Funk Bass Lines….Anyone who know me knows I love improvising funk bass lines along long threads of continuous eighth notes. The subject is among the most commonly asked questions I receive. Though the technique sounds rhythmically complicated or mixed meter, usually I’m just playing in 4/4. Also, though I have a few years invested in this, getting started is really pretty simple: Put your root anywhere you like on the A string. Find the 5th, octave, and 7th. Next, generate an eighth note pattern on the root like a machine. Then, start grabbing single eighth notes from the 5th, octave, and 7th. From these three notes, choose one to double stroke once and immediately back to the root machine. Practice same using only these four different notes. Get so you can easily move from one to the other, but double stroke each note only once. Once you can do this fluidly, start creating repetitive rhythms over 1-4 bar patterns. Next, start introducing notes other than 1-5-8-and 7, but retain these as the foundation of your line. That’s a start!! BTW, Jaco’s favorite intervals for funk lines were: octave-> M3-> 6-> 5.…