{"id":8259,"date":"2026-10-02T20:37:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T20:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tunelark.com\/blog\/how-bass-and-drums-lock-together\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T09:34:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T09:34:25","slug":"how-bass-and-drums-lock-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tunelark.com\/blog\/how-bass-and-drums-lock-together\/","title":{"rendered":"How Bass and Drums Lock Together: A First Groove Lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"height:0;overflow:hidden;\"><script data-no-optimize=\"1\" data-no-defer=\"1\" data-no-delay=\"1\">(function(){function fix(){var m=document.querySelector(\"meta[name='twitter:data2']\");if(!m)return;var t=m.getAttribute(\"content\");if(!t)return;var el=document.querySelector(\".blog-single__meta-1 li\");if(!el)return;var target=t.toUpperCase().replace(\"MINUTES\",\"MIN READ\").replace(\"MINUTE\",\"MIN READ\");if(el.textContent!==target)el.textContent=target;}fix();window.addEventListener(\"load\",fix);})();<\/script><\/div>\n<div style=\"max-width:800px;margin:0 auto;padding:24px 24px 12px;font-family:'Source Sans Pro','Source Sans 3',-apple-system,Segoe UI,sans-serif;color:#19394C;font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;\">\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Bass and drums lock together when a bass note and a kick drum hit that share a beat start at the same instant, and the bass stops where the groove needs silence, usually where the snare lands. The notes themselves can be the simplest on the instrument. A player who knows every note in a song can still sound loose against a drummer, because the pitches were right and the starts and stops were not.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">The lesson below works on those starts and stops with one note, the open E string, against two drum patterns, then moves the same rhythm through a four-bar loop. The figures show the drum part with the bass tab lined up underneath, beat for beat.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-family:'PlayfairDisplay-Bold','Playfair Display',Georgia,serif;font-size:26px;font-weight:700;color:#026D81;margin:0 0 14px;padding-bottom:8px;border-bottom:2px solid #F5BD52;\">What Locking In Asks of a Bass Player<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">A drum kit gives a bass player two landmarks. The kick drum, the large drum played with the right foot on a right-handed kit, sounds in the same low range as the bass, so a bass note and a kick hit that start together read to the ear as one fat, pitched thump. The snare, the drum under the left hand, makes the sharp crack on beats two and four of most rock and pop grooves, known as the backbeat.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">A bass line that locks in uses the kick for where notes begin and the snare for where they often end. Two notes a hair apart sound like two attacks instead of one, and a note that rings straight through the snare blurs the crack the drummer is placing. None of that depends on which pitch you choose, so the steps below use one.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Everything here is counted in eighth notes: one bar of four beats split into eight even slots, said aloud as &#8220;1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and&#8221;. Our guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tunelark.com\/blog\/how-to-read-sheet-music-beginners\/\" style=\"color:#026D81;\">reading sheet music<\/a> covers how those counts map onto note values if the counting is new to you.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-family:'PlayfairDisplay-Bold','Playfair Display',Georgia,serif;font-size:26px;font-weight:700;color:#026D81;margin:44px 0 14px;padding-bottom:8px;border-bottom:2px solid #F5BD52;\">Step 1: Start Each Note With the Kick<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;margin:32px 0;\"><a class=\"btn-yellow type-default\" href=\"https:\/\/tunelark.com\/find-a-teacher\" style=\"display:inline-block !important;line-height:1.35;max-width:100%;box-sizing:border-box;background:#f4b643;color:#000000;padding:14px 32px;border-radius:999px;font-family:'Source Sans Pro','Source Sans 3',-apple-system,Segoe UI,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:0.06em;text-decoration:none;\">Find Your Music Teacher<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Put on a plain rock drum loop at 70 to 80 beats per minute, from a drum machine, a practice app or a recording program. The hi-hat, the pair of cymbals the drummer keeps time on, plays all eight eighth notes, the snare plays beats 2 and 4, and the kick plays beats 1 and 3. Play the open E string, fret 0, on beat 1 and again on beat 3, and nothing else.