Best of 2016: Top 10 Bass Lessons and Transcriptions
We published a whole lot of bass lessons in 2016. Here are the top 10 reader favorites of the year. Think of it as a great to do list for the holiday break and the new year.
Thanks for reading, commenting, sharing – and shedding.
1. Talking Technique: Killer Dead Note Grooves
Dead notes are percussive effects that can really liven up a groove. There are a variety of ways to create them, including left hand muting and right- and left-hand percussion. For this lesson we examine how dead notes (and silence) affect the groove…
2. Talking Technique: Changing Technique Habits – What it Takes
There is a step by step process that can help you change ingrained habits. It is a fast and effective technique to practice just about anything so effectively that it can become addictive. Ariane Cap breaks it down in this lesson…
3. Advanced Bass: Anatomy of a Groove
Often when coming up with an idea, bass players become slaves to always locking in with the kick drum and have trouble developing their ideas any further. In this lesson, Joe Hubbard covers some concepts that should help…
5. Bass Transcription: Scotty Edwards’s Bass Line on Hall & Oates’s “Rich Girl”
Often as bassists we become so concerned with notes, rhythm, and locking in with our drummer that we forget other important aspects of groove. Brian Wroten transcribed Scotty Edwards’s bass line on “Rich Girl” as an example of how to shape the groove…
4. Talking Technique: Beautiful Practice
This lesson is called “Beautiful Practice” for a reason. Our exercise this week creates a lush harmony and texture all while working out our theory and technique at the same time…
6. Talking Technique: Pedalling
There are only so many hours in the day, so it’s always great to figure out ways to make the best use of your practice time. One way to get the biggest use of your practice is to combine different topics to bolster your understanding: music theory with song learning, rhythmic accuracy with slapping, phrasing…
7. Talking Technique: Right Hand Thumbs Up!
When you’re playing fingerstyle, where do you put your right thumb? That’s precisely the question Ariane Cap got from a reader, so today we’re examining the right thumb…
8. Creative Bass Lines: Melodic and Rhythmic Lines
Rufus Philpot debuted his new “Creative Bass Lines” lesson on No Treble in 2016. Check out Episode 1: Melodic and Rhythmic Lines, where Rufus demonstrates a few bass parts he’s come up with for projects he’s recorded…
9. Advanced Bass: Chord Superimposition
In this advanced bass lesson, Joe Hubbard covers an effective concept of superimposing melodic lines over multiple chord types…
10. Talking Style: Prince’s “Uptown”
Ted “Blyss” Gould’s second episode of “Talking Styles” was already cut when he learned of the passing of Prince in April. Prince was his hero, and so he decided to instead share this look into the groove that drew him to the bass guitar – Prince’s “Uptown”…
