– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

My life is so boring...

[not good bass playing]

Turn that goddarn [beep] off!

It sounds [beep] terrible.

[Mysterious Stranger] Hey!

It's all good, dude.

Just watch this beginner bass lesson.

Hey, I'm Josh with BassBuzz.

I'm going to take you through seven steps

to get you from total newbie to playing your first song.

First, I'll get you started with playing position

and gear essentials.

Then we'll dive into plucking, fretting and groove.

And I'll show you how to avoid

some common beginner mistakes,

so your grumpy neighbor, won't yell at you to turn down.

Hey, I heard that!

[BassBuzz Theme]

You need to plug your bass into an amp

with a cable.

You should practice amplified most of the time,

so you get used to hearing yourself

the way other people would hear you.

So just find the input jack, on the body of the bass,

it might be on the front or the side.

Plug in the cable, it doesn't matter which end.

Then plug the other end into your amp and switch it on.

And you should hear some good sounding bass coming out,

unless your knobs aren't dialed correctly,

which is why that's step two.

You've got knobs on your bass and on your amp.

To get started, you just need to know enough to make a sound

that isn't terrible.

First, bass knobs. They affect your volume,

how loud your bass is.

And also your tone, like the character of the sound,

whether it's dark and warm

or more bright and zingy.

Different basses have different knob situations.

On a Precision style bass or P bass, which is super common,

You've just got two knobs: one controls volume,

and the other one controls tone.

Going fully clockwise gives you a brighter tone

and going counterclockwise gives you a darker tone.

On a Jazz style bass or J bass,

you've got a volume for this pickup,

a volume for this pickup, and then a tone knob,

just like the P bass.

If your bass isn't a P or a J, or maybe it's an active bass,

meaning it takes batteries,

you just need to look up a manual for your specific bass.

Pro tip. If you do have an active bass,

make sure you unplug it when you're not playing.

Otherwise the batteries will drain

and your base won't make sound.

[crickets chirping]

[crowd booing]

Let's look quickly at amp knobs.

Again, different amps will have different knobs,

but the quick fix for getting started

is just to set everything, except volume, to 12 o'clock.

Your goal is just to get a decent sound.

You can always fiddle around more later.

Wait, this is volume and this is volume?

Which one do I use?

The simplest way to set your overall volume

is to start with your bass volume, maxed or close to it,

and then just creep up the amp volume

until you're as loud as you want to be...

or as loud as your family and neighbors will tolerate.

If you want to learn more about getting good bass tone,

you can check out my Beginner Tone Fixes video,

and I'll have links for all the resources I mentioned

in the description.

All right, let's do this.

Hold your horses, buddy.

Your position and posture is all messed up.

Playing in a bad position,

makes it hard to play and it can cause pain.

So here are five tips to get you properly set.

One, if you're sitting, you want to be high enough

so your hips are level with or above your knees,

so you don't get lower back pain.

And you want a seat without arms

so your actual arms don't get boxed in.

Tip two, the most common place to rest your bass

when sitting is over your right leg,

over the left leg works for some people,

especially for higher notes,

but it can make it harder to reach the lower notes

since they're further away.

You can try both and switch around.

Three, you should always play with a strap on,

whether sitting or standing because it stabilizes the bass

so your hands are free to focus on playing.

Just attach it to both strap buttons and put your head

and your right arm through,

or your left arm if you're playing lefty.

If you look at pro bassists,

there's a range of how high or low people have their straps.

For easy learning. I recommend setting your strap,

so your bass stays in about the same position,

whether you're sitting or standing

[Josh ascends to fourth density]

Tip four, neck angle.

For most playing, it's nice to have it angled up a bit

versus parallel with the floor.

And it's okay to shift position around as you're playing.

And again, there's a range with pro bassists.

Some have it tilted up a lot,

or a bit less,

or even lower, which can be nice for slap bass.

Tip five, push the headstock away from you

to get better access to the neck.

That gives you room to move your arm comfortably,

especially higher up where you'd otherwise be getting stuck,

running into your torso.