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"margin:22px 0 24px;padding:18px 18px 14px;background:#FCF8F4;border:1px solid #ECE3D4;border-radius:12px;\">\n<div class=\"tl-dia-scroll\" style=\"--tl-dia-min:434px\"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 640 320\" role=\"img\" aria-label=\"One bar of four-four. Drums: hi-hat on all eight eighth notes, snare drum on beats two and four, bass drum on beats one and three. Bass tab underneath on the same count: the open E string, fret 0, on beat one, held for one beat and stopped on beat two, then the open E again on beat three, held for one beat and stopped on beat four. Both bass notes start with the bass drum, and the bass is silent on both snare beats.\" style=\"display:block;width:100%;max-width:640px;height:auto;margin:0 auto;\"><g font-family=\"'Source Sans 3','Source Sans Pro',system-ui,sans-serif\"><text x=\"8\" y=\"22\" font-size=\"17\" font-weight=\"700\" fill=\"#064B72\">Step 1: bass notes start with the kick<\/text><rect x=\"118.0\" y=\"104.0\" width=\"22\" height=\"186.0\" rx=\"11\" fill=\"#F5BD52\" opacity=\"0.3\"\/><rect x=\"382.0\" y=\"104.0\" width=\"22\" height=\"186.0\" rx=\"11\" fill=\"#F5BD52\" opacity=\"0.3\"\/><g transform=\"translate(0,34)\"><line x1=\"40\" y1=\"40\" x2=\"624\" y2=\"40\" stroke=\"#19394C\" stroke-width=\"1.2\"\/><line x1=\"40\" y1=\"52\" x2=\"624\" y2=\"52\" stroke=\"#19394C\" stroke-width=\"1.2\"\/><line x1=\"40\" y1=\"64\" x2=\"624\" y2=\"64\" stroke=\"#19394C\" stroke-width=\"1.2\"\/><line x1=\"40\" y1=\"76\" x2=\"624\" y2=\"76\" stroke=\"#19394C\" stroke-width=\"1.2\"\/><line x1=\"40\" y1=\"88\" x2=\"624\" 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y1=\"58.0\" x2=\"531.6\" y2=\"14\" stroke=\"#19394C\" stroke-width=\"2\"\/><ellipse cx=\"0\" cy=\"0\" rx=\"8\" ry=\"5.6\" fill=\"#19394C\" transform=\"translate(129.0,82) rotate(-12)\"\/><line x1=\"122.4\" y1=\"82.0\" x2=\"122.4\" y2=\"112\" stroke=\"#19394C\" stroke-width=\"2\"\/><ellipse cx=\"0\" cy=\"0\" rx=\"8\" ry=\"5.6\" fill=\"#19394C\" transform=\"translate(393.0,82) rotate(-12)\"\/><line x1=\"386.4\" y1=\"82.0\" x2=\"386.4\" y2=\"112\" stroke=\"#19394C\" stroke-width=\"2\"\/><\/g><text x=\"129.0\" y=\"174\" font-size=\"17\" font-weight=\"700\" fill=\"#19394C\" text-anchor=\"middle\">1<\/text><text x=\"195.0\" y=\"174\" font-size=\"17\" font-weight=\"700\" fill=\"#5c6b78\" text-anchor=\"middle\">&amp;<\/text><text x=\"261.0\" y=\"174\" font-size=\"17\" font-weight=\"700\" fill=\"#19394C\" text-anchor=\"middle\">2<\/text><text x=\"327.0\" y=\"174\" font-size=\"17\" font-weight=\"700\" fill=\"#5c6b78\" text-anchor=\"middle\">&amp;<\/text><text x=\"393.0\" y=\"174\" 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fill=\"#5c6b78\" text-anchor=\"end\">A<\/text><line x1=\"40\" y1=\"276\" x2=\"624\" y2=\"276\" stroke=\"#19394C\" stroke-width=\"1.2\"\/><text x=\"32\" y=\"281\" font-size=\"14\" font-weight=\"700\" fill=\"#5c6b78\" text-anchor=\"end\">E<\/text><line x1=\"40\" y1=\"204\" x2=\"40\" y2=\"276\" stroke=\"#19394C\" stroke-width=\"1.6\"\/><line x1=\"624\" y1=\"204\" x2=\"624\" y2=\"276\" stroke=\"#19394C\" stroke-width=\"1.6\"\/><text x=\"46\" y=\"245\" font-size=\"14\" font-weight=\"700\" fill=\"#064B72\">TAB<\/text><rect x=\"129.0\" y=\"272.0\" width=\"120.0\" height=\"8\" rx=\"4\" fill=\"#026D81\" opacity=\"0.55\"\/><rect x=\"118.0\" y=\"265.5\" width=\"22\" height=\"21\" rx=\"5\" fill=\"#fff\" stroke=\"#026D81\" stroke-width=\"1.6\"\/><text x=\"129.0\" y=\"281.6\" font-size=\"16\" font-weight=\"700\" fill=\"#064B72\" text-anchor=\"middle\">0<\/text><rect x=\"393.0\" y=\"272.0\" width=\"120.0\" height=\"8\" rx=\"4\" fill=\"#026D81\" opacity=\"0.55\"\/><rect x=\"382.0\" y=\"265.5\" 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style=\"font-size:14.5px;color:#5c6b78;margin-top:10px;line-height:1.5;\">Kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4. In the tab, 0 means the open string, the teal bar is how long the note sounds, and each amber band marks a bass drum hit. Count: ONE and two and THREE and four and.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">The bass part is written as tab, where each line is a string, the top line is the thin G string, and the number is the fret.