Bass Riffs — 34 of rock's greatest basslines, playable

Every riff on this page plays back in the browser at real bass pitch, in the song's own tuning (standard, drop D, or half-step down), as a four-line G D A E bass chart. Each card says who played it, why it matters, and whether the tab is note-for-note or a faithful close take.

• Longview — Green Day (1994, Mike Dirnt): The bass IS the song — drums and Dirnt carry the whole verse alone. He famously came up with it during an acid trip and had to relearn his own line sober the next day. Dookie is tuned a half step down, and ▶ Play drops the pitch for you. This is the real line: hammer into the root, let it ring, walk down late, and the high answer in the last bar alternates with soft open-D ghost notes — hit those barely. The record swings every walk; the grid here is straight, so lay the pairs back when you play it.
• Brain Stew — Green Day (1995, Mike Dirnt): Five chords falling down the stairs in half-step lurches — insomnia as a riff. The whole line lives on the low string: doubled hits on 5, 3, 2, 1, down to the open E. Bass doubles the guitar the whole way, which is why it hits like a wall. Let the pairs lurch — they land a beat and a half apart, not on every downbeat.
• Killing in the Name — Rage Against the Machine (1992, Tim Commerford): Drop D — the bottom line is labelled D| because that string IS a D now, and ▶ Play sounds it that way. Three low-D chugs, then the hammered climb up at the 11th fret — G#→A on the A string, C#→D on the D string. Re-spaced on a 32-column grid because the old spacing stacked the A-string 12 and the D-string 11 in one column, so ▶ Play sounded a double-stop no transcription has. Marked a close take, not note-for-note: three independent bass sources (Instinct, 2026-09-25) put this fourths climb on the GUITAR and not on the bass, and that is unsettled until the sources are archived. Full bass chart, every section: /tab/killing-in-the-name-bass.
• Bombtrack — Rage Against the Machine (1992, Tim Commerford): The record opens with Commerford ALONE — this E-minor-pentatonic cascade, before a single guitar note. E up top, falling D-B-D-B-A down to the low G, then the second pass floats up to a ringing high E. Standard tuning, fingers not pick, palm-of-the-hand mute.
• Take the Power Back — Rage Against the Machine (1992, Tim Commerford): RATM's funkiest moment opens with bass alone — and it's drop D. Slap the low open D twice, hammer C-to-D on the A string and pop it, pull the F off back to open up on the D string, and hit the F again to turn it around. Thumb the lows, pop the highs.
• Israel's Son — Silverchair (1995, Chris Joannou): Frogstomp opens with this — a 15-year-old Joannou playing the most menacing bass intro of the 90s, alone, before the band detonates. Drop D: pedal the low string, grace-slide up to the 5th fret, and answer with the 3rd and 5th on the A string. Dig in hard and let it be ugly.
• Freak — Silverchair (1997, Chris Joannou): Freak Show traded Frogstomp's grunge for drop-tuned grind, and this riff is the poster child: the E at the 2nd fret of the low drop-D string grinding a whole step above the open D. Bass and guitar move as one machine. Keep every note the same short, mean length.
• Hysteria — Muse (2003, Chris Wolstenholme): Regularly voted the best bassline of its decade — a fuzzed-out 16th-note machine that never stops moving. Bar one pumps the open A against G up on the D string, then the tail everyone struggles with: 7-0-8-8-7-5-7 up the A string. Bar two runs the same figure rooted on E. Alternate two fingers strictly; this is a stamina piece.
• Seven Nation Army — The White Stripes (2003, Jack White (a pitched-down guitar)): Technically played on a guitar through an octave-down pedal — but the riff belongs to bass players and football stadiums now. Seven notes, one of the most chanted melodies on Earth: hold the first E, syncopate the middle four, let the B ring. Slide into the G if you want the swagger.
• Another One Bites the Dust — Queen (1980, John Deacon): Deacon heard Chic's "Good Times", went home, and wrote the tightest disco-rock bassline ever put to tape — it carried Queen to #1 in America. Three Es with a sneaky 16th pickup, then the walk: E-E-G-E up to an A held at the 5th fret. The rests ARE the riff: mute everything between hits.
