Bass Runs For Acoustic Guitar

Want to spice up your rhythm guitar playing so you aren’t just strumming chords?
Adding bass runs in between each chord shift is a great way to do that.

The best news is it’s not hard at all. Today I’ll show you some bass runs that move you from G to C, G to D, and G to E minor. They can be used in any type of music, especially country and bluegrass.

Acoustic Guitar Bass Runs

A few quick notes before we get started:

Each pattern consists of two beats of strumming (bass strum) followed by two bass notes (quarter notes).  So, they will all be counted ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR, where the bass run happens on beats 3 and 4.

G to C Bass Run for Guitar

This bass run walks you up into the C note from A (A-B-C).  What you are doing is basically starting on the G on the first beat, strumming and then walking up the G major scale into the C

G-A-B-C.

This pattern works well in the keys of G or C.

G to D Bass Run for Guitar

This bass run uses the notes B-C and then finally D in the next measure.

G to E minor Bass Run

This bass run is slightly different.  It has you walking DOWN instead of up to the chord.  Your bass line is the notes G-F#, finally ending on E in the next measure.  This is essentially a G major scale in reverse for three notes.

Here is a video quickly going through the patterns. The second time I play them faster and with some down-up strumming included.

The combination of possible notes to use for bass runs can be great, especially if you start introducing 8th notes into the runs. Sometimes people will use chromaticism to walk into the chord as well (Something like C-C#-D for instance). However, start with these, maybe I will write another article on other bass runs later.

I recommend practicing with a metronome to make sure your timing is spot on.

Please check out my page to learn more about my online acoustic guitar lessons. Don’t hesitate to contact me. I teach bluegrass, popular, jazz, fingerstyle, and music theory.