{"id":146289,"date":"2024-12-24T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/?p=146289"},"modified":"2024-12-13T09:53:14","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T17:53:14","slug":"go-beyond-alternating-thumb-picking-with-melodic-bass-runs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/go-beyond-alternating-thumb-picking-with-melodic-bass-runs\/","title":{"rendered":"Go Beyond Alternating Thumb Picking with Melodic Bass Runs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Week One melodic alternating bass fingerstyle lesson acoustic guitar advanced blues SHAIN Weekly Wor\" width=\"1290\" height=\"726\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ejwEI4IRRuE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>So you\u2019ve finally mastered the alternating-thumb picking style so prevalent in the folky fingerpicking of Americana singer-songwriters, from legends like Joan Baez and John Prine to modern stars such as Jason Isbell and Gillian Welch. Maybe now you want to add some blues or ragtime influences to your repertoire. Where do you go from here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Double-alternation patterns in the bass, where your thumb alternates bass notes on three strings, add another layer to the rolling sound of your arpeggios. A common next step might be adding some fretting-hand movement to create melody in the treble strings while the bass strings maintain their alternating rhythm. This approach is often referred to as Travis picking, named after the late, great guitar wizard Merle Travis. But it\u2019s also prominent in the folk-blues tradition of players like Elizabeth Cotten and Mississippi John Hurt, as well as Piedmont blues legends such as Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Boy Fuller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we look at top fingerstyle blues and ragtime players, we see that the bass often moves melodically, just like the treble strings. This added dimension usually leads people to exclaim, \u201cIt sounds like two people are playing!\u201d Melodic bass lines are a great skill to add after you\u2019ve mastered the alternating thumb style. By breaking down some common ideas with a few exercises, you\u2019ll see that this technique doesn\u2019t have to be too hard to learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Week One<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s compare two different moves. <strong>Example 1<\/strong> has the typical double alternation in the thumb over a C chord, where every note is within the chord: the bass goes C (root), E (third), G (fifth), E (third). In <strong>Example 2<\/strong>, we introduce a B note on beat 4, which acts as a leading tone to C and brings us back to the root note in the repeated measure. I often use this type of leading tone in the bass to signal to other players that we\u2019ll be staying on the same chord in the next measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For instance, I think of the bass move in <strong>Example 3<\/strong> as a reset button, making the chord feel new again\u2014perfect for bluegrass or old-time songs that stay on the same G chord for a while. A good creative exercise is to develop similar moves for other chords. You can use a major seventh (one fret below the root) leading to the root for major-sounding music or try the flatted seventh (two frets below the root) moving to the root for a more bluesy vibe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another great variation on the standard root-fifth alternation is to alternate the fifth of the chord with the major sixth, creating a different kind of double alternation: root\u2013five, root\u2013six. This often doesn\u2019t change the string you\u2019re picking but introduces a new fretting-hand note on the same string. Check out <strong>Example 4<\/strong> for a cool bass sound you could use in a blues context. In <strong>Example 5<\/strong>, we add the flatted seventh note to imply a seventh-chord sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column has-palette-color-5-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50)\">\n<p style=\"padding-top:0;padding-right:0;padding-bottom:0;padding-left:0\"><strong>Beginners\u2019 Tip #1<\/strong><br>A thumbpick can help create a clearer, more consistent tone, but it can easily overpower the treble strings. To balance the sound, practice alternating thumb patterns while adjusting the volume of both bass and treble notes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1290\" height=\"673\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/WW_1-scaled.jpg?resize=1290%2C673&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-146717\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/WW_1-scaled.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/WW_1-scaled.jpg?resize=500%2C261&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/WW_1-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C535&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/WW_1-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C401&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/WW_1-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C157&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/WW_1-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C802&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/WW_1-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1069&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1290px) 100vw, 1290px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>That\u2019s the end of Week One.<\/strong>&nbsp;The complete lesson features four weeks of workouts (plus a bonus exercise.) There are two ways to access the full video and musical examples:&nbsp;<strong>Join our community at&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/collection\/101584\">Patreon.com\/acousticguitarplus<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><em> OR<\/em>&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/store.acousticguitar.com\/products\/no-350-january-february-2025\">Buy the&nbsp;January\/February 2025&nbsp;issue of&nbsp;<em>Acoustic Guitar<\/em>&nbsp;magazine<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/store.acousticguitar.com\/products\/no-350-january-february-2025\" name=\"magazine\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 150px; height: 198px; margin: 0px 20px 10px 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/001_350_Cover-150px.jpg?w=1290&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Acoustic Guitar magazine cover for issue 350\"><\/a>\n<p style=\"font-family: sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 15px 0px;\">This article originally appeared in the <a href=\"https:\/\/store.acousticguitar.com\/products\/no-350-january-february-2025\">January\/February 2025<\/a> issue of <em>Acoustic Guitar<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Melodic bass lines are a great skill to add after you\u2019ve mastered the alternating thumb style. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":146291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"Melodic bass lines are a great skill to add after you\u2019ve mastered the alternating thumb style.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Go beyond alternate thumb picking with melodic runs","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1654],"tags":[1961],"ppma_author":[1648],"class_list":["post-146289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fingerstyle","tag-january-february-2025"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Jon-Shain-weekly-workout-part-one.mp4.00_07_28_18.Still002.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","authors":[{"term_id":1648,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"jon-shain","display_name":"Jon Shain","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Jon-Shain-scaled.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Jon-Shain-scaled.jpg"},"user_url":"https:\/\/jonshain.com","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":"Jon Shain is a veteran singer-songwriter who combines improvised Piedmont blues with bluegrass, swing, and ragtime. He is the 2019 winner of the International Blues Challenge in the solo\/duo category and author of \"Jon Shain's Fingerstyle Guitar Method\" published by Mel Bay."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146289"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146720,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146289\/revisions\/146720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146289"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=146289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}