Back in Black – Nail the Rhythm Nail the Riff!

by Ari • 24 Jul 2023 — 2 minute read

In this video, I show you how to effectively practice the main riff of AC/DC’s Back in Black on bass using permutations and rhythmic drills. Nail the rhythm, nail the riff. Get the technique and you are rocking! Get Back in Black for real!

Free TAB and diagrams here

#A15

Video Transcript

Had a student the other day who was struggling with this: [ Back in Black riff ]. First of all, watch the technique. If you have ever practiced my Pivot permutations, that’s where they pay off: one-two, one -three, one-four (almost).

Let’s look at the Rhythm for a second. These are mini groups of threes: 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3. The rhythm de-da, da-da, da-da. What I recommend for you to really feel this rhythm is not so much to break it down in its quarter note components, which is also something you could do, but this one really thrives of being a group of three being moved over a straight groove.

Don’t touch the metronome – just feel it in half time. Groups of threes [] and then you take out the “training wheel” [] Just feel that note that you just played with the training wheel [] … and without [] Double time []

I am playing on my Marleaux Consat

Check these:

Keep Rockin’ with bass tips for Zep’s Good Times, Bad Times
Or Aerosmith’s Sweet Emotion
How ’bout a Slap version of Higher Ground?
You might also enjoy this post about fretboard shifting

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Bassist, author, educator.

Groove enthusiast and learning nerd.

Joined by 15,000+ Bassists

Your Instructor

Hi. I'm Ari.

As a bassist, I have toured/played/recorded with a variety of rock, Jazz, and funk bands, I have worked with some incredible producers (Keith Olsen) and musicians (Paul Hanson, Muriel Anderson) and I toured Brazil with Stu Hamm as a duo.

As a bass teacher, I have taught at London Bass Day, Gerald Veasley’s Bass Boot Camp, SBL, Truefire, notreble… I even ran my own music school for a few years before gigs took me back on the road.

One thing to know about me is that I teach because I am absolutely fascinated with the learning process. And I am obsessed with helping others realize their musical potential.

When I started playing bass, I excelled very quickly because I had an amazing teacher who taught me using a powerful method. This method transformed my playing so quickly that I passed a bunch of high-level university auditions and even tested out of entire classes at university even though I had been playing for only a very short time.

That’s what, many years later turned into one of my books, co-written with Wolf Wein, called “The Pattern System for the Bass Player”. I created entire systems of learning based on some of these ideas and wrote books and created courses together with Wolf. Our bass books have sold over 30,000 copies and garnered rave reviews.

I started teaching online in 2009 and have embraced technology as a powerful learning tool since then, never losing sight of the importance of providing feedback and personalized guidance to learners.

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