• Under Pressure — Queen & David Bowie (1981, John Deacon): The most famous two-note bassline in history — D to A, ding-ding-ding-diddle-ing-ding. The band could never quite agree afterwards on who wrote it first. Play it lighter than you want to; it floats, it never stomps.
• Money — Pink Floyd (1973, Roger Waters): The riff that taught a generation to count to seven — one 7/4 bar, over and over. B, the octave B answered by F#, a clipped B, the LOW F#, up to A, another clipped B, and the bar turns on D. Lay back and don't rush beat six.
• Come Together — The Beatles (1969, Paul McCartney): The swampy slide-and-answer that opens Abbey Road — "shoot me", then the bass talks back. Two low Ds, hammer G up to A, let the high F ring (McCartney bends it on the record), then fall off the octave D. Swampy beats precise, every time.
• Taxman — The Beatles (1966, Paul McCartney): Ten years before punk, McCartney opens Revolver with a snapping D7 groove that funk players still steal. The real figure: low D, the octave D up on the G string, a hammered G-to-A, and the b7 C answering high — then the D-D-A-C turnaround. Punch that C; it is the hook.
• Sunshine of Your Love — Cream (1967, Jack Bruce): Jack Bruce wrote it on an upright at 4am after a Hendrix gig. Bass and guitar play the riff in unison — D D C D, the chromatic A-to-Ab fall, then the tail everyone air-basses: G, low D, F, low D. Land those low Ds like full stops.
• N.I.B. — Black Sabbath (1970, Geezer Butler): On the record this riff arrives out of "Bassically" — Geezer's wah-drenched solo bass intro, one of the first times a bass got to open a metal song alone. The riff lives at the 7th position: E E D, dip to the low B, quarter-bend the D, then the A-bend answer falling back to E. Swagger over precision.
• For Whom the Bell Tolls — Metallica (1984, Cliff Burton): That screaming wah intro everyone assumes is a guitar is Cliff Burton's bass — and underneath it he plays this, the chromatic transition riff the whole band stomps on: E-G-F#-F, three times, then the climb E-F#-G up to B. Straight eighths, dead even, doom inevitable.
• Peace Sells — Megadeth (1986, David Ellefson): MTV News used this bass intro as its theme for years — millions heard Ellefson's riff nightly without knowing it was thrash. It sits at the 7th fret: E-D-E, the G above, drop to the open low E, E-D again, then the A-to-Bb kick. Played with a pick; make every note bark.
• Ace of Spades — Motörhead (1980, Lemmy Kilmister): Lemmy played bass like a rhythm guitar — full chords, full distortion, full speed. And the famous rumble is NOT the open E: it's Eb, 6th fret on the A string, with the Db kick punctuating each phrase. Strum it with a pick, don't be polite about it.
• Schism — Tool (2001, Justin Chancellor): The signature Tool bassline — it flickers between 5/8 and 7/8 so smoothly you don't notice the ground moving (the band counted it as 6.5/8). The real figure: hammer the open D string up through 10 to 12, answer with 10-9 (then 10-9-12) up on the G string. First bar is the 5/8 half, second the 7/8 half, flattened onto this grid. Round and clean, never aggressive.
• Forty Six & 2 — Tool (1996, Justin Chancellor): Chancellor's Wal bass growl — an open-D pedal on the D string under a keening melody that walks the G string: 7, hammered 5-7, the 8-to-7 pull, back down to hammered 3-5. The space between notes is load-bearing — mute hard, place every note like a drum hit.
• Around the World — Red Hot Chili Peppers (1999, Flea): Californication opens with Flea sprinting — on the record a bar of open-E pulses, then this distorted burst high up the neck: hammered 12-14s on the D string spilling down 14-13-12-10 on the A, answered underneath by E|12-10. That low answer is the riff’s skeleton and this card used to stop before it, ending mid-descent on A2 (Instinct’s audit 2026-09-25, made note-exact 2026-09-26). Repaired against both archived BigBassTabs versions: the descent finishes on G2 and the answer lands E2-D2. Still a close take, not note-for-note — the source runs the 12h14 figure three times before the descent and this card runs it twice, so the figure is shortened to card length. It flies by in one real bar of 16ths (spread across three bars here so the grid can hold it). Alternate fingers fast and keep the accents on top.
