The Best Blues Bass Line For Piano

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Have you learned some blues scales and licks and are now looking for a left-handed pattern to experiment over top of? Well, there’s a really effective bass pattern that you can use that you probably have already played in another context. Sometimes practicing even the simplest stuff like scales and chords can actually be super rewarding if they’re given a more musical context around them.

Wanna know what that pattern is? Well, read on…

…Ok, I’ll just tell you: It’s directly based off of the natural minor scale.  

Let’s look at the pattern in the key of C minor.  Start on the root note and walk down to the 5th, playing the notes C-Bb-Ab-G. This is the bass pattern that you can hear in iconic tunes like “The Cat Came Back” or “Hit The Road Jack”. 

Ray Charles wrote Hit the Road Jack’s timeless melody over this minor key bassline.

To improvise on top, try playing the C minor blues scale and listen out for anything that might sound like those classic melodies. There are tons of songs that use this bassline, so you’re bound to stumble upon a few of them!      

What other melodies sound great overtop this bass line? Is there any we haven’t thought of? Let me know by posting a comment below!  

Cheers,

Jordan

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Jordan Leibel is passionate about songwriting, improvisation, and helping you become a creative musician! He’s worked as a composer for film, commercial, and theatre projects as well as a session musician and producer for recording work.