Hi! It’s Paul from how-to-play-bass.com here with another in my series of lessons, looking at easy songs for beginners to pick up and play. Today, we’re going to be looking at I Shot the Sheriff made famous by Bob Marley and also quite a well known version by Eric Clapton. Now this is a good tune to learn, it is often played at jams and stuff. It’s quite straightforward. There are only three sections and then the sections just follow each other and play round and round until the song is finished.
There is a sketched PDF that goes with this which will have the baseline in music notation and in bass sub. You do have to head over to my website which is www.how-to-play-bass.com and sign up for my Ezine. And when you do that, you will be notified of the location where you can find that.
(Demonstration)
Okay. The chorus part of the tune features a four-bar pattern that is played twice. I will play the pattern through once with a metronome.
(Demonstration)
Okay. So what we are doing there, the first four notes, basically if you know anything about arpeggios, it is pretty much a G minor arpeggio. (Demonstration) If you don’t, don’t worry. The notes are G, which is the 3rd fret of the E string. B flat, which is the 6th fret of the E string. D, which is the 5th fret of the A string and then back to G, which is the 3rd fret of the E string.
(Demonstration)
Okay, and that little run there is G, which is the 5th fret at the D string, B flat, which is the 3rd fret of G string and C, which is the 5th fret of G string.
(Demonstration)
Okay. The first part of that pattern is this. (Demonstration) And those notes are open D, F, 3rd fret of the D string. Open D again, F, 3rd fret of the G string and G, which is 5th fret of the D string. (Demonstration) And that second bar was an open D string. And then F, so three times on the F. (Demonstration) And then the open D string and then G, which is the 5th fret of the E string. So I’ll play the whole of the four-bar pattern again really slowly.
(Demonstration)
Okay. So you should be able to get that and also don’t forget the notes. It will be in the sketched PDF that goes with this, so you will have it in notation and with bass tab.
Okay. The verse is made up of—the one that I’m going to show to you, it’s got two different patterns. I’ll play the first pattern through with a metronome.
(Demonstration)
Okay. The way that’s broken down, it starts off with two patterns of the same but they’re semitone different. The first one starts on E flat, the 8th fret of the G string. And then it’s got B flat, which is the 8th fret of D string, then E flat, which is the 6th fret of the A string. (Demonstration) Then that pattern shifts down half a semitone and it goes to D, which is the 7th fret of the G string, A, 7th fret of the D string and D, which is the 5th fret of the A string.
(Demonstration)
The other thing to notice there is you could play it by kind of barring in using the same finger for the top two notes. I find that’s a bit—especially, it’s not so bad when you’re playing in that direction but playing in this direction, it’s a bit clumsy. So I prefer to bring a finger over to play it like that. And so, you’re kind of sticking out of the one finger per fret rule for that but there’s a good reason why.
The second half of the pattern is this. (Demonstration) Okay, and those notes start off with the open D string. (Demonstration) Then to F, which is the 3rd fret of the D string. And G, the 5th fret of the D string, then you back to the open D string. (Demonstration) And then you got G again or the 5th fret of the D string, back to the open D string. And then the last two notes, which make a nice melodic laid back to the E flat. Those last two notes are C, 5th fret of the G string and D, the 7th fret of the G string.
Okay. The second part of the verse is quite similar but it’s got kind of a variation and it gives it a nice melodic feel to it. I play it with the metronome.
(Demonstration)
Okay. So you can hear the second half of that pattern is identical to what I’ve already showed you. The difference is the first half, so instead of going (Demonstration), we’re going (Demonstration). So, all we’re doing is we start from the root note and holding that. The first one in this case is E flat, at the 8th fret of the G string. And then we go to the B flat, the 8th fret of the D string. Back to the E flat, 8th fret of the G string and then down to the D, which is 7th fret of the G string, then down to A, which is 7th fret of the D string and back to D, which is the 7th fret of the G string again. So it’s (Demonstration), and then (Demonstration), that pattern again.
Okay. So you put that in, the last couple of time through the verse and it gives you a nice melodic variation there with sounds pretty good.
Okay, there is a section of the tune. Every time this comes around, nearly every instrument plays it, basically it’s obvious by the drums so it’s something that you’ve really got to get nailed, you’ve really got to get it right because if you make a mistake, you’ll stand out like a sore thumb. So in tunes, whenever you’ve got a section like this, I always advise that you practice this the most. If nothing else, you’ve got this section of the tune, absolutely rock solid. I’ll just play it with the metronome.
(Demonstration)
Okay. I hope you can hear how that timing works. Have a good lesson to the record, too, whichever version you’re working with, whether it’s the Bob Marley one or the Eric Clapton one, you’ll be able to hear the rhythm. Let’s look at the notes. Okay, riff starts out on G, which is at the 5th fret of the D string. Then the next note is F, which is the 3rd fret of the D string. Okay. The 3rd note is D, which is the 5th fret of the A string. Okay, that 4th note is C, which is the 3rd fret of the A string. Okay, the 5th note is B flat. So if I have just been descending, the B flat is found at the 6th fret of the E string.
(Demonstration)
Okay, now we’ve gone back up to D for the 6th note, which is the 5th fret of the A string. And then the last three notes are (Demonstration), which are C, 3rd fret of the A string. B flat again, which is the 6th fret of the E string, and finishing on the low G, which is the 3rd fret of the E string. So very slowly.
(Demonstration)
Okay, that’s the riff.
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