In part 10 of this series on chromatic approaches to triads, we’re approaching our minor triads using double chromatics from below each chord tone.

Double chromatic approaches are one of the most useful pieces of chromatic vocabulary you can develop (as i’ll be illustrating in the next couple of weeks with some bass line breakdowns) and the more fluid you become with them, the more you will be able to integrate them into your own lines! One of the things I love about them is the really strong ‘pull’ they have towards the chord tone that makes for really effective harmonic resolutions.

Without further ado we’re going to look at a couple of useful exercises to develop basic fluency and an example bass groove. As always, the PDF and the backing track i’ve used can be downloaded below!

Chromatic Approaches Part 10 - Basic

Chromatic Approaches Part 10 - Track

For those of you who are paid subscribers, you’ll need the expanded PDF linked below for the additional bonus groove!

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Electric Bass - Nate Watts

Difficulty - Intermediate

If you were to ask a bass player "what is a great Nate Watts bass line?” they might answer with Sir Duke, Master Blaster or maybe Do I Do (all excellent answers btw!). I would however wager that almost none of them would name this particular track, Gwen McCrae’s Keep The Fire Burning.

I was first exposed to Gwen’s music (and lots more besides) via some excellent Jonathan Maron seminars, and have loved her work ever since. This particular track has the same challenge as tunes like Billie Jean; it’s relentless, the groove never stops so there is certainly a degree of stamina required! The grooves themselves in the verse and chorus are fantastic illustrations of how you can write something catchy and propulsive with relatively simple harmony ingredients, in this case F minor pentatonic and chromatic approach notes. This is interspersed with little flashes of Nate’s phenomenal ability to lay down tasty ideas (that little fill in the last chorus before the slap line kicks in is killer). In the slap section, pay close attention to which parts are thumb and those that are popped, its quite surprising how few times Nate uses the pop!

This track suggested flats to me, so I went my my Yamaha BB, recorded through my Cali76 compressor, MXR M80 preamp into my Audient interface.

Enjoy!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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The full transcription is free via the link below, paid subscribers can download the transcription without a watermark.

Keep The Fire Burning WM

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In part 9 of this series looking at chromatic approaches, we’re looking at using single chromatic approaches from both directions to minor triads!

Combining approaches to the chord tones from both directions gives you some very useful (and powerful) tensions against the chord, and we’ll look at an example groove i’ve written to demonstrate.

Enjoy!

Chromatic Approaches Pt.9 - Basic

Chromatic Approaches Pt.9 - Track

For those of you who are paid subscribers, you’ll need the expanded PDF linked below for the additional bonus groove!

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Electric Bass - Nick Fyffe

Difficulty - Intermediate/Advanced

Hey all,

Slightly later than usual this week but I’d say it’s worth it! For me, Nick Fyffe is the great underrated bass player from the trio that have played with Jamiroquai (the others being Stu Zender and Paul Turner). His work on the Live In Verona record is amazing as is his work on the Synkronized album. This track is, for me, the standout track from that particular record and it’s been both fun and challenging to get it down!

Part of this comes down to how punchy Nick’s sound is and trying my best to replicate that myself, and part of it is the switch between punchy fingerstyle playing and the octave slap groove. Something I took particular note of are the little slides and grace notes that Nick puts into the line!

I’m not 100% sure which bass that Nick used on the record, but for Jamiroquai of all eras, I tend to reach for my Warwick Streamer LX, it just has a particular punch and bite to it that just works with their music!

Have fun with this one!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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The full transcription is free via the link below, paid subscribers can download the transcription without a watermark.

Soul Education WM

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Hope you’re all well, here is the latest installment in my series of lessons on Chromatic Approaches, this time focused on a single chromatic approach to minor triads from above.

As with the other lessons in this series, we’ll be digging into both some exercises to build fluidity and some example lines i’ve written for you to illustrate how you can use them!

As always, the PDF and the backing track i’ve used can be downloaded below!

For those working on groove 2…take your time with that final fill idea! ;)

Chromatic Approaches Pt.8 - Basic

Chromatic Approaches Pt.8 Track

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Electric Bass - Jerry Jemmott

Difficulty - Intermediate

Hey all,

Hope you’re all well (and for all of you in the UK, are keeping cool!). This weeks transcription is one that has been on the periphery of my awareness for some time now and as I’ve not yet done a Jerry Jemmott transcription, I decided it was past time I sat down and worked this tune out properly.

Aretha Franklin obviously needs no introduction from me but for those less steeped in bass history, Jerry Jemmott was one of the generation of players active right before Jaco and Stanley Clarke exploded onto the scene and transformed what was possible on the instrument and Jemmott is one of the players that Jaco repeatedly namechecked as a specific influence, specifically for the 16th note fingerstyle lines that are in evidence in this track.

