How to Play Bass to Should I Stay or Should I Go

How to Play Bass to Should I Stay or Should I Go Hi, it's Paul from how-to-play-bass.com. I've got a quick lesson for you here. This is the bass line to Should I Stay of Should I Go by The Clash. Okay, the main verse pattern is a 12-bar pattern. I'll play it through the metronome. We’ll talk through the notes— [Demonstration] Okay, so it's pretty simple. In fact, it's just a 12-bar. D to G and then D to A. First phrase is— [Demonstration] It starts on an end beat. It doesn’t start on the down beat. It starts on the end of one of that bar. If you listen closely to the original, you'll hear that. [Demonstration] So that’s the pattern. The notes are D— [Demonstration] G— [Demonstration] D— [Demonstration] C natural— [Demonstration] D— [Demonstration] Let's look at the locations. D, it's being played at the fifth fret of the A string— [Demonstration] G, third fret of the E string— [Demonstration] B, second fret of the A string— [Demonstration] And C natural, third fret of the A string— [Demonstration] So it's this rhythm— [Demonstration] And then we go down to the next chord which is G. This pattern is— [Demonstration] Only two notes, you’ve got G and F natural, third and first frets of the E string. Again, we've got that same starting on the end of one rhythm. [Demonstration] And it goes back to D after that, the pattern we've already learned— [Demonstration] And it goes to A— [Demonstration] And that’s all just played on the A note. There is no deviation from A which is the fifth fret of the E string. I'm choosing to play it on— [Demonstration] And then the pattern closes out going back to the D— [Demonstration] So, that section’s is fairly straight forward. Have a listen to the original. You'll hear what Paul Simonon is playing and you'll be able to really hear the rhythm clearly if you're not sure about it. So, that’s the first section. Okay, the first chorus where the lyric is “should I stay of should I go now”, I'll play it through with the metronome. I'll talk through the notes. [Demonstration] And that last little riff is the lead in, back into the next verse, verse three. So, the first part of the pattern is a two-bar pattern in D which is played in the next choruses as well. So, you need to get this nailed. The first bar is this— [Demonstration] So, the notes are D— [Demonstration] F sharp— [Demonstration] G— [Demonstration] G sharp— [Demonstration] A— [Demonstration] D, it's played at the fifth fret of the A string— [Demonstration] F sharp, fourth fret, D string— [Demonstration] G, fifth fret, D string— [Demonstration] G sharp, sixth fret, D string— [Demonstration] A, seventh fret, D string— [Demonstration] And it's this kind of rhythm— [Demonstration] Again, if you listen to the original closely you'll hear the rhythm. Now the answering second bar, the first half of the bar is the same— [Demonstration] But then the second half is different. The second half of that bar is— [Demonstration] The octave of D which is the seventh fret of the G string— [Demonstration] C natural, fifth fret of the G string— [Demonstration] A, which is the seventh fret of the D string— [Demonstration] F sharp, fourth fret of the D string— [Demonstration] So the two-bar pattern is— [Demonstration] Okay, then you’ve got a two-bar pattern where the chord goes from G to F and G to F. The chords last for half a bar and it just plays root notes. It's G— [Demonstration] Fifth fret of the D string— [Demonstration] F, third fret of the D string and this is the rhythm— [Demonstration] And again, closest into the original will give you that rhythm but it's— [Demonstration] Then it goes back to the two-bar pattern we've already learned— [Demonstration] And then in this first chorus, what it does then is it goes to A at the seventh fret in D string. Plays a bar of this— [Demonstration] And then it goes into that riff which leads us back into the next verse. So— [Demonstration] Those notes were just D— [Demonstration] An open A string— [Demonstration] And back to D and you enter the riff again. So again, closest into the original, we’ll tally up what’s being played and what I've showed you there. It's a pretty straight forward. Let's go on and move on and look at the second section of the tune where does should I stay or should I go because there are a couple of variations on what we've just learned. Okay, the second time in the tune where it goes to the chorus, the chorus I stay or should I go section, it s around twice and it's a couple of variations. So, I'll play through. I'm going to talk through the variations— [Demonstration] Okay, so, if you’ve learn the first chorus from the previous parts of they video, all the sections where it was in D or in G, so all sections perhaps in D or the— [Demonstration] G to F section are all identical. [Demonstration] Where it's different is where you’ve got the bars of A. So, the first time through, you got— [Demonstration] Okay, and then we've got two bars in A. the first one is— [Demonstration] Second one— [Demonstration] And then you're back into the riff— [Demonstration] So, the first bar is— [Demonstration] You’ve got A, seventh fret of the D string— [Demonstration] F sharp, fourth fret of the D string— [Demonstration] E, seventh fret of the A string— [Demonstration] D, fifth fret of the A string and back to A at the seventh fret of the D string— [Demonstration] E, seventh fret of the A string— [Demonstration] A— [Demonstration] G— [Demonstration] E— [Demonstration] C sharp— [Demonstration] Seventh fret— [Demonstration] Fifth fret of the D string— [Demonstration] Seventh fret— [Demonstration] Fourth fret of the A string— [Demonstration] And then you back into— [Demonstration] And then you’ve got— [Demonstration] The last two bars and a stab at the end, you're on A— [Demonstration] A-G— [Demonstration] E— [Demonstration] D— [Demonstration] A— [Demonstration] D— [Demonstration] A— [Demonstration] D— [Demonstration] D— [Demonstration] D— [Demonstration] D— [Demonstration] G— [Demonstration] D— [Demonstration] And those frets are A, seventh fret of the D string— [Demonstration] G, fifth fret of the D string— [Demonstration] E, seventh fret of the A string— [Demonstration] D, fifth fret of the A string— [Demonstration] Let's stab on A, seventh fret of the D string and then you’ve got the— [Demonstration] Which finishes the tune, which is D, fifth fret of the A string— [Demonstration] Open A string— [Demonstration] D again— [Demonstration] D— [Demonstration] D— [Demonstration] G— [Demonstration] Fifth fret of the D string— [Demonstration] And then final stab on D, fifth fret of the A string. And that’s pretty much all that you need to know to get through this tune.