For this lesson I will introduce you to a 12 bar bassline groove in the key of C. When you play the idea you will recognise it as it does have that typical blues sound you will hear often on any electric blues songs. The Ukulele is a C friendly instrument, which means we can play the basslines in position instead of having to play them over on one or two strings and having to move up and down along the fretboard. Here are the basslines, played for one bar per chord.

 

C7                                                F7                                                   G7

A   ——————–0-0-         ——-0-0—-3-3—–5-5—–       ——0-0—3-3—5-5—

E  ——–0-0–3-3———         -1-1——————————-   –3-3———————-

C   0-0———————-          ————————————    —————————-

G   ————————–           ————————————   —————————–

 
Here are the chord shapes:

            C7        F7       G7
A  —–1——–3——2—

E  —–0——-1——-1–

C   —-0——–3——2–

G  —-0——–2——0–

Play the progression in the following manner:

C7     F7    C7   C7

F7    F7   C7    C7

G7    F7   C7    F7

The chords work well with the basslines. The basslines should be played with shuffle feel. Count them like 1 e 2 e  3e  4e.   The chords can be strummed with a shuffle feel as well.  Ask a friend to play the chords for you while one of you plays the basslines, in this manner you get to hear how the song idea works.

Enjoy and hope to see you soon again,
Eddie