 Hi guys, this is Jason Zach from Nathaniel School of Music. In this bass guitar lesson, we are going to learn how to play the incredible Queen Classic. Another one bites the dust. So I'm going to talk about all the theory, the chords being used and how the bass serves the song well and how you can count the riff before you even play it. You need to know how to count it, where the beats lie, where are the positions of the notes and so on and so forth. So I hope you're going to enjoy this lesson as much as I did preparing for it and making it on YouTube. So if you liked the lesson, at the end of watching it, of course, do consider hitting the like button, leaving us a comment with what you thought. Maybe you have something else you'd like to learn, leave that also in the comment and there's a subscribe button with a bell for regular notifications. Do consider hitting that somewhere close to where you're watching this video. Maybe right there. So do consider giving it a click. Now we also have notation for pretty much anything I teach, which is waiting for you on our Patreon channel. And as this is a guitar lesson, you will also have the tabs. So if you don't read sheet music, you can use the tabs and there's also midi. If you'd want to import it into any other doors or other softwares to learn it in a more fancy way. Now, there are a lot of intricacies with this baseline. So I figured I'll try and teach you every part. I'll teach you the intro of the song, which is before Freddie, of course, starts singing. Then I will teach you the verse and then the chorus, where you just go another one bites the dust paraboom. So it's a very famous baseline. The moment you hear kind of know, oh, yeah, it's that song, you know, now there are a lot of baselines which start like that, but this one's really famous. So I'm sure you know it. So let's get cracking. First of all, the scale, the scale of this particular piece of music is on the F minor scale, which is the relative minor of the A flat major scale. A flat has four flats, namely B flat, E flat, A flat and D flat. The chords used in the song are generally going to be on the A flat major scale or more specifically the F minor scale, but there are a lot of non-diatonic chords which are also used in this song. So I'm going to walk you through and I'll tell you which are the chords which you need to be aware of and which are those spicy chords which Queen used, which make it, you know, the hit it is. So first off, it's on F minor. So the first chord and most of it is going to be rooted on F minor. You'll have an occasional B flat, which is a B flat minor. So that serves as a nice 4 to 1, what we call as a plagal cadence in music, the 4 to 1. And coming to the riff immediately, then we look at the chords. So let's look at the basic riff, which is used in the intro and the whole song. Okay, now when we go, we need to count that. So I generally like to follow a strategy when I'm transcribing a bass line or anything in music. First of all, in this case, it's a bass line. So identify if there's a pickup, if there's anything which goes or precedes the bar, which in this case, there is one, right, pa-ba-bomb, pa-bomb. When the drummer kicks in, the bass guitar plays something before him. So pa-ba-bomb, pa-ba-bomb. So there is a pickup in this song. So yes, there is a pickup. So you ask yourself, okay, what is the pickup? What is it doing? At which point in the bar is it? Then the next question you need to, you know, argue or figure out is how much is the beat being divided by. In this particular song, the beat is divided into 4 units. So the way you count is pa-ra-vani, anna-tui, anna-triu, anna-foli, anna-vani, anna-triui, and you could superimpose this by just singing the riff. Pa-ra-vani, anna-tui, anna-triui, anna-fulhi, anna-vani, anna-tui, anna-trii. Sounds a bit silly but it's very important. Pa-ra-vani, anna-tui, anna-trii, anna-fulhi, a-vani, anna-tui, anna-triui, anna-fori. So as you can see, I'm whispering the beats which are not played by the riff or in the riff and I'm shouting out or I'm saying the hit point. So that helps me understand subconsciously and consciously where I should write it. So I'd also encourage you to get a pen and paper out so you can write down one E and a two E and a three E and a four E and of course this is a four by four song that also you need to figure out never know it could be five by four or seven by four like money or five by eight like the Mission Impossible theme and so on. So when you're transcribing this get a pen, paper, you can even transcribe it without actual notation. You can just write one E and a two E and a three and a four E and a you'll find my hand written notes for it as well. You can follow along so pick up four E and a four E and a so it's the and of the four para boom boom boom so you're in luck there para one two E and a three it's this one two three where you do staccato and a one and a one so and a one E and a two E and a three and oh one okay then okay then OK so now comes in at the of the four which is another kind of an anticipation for the next bar cycle e little one E and two E and a three or one e and the one E and a one E A1 E and a two E and Oh it ends at the the E Q is all it ends at the the uh of the two so you need to catch these notes you can't be guessing so one way I like to kind of check whether I am on the money as a bass player would be to move my head and be able to play the same groove with the same vigor you know and while doing that I also like to have this imaginary shaker person which is next to me I'd also encourage you to have like a ghost drummer friend if you can become his or her friend but an imaginary shaker is a bit easy because it's just gonna do keep the drums also the back of your head if possible the kick and the snare right and now coming to those division hit points in bar two I hope bar one is clear that was pick up before bar one and off the four and a one of the four of the bar one and then it goes to bar two a one knee and a two E and a one knee and a two E and a three E and a four E and a one the same and off the four which we did to start the phrase will again start the phrase or start the loop so let's try and get the loop in play let me help you count the divisions in the hit points at the bar two now