Techniques Bass Guitar

Hi,

This is a simple exercise for those who are exploring funk and blues.

The dominant 7 chords are frequently used in these genres.

The exercise below can be played over a A7 and D7 progression.






You may want to add some bending and sliding to create more feel.

You can practice the above as a slapping exercise as well.

Have fun.

Hi,

This post is an attempt to understand basic chords substitution.

This is useful when the chords for both the verse and chorus of a song are the same.

Let's list down the chords in G major.

I II III IV V VI VII
Gmaj7 Am7 Bm7 Cmaj7 D7 Em7 F#m7(b5)

For example, the chords of a song uses I VI IV V progression.

The chords will be Gmaj7 Em7 Cmaj7 D7.

We can substitute I with III.

Instead of playing Gmaj7, we change to Bm7.

The new progression will be Bm7 Em7 Cmaj7 D7

The notes in a Gmaj7 are G B D F#

The notes in a Bm7 are B D F# A

Out of 4 notes, 3 are the same, therefore it will sound correct.

Hope this helps.

Have fun.

Hi,

When we are playing bass, sometimes it is good to start on the root but end on the 3rd (10th)

How do you do it?

Let say you want to improvise over a G chord.

You can follow the notes below:

--------------------------------------------
-------------------------5(root)---9 (10th)-
---------2(3rd)--5(5th)--------------------
-3(root)------------------------------------

You will be surprise by this simple technique.

Cheers

Hi,

A Power Chord is a chord that consist of the root and the fifth.

For example, to play a F Power Chord, you press the F note (root) and the C note (5th).

Now the exercise below is a triplet slap exercise.


---------5(p)--------7(p)---------9(p)-------
--0-(h)3------0-(h)5------0-(h)7------------
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------

Practice slowly and gradually increase the speed.

Have Fun.

Hi,

Just to follow up on the previous post.

If you gave it a try, you will be surprise how fast you can play with little effort.

Now let's try another technique called the open hammer pluck.

All you need to do is add a pluck after the open hammer.

------------6(p)--------8(p)--------9(p)---
--------------------------------------------
----0-4(h)-----0-6(h)------0-7(h)---------
--------------------------------------------

Have fun!

Hi,

There are many ways to sound fast in your bass playing but what I would like

to share is to make use of the open hammer-on.

You may like to use your thumb (slap) to play this exercise.

----------------------------------------
-----------------0-5-7-----------------
---------0-5-7----------0-5-7---------
-0-5-7-------------------------0-5-7--

The above is a simple Em Pentatonic Scale.

Use your thumb to strike the string, than you can use your left index finger to fret the note followed by the hammer-on using your ring finger.

Have fun.

Hi,

There are some players who are confuse with the 9th chord and I hope to explain clearly here.

The notes in a C major scale are - C D E F G A B C ( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8(1) )

The notes in a Cmaj 7 chord are - C E G B (1 3 5 7)

The notes in a C7 chord are - C E G Bb (1 3 5 b7)

To play a 9th chord, it is simple.

For a Cmaj 9, the notes are - C E G B D (2+7 =9)

For a C9 , the notes are - C E G Bb D

So do not mix up Cmaj9 and C9.

Hope this helps.

Cheers