Techniques Bass Guitar

Hi,

A paradiddle is a drum rudiment which consist of a four-note pattern of the form Right Left Right Right(RLRR) or LRLL.

This pattern can help us improve our rhythmic and percussive style of slapping.

Let's try this pattern on the bass where "R" is your right hand slap thumb and "L" is using your left hand to slap the fretboard.

Slapping with your left hand on the fretboard requires some practicing.

Now try the pattern RLRR LRLL and repeat it.

To get the percussive feel, mute all the notes.

Once you are more comfortable, you can increase the speed.

Experiment and you will be surprise what you can do.

Cheers

Hi,

Very good bass players in this video.

Enjoy.

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.

Hi,

Chord Tone Proximity is something that bassists, Gary Willis and Victor Wooten had talk about.

You're never more than a whole step from a chord tone. Take for example a C7 Chord.

The notes are C E G Bb. You can't find a note that's more than a whole step from any of these notes.

Which means you are just either half a step or whole step away from the "right" note.

Hope this helps.

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!