Classic Soul Bass Lines: How To Play Soul Man And Transpose To Different Keys

Learn how to play the classic bass line to Soul Man by Sam and Dave, featuring a simple Duck Dunn bass groove. This lesson gives you the theory behind the bass line and shows you how to transpose it to different keys. It's perfect for beginner and intermediate bass players looking to build blues and R&B repertoire. You can use this tutorial to play the Blues Brothers version of Soul Man as well!

Fun fact: you can take private lessons with Ryan! Visit her website to learn more!

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[frankortega]

Classic bass line that should be in everyone’s repertoire. Great choice Ryan in honor of the recent passing of Sam Moore with the immortal Duck Dunn on bass. Thank you for sharing this wonderful tutorial.

[LyndaKraar]

That 3rd - 6th substitution is classic! Thanks for a great sesh!

[willmcbride]

Spot on. Nicely explained. Kids, this bassist is showing you exactly what you need to know.

[clcortelyou]

My mind wandered for just a moment around the five minute mark, but then I thought, did Ryan just “boop” us all?

Doesn’t get any groovier than Duck Dunn’s bass lines from Stax.

[dougmael]

Nice one, Ryan ... and sadly, at a very appropriate time considering the passing of Sam Moore of Sam & Dave last week. In fact, my band will be opening our gig on Friday night with "Soul Man" in honor of the great soul man, Sam (not "our Sam" -- you know who I am talking about). I play this song in both keys, and I was shocked that "our Sam" didn't elect to do it in the original key of G, as that is his favorite vocal key, but we play it Blues Brothers-style in the key of E. Once you know the song and think of things in scale values and not just "positions", it's quite easy to transpose and play the song in any key and get the key change correct, along with the little "transition bridge" between the two keys.