Punk Bass Tabs

From LoveToKnow Guitar

Are you a punk rock bassist looking for great punk bass tabs? You have come to the right place. Whether it's the classic three-chord pop playing of Dee Dee Ramone or the anarchy inspiring mayhem of Sid Vicious, punk music has had its share of notable assist. Thanks to the Internet, anyone with web access can find the tabs to many of their favorite songs, and, best of all, most of the tabs on the Internet are free! If there is a particular song you like but can't find for free on the web, many music publishers also sell tablature books of a band's songs. If you have a particular band that you really love, you might consider buying a book of their music so you can learn to play all the songs, not just the most famous ones. The following resources will help you locate the best punk bass tabs online and will point you in the right direction for places to purchase great books of tablature.

Where to Find Punk Bass Tabs Online

Online websites with bass tabs are not hard to find, but finding ones with good tabs can be difficult. Most sites let readers post their own tabs. This is great in some ways, because it reflects the true sharing spirit of the world wide web. However, problems can arise when someone who isn't necessarily a credible source posts tabs that aren't accurate. Be forewarned that free tabs can sometimes be less than perfect. You'll have to use your own ear to determine which tabs are good and which aren't.

BassMasta

The bass website BassMasta has an entire section devoted to punk. Songs are arranged by band and include:

Black Flag
Public Image Limited
Bad Brains
Buzzcocks
Joy Division
Pennywise
Dead Kennedys
Good Charlotte

When you click on the band you like, a page comes up with a short biography of the band and their top ten bass tabs. The site is very organized and clean; stopping by Bassmasta is a must.

Guitar Pro Songs

Guitar Pro Songs has a decent listing of bass tabs for punk and hardcore bands. You'll have to download the files to access the tabs, and there bass tabs available in most files.

Punk Bass Tablature Books

The following websites sell books from some of the premier music publishing companies like Hal Leonard and Mel Bay. You can generally count on tabs in books being accurate since someone went through the time and considerable financial investment to edit and publish them. Buying a book of tabs can be a great investment for a bassist.

Active Musician : Active Musician has a good collection of books of punk bass tabs for sale. Rancid, Sum 41, Green Day, Blink 182 and others are available.

Three Chords: Another good selection of books with punk tabs for bass can be found here.

Amazon: Amazon is the world's biggest bookstore, so it only figures that they have one of the largest collections of punk bass tab books. In addition to books by your favorite artists, Amazon carries many instructional books with techniques and tips on how to play bass guitar in the punk rock style.

Other Resources

Here are a few other instructional resources that might be useful for the aspiring punk bassist.

Musician University: This online music school has a course dedicated to learning how to play punk rock bass. For just over $20.00, you can sign up for a course that includes tabs, exercises, songs to jam with and tricks to add to your bass playing arsenal.