Heaviest Bass Riff Of All Time?! (Tutorial + Tab)

Track and Tabs here: www.talkingbas...
This week we’re looking at the HEAVIEST BASS RIFF IN THE WORLD EVER (in my humble opinion!) in the shape of Ace Of Spades by Motorhead, played by the legendary, late, great LEMMY!
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[@talkingbasslessons]

Tab and tracks all here: www.talkingbass.net/heaviest-bass-riff-of-all-time-ace-of-spades/

[@Clius7Ulrich]

TalkingBass - Online Bass Lessons you used a picc..! I’m calling the police 👮‍♂️!

[@malekmo64]

Be interesting if you did this for Kings Of Speed Hawkwind to compare Lemmy in '75 to his era in Motörhead, remember Hawkwind had the song Motorhead in 1975 before he formed the band.

[@docsinisternefarious895]

"Born to Lose, Lived to Win". RIP Lemmy. Thank You Talking Bass for the upload!

[@kylebennett4196]

Lemmy would disagree he played metal. He would say they played "rock 'n' f*ckin' roll".

[@moondawg3693]

It's all "Rock 'n' Fucking Roll".

[@liveloud9894]

Kyle Bennett “ Good evening, we are Motörhead, we play rock n roll “

[@killval849]

Yeah... thats similar to saying he didn't live in New York, he lived in America. heavy metal is a branch of rock n roll. Yeah Lemmy's a legend, and they did indeed say that, they're one of the few punk/metal mashups that was super respected by both crowds.

[@foljs5858]

@@killval849 Well, he didn't live in New York, he lived in L.A. But seriously, what he meant is he played rock (that is simple dynamic songs about boozing, women, dirty sex, adultery, excess, motorcycles and cars, cards, with no frills in the 50s, 60s, 70s tradition, etc) as opposed to metal (songs about angst, satan, evil, and other mostly juvenile BS, with endless BS soloing and high pitched shrieking voices)

[@rosco3516]

@@foljs5858 Where does Metallica before the death of Cliff fit in that?

[@frankie5928]

Your third tuning peg keeps popping in and out of existence

[@talkingbasslessons]

Yes. That's because I live in a strange white void between this and a parallel dimension! The tuning peg keeps making a transition over, but I'm always sure to pull that sucker back in!

[@massif20022000]

God dammit, now I can't stop looking at it!

[@c.j.bakker5653]

@Brain Drain mine too.. but it won't return ;)

[@c.j.bakker5653]

@Brain Drain We ARE strong, we are bassplayers don't we?

[@Jay-we2ek]

Fourth peg

[@marksr12]

The drummer is also driving the hell out of the band! Great song.

[@DarthPhallix]

Good Old Philthy Phil Taylor. There were certainly better technical drummers, but I’ve always enjoyed his crushing hi hat driven tempo.

[@genzeuronymous7787]

You need to hear lemmys solo in stay clean, the heaviest bass riff ever from motorhead, would love if you could do a video on that!

[@csircy]

Stay lean is an awesome solo. I'm still searching for that tone Lemmy had in love me like a reptile.

[@ypesti2712]

​@@csircy such an underrated song, def one of my favourites

[@RJsCave]

YES! LEMMY! ACE OF SPADES! YES! An awesome player who's playing gets overlooked for his personality. Thanks! and more Lemmy please!

[@klisher]

Bob S absolutely. Watch Lemmy the movie it’s brilliant

[@RJsCave]

@@klisher Lemmy is God. LOL

[@kazkuczynski5740]

Lemmy had such a disgusting sound and it's gorgeous. You ever notice when something is so ugly it's brilliant? Gets you friggin pumped.

[@schreineinAV]

Kaz Kuczynski Disgusting sound? No way..... there's no greater bass sound than an overdriven rickenbacker......

[@clintwalker5804]

Kaz Kuczynski RIP Lemmy, may you be rocking the under 🌍 on the day of reckoning.

[@moondawg3693]

@@schreineinAV "Disgusting" means good, nice and dirty, like a monster that's so ugly, it's beautiful. When we really like something, we might say, "i so shitty", meaning "cool". Like, "the dude was amazing, about half way through the song he laid down the shittiest bass solo, he was so amazing". Beauty & the Beast ! Cheers Buddy.

[@schreineinAV]

Dr Why You crazy kids and your f**ked up way of communicating! Lol! If I played a bass solo and someone said it was 'shitty'.... I'd use the bass like an axe to split their head.... they wouldn't get a chance to try to convince me it was meant as a compliment!

[@miken2213]

like pitbulls '' , so ugly their brutally handsome''.

[@RC32Smiths01]

Motorhead for life, and cheers for another Bass lesson, quite possibly the greatest and heaviest by yours truly, Lemmy!

