‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ Has A Crazy Bass Line!!

Never Gonna Give You Up

Yes, I know the original is a synth bass line, but let me tell you, the bass line is great to learn for loads of reasons. It features a bunch of syncopated 16th notes, and from a harmony standpoint, this bass line is pretty weird. In fact the whole thing is just plain weird!

Intro And Pre-Chorus

This song is played on a Synth bass keyboard that goes down to an Eb, so you could do this on a 5 string or detune to that low note, you can also use an octave pedal and play it with a pick in order to get that synth bass tone.

Because this is a synth bass, a lot of the moves are very un-bass-guitar-like. It’s not the kind of thing a bass player would do, what makes sense on a keyboard doesn’t always work on a bass guitar so it can be a little tricky in places.

The chords are Ebm7 / Ab / Fm7 / Bbm, the key signature is Db Major. They move in a ii – V, iii – vi formation, which is a popular chord progression. So, harmonically it’s not that complicated, but it’s when we get to playing the syncopation that’s crazy!

Verse

This verse riff is where things get a little weirder! Again we see some pretty whacky syncopation, so be sure to work through it at a slow pace to start.

Pre-Chorus

The pre-chorus is pretty much identical to the verse, except we repeat the turnaround in the last bar.

Middle 8th

This is another odd section, which uses pretty much the same chords as the verse. There is however, a variation on the bass line.

Practice Track: