I grew up listening to Maiden, and Steve was one of the main reasons I picked up a bass.

Steve Harris and his other band “British Lion“ played here in Tampa about two weeks ago at the Brass Mug! Dude is totally down to earth!

Also, for me, it definitely helped to play the bass as low as he has his strap set. It straightens the wrist, to where you rest you palm and wrist against the bass, and as you play it gives more of a procussive sound as the bass strings hit the frets.

Mark I started teaching myself Bass in 2008, and for nearly 12 years stubbornly never took any lessons or watched any tutorials... I learned more in the last couple of months watching you than in the last decade. Really do feel like I'm becoming a bassist now, rather than a guy with a bass who can play some songs. Absolute legend

I’m a guitarist, but I get loads of tips watching bass lessons.

Well I thought that was a great lesson and a real eye opener. Big Maiden fan too. Thanks Mark.

Now try doing after an hour of running and jumping around the stage. Haha...Harris is a beast! Always loved how he sings the songs the whole time he's playing.

Thank for the lesson, can't wait to get home and try it.

do this for every important track, you're really helpful and clear man , nice video

thank you, sir. This video really helped me develop some serious speed. Honestly, I wouldn't be capable of doing it without your help. You showed me that it's possible. This is great work you're doing, very good, sir. Pinkies out, gentlemen, and begin, ...one, two, three, ...two, two, three

Please cover the “Geddy Lee gallop” which is really a flamenco picking style. Most unusual.

Love these videos, keep it up!

Thank you for this! I’ve been trying to learn this for weeks! I said i need a tutorial and here you are ! Thank you!!!!!😊

Very good advice and very well made tutorial, thanks a lot!

Great tip Mark. I can play most Iron Maiden tunes once before stiffness and fatigue sets in. I'll give the lighter touch a try.

The temptation to just use a pick is so strong

Steve always plays with only two fingers, and he really plays very light to get the speed. So in this point the video is totaly cool. But TalkingBass leaves out the real fast parts. There are much faster and more dificult parts in that song then just the gallop. Try out the little basssolo that lies under the long scream of Bruce. That one is really fast.

Harris always was my goal. You rock Marc

I like you tutorials thank you. The do really seem to help aid as reference to my self teaching. So I guess your actually one of my teachers. Thank you. I also have a different more obscure very light thumb picking technique that I sometimes use. My son laughs at me, but also tells me to not stop doing it, because it’s “my thing”….lol

Great video bro,... I have learned something from this,..cheers

nice job mate !!!!!!!!!!!!

Where the hell was this advice in 1983 when i was an 18 yo STRUGGLING bass player...i eventually got it but my forearm looked like Popeye's by that time!

Mark I finally found a clear acrylic ramp on Reverb it cost $20 , it fits my Fender Jazz perfect so I'm back in business , good video kind sir..

Thank you,Mark.Great lesson!I would like to see a video on Flea's slapping technique.

thx for the explanation this really helped me :)

The 3rd note in the "Gallop" is actually a dead note by briefly lifting the left hand off the fret. Doesn't sound possible but, I assure this is how he does it. Insanely hard to get down and when the gallop actually starts to happen it's almost magical, like it shouldn't work but it does.

I would have liked to see you doing ALL Run to the hills also behind the solos in wich he goes completely in 16th without gallopping!!

This is awsome!

sweet , thanx RJ

I love SH sound!!! If you ever isolate his bass lines they are kinda sloppy BUT and I say BUT it works for his sound. He’s playing at such a fast bpm and the music around him you don’t really notice it. I heard isolated The Trooper and you can really tell.

* turns video to 0.5x speed * Hmmm, yes, that indeed feels effortless.

Lifesaver!

Thx for covering my bass idol

man,great video your precision sounds like my jazz,unbelievable with gk 200bk

Fine work! I´d love to see how one can play blackened by metallica with downpicking in the original tempo when talking about stamina :)

Oh, haven't been here in a while. You finally bought a normal bass! Gratz

Спасибо за видео! И отдельная благодарность за произношение, я прекрасно понимаю каждое слово, хотя мой родной - русский. Thanks a lot!

Damn, I love that sound of a dry P bass. Steve Harris, Phil Lynott, Billy Sheehan, Sting, Roger Waters, The Clash, Marcus Miller, Larry Graham, the list goes on, into an old Ampeg SVT and a 810 cab... That,- and C.F. Turner and Paul McCartney´s old Rickenbacker 4003 from the BTO and the Wings days! Unbeatable. Wonder if I should get myself one or two basses?... I´m a a metal guitar player......