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Count out loud while you play: &#8220;ONE and two and THREE and four and&#8221;, plucking only on the words in capitals. The target for this step is that you stop hearing your note and the kick as separate sounds. If you can still hear two attacks on beat 1, you are early or late, because a loop never moves.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-family:'PlayfairDisplay-Bold','Playfair Display',Georgia,serif;font-size:26px;font-weight:700;color:#026D81;margin:44px 0 14px;padding-bottom:8px;border-bottom:2px solid #F5BD52;\">Step 2: Decide Where Each Note Stops<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">In the figure above, each E lasts exactly one beat. It sounds on 1, stops as the snare hits on 2, sounds again on 3, and stops as the snare hits on 4. The silence on 2 and 4 is written into the part. It is a rest, and it gives the snare a clear space to crack in.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Now play the same two notes and let each one ring for two full beats, straight through the snare. The pitches and the starts are identical, and you are still locked to the kick on 1 and 3. The groove feels heavier and smoother, and the snare stands out less. Both versions are correct. Short and stopped is punchier and suits a lot of rock and funk; long and connected suits slower songs and ballads. Choose one on purpose, because a ringing open string will otherwise choose for you.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Stopping an open string takes a deliberate move, because nothing is pressing it down. Either touch the string again with the plucking finger that just played it, or lay the fingers of your fretting hand lightly across the strings without pressing them to the frets. On a fretted note, ease the pressure off without lifting the finger away and the note dies at once. Our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tunelark.com\/blog\/beginner-bass-tips\/\" style=\"color:#026D81;\">beginner bass tips<\/a> cover muting the strings you are not playing, which uses the same two hands.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-family:'PlayfairDisplay-Bold','Playfair Display',Georgia,serif;font-size:26px;font-weight:700;color:#026D81;margin:44px 0 14px;padding-bottom:8px;border-bottom:2px solid #F5BD52;\">Step 3: Follow the Kick When It Changes<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Drummers rarely keep the kick on 1 and 3 for a whole song. One of the first variations adds a kick on the &#8220;and&#8221; of 3, the slot straight after beat 3. 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y2=\"299\"\/><\/g><text x=\"28\" y=\"310\" font-size=\"14\" fill=\"#5c6b78\">hi-hat<\/text><ellipse cx=\"0\" cy=\"0\" rx=\"8\" ry=\"5.6\" fill=\"#19394C\" transform=\"translate(100,304.5) rotate(-12)\"\/><text x=\"114\" y=\"310\" font-size=\"14\" fill=\"#5c6b78\">snare (third space up)<\/text><ellipse cx=\"0\" cy=\"0\" rx=\"8\" ry=\"5.6\" fill=\"#19394C\" transform=\"translate(304,304.5) rotate(-12)\"\/><text x=\"318\" y=\"310\" font-size=\"14\" fill=\"#5c6b78\">bass drum (bottom space)<\/text><\/g><\/svg><\/div>\n<p class=\"tl-dia-hint\">Swipe sideways to see the whole diagram.<\/p><figcaption style=\"font-size:14.5px;color:#5c6b78;margin-top:10px;line-height:1.5;\">The drummer adds a kick on the and of 3. The bass adds a note there too, so beat 3 becomes two short Es. Count: ONE and two and THREE AND four and.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">The bass follows. The note on 1 stays one beat long. On 3 you now play two eighth notes, E on 3 and E again on the &#8220;and&#8221;, each half a beat long, and both stop as the snare hits on 4. The pitch is still E. The kick set the new rhythm.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Once one bar holds steady for a few minutes, move it through a chord progression, playing each chord&#8217;s lowest note. The same rhythm, against the same drum beat, makes a four-bar loop in E:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding-left:24px;margin:0 0 24px;\">\n<li style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin-bottom:8px;\">Bar 1: E, the open E string, fret 0.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin-bottom:8px;\">Bar 2: E again.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin-bottom:8px;\">Bar 3: A, the open A string, fret 0.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin-bottom:8px;\">Bar 4: B, the A string at fret 2.