And with all that extra space,

you'll have room to get your hand over to the computer

so you can click like and subscribe to BassBuzz

for more beginner bass lessons.

["No Money"]

Uhh, why do I sound so bad?

Before you play, you've got to get in tune.

If you're not tuned up,

everything you play will sound off and you won't match up

with any song or other instrument you try to play with.

You tune by turning these tuners,

which loosens or tightens the strings,

which changes the sound.

You can tune by ear, or you can use a tuner,

which could be a clip-on, a plug-in, a pedal

or even an app.

For beginners, I recommend using a tuner

because it's easier to learn

and it's more reliable at first.

We're not gonna tune together in this video

because it's really boring and it takes too long.

But check the description for some in-depth

how to tune resources.

I'll just cover one starting point for tuning,

which also helps with playing.

You got to know the names of your strings,

so you know how to tune them.

So the names of your strings, from thickest to thinnest, are

E,

A,

D,

G

You can use any mnemonic you want to help you remember that.

My favorite one is Eat And Drink Grapes.

But I'm weird.

So those are the only notes you need to know for tuning,

E, A, D, G

Do you need to know the names of these other notes?

Hell yes you do. And I explain why and how

in my Fretboard Money Notes video,

which is worth checking out after you're done here.

But not before you get some critical technique basics down.

Alright, plucking.

That sounds pretty easy.

[nope]

Okay? Maybe not. Help!

Your hand by the body of the bass

is in charge of plucking the strings,

which is how you make the bass make sound.

If you have bad technique, you'll hit the wrong strings,

you won't be able to keep up and your tone will suck.

So here are three plucking tips

to make sure you sound legit.

First, you need to rest or anchor your thumb somewhere,

so your fingers can find the strings consistently.

Your anchor point can change

depending on what strings you're using.

You might rest on a low string, like the E or the A,

or you might rest on a pickup, which is this magnet-y bit

that turns the vibration of your strings

into an electrical signal

that your amp turns into juicy bass sounds.

If you have two pickups, like on this jazz bass,

you should default to resting

on the one closest to the neck, not the bridge,

for most playing.

Second, you pluck the strings

with your index and middle fingers,

alternately, going index, middle, index, middle.

That's not the only way to do it.

You could pluck everything with one finger, which is simple,

but it's hard to go very fast with.

Or you can do it with three, which gives you crazy speed,

but it's extra hard to learn.

We use two fingers for standard bass plucking technique

because it's not too hard to learn,

but you can still get plenty fast

since your index and middle fingers share the load.

SAM: Share the loaddddddd

FRODO: Get away!

The third and final must know plucking tip

is to pull across.

This is the difference between sounding like a noob

and sounding like you know what you're doing.

So let me show you this from the side.

So what newbies always want to do

is put their finger on the string

and then pull up and away from the bass.

And that does make a sound, but it's not the sound you want.

It's kind of like thin and wimpy.

To sound more legit and solid,

you want to pull across into the next string

or into your thumb, if you're plucking on the E string.

Not only does that sound more solid and bassy than this,

but it also helps with unwanted ringing

because every time you pluck the A string

your plucking fingers are then muting the E string

Making a habit of anchoring your thumb,

plucking with index and middle and pulling across,

takes a lot of practice.

And that's why I make it a heavy focus

in my Beginner to Badass course,

where I cover all this stuff and way more detail

and lots more, in over 35 hours of lessons.

And you can check that out at BassBuzz.com

Is that guy plugging his course

in the middle of the video?

[beep] YouTubers!

So eventually you want to be comfortable

plucking on all of your strings,

but the easiest way to get started

is just to practice on one string.

So let's do a little plucking together on your E string,

along with some music.

So anchor your thumb on the pickup.

I'm going to count to four over and over,

and we'll pluck index finger on one,

and middle finger on three.

So like 1, 2, 3, 4

index two, middle four.

Okay. Let's try that out.

I'll count 1, 2, 3, 4, and then we'll start.

And if this is too fast for you,

just use the YouTube speed controls to slow it down.

