I was 5 years old when I started playing the guitar. Along with the guitar came cowboy boots, a fur lined suede vest and a cowboy hat. To my parents, the guitar and country music just went together.
They also found me a private guitar teacher who also knew a thing or two about horses and I was well on my way to trying to be like Crystal Gale.
te guitar teacher who also knew a thing or two about horses and I was well on my way to trying to be like Crystal Gale.
I don’t play Country Music like I did as a child, but it’s still in my bones and I love teaching alternating bass as a beginning guitar accompaniment technique. I also circle back to it as my students progress to teach more advanced concepts, but there’ll be another post on that later.
Alternating Bass is a guitar accompaniment style that is used in bluegrass, folk, country and is even found in other music styles here and there. When you have a song and are faced with a chord, this is a great way to play through that chord.
Alternating Bass means that you play the lowest note of the chord, strum the higher strings and then play an “Alternate Bass” note and strum the higher strings again. This “Alternate Bass” note is sometimes on a lower string and sometimes on a higher string.
First Song
Achy Breaky Heart – Billy Ray Cyrus
I start teaching Alternating Bass early on and keep the music as simple to read as possible. I also use it to introduce my students to a couple of new chords: E & A
When you play the A chord; you’ll always start on the 5th string since that’s the A note and the “root” of the A chord. From there, you’ll either alternate to the 6th string or the 4th. Although you normally don’t strum the 6th string in an A chord; it works for alternating bass because the sixth string fret matches the 5th string fret (both being open). This creates a perfect 5th interval …. enough theory for now 🙂
Second Song
Mammas Don’t Let Their Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys
This song takes my students back to the chords they know: G, D & A7. I mostly teach this song because it’s in 3/4 time.
When there’s three beats in a measure – generally the alternating takes place on the second measure of each chord.
I also teach this song because I love it. Some of my favorite early country musicians have played and recorded this song. Musicians like Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and even current country star, Chris LeDoux.
Third Song
Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash
I change my writing approach with this song and move to a tablature form of reading. I do this to introduce Bass Runs. Bass Runs are used to connect one chord to another like a bass player might do. They add quite a bit of interest to the song.
Fourth Song
Walk The Line – Johnny Cash
You may notice a lot of Johnny Cash in my song selection. That is partly because I really like Johnny Cash, but also because he bridged the gap between bluegrass and early country techniques. He also used alternating bass a lot a did is wife June Carter and June’s mother, Maybell Carter.
Walk The Line is an exact transcription and uses a mix of moving bass lines and Alternating Bass. This song and Folsom prison blues use a capo on the 1st fret. The image below is only one page, but the full version of this song is available in the PDF file for my subscribers.
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