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Those are the I, IV and V chords of E, the chords built on the first, fourth and fifth notes of the E major scale and the three chords of a twelve-bar blues. Every note sits in the first two frets. The new difficulty is the change of string at bar 3 and the fretted note at bar 4. Keep the kick lock through both. The usual slip is a late B at the start of bar 4 while the fretting finger finds its place, so move the finger during the rest on beat 4 of bar 3.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-family:'PlayfairDisplay-Bold','Playfair Display',Georgia,serif;font-size:26px;font-weight:700;color:#026D81;margin:44px 0 14px;padding-bottom:8px;border-bottom:2px solid #F5BD52;\">Step 4: Fill Between the Kicks Without Losing Them<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Locking in does not mean playing only when the kick plays. Go back to the first drum beat, kick on 1 and 3, and play E on all eight eighth notes, each one half a beat long. Alternate your index and middle fingers, or down and up strokes with a pick, so neither hand has to rush.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"margin:22px 0 24px;padding:18px 18px 14px;background:#FCF8F4;border:1px solid #ECE3D4;border-radius:12px;\">\n<div class=\"tl-dia-scroll\" style=\"--tl-dia-min:434px\"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 640 320\" role=\"img\" aria-label=\"One bar of four-four. Drums: hi-hat on all eight eighth notes, snare drum on beats two and four, bass drum on beats one and three. Bass tab underneath: the open E string, fret 0, on all eight eighth notes, each half a beat long. 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class=\"tl-dia-hint\">Swipe sideways to see the whole diagram.<\/p><figcaption style=\"font-size:14.5px;color:#5c6b78;margin-top:10px;line-height:1.5;\">Eight even Es against the Step 1 drum beat. The two amber boxes, on 1 and 3, fall with the kick and are played a little harder than the rest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Six of those eight notes have no kick under them. The two that do, on 1 and 3, are the anchor. Play those two a touch harder than the others and the kick still reads as the start of each half bar. This steady, even line is sometimes called driving eighths. In his book <em>Beyond the Backbeat<\/em>, published by Berklee Press, the drummer and educator Larry Finn writes that a driving eighth-note bass line makes a basic rock or funk beat sound more like rock, and a lighter sixteenth-note bass feel makes the same beat sound more like funk (<a href=\"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/basic-funk-for-drums\/\" style=\"color:#026D81;\">Berklee Online excerpt<\/a>). The drum part in both cases is identical, so the bass line tips the style one way or the other.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">In these grooves every kick has a bass note starting with it, but not every bass note has a kick. When a bass line fills the spaces, the notes that coincide with the kick carry the weight, and a player who rushes the in-between notes drags those anchor notes early with them.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-family:'PlayfairDisplay-Bold','Playfair Display',Georgia,serif;font-size:26px;font-weight:700;color:#026D81;margin:44px 0 14px;padding-bottom:8px;border-bottom:2px solid #F5BD52;\">Placement: Why a Right Note Can Sound Late<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Drummers have a word for two strokes meant to land together that land a hair apart: a flam. It comes from a drum rudiment, one of the short stock patterns drummers practice, in which a quieter stroke from one hand lands just before the main stroke from the other, on purpose. The flam rudiments make up one of the four families in the Percussive Arts Society&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/pas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/pas-rudiments.pdf\" style=\"color:#026D81;\">list of drum rudiments<\/a>. Between a bass note and a kick, the accidental kind is how a loose rhythm section sounds.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Experienced players talk about playing on top of the beat, which feels pushed and urgent, or behind it, which feels relaxed and heavy, and a band chooses between them per song. For a first groove lesson, aim for dead center, because you cannot choose to sit behind the beat until you can land on it at will. Two checks tell you where you are. If the kick seems to vanish into your note, you are together. If you hear two attacks, your pluck and then the kick or the kick and then your pluck, you are apart, and the kick&#8217;s sharp front edge tells you which came first.