitting A for the first two 8th’s and then C for the second two 8th’s. And he just goes back and forth between those two notes.

Technorati Tags: bass guitar lessons, blues bass, video bass lessons

Tagged with: bass guitar lessons • blues bass • video bass lessons

Filed under: BassGuitarStarter • General • Quick Easy Bass Lines!

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!