Bass Tab for Come Out And Play by Beastie Boys
Most people who ask for the Come Out And Play bass tab are trying to nail the opening riff, which is deceptively simple. The song sits in E minor and the main bass line is essentially a four-note figure that repeats over the first verse and chorus. Mike D on the Beastie Boys track plays it with a pick, which gives it that sharp attack. If you use fingers, it still works but the tone shifts noticeably. The core riff looks like this: e|-----------------------------------|
B|-----------------------------------| G|-----------------------------------| E|--0-2-3-0--0-2-3-0--3-5-3-0--0-2-3-0-|
That pattern repeats across most of the verses. The last bar before the transition to the pre-chorus moves from the root position into a different voicing, sliding up to the 5th fret on the A string, then dropping back down. In practice, the hardest part isn't the notes themselves, it's keeping the timing tight. This riff lives in that pocket between a punk rhythm and a reggae bounce, so if you drag your 16th notes the whole thing sounds sluggish. I ran into a real problem when I first learned this at home using a looper pedal. The original track has a drum fill before the bass comes back in, and my looping setup would start the pattern on the wrong beat if I triggered it mid-fill. I ended up setting my looper to count-in mode at 4 beats, muted the strings with my palm right after triggering, and let it count through before playing. That way the loop always locked to the right bar. Takes about 10 seconds of setup each time but it saves you from fighting with it later. The second half of the song introduces a variation during the "come out and play" vocal section where the bass plays a descending line instead of the repetitive riff. This is the part most tab sites get wrong:
G|-----------------------------------| E|--3-2-0--3-2-0--0-------0----------| A|-------------3-2-------2----------|
E|------------------------3---------| It's easy to misread the transitions between the riff and this descending line because the tab doesn't make clear where one phrase ends and the other begins. The simplest workaround is to listen to the track at 0.75x speed and note the exact moment the vocal phrasing shifts, then practice the transition as a separate cell, not as part of the full loop. One counter-intuitive thing about this tab: you don't actually need to alternate picking every single note for the riff to sound right. Many players default to strict alternate picking, but that creates too much consistency. The original performance has a few strokes that are more accented or lightly dragged. If you alternate pick the entire riff perfectly, it can sound robotic. Try letting your downstrokes land harder on the "and" of 2 and the downbeat of 4 within each measure, which mirrors the drum pattern underneath it.
Another pitfall people miss is the palm muting technique. Some tab sites suggest full muting for that choppy punk sound, but the actual recording uses very light contact, almost like rest muting where your hand barely brushes the strings near the bridge. Heavy palm muting changes the sustain entirely and makes the riff sound like a completely different song. Start with minimal contact and press down only if you need more percussive effect during the verse. If you can't find a reliable source for the full arrangement, the best reference remains the official studio recording because most fan-made tabs skip the pre-chorus variation and the outro breakdown. The outro returns to the main riff but adds an octave jump on the high E string that tab authors frequently omit. Without it, your practice run sounds incomplete compared to the record. For the Come Out And Play Bass Tab, I usually recommend starting with the simplified version, learning the four-bar loop cold, then layering in the descending variation and the outro octave jump separately. This approach cuts practice time because you aren't trying to memorize everything at once.
Common Mistakes When Learning This Tab
Players rush the tempo too early. The riff feels easy around 80 BPM, but the studio track sits closer to 92-94 BPM. If you only ever play at slow speed, your fingers won't develop the muscle memory needed for the actual performance. Push to full tempo within the first week, even if you make mistakes, because the faster pace reveals timing issues that slow practice hides. Another issue is fret hand tension. The riff requires frequent string crossing between the E and A strings, and beginners tend to squeeze the fretboard hard during those transitions. This slows everything down and introduces unwanted noise. Keep your thumb anchored behind the neck and let the fretting fingers move minimally. There's also the question of string gauge. Heavier strings on a 34-inch scale bass make the fretting effort higher without improving the tone for this particular song. A medium set around 45-105 will give you enough clarity for the pick attack while reducing hand fatigue during repetition practice.
The main riff works on both 4-string and 5-string bass, but adding the low E string doesn't change anything here since the line never drops below open E. A 5-string won't give you extra benefit unless you want to layer a deeper octave during live performance, which most players don't bother with. If you prefer guitar, you can transpose this to standard tuning by treating the G string as the target. The shape is identical, but the tonal character shifts toward a higher register that doesn't carry the same weight in a band mix. It works for solo practice but sounds thin next to a real bass line.
What To Do If The Tab Doesn't Sound Right
The most common reason people struggle with this tab is their amp or DI setting doesn't match the source. The Beastie Boys recording has a fairly compressed, slightly overdriven bass tone with a cut around 800 Hz. If your amp has a bright EQ boost or you're running through a clean channel with no gain, the riff loses its punch. Add a touch of saturation or raise the mids slightly, and the tab suddenly maps onto the recording much more accurately. Also worth checking is your pick angle. A flat pick strikes too harshly and produces a click that drowns the note articulation. Angle the pick slightly so it glances across the string rather than hitting it straight on. This single adjustment made the biggest difference for me when first learning this song, more than any practice routine did. The descending section around the pre-chorus also trips people up because they forget to lift their fret hand off the string at the right moment. The tab doesn't show the rests clearly, but the silence between the descending notes is part of the groove. Missing those micro-pauses turns the phrase into a run instead of a rhythmic statement.
For anyone working through the Come Out And Play Bass Tab, the practical path is to master the main riff at tempo first, then add the pre-chorus variation, then finally incorporate the outro octave jump. That sequence mirrors how the song itself is arranged and keeps your practice sessions focused on the material that actually appears on record. One last detail that most casual players overlook is the slight pitch bend on the final note of the four-bar loop. It's not a full bend, more like a half-step press that adds tension before the loop resets. You can feel it in the studio version if you listen for the sustained last note fading into the next bar. Adding it yourself makes the repetition sound intentional rather than mechanical.
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