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-family:'PlayfairDisplay-Bold','Playfair Display',Georgia,serif;font-size:26px;font-weight:700;color:#026D81;margin:44px 0 14px;padding-bottom:8px;border-bottom:2px solid #F5BD52;\">Practicing Without a Drummer<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Few beginners have a drummer on call, so the drummer comes from a loop. For this lesson a loop is a better partner than a metronome, because a click gives you a pulse but no kick to start with and no snare to leave room for.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Speed the loop up only after a full minute of Step 1 with no flams. Fifteen to twenty minutes a day, five or six days a week, is enough for an adult or teen beginner to make steady progress, and our guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tunelark.com\/blog\/how-much-should-you-practice-music\/\" style=\"color:#026D81;\">how much to practice<\/a> explains why short daily sessions beat one long one. Recording a pass against the loop and listening back shows you flams you cannot hear while playing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Records are the next partner after a loop. Egan M., who teaches drums, bass and guitar on Tunelark, played drums from age seven and taught himself bass at fifteen by playing along with his favorite records, then went on to session work and touring.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Egan plays bass along with Southbound by the Allman Brothers Band, plucking with his fingers on a four-string bass.<\/p>\n<div data-sage-video=\"nmNddlLS-5Y\" style=\"margin:26px 0;\">\n<p style=\"font-size:12.5px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.08em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#026D81;margin:0 0 8px;\">Performance &nbsp;&middot;&nbsp; Southbound<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;border-radius:8px;background:#000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nmNddlLS-5Y\" onclick=\"var w=this.parentNode,f=document.createElement('iframe');f.src='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nmNddlLS-5Y?autoplay=1&#038;rel=0';f.title='Southbound';f.setAttribute('allow','autoplay; fullscreen');f.setAttribute('allowfullscreen','');f.setAttribute('data-no-lazy','1');f.style.cssText='position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0';w.replaceChild(f,this);return false;\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;display:block;\" aria-label=\"Play video: Southbound\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/nmNddlLS-5Y\/maxresdefault.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:100%;height:100%;object-fit:cover;display:block;\" loading=\"lazy\"><span style=\"position:absolute;left:50%;top:50%;width:68px;height:48px;margin:-24px 0 0 -34px;background:rgba(2,109,129,.92);border-radius:12px;\"><\/span><span style=\"position:absolute;left:50%;top:50%;width:0;height:0;margin:-11px 0 0 -8px;border-style:solid;border-width:11px 0 11px 20px;border-color:transparent transparent transparent #fff;\"><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"font-size:15px;line-height:1.5;color:#4a6572;margin:10px 0 0;\">Egan teaches drums, bass and guitar on Tunelark. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tunelark.com\/teachers\/egan\" style=\"color:#026D81;font-weight:700;text-decoration:none;border-bottom:2px solid #F5BD52;\">View Egan&rsquo;s profile<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">In a lesson, a teacher can hear whether you are with the kick, but not by playing drums alongside you. Video calls carry enough delay that two people cannot reliably play in time together, so online lessons can use a loop played through speakers on your side of the call, not headphones, and the teacher hears your bass and the drums together, in the same timing you do. Bass also needs the call&#8217;s original sound setting turned on, because the default speech processing on video platforms filters and pumps low frequencies. Our guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tunelark.com\/blog\/online-bass-lessons\/\" style=\"color:#026D81;\">online bass lessons<\/a> covers that setup.