Bass Backing Tracks

A bass backing track is a band with the bass player missing: drums and chords play a progression on loop, and you supply the bass line. These tracks start with the bass part muted, in any key, style and tempo, and play live in your browser.

Yes. Every track opens with the bass muted, so you hear drums and chords only. The band does have a bass part: tap Bass under Band to hear it as a reference, then tap again to mute it and play the part yourself.

Start with the root of each chord on beat 1 of the bar, then add the other chord tones: the 3rd, the 5th and, on 7th chords, the 7th. The bass fretboard under the chord chart shows exactly those notes for the bar that is playing, with the root ringed, and changes as the chords change. For fills between chord tones, switch the neck to a scale, such as the minor pentatonic or the blues scale.

Yes. Under the fretboard, the bass line for the current bar is written out note by note, each labelled with its role in the chord: root, 3rd, 5th, 6th, flat 7th, octave or lead-in. The blues uses a boogie line (root, 3rd, 5th, 6th, flat 7th and back down), the minor blues holds the root, jumps to the octave, then plays the 5th, flat 7th and a half-step lead-in to the next chord, rock drives eighth-note roots with a 5th and octave at the end of the bar, pop moves between root, 5th and octave, and jazz walks in quarter notes: root, 3rd, 5th and a lead-in.

Yes. Tap Hear the chord tones and a bass improvises a line over the band from the chord tones of each bar: the root on beat 1, then the 3rd, 5th and 7th, leading into the next chord, so you hear the line change with the chords. Switch the neck to a scale and the line changes on the next note to that scale, still landing on the root of each chord. It is a new line every time round, walking in quarter notes on the jazz style. The note that is sounding lights up on the fretboard, and the line swings with the blues and jazz styles.

All 24 keys, the 12 major and the 12 minor, and 5 styles: a 12-bar blues shuffle, a slow minor blues, rock, pop (I–V–vi–IV) and a jazz ii–V–I with a swing feel. Change the key or style while the track plays and the band follows on the next bar.

Yes, anywhere from 40 to 240 BPM, with the slider, the plus and minus buttons, or by typing a number. Each style starts at a typical tempo, and a four-click count-in tells you when the band comes in.

Yes. The bass fretboard has the same 9 tunings as the other bass tools: standard 4-string (E A D G), Drop D, half step down, full step down, Drop C, BEAD, standard 5-string (B E A D G), 5-string high C and standard 6-string. The neck redraws with the right strings, and there is a left-handed option.

Guitar Backing Tracks is the same band with the bass playing and a guitar fretboard showing the scale to solo with. Bass Backing Tracks mutes the bass and shows a bass fretboard with the chord tones instead. Bass Grooves teaches 10 written groove patterns as tab over a drum part, with no chords playing. Drum Tracks is drums only.

Yes, with no download, account or sign-up. The drums, guitars, electric piano and bass are real recorded instruments from public-domain (CC0) sample libraries.