This week's piece — the 8-beat root line (two chords)

It's finally the last day of week 3. You glue together everything you learned piece by piece all week — subdivision, landing the root on the kick, the eighth line, the pocket's rest, and the two-chord change. Pack these five into one riff and you get this week's piece, the 8-beat root line. It isn't flashy, but locked tight with the drums it's a real rock bass line that holds up the whole foundation of a song.

This line flows over two chords. Measure 1 rolls the open E (4th string), measure 2 the open A (3rd string), as eighth-note roots. The key device is the pocket — empty exactly one eighth, the "&" after beat 2, in each measure to give the line a breath. On that spot the rule is the hand never stops, only the sound is emptied — just as you learned up to yesterday. This one tiny blank turns plain eighths into a line with groove turning through it.

Today you mind that three things are alive at the same time. Lay the eighth root exactly on the kick, empty the pocket's rest clearly, and change with no drag at the boundary where the measure turns. Wobble even one and the line goes slack. So don't crank up the speed first — build it slowly until all three lock together.

This line too is identical in fingering on a 4- or 5-string. E is the 4th string and A is the 3rd, so the hand shape is exactly the same. On a 5-string you just keep the low B (5th string) covered with your thumb, asleep. It's okay if it isn't perfect — you'll keep meeting this line as a warm-up from now on, so today just leave one thing in your hand: the feel of becoming one with the drums.

Today you complete this week's piece. First refine the two-chord move with a slow prep version, then run the pinned line E→A together with the pocket. Each example is laid out in both a 4-string and a 5-string version.

Prep — slow root line. Hold each root long, half a measure each, and smooth out the E→A move first before laying on the eighths.

▶ BPM 70, 4-string. Blue E (4th string) → A (3rd string), long, half a measure each. Smooth out the move between the two chords before laying on the eighths.

▶ BPM 70, 5-string. The fingering is identical to the 4-string. Cover the low B with your thumb to keep it asleep.

This week's piece — the 8-beat root line (two chords). Now in eighth notes. Roll E (measure 1) → A (measure 2), but empty the eighth after beat 2 (the "&") in each measure to build the pocket.

▶ BPM 75, 4-string. Right on the drums (or metronome). Lay the eighth roots on the kick, and empty the eighth after beat 2 in each measure to build the pocket (the hand keeps moving but that spot stays silent). E (measure 1) → A (measure 2).

▶ BPM 75, 5-string. The notes and positions are identical to the 4-string. Keep the low B asleep throughout.

0–7 min · Warm-up Loosen up yesterday's two-chord change at BPM 70. Warm your hand while checking that the beat holds as the measure turns.

7–17 min · Today's skill Repeat the prep example (slow root line) at BPM 70. Smooth out whether the E→A move is seamless first, then lay on the eighths.

17–27 min · Applying it (this week's piece) Play the 8-beat root line four times at BPM 70 → once the pocket's rest is alive and the change is clean, raise it to BPM 75 for four more. Learn it on the 4-string, then confirm the same feel on the 5-string.

27–30 min · Check Log the BPM you reached this week, and record 30 seconds to hear whether it sticks to the kick, the rest stays alive, and the change is clean.

Done when: you can repeat the 8-beat root line (E-A, two chords) with two fingers, laid on the kick and keeping the rest after beat 2 in each measure alive, without a wobble at 70–75 on both a 4- and 5-string. (Week 3 complete!)

• Filling in the rest. Let sound leak on the eighth after beat 2 and the pocket vanishes. Empty the sound on just that one attack and keep stirring the hand in eighths.
• The beat drags at the change. If the first note is late crossing to A, the line goes slack. Prepare the 3rd string in advance on the last note of E.
• Cranking up speed first. Go to 75 while the three (kick, rest, change) don't line up at 70 and it all collapses. As all week, clean comes first.
• Getting careless with the low B (5-string). Keep the B covered with your thumb throughout the line. Focus on the piece and drop the B, and the low end leaks.