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. Bass doubles the guitar the whole way, which is why it hits like a wall. Play the pairs dead even and let the last E ring.
• Killing in the Name — Rage Against the Machine (1992, Tim Commerford): Drop D, and the low line label is your string tuned down — ▶ Play sounds it that way. This is the main riff Commerford and Morello hammer in unison: root, the b3, the 4, all attitude. Full guitar chart lives at /tab/killing-in-the-name.
• Bombtrack — Rage Against the Machine (1992, Tim Commerford): The opening riff of the opening track of the first record — and it is written like a bassline, all single notes snaking around the low Eb. This is that figure an octave down from our guitar chart (/tab/bombtrack). Palm-of-the-hand mute, fingers not pick if you can.
• Take the Power Back — Rage Against the Machine (1992, Tim Commerford): RATM's funkiest moment opens with bass alone — a slapped, popped E-minor groove that Flea would be proud of. Thumb the low notes, pop the G-string notes, and leave the dead-note x as a percussive click. Close take on the intro's shape.
• 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. Low E, the b3, and that queasy half-step above the fourth. 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: low D chugs rubbing against the half-step above. 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 arpeggio machine that never stops moving. Alternate two fingers strictly and start slower than you think; this is a stamina piece. Close take on the pumping A-minor figure.
• 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. 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 notes, then the little walk. 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 — the whole groove is in 7/4 and doesn't care that you noticed. Close take on Waters' B-minor figure: lay back, land the low notes at the turn, 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. The vibrato on the first D is the whole personality of the line. Close take: slide into it, wobble it, then the little D-to-F answer.
• Taxman — The Beatles (1966, Paul McCartney): Ten years before punk, McCartney opens Revolver with a snapping D7 groove that funk players still steal. The b7 (that C) is the hook — punch it. Close take on the verse figure.
• 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 — the octave drop through the blues scale is the most air-bass-played phrase of the 60s. Let the low D at the end land like a full stop.
• 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. Then the band lands on this swinging E riff. Swagger over precision.
• For Whom the Bell Tolls — Metallica (1984, Cliff Burton): That screaming intro everyone assumes is a guitar? It's Cliff Burton's bass through distortion and a wah. This is a close take on the chromatic climb underneath it — half steps, 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 popping E-minor riff nightly without knowing it was thrash. Snap the higher notes so they bark.
• Ace of Spades — Motörhead (1980, Lemmy Kilmister): Lemmy played bass like a rhythm guitar — full chords, full distortion, full speed. The intro is his low-E rumble bursting into the walk-up. Strum it with a pick, don't be polite about it.
• Schism — Tool (2001, Justin Chancellor): The signature Tool bassline — a hammered figure that flickers between 5/8 and 7/8 so smoothly you don't notice the ground moving (the band counted it as 6.5/8). Close take on the opening figure's hammer-on shape in drop D; keep it round and clean, never aggressive.
• Forty Six & 2 — Tool (1996, Justin Chancellor): Chancellor's Wal bass growl, built on a syncopated low-D figure with that sour b6 leaning on it. 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 — a distorted chromatic burst that sounds like the bass is trying to escape the song. Close take on the climbing intro figure; 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 — the octave-jumping slap pattern is the gateway drug to slap bass. Thumb the lows, pop the repeats. (Rhythm simplified to straight 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. Close take on the A groove: ghost the in-between notes and 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. Relentless driving eighths — the drop to G is the moment the ground gives way. This is a stamina line: same attack, every note, forever.
• Sabotage — Beastie Boys (1994, Adam "MCA" Yauch): MCA's overdriven G chugs with the skid up the neck — half punk, half heist-movie. The slide is the hook: grind it, don't glide it. Close take on the intro figure.
• Feel Good Inc. — Gorillaz (2005, Morgan Nicholls (live signature)): A cartoon band with one of the most recognizable basslines of the 2000s — a dry, bouncing E-minor figure that IS the verse. Close take: keep it staccato and let the descending tail fall naturally.
• 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 most famous slide in pop. One low C, then ride the slide up and let it hum.
• Dazed and Confused — Led Zeppelin (1969, John Paul Jones): The descending line that invented "ominous" — JPJ walking down chromatically while the room gets darker. Close take: two low Es, then fall a fret at a time and take your time doing it.
• Ramble On — Led Zeppelin (1969, John Paul Jones): The verse bassline everyone hums instead of the vocal — JPJ bounces a whole melody under an acoustic guitar. Close take on the walking shape; 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. Close take on the driving E-minor gallop. Pick, always a pick.
• YYZ — Rush (1981, Geddy Lee): The opening rhythm is "YYZ" — the Toronto airport code — tapped out in Morse on one note, in 5/4. Then the descending answer. The most air-drummed AND air-bassed instrumental ever. Close take on the Morse figure.
• 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. Close take: low E pulses, then the climb. 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. Close take on the G groove and a break-style fill. The Who's The Real Me is in our Tab Library for more Ox worship.

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