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Bass Lesson Archives - Page 4

Subdivision Exercises
Ask Damian Erskine

Subdivision Exercises

For this week’s column, a reader asked about practicing rhythms. Instead of writing out a response, I decided to make this video to show you how I practice subdivision exercises.

Creative Bass Lines: Using the Melodic Minor Scale To Navigate on a Minor ii-V-i Chord Progression
Creative Bass Lines

Creative Bass Lines: Using the Melodic Minor Scale To Navigate on a Minor ii-V-i Chord Progression

Welcome back to another column, and today we’re diving further into jazz-related harmony with a look at starting to get inside two of the most useful modes from the melodic minor scale. The full line is demonstrated right after the opening title credits, with a little backing groove, and then during the video, I dissect and explain it for you....

Talking Technique: Optimize Your Octaves with a Killer Bass Riff
Talking Technique

Talking Technique: Optimize Your Octaves with a Killer Bass Riff

Here is a cool modern retro disco funk riff that will help you optimize your octaves. A cool slide in the middle inspires more ideas for creative explorations and technique shedding. The transcription will help you out, but follow the step-by-step way to break it down and make it manageable. Practicing technique the groovy way!

Talking Technique: Short-Scale Bass Shedding
Talking Technique

Talking Technique: Short-Scale Bass Shedding

Short-scale basses have recently enjoyed a bit of a resurgence – be it as an alternate tool in a pro’s kit or as a main axe chosen for its sound, lightweight, easy playability and hip factor. In this episode, we’ll explore some right-hand, left-hand, and coordination drills that will help you wrap your mind around the shorter scale. I’m using...

Talking Technique: 11 Strategies for Learning an Alien Scale
Talking Technique

Talking Technique: 11 Strategies for Learning an Alien Scale

Do you know what the Byzantine Scale is? How about Double Harmonic Major? Gypsy Major? Well, after this episode of Talking Technique, you will. But this episode is about so much more than just a scale – in it, we’ll cover 11 strategies to get a new scale under your fingers. The goal here is to embed the scale so...

Bass Transcription Analysis: Getting Inside Cannonball Adderley’s C7 Lick
Creative Bass Lines

Bass Transcription Analysis: Getting Inside Cannonball Adderley’s C7 Lick

In our last series of lessons, we had a look at a chorus of a Bob Mintzer blues over four episodes. Well, today we are putting just two bars of music under the microscope. This line is from a Cannonball Adderley solo on a tune called “Limehouse Blues.” Now the line itself isn’t super tricky, but in this pretty intensive...

Stuart Clayton: “Hump de Bump” Bass Tutorial and Transcription
Bass Videos

Stuart Clayton: “Hump de Bump” Bass Tutorial and Transcription

Stuart Clayton is one hard-working bassist and educator. Here’s a new lesson he’s just released, covering how to play Flea’s bass line on Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Hump de Bump.” Check out the video and be sure to download the full transcription from Stuart’s Bassline Publishing website.

Talking Technique: Alberti Bass
Talking Technique

Talking Technique: Alberti Bass

Do you know what an “Alberti Bass” is? If you play electric bass (rather than cembalo in the 1700’s), you are excused if you don’t. That does not mean that we cannot use this keyboard figure to inspire some heavy duty technique shedding: string crossing, right-hand shedding, and coordination. In this lesson, we’ll go over these Alberti-inspired figures over the...

Bass Transcription Analysis: “I Start With The Blues” Bob Mintzer Sax Solo, Part 4
Creative Bass Lines

Bass Transcription Analysis: “I Start With The Blues” Bob Mintzer Sax Solo, Part 4

Our fourth installment on Bob Mintzer’s “I Start With The Blues” solo is a discussion of the crucial chord on bar 8 of a typical jazz blues. Almost always this is a vi chord – so in an F Blues like this one, it’s a D7 ( D dominant 7). In Letter A Bar 8 finds a D7 #9 chord...

Bass Transcription Analysis: “I Start With The Blues” Bob Mintzer Sax Solo, Part 3
Creative Bass Lines

Bass Transcription Analysis: “I Start With The Blues” Bob Mintzer Sax Solo, Part 3

Don’t be afraid to make some notes on your transcription! By that I mean to write in where there’s a cool diminished lick, a nice ii-V line, etc. If there’s a cool lick – outline that, and identify stuff you want to come back to. It’s so valuable to learn licks through the cycle of 4ths, so we’ll be taking...

Bass Transcription Analysis: “I Start With The Blues” Bob Mintzer Sax Solo, Part 2
Creative Bass Lines

Bass Transcription Analysis: “I Start With The Blues” Bob Mintzer Sax Solo, Part 2

For our second installment focusing on Bob Mintzer’s solo from “I Start With The Blues,” we’ll be focusing mainly on transposing a line through different keys and why we do that. This is really important and something I touched upon in part one, too. It goes without saying that jazz standards and indeed tunes from all genres are in different...

Bass Transcription Analysis: “I Start With The Blues” Bob Mintzer Sax Solo, Part 1
Creative Bass Lines

Bass Transcription Analysis: “I Start With The Blues” Bob Mintzer Sax Solo, Part 1

I’m kicking off a new series here for Creative Bass Lines. In this episode, we’ll take a look at a really great solo over a jazz 12 bar blues – performed and transcribed by sax great Bob Mintzer! We’re really fortunate to have this music for our lessons. Bob very kindly agreed to let me share this with you, so...