Bluegrass Bass Lesson from Barry Bales’ Course

This preview bass lesson features a legendary musician and 15x Grammy award winner, Barry Bales. He covers some of the challenges of playing with gut strings and how you might want to adapt your right-hand technique to get the best sound. It's a quick lesson with some highly effective tips from a first-call bassist and it’s a preview from Barry’s new course on all things bluegrass bass: My Approach to Bluegrass Bass.

Barry Bales has been a member of Alison Krauss and Union Station for over 30 years, as well as appearing on countless albums with artists such as Dolly Parton, Dwight Yoakam, Merle Haggard, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Willie Nelson, and soundtracks including "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?". As a world-renowned bassist, Barry is the winner of 15 Grammy awards, 23 International Bluegrass Music Association awards, a Country Music Association Award, and two Academy of Country Music awards.

My Approach to Bluegrass Bass

by Barry Bales

My Approach to Bluegrass Bass is an online course presented by Barry Bales, designed to teach you how to play bluegrass on the upright bass! It comprises 33 lessons over more than 2 hours and covers a wide range of topics on bluegrass bass playing, including walk-ups, runs and licks, bass lines, playing at fast tempos, playing with a band, intonation, playing waltz-time songs and ballads, basic upright bass techniques, and more! Barry is joined by his fantastic band in the course, and they perform eight classic bluegrass songs performed on mandolin, guitar, and bass. We've included transcriptions of Barry's bass lines so you can follow along and practice at home with our play-along tracks. If you want to learn bluegrass and upright bass skills from a seasoned pro, you won't find a better fit!