This will help me right on time by chilis I reckon. Nice one

Great 👍

One of the best if not the best everm

Very useful lesson, it's good for preventing injury as well as an added benefit. When it comes to touch, it's the opposite of Geddy Lee. Because Lee really manhandles that bass, that's the key to his sound. But then again his lines are very different.

Steve "Fingers of Iron" Harris 😃👌

It will be very nice to see you play and explain, Rock Bottom, from UFO, and Pete Way style, which was by the way a big influence from Steve Harris... Thanks.

Great video! I learned to play bass in the early 80s, pre-KZfaq or internet, and the way I figured out how to achieve his Steve's gallop was to use 3 fingers. Kind of like drumming your fingers on a table. Works really well, I'm able to hit the strings harder (which I like) and its less strenuous.

Maybe a technique video on the popping part of slapping, or precise talk on fingering (e.g downwards towards the bass vs upwards )

Good job. Subscribed (going to check your other videos)

master: I want a whole lesson on how to improvise on bass?. i mean. how to develop our vocabulary for groove and solos? could be analizing Janek Gwizdala, Gary Willys, and other bassist. Cheers

Hello! I would like a lesson specifically about those quick double pops. I don't what the actual name for it is, but it's the thing when you quickly pop twice when you're slapping for the gallop feel. For an example of it I would say check out the "Emerald Hill Zone" from sonic lol Thanks for the great lessons!

MAIDEN!!! rocks!

I really wanted to learn sweep Picking on Bass;)

I would love to see a series on how James Jamerson constructed his legendary baselines for all those Motown classics. He came from a jazz background so was most likely improvising everything, but it would nice for us mere mortals to have a theoretical analysis of what made his baselines so damn good.

Wow, better believe I'm going to be practicing some Maiden tonight after watching this

Awesome! Thank you soooo much for this content! Steve Harris is my fav Bass player! \m/ * - * \m/

Would love to see a compehensive overview of essential music theory when it comes to playing the bass guitar.

Very nice, thank you Mark ! What is your prefered right hand finger for the gallop ? 121-121-121... or 121-212-121... ?

Maybe video about Geezer Butler technique?

I'd like a few tips on how to use a pick; when to down/upstroke, when to use alternate picking, playing fast on strings which are separated from each other e.g. E and D, A and G strings

Hi Mark and this might be more for practicing on your own but I have trouble with singing and playing at the same time. Is there a technique that can help with this as it's like tapping ya head and rubbing ya stomach at the same time(lol) . If not ,, no worries and a great video once again ..Cheers mate 👍

I have been trying to work on triplets for a while, and I think you showed me why I am having problems. I am playing to hard and not able to get consistent volume or speed, using 2 fingers or 3. I'm going to try to lighten up and see if that works. Great lesson!

hi there, some proper warm up exercises, or even pre-practice warm up advice would be appreciated,

How about a lesson on the picking technique used on the intro's to "I'm A Man " by Chicago and "Whipping Post" by the Allman Bros?

You asked us about other lessons you maybe able to cover. What about Jean Jacques Burnel's heavy strumming style at the end of Down In The Sewer and at the start of Get A Grip On Yourself. It sounds very chunky and rhythmic.

I used to know a pro bassist from Dallas who told the same thing. I keep forgetting.

I start playing bass when I was 16. It was the 1992. No youtube, no internet. No downloadable tabs, nothing. Just a cassette deck and play&rewind. It was a pain, I had only 2 cassettes, Use your illusion and Killers. I started with killers and "Omg, playing bass is so hard!" XD

Thanks man! I can already play faster using that feather light touch :)

I'm trying to imagine a teenage Mark with long hair and a Iron Maiden t-shirt.

I’d like a beginners lesson on tapping! Not sure if there is already a tutorial you’ve done yet

Can we get a lesson on speed and accuract on the fretting hand

Awesome video and great lesson. I got 1 question tho. What is the finger order. Do you alternate between the two or always start with one. For example. Do you go 1 121 212 121 or do you go 1 212 212 212?

Could you do something on cliff burtons harmonics use and influence of classical music.

Tickle the strings thats the key to his speed took me a while to figure this out. Can gallop with the best of them now without tiring or straining 😅

Hi Mark, can you clarify your fingerpicking pattern? I've read that Steve doesn't strictly alternate fingers but instead uses the same repeated pattern (i.e index-middle-index; index-middle-index) similar to the pattern you taught for the disco/funk basslines (without playing octaves). I can't tell for sure if you are doing this or alternating (i.e. index-middle-index; middle-index-middle). I've heard that repeating the same pattern as Steve does gives slightly more emphasis to the 1/8th notes which occur on the beat. Thanks!