so a one and a two E and a again of the four a one knee and one E and a meaning at the halfway point of the beat one one E and and is half E is 25% of the beat is 75% of the beat so one E and a two E and three E and a four E and a one knee and a two E and a three E and a so don't forget that okay one E and a two E and a three E and a four E and a one knee Okay, so this is essentially the bass line. Let me slow that down and count that. Try and play along with me if you can. If you're on a piano, maybe you could still play along or any instrument really. We started with the F on the first fret of the E string and then A-flat I'm accessing here with the fourth fret of the E string and the notes you're playing are F, A-flat and B-flat. All notes of the F minor scale for the most part. This is pretty much the bass line used in the entire song but there are a few more variations which I'm very excited to show you. So the variation in the verse, let me just play through the verse and come to that specific point. So the bass line pretty much happens throughout the verse and the chorus. For the verse part, you play the same bass lines. And Freddie is singing pretty much the same bass line. He's highlighting the same bass notes. So you don't have to play, you don't have to play the melody. The bass line would be two rounds of that F line and you don't have to do the pickup during the verse. That's not needed in the original at least. So So stop. Now the chords used there are F minor, B-flat minor seventh or yeah B-flat minor seventh would be the chord. Again F minor, B-flat minor seventh. Then it goes a really weird chord G-sharp minor which is it's not at all part of the scale but it just happens really well with this line. So let me just walk you through that. So it's a G-sharp minor seventh chord which just magically works with with a with a diatonic bass line. So how am I doing that? D-flat, D-flat on two eighth notes pump pump staccato pump pump pump one E and two E and a three E and four E and at the four you play the lower A-flat. So first time it's a bit tricky where we go second time pump pump that's D-flat going to E-flat and then just the A-flat earlier we did with the higher octave and then the lower one second time it's just the lower one whole thing again second bar third bar Ditto to first bar and then we end with a B-flat minor going to a C minor seventh wherein you could go first fret of the A string. Now the hits are very interesting one E and a two E and a three one E and a two E and a three E and a four E. That'll be the E of the four. So at these E's and the E's I would encourage you to feel a sense of shock or excitement or chaos happening because if you don't feel that from within you're not going to feel that movement that rhythmic natural body movement and ultimately when a fan or a listener who just wants to enjoy this song hears this groove you just feel like moving dancing and those sort of things. So you as a player need to give it out to your audience give you need to be physically engaged with the song. You can't just be counting in a very studious way so try to move your head with the pulse whenever you play feel the divisions. See I'm moving my head and my leg is also moving which you can't see but that's happening. So you don't compromise on moving the body while you play a bass line notes here and there will be a bit messy but that can always be fixed through practice. So again coming to this pre-chorus if you will. So it's always a whack on the on of the fourth isn't it and a starting two notes which is at the one in the end of the one and now the turn around pump pump party one e and a two e and a three e and a four e the e of the four back to the chorus or the verse depends on the structure of course. So whole verse na na na na na and okay coming to the last part of the song which you kind of 90% know but there's a small articulation at the end which we we have to learn. So chorus another one bites the dust same thing and then you do the pickup there so after the second cycle phrase and then the turn around of the chorus would be a g minor of all the chords coming into the F minor it's almost making it like a Dorian song you know which has an F minor and then a two minor which makes it a bit of a Dorian borrowed chord feel. So there's a lot of interesting harmonic content going on maybe we should talk about that in a future lesson but this is more about the bass line and how you can count and play it. So the three rounds of in the chorus pick up now last time pump pump pump pump okay how did I do that what that's one a and a two E of the two and a four E and one year and a two E and a three and a four E and a So I hit that A-flat at the 4 of the bar. So 1 E and a 2 E and a 3 E and a 4 E and a 1 E and a 2 E and a 3 and a 4 1. The chorus you hit the A-flat at the on beat as opposed to the verse where there's bam bam okay the E or the earth the 16th hits. So that is another one by it's the dust we've looked at the intro which is the pickup then we looked at the verse which is pretty much the same groove but then it had that that groovy pre-chorus then the pickup or the turnaround back to the chorus and then the end of the chorus if you read sheet music or tabs or you want to get the hang of it this is a very easy song to go by and I've also hand written some notes to make sure you will get it you just have to count the way we've been counting in the class so just get yourselves a copy it's all waiting for you in Patreon basically there's a link in the description click on it it'll take you there and you don't just get the another one by it's the dust baseline you're going to get a lot more I also do piano music theory year training composition and a lot of other topics like production as well on the channel so do consider heading over to Patreon and if you like the channel Patreon will be a nice supplementary resource for just $5 a month to learn very well with pretty much whatever we will be teaching on our YouTube portal right guys thanks a ton for watching if you like the lesson do give us a thumbs up leave us a comment and hit the subscribe don't forget to hit the bell so you don't miss out on any notifications when we do a lesson or go live which we do as well and that's about it cheers catch you in the next one