Alternate Guitar Picking and Bass Lines

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This lesson talks about alternating guitar picking with walking bass line patterns that are really popular. A good trick, especially for country music, is to alternate, and to do an inversion, which is a lower form of a bass note that is related to the chord. The key is to always take the root first. In the G chord, the inversion isn’t possible unless you have a seven string guitar, then you can do it. But with a six string, which is what this lesson uses, you can’t do that.

With the G when you alternate, always start with the root. There are a few examples in music where they didn’t start with the root, but 99.9% of the time you’re going to start with the root. So start with the 6th string as your bass note, then go to the 5th string. It’s a down, down, up strum, with the bass note as the first down, then down up for the strum. You count it out by saying 1 + a  2  + a  3  +  a  4  +  a. So you alternate for each beat.

When you go to the C, it depends on what fingering you use for the C chord. If you do it with a G bass, you can start with the C bass note, then go to the G bass note, and back and forth.

You can do the same thing with Em. You can’t go any lower than the E bass note, so you can go up. Play the 6th string as your bass, then 5th string. When you get to the D you can do the inversion. Start with your high D which is your root, then go to the low A. Same goes for the Am, jumping between the A and the E notes. Careful not to let the low E ring out too much over the A. Try and mute it a little bit.

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