Playing Through Changes with Arpeggios: Exercises for Bassists

Many of my past columns have focused on answer readers’ questions related to playing through changes. So for this week’s column, I decided to put together the video below to cover a few approaches to getting comfortable with changes, through the use of arpeggios.

(Side note: I’m frequently asked about the software I’m using in these videos. The software I’m using for the changes here is iRealb, available for iOS and Mac. You can my review of this app here).

How do you practice using tunes out of the real book? Let us know in the comments.

Have a question for Damian Erskine? Send it to [email protected]. Check out Damian’s instructional books, Right Hand Drive and The Improviser’s Path.

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Leave a Reply to Art Araya Cancel reply

  1. good way to learn position playing but also a great way to master the chord tones. it’s a brain buster at first for sure.

  2. Coincidentally I’ve been workng on this also. It’s a great exercise but when I tried it at rehearsal the keyboard player freaked and said play the root. haha

  3. Anybody know a good alternative to iRealb for PC ( that’s not band-in-a-box?)

    • I’ve been using ChordPulse recently and it’s very good. There’s a 4 chord version that’s free on the site as well.

  4. Nice exercise, and good explanation.

    R – 3 – 5 – 7 is very interesting, also R – 3 – 5 – 7 – R , put your head into fire.

  5. How about some good software suggestions for PC? Thanks.