Here we go. Let's get funky.

make sure you're pulling across

should be running into your thumb

All right. That was a good start on your plucking,

but I think we need to make this bassline a little funkier,

and we can do that by muting the strings in between plucks,

which will leave some space where the funk can get out.

So right now you're plucking on one

and then that note just keeps ringing

until your next pluck on three.

So I'm going to have you add a new move,

on counts two and four, you're gonna shut off your note,

which you can do two ways.

You can either touch the strings

with all your fingers on your other hand,

not pressing down the strings,

just touching them so they don't vibrate,

and then just release the strings before your next pluck.

Or you can touch the E string with your plucking fingers,

which will quiet it down

and also set you up for your next pluck.

Or you can do both. There's no fault in some extra muting.

So however you do it, you're going to go pluck mute,

pluck mute, one, two, three, four.

So let's hear that track one more time.

You can try doing some muting with me

or just listen to the difference in funkiness

with that added space. Here we go.

pluck, mute, pluck, mute,

And you can do that with your other hand

that's not plucking,

or you can do it with your plucking fingers.

Nailed the plucking, time to play some sweet riffs.

[come as you aren't]

Crap, what's that buzzing?

Yo!

Let me guess, I'm doing something wrong.

Yeah, sorry dude. But it's a simple fix.

Your hand over here by the neck of the bass

is in charge of fretting,

which means pressing the strings against the fingerboard,

which changes the sound they make.

If you don't have decent fretting technique,

you're going to waste a lot of energy

with like inefficient movements

and you can also hurt yourself

playing in super contorted positions.

So here are three fretting tips to help you ditch the buzz

and get oriented.

First let's dial in your basic hand position.

So start with your bass on your lap or off to the side,

and just look at your palm in front of you.

This should be a pretty relaxed position.

Your shoulders should be dropped and relaxed.

Your elbow should be resting next to your body.

Your wrists should be either straight

or slightly bent forward

and your fingers should be either straight

or slightly bent forward.

And your thumb is just relaxing

off to the side of your hand. Okay?

Now, without changing anything -

don't change anything with that arm -

pick up your bass with your other arm

and just put the neck next to your fingers.

And that's basically what your hand should look like

when you're playing bass.

And from this position,

you'll eventually be fretting with all four fingers.

Teachers, including me,

often say they should be pointed perpendicular to the neck,

but that's really gonna shift a bit

depending on how far your arm is from your body.

Next, let's give some special attention to your thumb.

There's a lot of bad advice going around out there

that you should force your thumb

to stay behind your middle finger when you're playing.

But that adds a ton of tension to your hand,

and it's just not necessary.

Do you remember what your hand looks like when it's relaxed?

Your thumb likes to be off to the side.

So you want to aim to replicate that

on the back of the neck,

it can point along with your fingers

or more towards the headstock,

just wherever it wants to lay

and keep it as relaxed as possible.

You're gonna feel the urge to jam it into the neck,

but that pressure is unnecessary

and it makes your hand hurt.

Final fretting tip. When you press down,

you need to aim for the end of the fret,

closest to the pickups.

So this whole area would be called the third fret,

but you need to press towards the end of it

right behind that metal wire, which is called the fret wire.

And that gives you the best chance

of getting nice clean notes, that don't buzz.

Let's test all that out together quickly

with some music.

So we're just going to play two notes,

the 5th fret and the 7th fret of the E string.

So the E string is the fattest one.

Eat And Drink Grapes. E, A, D, G. E

And the 5th fret is one, two, three, four, five, right here,

and then the seventh fret five, six, seven.

And notice those frets have dots.

And those are just visual markers

to help you track where you are on the bass

without getting lost.

So use your pinky finger to press down

towards the end of the 7th fret,

give that note of pluck and then our second note,

press with your index finger

towards the end of the 5th fret and give that a pluck.

So we're just gonna pluck that 7th fret note once

for one, two, three, four, and then lift the pinky,

play the 5th fret note with your index once,

one, two three, four, back and forth.