[@Skelterbane69]

More metal please! You'd love mudvayne's complex lines

[@talkingbasslessons]

Ryan Martinie is a cool bass player

[@budaroddy]

Determined 💪

[@BigGahmBoss]

@@talkingbasslessons Imn off of Lost and Found

[@hehebwoai3056]

Brbr deng

[@asgerfb8371]

BoozerBane BRBR DENG BRBR DENG

[@timwilcox4972]

Lemmys base had such a dirty sound but really punchy it's addictive and freakin LOUD pure genius on a bass.

[@AcousticSerenity]

Just learned how to play this one. So much fun rocking this one out. Lemmy is God of rock and roll

[@trsmlover]

Lemmy’s best bass solo please “stay clean”

[@aviralbajpai4208]

lost in the ozone

[@olafrozendaal5274]

Overkill

[@pilummurialis6490]

Not even close, try Keep us on the Road, you can't get any better

[@matt5678]

Most motorhead bass lines are heavy

[@starliteaquatics7308]

I Already know how to play this song i was actually just looking for Motorhead videos and came across this and was like ok how are people being taught this song and are they teaching it Correctly??? I gotta say I'm impressed cause you not only break down the riff dumb it down with a drum track to make sense of time and note placement but show all the little tricks Lem did live Great Video man and a Damn Good Lesson 🤘

[@thumperpaul]

I like “Stay Clean” on the “ No Sleep til Hammersmith” album, especially Lemmys solo at the end.

[@rogerdshrubber6557]

Saw them live several times. He was amazing at the picking Rhythms

[@legorobotics1017]

Your so lucky

[@matthewotremba9230]

Had a Numb Nut plug a Bass and Fuzz into a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Half Stack at my rehearsal place JUST One of those days , I WENT BALLLLISTIC

[@robertoricci3393]

A history of bad men by the Melvins, probably the heaviest and darkest bass riff of all time

[@nikobellic1191]

This is just what I need. I'm learning how to use a pick

[@rallyeluke]

That bass tone is wicked

[@MzuMzu-nx1em]

Great lesson , l like a lot Lemmy's sound setting. Great taste

[@Blinknone]

This isn't the heaviest bass line ever. It isn't even the heaviest Motorhead bass line. But I love it. :)

[@liamwilson42]

Absolutely Brilliant Mark..I've great memories of this track although listening to it one night on Radio Scotland it practically finished my old valve radio I rescued from a skip. Was listening at full pelt and the sound just died. It was a sad ending to a great old piece of technology

[@pensnut08]

Best tutorial ever on this! Iron Fist would be cool!

[@Bone1996]

Oh hey, this is actually incredibly useful. I tried learning this song a couple of months ago, once I started getting accustomed to the speed I could get by picking. Here I was just playing the intro riff over and over, and it felt kind of wrong at times.

[@pedemeyer]

I think being able to talk about this supersimple riff for so long is a achivement of its own😂

[@1956willys4x4]

Thanks for doing a Motorhead song. Awesome lesson!

[@chuckselvage3157]

That song directly influenced thrash metal and that bass is dirty as. RIP Lemmy.

[@danadane2501]

I'm gonna have to concur with this man. There have been so many technical wizards. From that era Geezer Butler, Steve Harris. That's just on the Heavy Metal Rock end. Funny thing is Lemmy always said "I'm a guitarist who plays bass". Yet he wrote best lines for the songs.

[@NoirL.A.]

once i really started playing bass on a regular basis this was the first tune i ever learned.

[@justinkline1294]

This is IT!!! Thank you so much for this lesson. And for free. Amazing.

[@theculturedbeast]

Nah, not coffee. Some good ol fashioned biker speed!

[@lothar_bmx]

RIP LEMMY!

[@Jackjewicz]

If you are planning on more metal riffs I'd love to some havok here. It's hard to find proper tabs or resources for their songs and basslines are great. F.P.C and hang em high are great examples of Nick skills and I really wish there was a tutorial on how to perform them :D

[@motorheadbanger7720]

Any MOTORHEAD/ Lemmy bass guitar riff would be brutal against any other bass guitar player

[@stewielad]

Marshall Super bass head, Presence at 1 o'clock, Volume at 3 o'clock, Bass and Treble on 0, Mid on 10. that was the sound

[@MachineSpirit101]

You should check out Peter Steele from Type O Negative. Every one of his riffs are the heaviest bass riffs of all time. BEAD. 🤘🤘

[@lazyjesus6573]

8:10 “Play the guitar like you’re ringing a bell” - Lemmy 🔔 🎸

[@sen5i]

Johnny B Goode Chuck berry. Lemmy was quoting from the song

[@Kankranet]

Hi, I want to suggest Rammstein - Seemann as one of the heaviest bass riffs of all time :)

[@Kankranet]

Oh ... and Orion by Cliff Burton

[@joshhowe9264]

Thanks for playing it slow none of the other tutorials bothered lol

[@Nektopoulo]

The Young Ones S1E7 [Bambi] brought me here....