Is the “light touch” technique used with Billy Sheehan as well? Do you use it with your three finger technique?

So two things: from what I’ve gathered about Steve’s playing over the years, he actually doesn’t do a standard gallop as shown here. He plucks two notes, then does a kind of ghost note. This is supposedly how he gets his speed. If anybody is curious, google it for a better description. As for playing light, hmm, maybe, but when my brother in law was a medic for them in the 80’s he said Steve was bleeding profusely from his right hand from playing like a beast. Just my 2 cents.

I want a whole lesson on how to give good bass face!

I would like to learn how to sweep on bass. Can you teach us that? Thank you

Mark - Fast playing involving lots of left hand muting. Need more lessons in that. Love your videos by the way!

Nice lesson, thank you, - my biggest problem is probably fast scales such as the one in Master of Puppets and also Zepplin's Immigrant song has some beastly scales in it for the bass player. JPJ isn't really known for speed but the scales in that song give me fits!

Great tutorial to the technique, but I have to say that it's so much more fun to be inefficient and just smack those strings. It was really exhausting though until I've built up the stamina.

I would like a lesson on how to not suck at bass playing. 😂. I picked up the bass a few years ago I’ve reached a point in my life where I feel like it’s my favorite guilty pleasure but I know my fundamentals are sorely lacking. I think it mainly comes down to playing consistently. I travel for work I’m gone for days even weeks at a time. I bought a short scale Ibanez which travels much easier than a full scale bass. However since it’s a 32 inch scale it’s much easier to play than a normal scale bass, I do notice that when I come home a practice on my Sterling that I have to stretch more to reach the notes, that’s simply something I’ll have figure out on my own. However I think what hurts me the most is simply knowing what to practice, there are so many lessons and areas to cover that I find myself gravitating towards just practicing a song I like. I try to tie in different lessons when I practice a song to kill two birds with one stone but I feel that there are areas that I’m missing completely. For me I think I need an organized path forward so when I’m on the road I can practice one set of skills then when I get home go back to the more structured lessons.

I would love to access those drum tracks to play along but it keeps sending me to Sound Cloud. There it says user has no content or something like that. Anyone know how to play these tracks off the links provided?

I’ve been trying to think up some spatial awareness exercises to improve my sight reading ability, could you give me some tips.

When I play lighter and turn up the volume the noise generated by the freting hand becomes a lot more noticeable (strings hitting the frets when pressed, noise from sliding to the next position, etc). Is there a new technique needed with the left hand? Is this why he uses round wounds?

Hi Mark, I would haveb never even tried a two finger technique. I would use three fingers for the gallop. Seems to me a more economical motion. I would use it on Mob Rules and some Rush tunes.

Hasta donde se Harris usa un compresor antes del amplificador , que es parte del tono , toca relativamente suave , compresiona la señal , la pre amplifica y luego va a los amplificadores principales , también usa pastillas modificadas , seguramente de más alta ganancia que las originales

Doesn't sound like Harris for a reason, to be honest. Some key moments are misunderstood here. He doesn't hit strings that hard, but he play with the whole finger so it's a bit more power in his strokes. Also notice how his hand looks when he's playing, he surely doesn't rely only on his amp's volume. Didier Gerome here on YT knows the thing and has some lessons which may be more helpful on that.

He uses his fingers like plectrums also, he grows his nails long also according to himself for some extra clank.

Q. ? that neck in the video...is a Jazz bass neck ???it looks pretty narrow ... Whats up ?? thx

Should do this with a Helloween song

You're 👍😊

Beginner slap bass videos would be great

The bass solo in Prumus song "Jerry was a race car driver" is insane and almost impossible to play... Can you digg it? :) BTW great work with Talkingbass

Great lesson as always Mark. Could you clarify the right hand fingering? I figure it is either (i = index, m = middle): 1) i - imi - imi 2) i -mim - imi I personally hit a wall around 150 bpm using option (1), and I think I see you doing option (2), but I'm not quite sure. Thanks!

Do you alternate or you go with finger 1-1-2 ?

Please do the Alex Webster multifinger technique

Che bidone sto tipo!! Non ha tocco ed è leggermente stempato

Need a Geezer Butler video now lol

Like I've always said, when in doubt, pinky out!

Could you give "Psychonaut" from Fields of the Nephilim a try, please?