Techniques Bass Guitar

Hi,

Most of us are familiar with the Natural Minor Scale (Aeolian) but seldom practice the Melodic Minor Scale.

The formula for Melodic Minor Scale is 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7

Therefore the D Melodic Minor Scale will be D E F G A B C#





A simple exercise to try this scale is over the II V I progression in C

The chords are Dm7 G7 Cmaj7.

When the musicians play a G7 chord, try playing the D Melodic Minor Scale.

It is equivalent to a G dominant Lydian Scale. Sound even more jazzy now!

Have fun.

Chord Substitution is common in our music today.

We can replace a chord with another related chord.

Often the substituted chord differs by one or two notes from the original chord.

Before you read this post, it will be good to take a look at my previous lesson - Introduction to Chords Substitution

For example, we can replace an Am7 chord with a Fmaj7 chord.

The notes in the Am7 chord are: A C E G

In the Fmaj7 chord the notes are: F A C E

There is only one note difference between these two chords.

If we have an Em7 chord, we can replace it with a Cmaj7 chord.

You can also replace the Em7 chord with a Gmaj7 chord.

The notes in the Em7 are: E G B D and G B D F# for Gmaj7.

Again the difference is only in one note. You can call this a relative chord.

Hope this helps.

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,

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 exercise below is an alternate way to practice the G major scale.

Sometimes when you improvise in the key of G, this pattern can be quite useful.





This will help you to be more familiar with the fretboard.

You can practice playing backward as well.

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,

I would like to share a simple tip on improvising on the bass.

When we improvise or solo, one best way is to play chord tone but not using the root note.

e.g. When the harmony is an Am7 chord, instead of playing the root (A), we can play the

third (C) or fifth (E) or seventh (G).

I'm sure most of you are familiar with that.

Now the fun think is using the similar concept and apply it over chord changes.

Let say you want to improvise or solo over Am7 D7, the common approach is to play the

Am7 arpeggio followed by D7 arpeggio.

Instead of doing that, try playing a C arpeggio over the above chord changes.

Notice that C is the third of Am7 and seventh of D7.

To sound nice depend on your "landing".

Hope this approach can open more ideas for creative playing.

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,

Previous lesson we covered playing the Major Pentatonic Scale starting on the 5th.

This time round, we will try starting on the 3rd.

Major Pentatonic Scale is derived from the Major Scale.

Just skip the 4th and 7th note of the Major Scale.

e.g. C major Scale - C D E F G A B C
C Major Pentatonic Scale - C D E G A

------------------------12--14-----
-----------------12--14------------
----------12--15-------------------
--12--15---------------------------

The notes are E G A C D E G A

Have Fun.

Major Pentatonic Scale is derived from the Major Scale.

Just skip the 4th and 7th note of the Major Scale.

e.g. C major Scale - C D E F G A B C
C Major Pentatonic Scale - C D E G A

The exercise below starts the C Major Scale on the 5th (G).

All the notes are still inside your C Major Scale and by starting

on the 5th, it gives a different voicing and sort of allow us to have more notes to apply.

Give it a try.

|--2--|-----|-----|--5--|
|--2--|-----|-----|--5--|
|-----|--3--|-----|--5--|
|-----|--3--|-----|--5--|

Have fun!

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.

Hi,

Every major scale has a relative minor scale and every minor scale a relative major.

They share the same notes.

For example, a G major scale and a E minor scale are relative scales.

The notes in a G major scale are - G A B C D E F# G (G Ionian)

The notes in a E minor scale are - E F# G A B C D E (E Aeolian)

The different is the starting note.

The root of the relative minor is always the sixth note of the major scale.

The root of the relative major is always the third note of the minor scale.

This work for all the keys. Let's try key of C.

The notes in a C major scale are - C D E F G A B C (C Ionian)

The notes in a A minor scale are - A B C D E F G A (A Aeolian)

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