Alternating bass

Alternating bass is a technique in which the thumb alternates between two or more bass notes, while the fingers play a melody on the higher strings. The technique is used in several musical styles, e.g. Piedmont Blues (Mississippi John Hurt) and is sometimes called Boom-Chick rhythm. The Boom-Chick rhythm gets really groovy when you emphasize beat two and four. You can do this by playing the corresponding notes a bit louder or by hitting more than one string on beat two and four. Big Bill Broonzy, a Country Blues guitarist from the early days, was famous for his strongly accented alternating bass.

Video with all exercises

Exercise 1: Blues in G

Tips:

• Bar 1: For the G chord I use the fingering described here as variation 1, which makes it really easy to change from C to G and vice versa.
• Bar 2, 6 and 8: Use your thumb to play the bass notes on beats 2 and 4 (Yes, usually this is index finger territory, but the thumb produces a better, more consistent sound).

Exercise 2: Blues in G

Exercise 3: Blues in G

Tips:

• Bar 4 and 7: Use your pinky on the 3rd fret of the B string and also on the 3rd fret of the G string.

Exercise 4: Blues in C

Tips:

• Bar 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8: Use your pinky on the 3rd fret of the B string and also on the 3rd fret of the G string.
• Bar 3 and 4: For the F chord I use the fingering described here as variation 4, which gives the pinky the freedom to fret additional notes.

Downloads

• Tabs as PDF file
• Tabs as TuxGuitar files
• Tabs as Guitar Pro files

See also

• Thumb independence basics
• Steady bass
• More steady bass (shuffle)
• More alternating bass