Something that stuck out to me was Jemmotts use of open strings, something that i’ve also always noticed about James Jamerson. The open A string works very nicely in the section in Bb Major (A being the Major 7th) but he also integrates it in the B major section (which then gives a dominant 7 vibe without actually changing chord). Pay attention to some of the fills in the outtro, not hugely difficult but so tasty!

P with flats was the vibe I was getting from listening to the track repeatedly so I grabbed the Yamaha BB with the neck pickup soloed. I thought about using the P bass but given the temperature/humidity in my home studio right now the neck has a life of its own and it needs a setup….again :P

Enjoy!!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Think! WM

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This is a short tutorial on one of a number of fills i’ve been writing that use the chromatic approach ideas we’ve been looking at in recent lessons.

It’s a fairly straightforward 16th note pattern, the real keys are the chromatic approaches and the way the line is phrased!

This is the first of what may be a whole series of tutorials on little pieces of vocabulary, so please let me know if you dig this!

Enjoy!

PDF and the backing track are below!

Chromatic Approach Fill Idea

Chromatic Approach Fill Track

Electric Bass - Melvin Dunlap

Difficulty - Intermediate

Hey all,

Hope this finds you all well! This weeks transcription is a tune I hadn’t heard in a VERY long time until a bass playing friend of mine sent me a playlist he’d put together, and listening to it reminded me just how much I like this particular line!

Express yourself was the signature song for Charles Wright and The Watts, and Melvin Dunlap delivers an absolute masterclass in varying the connective ideas while maintaining the integrity of the overall groove! Keep an eye out for where he startts dropping the first 16th of the bar, and work to nail down the various different connective fills/ideas!

My Yamaha with flatwounds was once again the bass of choice here, with my MXR M80 and a little compression added.

Have fun with this!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Express Yourself WM

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This article comes off the back of a conversation I had a couple of days ago about the state of the world of music, more specifically the perceived quality of the music being released today.

What I often hear (sometimes from people above a certain age) is that music being released today is worse or somehow lesser than the music being released several decades ago. Personally? I don’t think this is true. I think more great music is being released now than at any time before. The real question now is finding it.

What I think can be said is that composition and trends within mainstream music have indeed changed. mainstream pop music tends to be less complex compositionally than it was in the 60s and 70s and one could argue that it has in some ways become a lot ‘safer’ thematically. Some of this can be attributed to changing tastes of listeners, part of it can be attributed to technological developments in the studio and part of it can (I feel) be traced to record labels not being willing to take risks and essentially only backing/putting out music that it’s sure will deliver a return.

This last point (to me at least) represents a shift, from record labels being the ‘curators’ of music to them being concerned with the bottom line above all else. Back in the 70s bands/artists would have multiple attempts to get a successful album out and they would (thinking of Rush in particular here) be given time and space (occasionally grudgingly) to allow their artistic vision to mature, something I feel has now been lost. Bands were also allowed to go for broke with a big idea (thinking of the Yes album Tales From Topographic Oceans) again, something I can’t imagine one of the larger labels doing today.

So if the legacy labels are mostly concerned with what will sell rather than artistic vision above all else, where does that leave us?

With independent labels and independent artists.

One of the biggest benefits of new musical technology has been the widespread ability to record music on home computers instead of in a studio. Thus, instead of the major labels ultimately deciding who can and can’t make a record, anyone with some basic technical know-how and some basic hardware/software can get music recorded and released via platforms such as Bandcamp. While this means that the curation/selection of music is no longer happening in the way that it used to, the barriers to entry have been all but removed; anyone with an idea no longer needs to cosy up to the labels in order to get their music recorded and released.

We just need to look a little harder to find the island music we love among the ocean of music being released.

How can we work to find it? The two sources i’ve come to rely on are bandcamp (I find that their artist recommendations are pretty well in the ballpark, for myself at least) and keeping my eyes and ears open for recommendations from musicians and friends whose word I trust. If you have musician friends, talk to them regularly about what music they are listening to…you never know what direction you might end up being pointed!

On that note, here are some fantastic records I’ve discovered relatively recently, all released independently or on small labels

If you enjoy the content I have here, you can support and contribute to me doing more of this for the price of a Café Nero latte (£4.10). Every single contribution is appreciated and enables me to bring more transcriptions, lessons and articles to the table!