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-family:'PlayfairDisplay-Bold','Playfair Display',Georgia,serif;font-size:26px;font-weight:700;color:#026D81;margin:44px 0 14px;padding-bottom:8px;border-bottom:2px solid #F5BD52;\">How to Find a Bass Teacher on Tunelark<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:0 0 18px;\">Every Tunelark teacher is vetted by working musicians and educators for teaching quality before they can list. Each teacher sets their own rate and shows it on their profile, and Tunelark handles scheduling, billing and support.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding-left:24px;margin:0 0 24px;\">\n<li style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin-bottom:8px;\">Open the teacher list at <a href=\"https:\/\/tunelark.com\/find-a-teacher\">tunelark.com\/find-a-teacher<\/a> and filter by bass guitar.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin-bottom:8px;\">Choose a lesson length of 30, 45 or 60 minutes.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin-bottom:8px;\">Book a trial lesson. The first lesson with a new teacher is that teacher&#8217;s rate minus $25, for whatever length you choose, so trials start at $14.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin-bottom:8px;\">Bring a drum loop you like and the four-bar E, A and B pattern above, and ask the teacher to listen for flams.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"font-family:'PlayfairDisplay-Bold','Playfair Display',Georgia,serif;font-size:26px;font-weight:700;color:#026D81;margin:44px 0 14px;padding-bottom:8px;border-bottom:2px solid #F5BD52;\">Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\", \"@type\": \"FAQPage\", \"mainEntity\": [{\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"Should a bass player follow the kick drum or the snare?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"Mostly the kick, but not in every style. In the reggae beat called the one drop, the kick plays only on beat 3, so the bass line carries the pulse a rock kick would carry.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"What if the drummer's kick pattern is too busy to follow?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"Lock to the kicks on beats 1 and 3 first and let the rest go by. Add the others one at a time once the anchor notes are steady, starting with any kick on an offbeat, the and between two beats, next to a strong beat.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"Do I need to read drum notation to do this?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"No. It helps to find one part on a drum chart, the bass drum, which sits in the bottom space of the staff with the lines attached to its notes, the stems, pointing down. That is enough to see where the kicks fall in any written groove.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"Does it matter whether I play with fingers or a pick?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"Either can lock with a drummer. A pick gives each note a sharper front edge, which makes a flam easier to hear while you practice. Fingers give a rounder start, so listen harder for the moment the note begins.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"How long does it take to lock in with a drummer?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"Simple bass lines against a steady beat usually come together within a few weeks of regular practice. Holding a groove through whole songs in a range of styles, with control over note length and placement, is closer to one or two years of work.\"}}]}<\/script><\/p>\n<details style=\"margin:12px 0;border:1px solid #e0e0e0;border-radius:6px;padding:12px 16px;\">\n<summary style=\"font-family:'Source Sans Pro','Source Sans 3',-apple-system,Segoe UI,sans-serif;font-size:18px;font-weight:700;cursor:pointer;color:#064B72;line-height:1.4;\">Should a bass player follow the kick drum or the snare?<\/summary>\n<p style=\"font-family:'Source Sans Pro','Source Sans 3',-apple-system,Segoe UI,sans-serif;font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:8px 0 0;\">Mostly the kick, but not in every style. In the reggae beat called the one drop, the kick plays only on beat 3, so the bass line carries the pulse a rock kick would carry.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<details style=\"margin:12px 0;border:1px solid #e0e0e0;border-radius:6px;padding:12px 16px;\">\n<summary style=\"font-family:'Source Sans Pro','Source Sans 3',-apple-system,Segoe UI,sans-serif;font-size:18px;font-weight:700;cursor:pointer;color:#064B72;line-height:1.4;\">What if the drummer&#8217;s kick pattern is too busy to follow?