Bass Transcription: Coldplay – “Adventure of a Lifetime”

Taken from Coldplay’s seventh album, 2015’s A Head Full of Dreams that showed the band leaning in a more dance-inspired direction, “Adventure of a Lifetime” was the lead single and – as you’d expect – landed inside the Top 20 in numerous countries around the globe.

Opening with a high-register guitar line and anchored by Guy Berryman’s solid playing, “Adventure of a Lifetime” treats us to a more groove-heavy bass part than we might associate with Coldplay:

Each section of the song features the same Dm – G – Am7 chord progression, and the bass part contains subtle rhythmic variations to differentiate the sections. Notice how there’s a careful balance of repetition and variation in the main groove – enough to keep it memorable, but making each bar the same would make the part too predictable.

Coldplay – “Adventure of a Lifetime” bass transcription PDF