Post details: The Joker by Steve Miller Band

06/04/05

The Joker by Steve Miller Band

for the complete tabs of the song in this lesson click here
click here to listen to this lesson free of charge courtesy of Rhapsody

This is one of those basslines, that everyone should know. It can be used at parties to impress the opposite sex, at home to prove to your parents that buying you that new bass isnt a total waste of money, and on stage to cover for broken guitar strings etc.

like it says on the right over there, im not going to get deep into all the theory and background of the notes being played, the smarter writers take care of that, so that being said here we go

G|-------------------------------------------------|
D|--------------0h2-0-0----------------------------|
A|------0h2-3-3----------0h2--3-3-3-3--2-2-2-2-----|
E|--3-3--------------------------------------------|

just sing the bass line in your head for the timing

this is a great exercise for those working on playing with their fingers, start playing with just your index finger, when you get it down with that finger, add in your middle finger, using it to play every other note, your two fingers will be making a walking type of motion.

for more advanced players, take the riff and play it all the way thru using just your index finger, keep going till your finger fatigues out,now start over with just your middle finger, repeat this process with every finger on your picking hand, until that hand cant take it anymore, now switch to your fretting hand, and play the riff with just hammer ons and pull offs with that hand (hint: to hit the open notes, give the string a slight upward flick with your index finger, on the open d's you may need to go up to the 5th fret on the a string for a bit more natural sound) dont worry about it not sounding quite right, or being almost impossible to do, the main point is to build hand speed,strength and dexterity in both hands, that will pay off later on.

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Riffs and Runs

This column stays away from the technical side of lessons, and instead takes a laymen's approach to teach well-known basslines that anyone can play with just a little practice. Warning you will be unable to play these songs without a smile on your face.

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