Buy Me A Coffee

Msafiri – Simon Peter King

Given that I work with Simon I didn’t have to look too hard for this one, but this is one of my favourite records thus far of 2026. Simon is an incredible musician, photographer, chef, composer….the list goes on, and while the playing on display is absolutely stellar, the thing that really caught me was the level of compositional clarity and depth. I’ll leave you to listen for yourselves :)

Favourite tracks - 07 Fleche, Navigator

Great Album – GREAT TIME

I was introduced to GREAT TIME by Jonathan Maron (who has introduced me to a LOT of great music, thank you Jonathan!) and although they are currently on hiatus (and i’d wager unlikely to reform) they have left some wonderful music behind. I’m not entirely sure where they fit within the genre spectrum and their music is all the more fun and compelling for it. Oh and if you’re a bass player…go and check out their single ‘Rushin’…Zack Hartmann came up with a KILLER line on that track.

Favourite tracks – one.thirty.seven, Fruitrip

Kintsugi – Jack Gardinier

I first became aware of Jack via his collaboration with Henrik Linder (Dirty Loops) and after watching (and loving) several of his videos on YouTube I then found that he had just released a new record, Kintsugi.

It’s unashamed instrumental guitar music but with an element of fun that I often see from Plini, where the chops involved are devastating and yet aren’t taken too seriously. Jack’s music also has lovely elements of melody and texture about it that I really enjoy (as opposed to being hit over the head with notes).

Favourite tracks – Fanboy, Moon Over Mango

Amiira – Curious Objects

It’s perhaps inevitable that a record with Bjorn Meyer on it would find its way into this list but the music Bjorn ends up playing/playing on almost always seems to hit the musical spot for me. He has a lot of room to move with Amiira and the overall space and textures of this record are something i’m enjoying more and more with instrumental music of late. Bjorn, Sam Rohrer and Klaus Gesing are all beautifully recorded here, making their artistic contributions all the more wonderful.

Favourite tracks - Garden Of Silence, Where We Go From Here

I hope you enjoy the music i’ve shared as much as I have, and remember….a lot of great music is out there.

We just need to have the patience and persistence to go find it.

Electric Bass - Sting

Difficulty - Beginner/Intermediate

This weeks transcription was one of the first Police tunes (along with Walking On The Moon and Message In A Bottle) that Iearned and while it’s not that difficult technically, getting ones head around the groove placement certainly can be…it took me a long time before I started to feel where the groove is placed naturally!

Sting needs no introduction but this line has all his hallmarks as a bass writer; interesting rhythmic placement, superb control of note lengths and a wonderful sound. I reached for my P bass for this playthrough and it’s funny…you don’t play an instrument/piece of gear for a while and then you pick it up again and remember why you thought it was so great…nothing sounds quite like a good P bass :)

Also in the signal chain was my Boss CEB-3 chorus pedal with the depth set slightly lower than I usually go for.

I always enjoy playing Sting’s lines, hopefully you all enjoy this one as much as I do!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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The full transcription is free via the link below, paid subscribers can download the transcription without a watermark.

Spirits In The Material World WM

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This is the second in my series of song tutorials, this time focusing on the incredible bass work of Anthony Jackson in Chaka Khan’s ‘Clouds’ from the record Naughty.

That entire album is a bass masterclass but there are some ideas in Clouds that really stand out!

I’ve already released a transcription of this tune (which you can find below so without further ado, let’s dig into the details!!

Clouds WM

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Electric Bass - Tom Fowler

Difficulty - Intermediate

Hey everyone,

This week’s transcription comes from the extremely extensive discography of Frank Zappa, and while it might not be the most well known or the most difficult Zappa track, it’s one of my personal favourites!

Zappa needs little introduction from me, his work really speaks for itself and a number of significant musicians went on from his band to form their own groups (Steve Vai immediately comes to mind).

The key part of I’m the slime is the unison groove right up top and towards the end, which bookends the two verses. I’ve looked at playing this a couple of different ways but ultimately went with open strings.

As i’m often doing these days, I reached for the Yamaha BB, coupled with the MXR M80 preamp!

Have fun!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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I'm The Slime WM

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In this lesson we’re taking our single chromatic approach ideas and starting to apply them to minor triads, specifically approaching the chord tones of our minor triad from a single chromatic note below.

As with the previous parts of this series, we’ll be digging into both some exercises to build fluidity (especially as the minor triads sit differently under the fretting hand to the majors) and some bass lines i’ve written for you to illustrate how you can use them!

As always, the PDF and the backing track i’ve used can be downloaded below!

Chromatic Approaches Pt.7 - Basic

Chromatic Approaches Pt.7 - Track

For those of you who are paid subscribers, you’ll need the expanded PDF linked below for the additional exercises and bonus groove!

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Electric Bass - Julio Ćesar Sanchez

Difficulty - Intermediate

Hey everyone,

This weeks transcription might be coming out of left field for the vast majority of you but stay with me, it’s a fun one! I was introduced to Ska-P by a friend at university and this particular track has stuck with me ever since! As you might have guessed they’re a Spanish Ska band, complete with a full horn section.