[@talkingbasslessons]

Scumbag....Neil

[@klisher]

Vivian shoves a donut in his mouth and sticks his fingers up at the girl on the till 😂

[@kingloser4198]

World's largest bottomburp?

[@klisher]

@@kingloser4198 Toxteth o'Grady, USA , it says here Rick, England ... classic

[@williamstramiello2674]

As much as I love Lemmy, I'd say that Homicidal Suicidal by Budgie is the heaviest I know. Great lesson, BTW!

[@Snandra66]

Pretty much all of the riffs on the first few Budgie albums are heavy as balls!

[@WELLBRAN]

FUBB wishbone ash

[@jondunmore4268]

Shout out to another BUDGIE fan!!!!

[@FeldwebelWolfenstool]

...I remember beating out the riff for what would be "Pump up the Volume", when noodling one night in the late 70's...

[@kazerdira4704]

What about 5 best black sabbath riffs

[@talkingbasslessons]

Coming Soon!

[@Tracks85]

@Stream of Consciousness Lady Evil kicks ass.

[@ismaelnin8960]

El mejor riff, totalmente de acuerdo

[@skiphoffenflaven8004]

I like how the A string tuning knob disappears and reappears constantly.

[@OscarMontezFilms]

Hell yeah! Excited to learn this!

[@johanascorpsebramble2522]

Youre f'n awesome, Mark!!! Outstanding!!! Bongripper's People Mover, yo!

[@LA8PVCallingTheWorld]

Fantastic! Thanks!

[@gayjustinbieber6225]

"I shan't. I just shan't," Richard the Lionheart describing the amount of skull crushing metal in just one Lemmy riff.

[@CarlosRoberto-os9bs]

Very nice! Thank you

[@sgh1963]

Awesome, mate!

[@victortrujillo4753]

can you cover the bass solo in motorhead's stay clean please?

[@nidhoggvomwalde2280]

I think iron fist is his best. Simple, brutal, rock.

[@Mr005227]

Nidhogg vom Walde When Lemmy was asked, " What is your least favorite Motorhead album"? He said Iron Fist.

[@nidhoggvomwalde2280]

@@Mr005227 the most dislike he felt for "another perfect day"... Because if was so "different"... After the recording he kicked the guitar player who was responsible for it, because he had the feeling, that another perfect day is not motörhead and he didn't liked the direction motörhead could go... But today experts call it the best motörhead lp, because it is much more developed than the most of their recorded material... But WE talked about bass riffs, not about whole records....btw...

[@timwilcox4972]

Orgasmatron is pretty damn awesome too

[@darthlively]

Good stuff mate, most folks don't show the strum changes on the tab.

[@LeoNovel]

Heavy as F!!! 🤟🏻🤟🏻🤟🏻

[@thulsa_doom]

Actually it's heavy as E 😅

[@eduardosantos9949]

Awesome video! It helped me a lot! Thank you very much!

[@bassismath9118]

As always you have guided me a lot.....now i wanna learn a little more of ryan martine....maybe dig....or his right hand technique....

[@microtech5871]

Immediate like! 👍👍👍👍

[@OlettaLiano]

Lemmy was a gem.

[@raymondsmith6660]

I like your teaching

[@malekmo64]

The Watcher from Doremi Fasol Latido first composition and vocals of Lemmy with Hawkwind. Listen to the Dirty Bass there, that sound being established in 1972.

[@ronaldsassano1813]

Awesome breakdown, I've played it but it never sounded right. Very helpful, thanks

[@keithharris7569]

Glad I found this... Awesome...

[@HVACKABOOM]

Thanks for this. I just started listening to Lemmy, genius.

[@chrismarble9259]

Listen to Overkill and Bomber.

[@petersaika-voivod262]

@@chrismarble9259 thanks

[@Thebearwithnoname]

This was super fun and accessable! Thanks!

[@aldwtw9251]

"Now it's been a while since I covid any metal stuff"

[@jaamaan123]

Exellent !

[@Metalhead-zb9mz]

\m/ Motorhead always kicks ass and lovey p bass.

[@Mognam]

Good stuff. Give a run down of 'Day of Suffering' by Morbid Angel. Or 'In Hell is where she waits for me' The Black Dahlia Murder

[@yvindhelgedalnilsen64]

Sounds like Lemmy, sounds great!

[@steamer1112]

I,ve always love Chris Squires bass playing on the studio album of The Gates To Delerium. He's awesome through-out the song but he really cranks it up around 12:20 or so. He is my all time favourite bass player and is sadly missed.

