Chords for Tubular Bells "Bass" Guitar Lesson

Tempo:
141.15 bpm
Chords used:

G

A

D

C

E

Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
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Tubular Bells "Bass" Guitar Lesson chords
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Hello and welcome to this little lesson on how to play a bass riff to go with your
tubular bells main riff.
There are two versions of this [A] that you can try, one
that's very very simple and one that's a little bit trickier.
So let's do the
tricky [G] one first, so that's the more interesting one and if you can't manage
that you can always jump down and do the easier one.
So what I'm going to do first
is just demonstrate it.
I'm going to run the video of me playing [G#] it [A]
on the
piano, you can't see it.
[Em]
[A]
[E] [C]
[Em] [A]
[G]
[A] [E] [G]
[A]
[E] [G]
[C#]
[N] It's pretty weird isn't it?
But it sounds great.
Just to
refresh your memory we have three bars in which we count seven and one bar in
[G] which we count nine.
So if you look at the sheet you'll see the counting running
along the top there, one two three four five six seven and it is that kind of
speed you're [Gm] counting.
You play the open A on the counts of one and [A] three, so you've got
one two three four five six seven and you play the open A once again on [G] the counts of seven.
So you've got [A] one two three four five six [G] seven one two three.
Now don't forget
when you go into the next bar there's not a gap, you're straight in and on the
next bar of seven on beat [C] three we're going to do this quick hammer-on, [F#] 2a to [D] 3a,
[F#] open D on beat four, [D] [E] 2d on beat five, [D] open D on beat six [C] and 3a on beat seven.
[D] [C]
[D] [G] That's the speed.
You can probably use [F#] fingers one and two on the hammer-on, 2a 3a,
[E]
finger one on [D] 2d, [G] finger two [F#] on 3a if you get [D] through it.
[Cm] [A]
[D] [C] [A]
[E] [C] Picking wise I think the first
bar could do it in [A] downstroke, [D]
[C] [D] [C] probably a little bit [F#] of cross picking is not a bad idea.
[D] [C] Now I go straight [D] into it,
[G] because it's only bar of seven, so you're straight into the next bar of seven.
And what you've got there are octave G's.
[D#] You've got the third fret of the E string,
[A] bass E string, that's a low [G] G, beats one and three and then on beat seven you play 5d which is the octave higher.
So you've got one two three four five [C] six seven [G] one two three and then [D] in the last bar
[G] on beat four you play [D] open D, [G] beat six you play 3a, beat seven [F#] you play 2a, beat eight you play [G] 3e,
[A] beat nine [D] is a gap.
[G] So let's play the whole riff, you've got this.
[A] [D]
[G]
[A] [D]
[G]
[A] [D]
[G] [D]
[A] [D]
[G]
[Em] And obviously that would be played
on a bass guitar which would be tuned an octave below this, [F] but it still sounds pretty good.
Let's just run it with the track once more.
[G] First one go by and you can feel it on your bearings a bit that way.
[A]
[Em] [A]
[E] [G]
[A]
[E] [G]
[A] [E]
[G]
[A] [G]
[Em]
To make it sound a bit better I damp it at the bridge, so I put my hand
over the bridge saddle and that means that the strings instead of [A] ringing
clearly like that, they sound kind of muffly which sounds quite nice.
[D]
[G]
And that's very [A] similar to the
actual bass line on the record, I've simplified it a little bit but it still sounds pretty [G] good.
Having said all that, that's pretty tricky isn't it?
If you want a very easy version of [F] that,
look at the low down the page which is the easy bass part [A] and you've got just [G]
two notes.
So open A
played [F] three times in bar one, in 3e played three times in bar three and always on the same beat,
one, three and seven.
Let me just demonstrate that for you, that's obviously a lot easier,
not so exciting.
Again we'll let one go by.
[Em]
[A]
[C]
[A] [C]
[Am] So you've got one, two, three, [A] four, five, six, seven, one, two, three, four, five, six, [G] seven,
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, [A#] one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, [A] eight, nine.
[G] And practically impossible to count, you basically kind of need to [G#] feel it I think
to get it right.
Trying to count it is a bit of a nightmare.
So there's a bit of fun for you,
I suggest you try and play along with my piano video so that you get your bearings and see if
you can sort of slot it in with that.
It's quite tricky but quite fun.
[N]
Key:  
G
2131
A
1231
D
1321
C
3211
E
2311
G
2131
A
1231
D
1321
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Hello and welcome to this little lesson on how to play a bass riff to go with your