• Higher Ground — Red Hot Chili Peppers (1989, Flea): Stevie Wonder played the original on a synth; Flea slapped it into a rock anthem. E, G, A — thumb the roots on the E string, pop the octave above on the D string after each one. The pops are the riff; make them bark. (The record's triplet lilt on beats 3–4 is flattened to 16ths here.)
• Been Caught Stealing — Jane's Addiction (1990, Eric Avery): Barking dogs, then THAT groove — Avery's funk line is the entire song; everything else is decoration. It all lives on the low E string: G at the 3rd, then F and open E crawling chromatically down, then back up to the G, with two dead-note scratches setting up the turnaround. Shipped with the F and E the other way round (G-E-F-G); LoudLon's studio transcription has G-F-E-G and a second source agrees on the pitch set, so the order is the fix (Instinct, 2026-09-25). Make it strut, not run.
• Mountain Song — Jane's Addiction (1988, Eric Avery): Avery wrote the riff first and the band built the mountain on top. The real line: hammer 5-to-7 on the A string, pound the 7s with one G accent up on the D string, then the ground gives way to open-E pulses. Same attack, every note, forever.
• Sabotage — Beastie Boys (1994, Adam "MCA" Yauch): MCA's overdriven chugs are G#, not G — 6th fret on the D string, hammering in 16th pairs, with a muted high stab (on the record it's a high F# over a dead D) answering every pair. Half punk, half heist-movie. Grind it, don't glide it.
• Feel Good Inc. — Gorillaz (2005, Morgan Nicholls (live signature)): A cartoon band with one of the most recognizable basslines of the 2000s. The real line: E, E, walk up F#-G to C, sit on a long B, then answer A-A-C-B down to G and land back on E. Keep it dry and staccato; the held B is where the song breathes.
• Walk on the Wild Side — Lou Reed (1972, Herbie Flowers): Session ace Herbie Flowers layered an upright and an electric sliding in tenths — and charged double for playing two instruments. The root layer is the loop: sit on C, slide DOWN to the low F, sit there, slide back up. Let every slide hum; the electric-tenths shimmer is a second bass on top.
• Dazed and Confused — Led Zeppelin (1969, John Paul Jones): The descending line that invented "ominous" — JPJ starts on G at the 10th fret and falls a fret at a time, G-F#-F-E, an open-E pickup, then the lower group D-C#-C-B. The record crawls in 12/8; take your time falling.
• Ramble On — Led Zeppelin (1969, John Paul Jones): The verse bassline everyone hums instead of the vocal — JPJ sings a melody, not a walk: E at the 7th fret, up to a long B, then A answered by the graced E-to-F# with vibrato. Play it like a bounce, palm off the strings. Guitar chart at /tab/ramble-on.
• Roundabout — Yes (1971, Chris Squire): After the classical-guitar fake-out, Squire's Rickenbacker arrives with treble all the way up — the clankiest, proudest bass tone of the prog era. E-F#-G with dead-note scratches galloping between, then the tail CLIMBS: hammered A-to-B, hammered D-to-E. Pick, always a pick.
• YYZ — Rush (1981, Geddy Lee): The opening rhythm is "YYZ" — the Toronto airport code in Morse, in 5/4 — but it's TWO pitches, a tritone apart: every dah is C, every dit is F#. Bar one is the high ostinato (the record loops it eight times), bar two the same figure an octave down. The most air-drummed AND air-bassed instrumental ever.
• The Chain — Fleetwood Mac (1977, John McVie): Three and a half minutes of restraint, then McVie finally gets the spotlight — the galloping outro riff that Formula 1 adopted as its anthem. Hold the open A, then walk A-B-C and back down, answer with G on the low string climbing A-B, and land on a ringing open E. Build it, don't blurt it.
• My Generation — The Who (1965, John Entwistle): The first bass solo on a rock single — 1965, and Entwistle answers every vocal line with a lead break while the band stutters. The verse figure itself is stark: four quarter-note Gs, four quarter-note Fs, on the D string. The flash lives in the solo breaks. The Who's The Real Me is in our Tab Library for more Ox worship.

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