Chords for How To Play Bass Guitar To Le Freak - Chic - Bernard Edwards

_ _ _ _ Hi, it's Paul from howtoplaybass.com here.
I've got a quick video lesson for you on how to play La Freak by Chic.
Before we get started with the intro,
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Let's move on with the lesson.
I hope you enjoy it.
This will help you play La Freak by Chic.
_ _ _ _ Okay, the intro pattern is the pattern with the guitar riff and with the lyrics where it goes are freak out, also the chorus.
Do be careful in various different versions as I talked about in the intro.
_ Sometimes it'll be the pattern play through four times.
Sometimes in the choruses it'll play through twice.
Depends on which version your band's playing, so do watch out for that.
So I'll play through the intro and then we'll talk through it.
Okay, one two three [A] four. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Okay, then you're into the verse.
So stop the metronome.
So it's pretty straightforward.
The basic two notes of that are just G and A
which are the third and fifth frets of the E string.
You'll notice when I played the A, _
[N] I also put in a little slide down there.
It sounds pretty cool in the intro.
Sometimes in the choruses later on in the song I stop doing that.
Something for you to experiment with, have a play around, see what you think. _
_ The fill to bring the verse in is this.
_ _ _ [G] _ And the notes are G, again third fret of the E string, [A] A,
fifth fret of the E string, octave A, seventh fret of the [E] D string,
open E,
[G] G, third fret of the [Ab] E string, G sharp, fourth fret of the E string.
[G] And then you're into the basic verse pattern.
_ _ I'll just play that pattern with the fill again.
So one two three four.
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Then you're into the verse.
So if you haven't listened to the original
cross-reference those notes I've just told you about, you should be able to pick that intro up fairly straightforward.
So let's move on to the basic verse pattern.
_ _ _ The basic verse pattern is a two bar pattern.
Play through the metronome and then we'll talk through the notes.
One two three four, _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
etc.
So we look at the notes.
The first bar is in A, or it's in a minor tonality.
It's A,
[G] G, [A] A,
[C] C, C, A,
G, [A] A.
And the frets are A is the fifth fret of the [G] E string, G third fret of the [C] E string,
C third fret of the [A] A string.
So it's _ _ that kind of rhythm.
_ _ _ [D] Okay, then it goes into the second bar.
Second pattern is this.
_ _ [C] _ The notes are D, D, [A] G, A,
[C] C, [E] C, open E, [D] G.
And so the note _ location's D.
You'll find that the fifth fret of the A [G] string,
G, [A] A, third and fifth frets [C] of the E string.
Down to that C again, third fret of the A string, [E] then open [G] E,
G, which is the third fret of the E string again.
Okay, [A] that two bar pattern again, I'll just play through the whole pattern.
I'll just play it really slowly without the metronome.
Just turn the bass up a fraction, _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ [C] _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
etc.
So that should give you an idea of the rhythm.
If you cross-reference it with [Am] the
Sheik original as well,
_ you should be able to pick that up,
and with the notes and the locations that I just did.
And that just leaves us to look at the
extended bridge. _ _ _ _
Okay, the bridge section of the tune has two different four bar patterns.
Play the first four bar pattern first.
_ One, two, three, four. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ [D] _ [Am] _ _
Then it repeats. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ [D] [C] And then it repeats. _ _
[A] _ Etc.
So look at the notes, talk through that first pattern.
Okay, so it starts with the open A string,
_ then you're [C] up to C,
fifth fret of the G string, play that twice, [A] then A,
seventh fret of the D string,
[C] back to C,
[A] back to A, back down to open A string.
That's held and then you back up to [C] the high C, _
_ [A] down to A, C, A,
[C] _
C, [A] A, and then to [D] the open D string.
[C] _ _
[Am] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [A] _
Now the thing to watch here is
the muting of the open strings,
especially the A string.
We're letting the A string, [Am] and then you're going up to the C, the fifth fret of the G string.
Make sure you bring your thumb on to the A string when you play that open A.
_ _ _ [A] _ _
[C] There, like that, so that it doesn't ring out.
Because if you're using a rest stroke with your right [C] hand, your finger will come to rest on the D string
and it will dampen that, but it won't be dampening the A string.
So you do need to make sure you're not hanging on the pickup or a fixed position [Am] with your thumb and leaving that
A string to ring because it will sound dissonant and horrible.
When you play the open D string,
there shouldn't be a problem because if you're using a rest stroke,
the finger, once it's played the
notes above it _ _ [D] _ _
will come through through that C and rest on the D and mute it.
So that shouldn't be a [Am] problem, but do watch out with that A string.
So the second pattern is very similar to that
_ and you can either interchange the patterns in the record.
Two-thirds of the bridge is played with the first pattern I just showed you and the last third is kind of played with this pattern.
I'll just play the pattern with the metronome.
One, two, three, four. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ [D] _ [Am] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [C] So it's very similar to the last pattern
_ except it holds on that C on the fourth beat of each bar rather than [A] quickly going off it onto the [G] A.
So it's very straightforward, very similar.
You can connect the bridge up when you're coming to the end of the bridge by using a stab and the fill that we first used
at the start of the tune to connect the verse to the chorus.
That fill was_
[A] _ _ _ _ _ I'll play the next_
I'll play a little
demonstration of that.
Imagine this is the last four bars of the bridge and then we'll incorporate that fill to bring us back into verse
three.
Two, three, four.
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _ _