Techniques Bass Guitar

Hi,

Here is a simple double tap exercise to make the bass more interesting.






Use your right hand (index and middle) fingers to simultaneously press on the 12th fret D and G string. Play around with rhythmic patterns.

Hope this exercise will help you explore more ways to create music with bass.

Cheers

Hi,

The exercise below will help us to understand the fretboard and explore more ways to play the Gmaj 7 arpeggio.













The proposed fingering can be changed to your preference.

Do try the fingering on other major chords like Cmaj7 and etc.

Have fun.

Hi,

We are going to take a look at using the 5th of the chord tones when we improvise.

This lesson helps us to break away from landing on the root especially during solos.

For example if the chord is a Cmaj7, you can land on the G since it is still within the chord tones.

Now try playing the G Arpeggio.

The notes in the G Arpeggio are G, B and D (end with G octave).

G is the 5th of Cmaj7, B is the 7th of Cmaj7 and D is the 9th of the chord.

Have fun.

Hi,

I would like to share with you the 3 fingers technique which I am trying to improve and apply.

The plucking concept is similar to that of playing on a classical guitar.

You can check out Bass players like Dominique Di Piazza and Damian Erskine for more applications and examples.








T - Thumb
m - middle finger
i - index finger

Practice slow and gradually increase the speed.

Have fun!

Hi,

We know that a basic chord is formed by 1 3 5.

For example, the notes in an A chord will be A (1) C# (3) E (5).

I have tabbed out three different positions of an A chord.

Some of you will know them as inversions.







Remember the shape and shift it around to play other chords.

Hope this is clear.

Have fun.

Hi,

The dominant chord is very common in most genre of music like blues, funk and gospel.

It is important as bass player to know the pattern and notes of a chord.

The chart below shows the notes in a C7 Arrpegio.






The notes in a C7 chord are C (root) E (3rd) G (5th) Bb (b7).

Practice this pattern and slowly move up the frets to find the other notes in the chord.

Have fun.

Hi,

Playing chords on the bass is easy, fun and nice.

We know that a major chord has a formula of 135.

Example in a G major chord, the notes that formed the chord is G B D (135).

G minor will be G Bb D (1 b3 5) and G Dominant will be G B D F (1 3 5 b7).

The 5th is not necessary when playing a bass chord.

The chart below will give you a good introduction of playing chords on bass.











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,

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

Hi,

I was playing with a song with chords like these recently:

E E7 A Am7

If the bass just play the root note, it will be quite boring.

What I did was to play the inversion.

E E7/D A/C# Am7/C

It's a natural walk down bass line and much more interesting than just playing root.

Give it a try.

Cheers

Hi,

Power chords is the most used chords on guitar and can be used on Bass as well.

The best thing about power chord is that the fingering is the same for major or minor chords.

You can choose to pluck, slap or strum the chords on the bass.

Just play the root and the 5th. e.g. C power chord = C + G

Below is a 6 4 1 5 chord progression in key of C.

Some of you might find this tune familiar :)






Have fun.

ii V I progression in the key of C is Dm7 G7 Cmaj7

For the above exercise, the notes are all within the chords itself.

This is an easy way to start learning walking bass as well.

Notice that the first note I played on the Cmaj7 is a E note instead of the root.

Since my last note on the G7 chord is a F, it will sound more smooth going to E which is the 3rd of a Cmaj7 chord.

It is not necessary to always land on the root note of the chord.

Experiment and have fun.

Cheers

Hi,

The term diatonic means that the notes come from the same key.

Chords and notes that fall outside those made from these scales are not diatonic.

In the key of G major,the seven notes are– G, A, B, C, D, E, and F#.

A Cmaj7 is a diatonic chord in the key of G major since the notes are - C E G B which fall inside the G major scale.

A Cm7 is not a diatonic chord in the key of G major since the notes are - C Eb G Bb,
where Eb and Bb fall outside of the G major scale.

Hope this is clear.

Thanks

Hi,

Dominant 7th Chord is frequently used in many genres especially in Blues.








The above example is the pattern and notes for G dominant 7th chord.
All you need to do is study the fingering pattern and you can form other dominant chords easily.

Formula for Dom7th chord - 1 3 5 b7

G7 chord consist of G, B, D, F.

As for finger position you can try:
R (middle)
3 (index)
5 (last)
b7(middle)

Have fun.

Hi,

Bass can sound melodic too.

This article talks about plucking the bass like a guitar.








Use your thumb to hit the root note, follow by your index finger plucking on the open D string and middle finger plucking on the open G string.

For the left hand, you can use your index finger to fret the root note, ring finger to fret the open D string and last finger to fret the open G string.

Follow the above tab and you should be able to get what I'm trying to say.

Have fun.

Hi,

One of the best ways to create bassline is by using chord tone,which are the notes in a chord.

Let use Cmaj7 for an example.

The notes in a Cmaj7 are C E G B (1 3 5 7).

What people tend to do is when the other musicians strike a Cmaj7 chord, we bass player naturally play the C, which is the root note,or sometimes followed by E -> G-> B than to the next chord.

You can start simple improvisation by experimenting different placement of the note. i.e 3 1 5 7 or 5 1 3 7, or 3 5 1 7 or 7 5 3 1 and which ever ways you can come out with.

By doing this, you will break the fix pattern of playing 1->3->5->7.

Hope this helps.

Have fun

Hi,

Arpeggio is playing the notes in a chord one by one instead of simultaneously.

In a G chord, the notes are G B D.

This arpeggio exercise is in G and helps to make it sound more interesting.






Hopefully this can give you some ideas to use arpeggio to create your bassline.

Have fun.

Hi,

Adding harmonics in your bass playing can be pretty musical.

The example given show a note pressed and the <5> is harmonics on the 5th fret.

You just need to place your finger lightly against the string but not touching the fret.

Try plucking it nearer to the bridge pickup and have a higher treble setting on your amp.

If successful, you will hear an unique chime sound.







For more advance study, please listen to:
1. Jaco Pastorius
2. Stu Hamm
3. Victor Wooten
4. Steve Bailey
5. Vail Johnson
6. Victor Bailey
7. Jeff Berlin
8. Billy Sheehan
9. John Myung
10. Michael Manring
11. and etc

Have fun

Hi,

As some of you already know, the 5th degree in a Major scale family chord is a dominant chord.
I.e. G7 in the Key of C.

Looking at a common chord progression(1 6 2 5) in key of C , the chords are C Am7 Dm7 G7.

Now, playing the same progression, instead of playing the Am7, play a A7 chord.

You will notice that the voicing is even more jazzy, creating a tension.

That is an example of applying the 2nd dominant.

You can try also changing the Dm7 to a D7 chord, but perhaps play a Am7 instead of A7.

Experiment around.

Have fun.

Hi,

Often you will see chords like Cmaj7 or Cm7 and etc.

Basically they are just chords with a 7th note.

As we already know, chords are formed by 1+3+5.

A Major 7th chord will be 1+3+5+7.
E.g Cmaj7 - C + E + G + B

For Minor 7th chord, it will be 1+b3+5+b7
E.g Cm7 - C + Eb + G+ Bb

For Dominant 7th chord, it will be 1+3+5+b7
E.g C7 - C E G Bb

How about Sus 7th chord? It will be 1 +4+5+b7
E.g C7sus - C F G Bb

Trying adding the 7th to your chord now. :)