[@ethanlocke3604]

Two questions out of curiosity. Have you released any music of your own and what type of music do you listen the most? Thanks for all your vids

[@wolframheldmaier727]

Hey, I am German. I don’t understand the title. „Heaviest“ in the meaning of difficult oder „heaviest“ in the meaning of heavy rock?

[@budaroddy]

But you can play it on standard tuning aswell right? because in any point you hit the lowest E flat, i always play this song on standard tunning, in bass and guitar, one of the very first songs i learn, but it wasnt till very late with other Motorhead stuff that i get the half step down, like in Overkill

[@talkingbasslessons]

Later on he adds a few open E and A strings into the mix so the Eb and Ab are in there

[@kryptonian5539]

No man. You got to strum that shit and hit every string. That was a huge part of Lemmys sound.

[@myoptik3x103]

Ric with a pick through modified marshals. Lots of people saying it wasn’t the heaviest ever...Lots of people couldn’t carry Lemmy’s fucking jock strap if they had a D9 Cat as well.

[@ViTAR30]

No open strings, why down tune half step? For other songs?

[@Uroste]

Keep us on the road is damn underrated

[@0themanticore0]

Ah this is a pretty subjective topic haha. There's obviously heavier bass riffs. Besides all of the amazing bass riffs in all the metal/rock subgenres, one that immediately comes to mind is Caravan by Rush.

[@WELLBRAN]

Jack Bruce stuff?

[@bullyinspace]

Easiest song on gods earth but a classic

[@chal00u]

Gonna have lot of hate for saying this but your tone sound better than lemmy to me. Never was my cup of tea but you made me realized it is a good rythmics line

[@gayjustinbieber6225]

The Trooper lesson next pls.

[@michaelroberts5801]

Great vid Mark!

[@scottaguilar2326]

How do you get your bass to sound so grunge and heavy

[@smileysatanson3404]

well your opinionn is just a fact, he did afterall almost tear apart an whole indoor stage with sound only

[@MrFlatox]

Nice ! 🔥 On a metal note, could you do a breakdown of the bassline in "Iron Maiden - Run to the hills" ? Always found this bass riff fascinating.

[@talkingbasslessons]

Coming soon. Already sequenced the tracks

[@MrFlatox]

@@talkingbasslessons awesome !

[@danbosman2246]

Iron Maiden 22 Acacia Ave.

[@whyismynametaken123]

This is correct, but your picking hand is all eff''d up. To get a more aggressive and percussive sound you need to down stroke on the beat. There's a distinct sound difference between down strokes and up strokes with the pick. Your mix of down strokes and up strokes on the beat gives the song a more relaxed feel.

[@FilipCordas]

Man can't beat a Rickenbacker, you did a great job but the original is just so much more powerful, I think also I think he hits it harder as well.

[@talkingbasslessons]

He doesn't hit harder. That doesn't really do anything beyond a certain point apart from add fret buzz and choke the note. If you watch Lemmy play, he's quite guitaristic (he was a guitarist before a bassist). It's very strummy and fairly light. He's more in the McCartney vein of playing (which he talks about a LOT)

[@FilipCordas]

@@talkingbasslessons I agree with guitar influence maybe I wasn't clear with hard hitting, his technique is much more flothy so the speed is higher and the hits are harder. If you look at his right hand it doesn't rest on the base like you do it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3OskmOlaJujhtE. The way you do it it's much more Chris Squire like at least in my opinion, a great lesson as always, it just sounded somewhat different to me.

[@FilipCordas]

@@talkingbasslessons Best metaphor I can think of the difference between a face slap and a jab. With a slap you need to hit much harder to achieve the same power as with a jab.

[@sturusk3620]

I remember from about 1978 he preferred Thunderbird pickups with all the bass rolled off, his engineer said it was difficult sometimes to know if it was him or Eddie playing. Held his pick in an odd way too. Brilliant lesson and great tone. ;0)

[@joebaxley1503]

LEMMY LIVES!!!!

[@MunchiesMusicMadness]

How about maiden running free thanks dude great video

[@SINNER5150]

I think "We are the Road Crew" was a bit heavier myself! But,there all good!

[@bernardfoshage9901]

I dunno....TOOL's "Invincible" has some of the meanest bass riffs I think I've ever heard.

[@mikereyes2488]

Type O Negative is pretty rad, should play that 😉👍

[@meditationmusicbyalexjackson]

One of the heaviest mainstream metal bass riffs for sure.

[@user-ll7nb2rj5p]

What the distortion effect it was? Sounds great

[@mharclerode]

Heaviest rhythm guitar riff.

[@oferjak]

Great Lesson! Can you do a lesson on Brotherhood of man?

[@MFKR696]

Just so you're aware, Motorhead was never metal. They were just a rock band.