tubular bells main riff.
_ _ There are two versions of this [A] that you can try, one
that's very very simple and one that's a little bit trickier.
So let's do the
tricky [G] one first, so that's the more interesting one and if you can't manage
that you can always jump down and do the easier one. _ _
So what I'm going to do first
is just demonstrate it.
I'm going to run the video of me playing [G#] it _ [A] _
on the
piano, you can't see it.
[Em] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _
[Em] _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [C#] _ _
[N] It's pretty weird isn't it?
But it sounds great.
_ Just to
refresh your memory we have three bars in which we count seven and one bar in
[G] which we count nine. _
_ So if you look at the sheet you'll see the counting running
along the top there, one two three four five six seven and it is that kind of
speed you're [Gm] counting.
_ You play the open A on the counts of one and [A] three, so you've got
one two three four five six seven and you play the open A once again on [G] the counts of seven.
So you've got [A] one two three four five six [G] seven one two three.
Now don't forget
when you go into the next bar there's not a gap, you're straight in and on the
next bar of seven on beat [C] three we're going to do this quick hammer-on, _ [F#] 2a to [D] 3a,
_ [F#] open D on beat four, [D] _ [E] _ 2d on beat five, [D] open D on beat six [C] and 3a on beat seven.
[D] _ _ _ [C] _ _
[D] _ _ _ [G] That's the speed.
You can probably use [F#] fingers one and two on the hammer-on, 2a 3a,
_ [E]
finger one on [D] 2d, [G] finger two [F#] on 3a if you get [D] through it.
_ _ [Cm] _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ [C] _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ [C] _ Picking wise I think the first
bar could do it in [A] downstroke, _ _ _ [D] _ _
[C] _ _ [D] _ _ [C] _ probably a little bit [F#] of cross picking is not a bad idea.
[D] _ _ [C] _ Now I go straight [D] into it,
[G] _ _ _ _ because it's only bar of seven, so you're straight into the next bar of seven. _
And what you've got there are octave G's.
[D#] You've got the third fret of the E string,
[A] bass E string, that's a low [G] G, _ beats one and three and then on beat seven you play 5d which is the octave higher.
_ _ _ _ So you've got one two three four five [C] six seven [G] one two three and then [D] in the last bar
[G] _ _ on beat four you play [D] open D, [G] beat six you play 3a, beat seven [F#] you play 2a, beat eight you play [G] 3e,
[A] beat nine [D] is a gap.
_ [G] _ _ _ So let's play the whole riff, you've got this.
[A] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Em] And obviously that would be played
on a bass guitar which would be tuned an octave below this, [F] but it still sounds pretty good.
Let's just run it with the track once more. _ _ _
_ _ [G] First one go by and you can feel it on your bearings a bit that way.
[A] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _
To make it sound a bit better I damp it at the bridge, so I put my hand
over the bridge saddle and that means that the strings instead of [A] ringing _ _ _
clearly like that, they sound _ kind of muffly which sounds quite nice.
_ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
And that's very [A] similar to the
actual bass line on the record, I've simplified it a little bit but it still sounds pretty [G] good.
Having said all that, that's pretty tricky isn't it?
If you want a very easy version of [F] that,
look at the low down the page which is the easy bass part [A] and you've got _ just _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ two notes.
So open A
played [F] three times in bar one, in 3e played three times in bar three and always on the same beat,
one, three and seven.
Let me just demonstrate that for you, that's obviously a lot easier,
not so exciting.
Again we'll let one go by. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] So you've got one, two, three, [A] four, five, six, seven, one, two, three, four, five, six, [G] seven,
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, [A#] one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, [A] eight, nine.
_ _ [G] And practically impossible to count, you basically kind of need to [G#] feel it I think
_ _ _ to get it right.
Trying to count it is a bit of a nightmare.
So there's a bit of fun for you,
I suggest you try and play along with my piano video _ so that you get your bearings and see if
you can sort of slot it in with that.
It's quite tricky but quite fun.
_ [N] _

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