And if your fingers are getting tired

or the skin's getting roughed up, it's all good.

You'll have a lot more stamina and skin toughness

after the first few weeks. All right, let's do it.

I'll count one, two, three, four,

then we'll start on that pinky note.

Here we go. One, two, three, four.

Make sure you're aiming for the end of the fret,

not getting fret buzz.

Good plucking and fretting technique is important,

but you still won't sound like a bass player

until you nail this final piece.

Because the most important thing as a bass player is groove,

locking in with the rest of the band

so the music feels good.

I'm going to show you two steps

to make sure your playing is solidly grooving.

Any time you listen to music,

there's a pulse that you can bob your head

or tap your foot to.

And feeling that pulse is step one

to grooving with the band.

Because if you try to play

without feeling where that pulse is,

you're just gonna play at weird times

that don't have anything to do

with what everyone else is doing.

[wuttt]

But even if you're feeling the pulse,

if you don't have a plan

of what specific rhythms you're meaning to play,

you'll probably drift off.

So the easiest way

to make sure your playing is really synced up,

is to play some specific, simple rhythms,

which I'll show you now.

So if you want to play along with something like this,

you remember step one,

you've got to find where that pulse is

where do you want to bob your head, one, two, three,

which is right here.

And then step two is to know what rhythm you're aiming for.

So each one of these pulses, we call a beat

and we name our rhythms after how many beats they last.

So you could play a note that lasts for four beats,

which is called whole note.

Sounds like this, one, two, three, four,

one, two, three, four.

Or something that lasts two beats, which we call a half note

one, two, three, four,

one, two, three, four.

Or just one beat, which is called quarter note.

If you need more help feeling the pulse of the music

or listening to drums,

you can check out my How to Play Bass with a Drummer video,

which has some more beginner tips.

Let's put everything you just learned into music

with High and Dry by Radiohead.

So we're going to simplify this bassline a little bit,

but it's still legit enough to play in a garage

with your friends.

So all the notes are on E string,

which remember is the fat one closest to your face,

Eat And Drink Grapes. E, A, D, G.

So fret the 2nd fret note with your index finger,

remember to press toward the end of the fret

and give that a pluck.

And then fret the 5th fret note with your pinky finger

to get some more pinky strengthening practice.

And you don't need to stretch

from the 2nd fret to the 5th fret like this.

You can just slide your hand down

in what I call a microshift.

So 2nd fret, 5th fret, and then for the open string,

that just means to pluck without fretting the strings.

And those are all the three notes you need to play

and we'll mess around

with the different rhythms you just learned

to see how it affects the song.

All right, let's play this thing.

You're plugged in.

Your knobs are set.

You got a comfortable position, sitting or standing.

You're tuned up.

You're plucking with your index and middle,

you're pulling across, your thumb is anchored on the pickup.

Your fretting hand is nice and relaxed.

You're fretting with your index and pinky

towards the end of the fret. Let's do it.

I'll count one, two, three, four,

and then we'll start with some nice spacious whole notes,

which is just one pluck every four beats. Here we go.

One, two, three, four,

2nd fret, two, three, four,

5th fret, two, three, four,

to the open string, two, three, four.

Now we'll fill up a little more space with some half notes,

one, two, three, four.

Make sure you're plucking index middle if you can.

Two, three, four.

Now let's really push the song with some quarter notes.

One, two, three, four. Pluck and then repeat.

Hey! Hey you! Turn that goldarn bass UP!

It sounds awesome!

Nice work. If that was your first real song ever,

congratulations and welcome to the bass family.

If you're a Radiohead fan like me,

you should totally go play along with this whole song.

You can do it all, with just those three notes.

And you can try out these different rhythm ideas

to see how they affect the song.

If you're not so into Radiohead,

I have a couple beginner riffs videos you can check out

to go keep playing music.

Another really important beginner bas-

All right, printed my tabs.

Got to get to that jam session.

Wait, there's so much more to learn!

[grumble grumble] Attention deficit YouTube viewers...

at least watched my beginner lessons playlist on YouTube?