Planeta Eskoria is the title track of their album of the same name but this version comes from the Incontrolable live record and the whole band absolutely kills it throughout. The bass line particular has lots of fun moments throughout (if you have an envelope filter, you’ll be wanting to plug it in!) and there are various little things i hadn’t noticed before I sat down to transcribe it properly.

I wanted something quite articulate for this playthrough so I chose my Fodera, both pickups on in dual coil mode! I also added in my MXR M80 with the overdrive switched on though with less saturation than I usually blend in.

Hope you all have fun with this one!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Planeta Eskoria WM

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Hope you’re all well! This is the final installment of this series looking at Major triads, and we’re now looking at combining double chromatic approaches from both directions!

Combining the chromatic approaches together we can get some really interesting ideas going so we’re going to get straight into the example groove, and for my subscribers, the second groove is a fun one ;)

Enjoy!

Chromatic Approaches Pt.6 - Basic

Chromatic Approaches Pt.6 - Track

For those of you who are paid subscribers, you’ll need the expanded PDF linked below for the additional bonus groove!

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Electric Bass - Fred Brown

Difficulty - Beginner/Intermediate

Hey all,

This weeks transcription features an artist I was first introduced to by the great Jonathan Maron. Gwen McCrae isn’t perhaps as well known as some of the other great American singers but she certainly deserves to be and for us bass players, her music is a real pleasure to both transcribe and play!

Funky Sensation isn’t the trickiest of her tunes to play but the groove itself is a real gem! It’s one of those songs where at first glance it’s very repetitive, but when you dig into it and pay attention (particularly towards the end) there are lots of little variations in there!

The original sounds like it was recorded on a P bass with flats so I chose my Yamaha BB (especially as the TI flats have now settled really nicely!).

Hopefully you enjoy digging into this as much as I did!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Funky Sensation WM

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Hope this finds you well, this weeks lesson builds on what we looked at last time only now we’re approaching our major triad from a double chromatic (two half steps/two frets) above!

As I mentioned in the last lesson, this sort of vocab is something I heartily recommend working into your vocabulary and playing, it an incredibly useful and powerful tool to have and is a way you can rapidly expand a bass line/idea beyond your basic chord tones.

We’ll look at a couple of exercises that build on our last lesson and a new groove idea to put them into practice.

Enjoy!

Chromatic Approaches Pt.5 Basic

Chromatic Approaches Pt.5 - Track

For those of you who are paid subscribers, you’ll need the expanded PDF linked below for the additional bonus groove!

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Electric Bass - Norman Watt-Roy

Difficulty - Advanced

Hey everyone,

This weeks transcription is one i’ve been planning for a little while now, an absolute classic within the bass repertoire and a tricky line to nail down. Norman Watt-Roy’s line on Rhythm Stick is one of those seminal tunes that you get a real sense of satisfaction from working through so have some fun digging into this!

As with tunes like Hysteria, a lot of this is about getting the plucking and fretting fingers organised, especially with the little shifts around the fingerboard between the verses and the choruses. The TAB is my own suggestion for this but other solutions are possible!

The tighter spacing on my Yamaha BB5000 definitely helped with this tune, and the only other thing in the chain was my MXR M80.

Enjoy!!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Rhythm Stick WM

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Welcome to part 4 of this series covering chromatic approaches to triads! In this lesson we’re going to stick with our major triads and start looking at approaching the chord tones using double chromatic approach.

Double chromatic means that we’re approaching the chord tones from two half steps (in order), and I would argue that this is a CRUCIAL piece of harmonic vocabulary to nail down and (as i’ll show you in some future bass line breakdowns), they are EVERYWHERE!

Without further ado we’re going to look at a couple of useful exercises to develop basic fluency and an example bass groove. As always, the PDF and the backing track i’ve used can be downloaded below!

Chromatic Approaches Pt.4 - Basic

Chromatic Approaches Pt.4 - Track

For those of you who are paid subscribers, you’ll need the expanded PDF linked below for the additional bonus groove!

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Electric Bass - Nigel Harrison

Difficulty - Beginner

Hey everyone,

This weeks transcription features another band I was introduced to by my parents (my mum rather than my dad this time!), Blondie and this track is from their classic album Parallel Lines. Nigel Harrison laid down several notable lines on this record but Heart Of Glass has always been the one that stood out for me.

Part of the reason is the disco-esque octaves you hear in the choruses, another would be the shifts to 7/4 (prog nut here!) as well as the overall feel of the line! Lots of fun to be had digging into this song!

Signal chain was P bass - Cali76 compressor - interface, nothing fancy!

Enjoy!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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The full transcription is free via the link below, paid subscribers can download the transcription without a watermark.

Heart Of Glass WM

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