How to Play the Uptown Funk Bass Line

This article is a collaborative effort, crafted and edited by a team of dedicated professionals.

Contributors: Andranick Tanguiane, Fred Lerdahl,

Contents

This blog post will teach you how to play the Uptown Funk bass line. By following the steps in this post, you’ll be able to play this catchy bass line in no time.

The Uptown Funk Bass Line

The uptown funk bass line is a great groove to play. It’s catchy, it’s funky, and it’s easy to learn. In this lesson, we’re going to learn how to play the uptown funk bass line. We’ll talk about the gear you’ll need, the techniques you’ll need to use, and how to put it all together.

The song

“Uptown Funk” is a song by English producer Mark Ronson from his fourth studio album, Uptown Special (2015), featuring American singer and songwriter Bruno Mars. The song was released as the album’s lead single on 10 November 2014 in the United Kingdom and on iTunes the following day. “Uptown Funk” impacted radio as a whole in the United States on 7 January 2015. The song topped the charts in many countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In the US, “Uptown Funk” spent 14 consecutive weeks atop of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming one of the longest-running number-one singles of all time. The song won two Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance and Record of the Year.

The artist

Mark Ronson is an English musician, DJ, and record producer. Ronson is best known for his work with Amy Winehouse on her critically acclaimed album Back to Black. He has also collaborated with a number of other high-profile artists, including Adele, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, and Bruno Mars. In 2014, Ronson’s single “Uptown Funk” reached number one in the UK and US charts.

The bass line

The bass line for “Uptown Funk” is one of the most fun and iconic bass lines of the last few years. It’s played on an electric bass, and is relatively simple to play. In this article, we’ll break down the bass line and show you how to play it.

The “Uptown Funk” bass line is played in a style called “slap bass.” Slap bass is a technique where the player slaps the strings with the back of their hand to create a percussive sound. This technique was popularized in the 1970s by funk bassists like Bootsy Collins and Bernard Edwards.

To play the “Uptown Funk” bass line, you’ll need to use a pick. Start by placing your pick between your thumb and first finger. Then, place your middle finger behind the pick to help stabilize it.

Start by plucking the low E string with your index finger. As you pluck the string, use your middle finger to “snap” the string against the fretboard. This will create a percussive sound. The rhythm of the “Uptown Funk” bass line is 1-2-3-4, so count out loud as you play each note.

Next, pluck the A string with your ring finger and snap it against the fretboard on Count 4. Then, pluck the D string with your pinky finger and snap it against the fretboard on Count 1. Pluck the G string with your index finger on Count 2, and then snap it against the fretboard on Count 3. Finally, pluck the B string with your middle finger on Count 4 and snap it against the fretboard.

How to Play the Uptown Funk Bass Line

The Uptown Funk bass line is a fun and easy line to play. You can use any fingerings that you want, but I recommend using your first and second fingers. Start by playing the note on the first fret of the low E string with your first finger. Then, play the note on the second fret of the A string with your second finger.

Choose the right bass

The Uptown Funk bass line is best played on a 5-string bass, but it can also be played on a 4-string bass. If you don’t have a 5-string bass, you can still play the line, but you’ll have to make some adjustments.

Tune the bass

The first step to playing the “Uptown Funk” bass line is to ensure that your instrument is in tune. Depending on the make and model of your bass, this may be done by adjusting the tuning pegs at the top of the neck or by using a tuning device such as an electronic tuner or pitch pipe. Once you have tuned your bass, you are ready to begin learning the “Uptown Funk” bass line.

Play the bass line

The Uptown Funk bass line is one of the most iconic and recognizable bass lines in popular music. It’s been played by everyone from Paul McCartney to Flea, and it’s a staple of funk and R&B. If you’re a bass player, learning how to play this line is a must.

The good news is, it’s not as hard as it sounds. In this article, we’ll break down the Uptown Funk bass line so you can learn how to play it yourself.

The Uptown Funk bass line is built around two main ideas: a repeating eighth-note pattern and a few key embellishments. We’ll start with the repeating pattern, which is based on the four notes of the C major scale: C, D, E, and G. Here’s what that looks like:

C – D – E – G – C – D – E – G –

You can see that the pattern starts on the root note (C) and moves up chromatically to the third (E), before resolves back down to the root. This pattern forms the basis of the entire bass line, so it’s important to get it down before moving on.

Once you have the repeating pattern down, you can start adding in some embellishments. The most important of these is the “thumping” eighth-note on beats 2 and 4:

C – D – E – G(thump) – C – D – E(thump)

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