<\/summary>\n<p style=\"font-family:'Source Sans Pro','Source Sans 3',-apple-system,Segoe UI,sans-serif;font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:8px 0 0;\">Lock to the kicks on beats 1 and 3 first and let the rest go by. Add the others one at a time once the anchor notes are steady, starting with any kick on an offbeat, the and between two beats, next to a strong beat.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<details style=\"margin:12px 0;border:1px solid #e0e0e0;border-radius:6px;padding:12px 16px;\">\n<summary style=\"font-family:'Source Sans Pro','Source Sans 3',-apple-system,Segoe UI,sans-serif;font-size:18px;font-weight:700;cursor:pointer;color:#064B72;line-height:1.4;\">Do I need to read drum notation to do this?<\/summary>\n<p style=\"font-family:'Source Sans Pro','Source Sans 3',-apple-system,Segoe UI,sans-serif;font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:8px 0 0;\">No. It helps to find one part on a drum chart, the bass drum, which sits in the bottom space of the staff with the lines attached to its notes, the stems, pointing down. That is enough to see where the kicks fall in any written groove.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<details style=\"margin:12px 0;border:1px solid #e0e0e0;border-radius:6px;padding:12px 16px;\">\n<summary style=\"font-family:'Source Sans Pro','Source Sans 3',-apple-system,Segoe UI,sans-serif;font-size:18px;font-weight:700;cursor:pointer;color:#064B72;line-height:1.4;\">Does it matter whether I play with fingers or a pick?<\/summary>\n<p style=\"font-family:'Source Sans Pro','Source Sans 3',-apple-system,Segoe UI,sans-serif;font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:8px 0 0;\">Either can lock with a drummer. A pick gives each note a sharper front edge, which makes a flam easier to hear while you practice. Fingers give a rounder start, so listen harder for the moment the note begins.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<details style=\"margin:12px 0;border:1px solid #e0e0e0;border-radius:6px;padding:12px 16px;\">\n<summary style=\"font-family:'Source Sans Pro','Source Sans 3',-apple-system,Segoe UI,sans-serif;font-size:18px;font-weight:700;cursor:pointer;color:#064B72;line-height:1.4;\">How long does it take to lock in with a drummer?<\/summary>\n<p style=\"font-family:'Source Sans Pro','Source Sans 3',-apple-system,Segoe UI,sans-serif;font-size:17px;line-height:1.75;color:#19394C;margin:8px 0 0;\">Simple bass lines against a steady beat usually come together within a few weeks of regular practice. Holding a groove through whole songs in a range of styles, with control over note length and placement, is closer to one or two years of work.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<p data-sage-hub=\"1\" style=\"margin:32px 0 18px; padding:18px 22px; background:#FCF8F4; border-left:4px solid #F5BD52; border-radius:4px;\"><strong>Looking for an online bass teacher?<\/strong> See our full <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tunelark.com\/blog\/online-guitar-lessons\/#bass\" style=\"color:#026D81; font-weight:700; text-decoration:none; font-size:18px; line-height:1.4;\">Online Guitar and Bass Lessons<\/a> page for everything you need to know about getting started.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bass and drums lock together when a bass note and a kick drum hit that share a beat start at the same instant, and the bass stops where the groove needs silence, usually where the snare lands. The notes themselves can be the simplest on the instrument. A player who knows every note in a song can sti<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":8258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"How Bass Locks With Drums: A First Groove Lesson %%sep%% %%sitename%%","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"A first groove lesson for bass: start each note with the kick drum, stop where the snare plays, and follow the kick as it moves, with tab under every beat.","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"tl-topics":[200,199],"class_list":["post-8259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-online-learning"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.5 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Bass Locks With Drums: A First Groove Lesson | Tunelark<\/title>\n<meta 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