Teenage Love Affair Bass Tab (Alicia Keys)

We will start off immediately with the verse and the riff you can play entirely throughout it. Beginners may have to practice a bit more since you have to develop a little speed and use some hammer-ons. I won’t explain in detail where to put the hammer-ons, since you will probably feel it yourself when you play it.

G|———–10–8–7—————————-
D|———————10–10–10–8–10–8——
A|–8–8–8———————————-10–
E|———————————————–

As you probably noticed the E-string isn’t used. The string won’t be used for the entire duration of the song, which is weird for a bass tab. Usually bassline involve a lot of playing on the E-string, since it gives the lowest and bassiest sound. More melodic basslines, however, can be played by making full use of all the other strings.

The next part is the pre-chorus. This part features a relatively simple bit and then a more difficult break. The first bit is just playing two notes in line with the singer. The break is a bit tricker because of the timing. You should get that absolutely right for it to work.

G|—————————————————————–
D|—————————————————————–
A|–6–6–5–6–6–5–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–8–8–8–
E|—————————————————————–

After the pre-chorus you get into the chorus part. This part of the bass tab is not really difficult. The bass mainly follows the lead singer and it consists of two chords. Using some extra notes you can make it a little more interesting, but the singer is the most important here, so you should just stick to a simple rendition.

G|———————————–
D|———–7————–5—–5–
A|–5–5–5—–5–3–3–3—–3—–
E|———————————–

The chorus has to be played three times. After that you get into a break that leads you back to the main riff. It is very similar to the pre-chorus, but still listen to the song a couple of times to get it absolutely right.

G|———————————————————–
D|———————————————————–
A|–6–6–5–5–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–3–
E|———————————————————–

And that basically finalizes the song. There isn’t much more to it. Playing this bass tab will get you a perfectly usable bassline for a nice live performance. Try experimenting with the breaks or coming up with variations for the main riff.

Cleanup Woman Bass Tab (Betty Wright)

Clean Up Woman is a very funky tune off Betty Wright’s second solo album. It has a great guitar part that stays in your head forever. The bassline is not really difficult, but still very fun to play. As is the entire song if you play in a band.

Cleanup Woman

The main riff throughout the verses is quite simple, but involves some hammer-ons. If you look at the tab underneath you will see that the 10th note on the E-string (D), reoccurs constantly. This note should be hammered on. This keeps the flow and the rhythm of the song going on very nicely and makes life a little bit easier for you. The riff can be repeated endlessley, until the singer of course wants to go to the bridge.

G|—————————————————————
D|—————————————————————
A|–8—————-8—————-8—————-8–10–8–
E|—–8–10–8–10—–8–10–8–10—–8–10–8–10————

The other part of the song is the bridge section. A couple of chords are played during that section (Am, Dm, Gm, Bb) and you can accompany those chords by playing the next couple of notes. You can hold each note till you play the next one, to get a nice flow going. It also creates a good change from the more snappy verse groove. The last four notes build up to the return to the verse and you can put a little emphasis on them.

G|———————–5——————————–
D|——–5———–7—–7–5——–5—————–
A|—–7—–7–5–5—————–5—–5—–8—–8–
E|–5—————————–3———–6—–6—–

These two riffs are basically all there is to it. The real difficulty of the song does not lie in the notes itself. They are pretty basic in the key of F. The real difficulty lies in maintaining a steady groove and then mixing the style up for the bridge. This makes the song great. Of course you can add little fills in the main groove, but that’s totally up to you. The above tab is just my interpretation of the song and what I think is nice to play. I think it strikes a good balance between ease of playing and maintaining a steady groove.

Never Too Much Bass Tab (Luther Vandross)

This is a bass guitar tab for the song Never Too Much by Luther Vandross. It features a very original bassline which utilizes different techniques. Luther Vandross sang the entire bassline, as can be read in this interview and was then played by Marcus Miller.

Bass Tab (Never Too Much)

The bassline for Never Too Much is a vital element in the song, because it is so prolific and well-known. Learning to play it, is not just a question of hitting the right notes, but is really more a challenge in getting the right timing, rhythm and technique. I recommend going back to the song and listening to it often to get it right. The major parts of the bassline are tabbed below, so you can enjoy playing it with your band.

Never Too Much

The classic intro of Never Too Much is played like this:

G|—————–
D|—————–
A|—————–
E|–5–4–5–6–7–

After the intro, the verse begins. This is both played instrumental and played with Luther Vandross singing over it. The verse of Never Too Much has two major components and it has some fills. The fills are open to your own creativity. I propose one little option that I like to play, but feel free to go back to the record and take that or come up with something yourself. Underneath is the first part of the verse. Try slapping the string for the best sound.

G|————–
D|————–
A|————–
E|–5–7–5–7–

Here is the mentioned fill. It makes a nice transition to the second verse part. It doesn’t have to be slapped.

G|—————————–
D|—————————–
A|————–5–7–5——–
E|–7–5–7–7———–7–5–

Back to the main part of the bass tab which is basically a G-note in two octaves. The first three notes can be slapped and the latter three notes should be timed really well and be plucked. Do this with either one finger or use two, whatever suits you best. Again, the timing is the most important.

G|——————–
D|———–5–5–5–
A|——————–
E|–3–3–3———–

The there is a transition back to the verse.

G|———–
D|———–
A|———–
E|–3–5–7–

This completes the verse. The chorus is next up, which can be quite difficult to get right. Especially the transition from verse to chorus can be hard to grasp at first. So listen to the record well and see how and when it is played. The first notes are plucked and then immediately after the plucking you slap the open E-string with your thumb. Repeat this in the rhythm, get the other three notes and play another chorus. Once you get it, it’s a quite addictive little groove.

G|————————————–
D|–7–9–7–9————————–
A|————————————–
E|————–0–0–0–0–0–2–3–5–

After repeating this, you head back to the very first intro. Play the whole thing again and you are basically there. Creating nice original fills and straying away from the bass tab makes the song pop even more, but getting the basics right is absolutely vital. Slapping, plucking and doing this in the right rhythm will make the pretty basic notes really stand out. Have fun with it and don’t hesitate to ask questions!