[beep]

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
bass /bæs/ B1	noun - a low‑pitched stringed instrument; also the low pitch range it produces
plucking /ˈplʌkɪŋ/ B2	verb - to pull and release a string with a finger or plectrum to make a sound
fretting /ˈfrɛtɪŋ/ B2	verb - to press a string against a fingerboard to change its pitch
tone /toʊn/ B1	noun - the characteristic quality of a sound, especially in music
knob /nɑb/ B2	noun - a rounded control that can be turned to adjust volume, tone, etc.
amp /æmp/ B1	noun - short for amplifier; a device that makes an electric signal louder
practice /ˈpræktɪs/ A2	verb - to repeatedly perform an activity in order to improve skill noun - repeated exercise of an activity or skill
posture /ˈpɒstʃər/ B1	noun - the way one's body is held while sitting or standing
technique /tɛkˈniːk/ B2	noun - a systematic method of performing a skill or task
rhythm /ˈrɪðəm/ B1	noun - a regular, repeated pattern of sounds or beats in music
groove /ɡruːv/ B2	noun - a strong, steady rhythmic feel or pattern that makes people want to move
pulse /pʌls/ B1	noun - the regular beat or throb in music that listeners can feel or tap to
note /noʊt/ A2	noun - a single musical sound with a specific pitch and duration
string /strɪŋ/ A2	noun - a thin cord on a musical instrument that vibrates to produce sound
tune /tjuːn/ A2	verb - to adjust the pitch of an instrument so that it sounds correct
pickup /ˈpɪkʌp/ C1	noun - an electronic device on a string instrument that converts string vibrations into an electrical signal
beginner /bɪˈɡɪnər/ A2	noun - a person who is just starting to learn something
position /pəˈzɪʃən/ B1	noun - the way something is placed or arranged, especially the placement of the instrument on the body
volume /ˈvɒljuːm/ A2	noun - the loudness of a sound; also the control that changes this loudness
stretch /strɛtʃ/ B2	verb - to extend or lengthen something, especially muscles or fingers, to increase flexibility

Key Grammar Structures

• You need to plug your bass into an amp with a cable.

  ➔ Present simple with 'need to' for general advice

  ➔ The phrase "need to" is used to express necessity or advice in a general sense.

• You should practice amplified most of the time, so you get used to hearing yourself the way other people would hear you.

  ➔ Modal verb 'should' for advice + result clause with 'so that'

  ➔ "Should" is used to give advice, and "so that" introduces a result clause explaining the purpose.

• If your bass isn't a P or a J, or maybe it's an active bass, you just need to look up a manual for your specific bass.

  ➔ Conditional sentence with 'if' + 'just need to' for specific advice

  ➔ The conditional sentence with 'if' presents a hypothetical situation, and 'just need to' emphasizes a simple action.

• You can tune by ear, or you can use a tuner, which could be a clip-on, a plug-in, a pedal or even an app.

  ➔ Parallel structure with 'or' + relative clause with 'which'

  ➔ The parallel structure with 'or' presents alternatives, and the relative clause with 'which' provides additional information.

• Your hand by the body of the bass is in charge of plucking the strings, which is how you make the bass make sound.

  ➔ Relative pronoun 'which' for non-defining clause

  ➔ The relative pronoun 'which' is used to add extra information that is not essential to the main clause.

• So let me show you this from the side.

  ➔ Polite request with 'let me'

  ➔ The phrase 'let me' is used to make a polite offer or request.

• You're going to add a new move, on counts two and four, you're gonna shut off your note.

  ➔ Future with 'be going to' + informal contraction 'gonna'

  ➔ 'Be going to' is used to express a future plan, and 'gonna' is an informal contraction of 'going to'.

• If you want to learn more about getting good bass tone, you can check out my Beginner Tone Fixes video.

  ➔ Conditional sentence with 'if' + modal verb 'can' for possibility

  ➔ The conditional sentence with 'if' presents a condition, and 'can' is used to express possibility.