If you want to play bass, learn the blues

It’s part of virtually every style you can imagine

By Jon Liebman
June 12, 2025

Are you a baby boomer, classic rock lover, or huge fan of the great music from the ‘60s and ‘70s?

And would you like to play some of your favorite songs on the bass?

As someone who’s helped over 140,000 people learn bass — many of whom are of the “silver-vintaged” persuasion — here’s one bit of advice I can give you:

Start with the blues.

Blues is a genre, but it’s really just a chord progression.

And it’s everywhere!

There’s practically no style of music that doesn’t include a ton of songs that follow the blues progression, which, in its simplest form, is just 3 chords.

I’m talking shuffle, funk, R&B, slapping, gospel, jazz, and of course… rock.

In this week’s video, I share a bunch of examples, along with tips on how — and why — you need to learn to play the blues.

Check it out, then leave a comment below with your takeaways. I want to hear from you.

Let’s play bass!

Jon

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Comments on If you want to play bass, learn the blues

  1. Joe Dashiell says:

    As always, spot on with another great lesson on playing bass 12 bar blues ! My favorite.there a reason why it earned itself a genre of its own because it’s that great!
    If you haven’t yet, pickup Jon’s book titled Blues Bass

    1. Jon Liebman says:

      Thanks, Joe. Always great to hear your take. And since YOU brought it up, my Blues Bass book is available
      here
      🙂

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