Skip to main content

Scales Archives - Page 2

Relative vs. Parallel Minor Scales
Ask Damian Erskine

Relative vs. Parallel Minor Scales

Q: What is the difference between “relative” and “parallel” when talking about jazz theory? I hear “relative minor” a lot, but I recently heard someone at school talk about “parallel minor.” A: Good question! First, I’ll take a look at this column I wrote in 2014 concerning modes (and the relative minor). The term “relative minor” refers to the modes....

Exercises: Thumb Position in the Lower Positions
The Lowdown with Dr. D

Exercises: Thumb Position in the Lower Positions

When many of us first learn to play in “thumb position” (using thumb on top of the fingerboard to press the string down) we begin by placing thumb on the half-string harmonic (G on the G-string, 12th fret, if we had frets). In fact, much beginning thumb position study starts here. From here, intermediate thumb position study often focuses on...

Scale Exercise in Thumb Position
The Lowdown with Dr. D

Scale Exercise in Thumb Position

When double bassists put their thumb on top of the fingerboard, rather than behind it, and use it to depress the string (just like the other fingers), we call that “thumb position.” There are a plethora of etude books and exercises to help us solidify the use of the thumb to press the string, but I’ve found a few particularly...

Talking Technique: Drills for Fills
Talking Technique

Talking Technique: Drills for Fills

Everyone loves a perfectly placed fill. That’s why today we’ll be going over scalar exercises that will help us create those tasty licks while beefing up our technique. In essence, we’re practicing a scale. Typically when you play a scale, you go from root to root in order. But we’re going to break it down and move in thirds instead!...

Hal Leonard Releases Book on Scales Over Chords
Sheet Music & Instruction

Hal Leonard Releases Book on Scales Over Chords

Hal Leonard Corp. has published the “Bassist’s Guide to Scales Over Chords: The Foundation of Effective Bass Lines.” The book looks at how to apply scales in a musical way, which is essential knowledge for those learning how to create and improvise bass lines and solos. The book, which covers 11 scales and features 136 audio tracks and 17 extended...

Talking Technique: Modes on a String
Talking Technique

Talking Technique: Modes on a String

Typically when we play scales, we play across the strings, but there’s a lot of value in playing all the way up a single string. It helps us to think in positions and to mentally know how many steps you are skipping as you walk up the string. Today we’ll be working on our theory as well as our technique...

Package Teaches Hundreds of Double Bass Scales
Sheet Music & Instruction

Package Teaches Hundreds of Double Bass Scales

Interested in honing your skill with double bass scales? Bass educator and founder of Discover Double Bass, Geoff Chalmers has created a digital ebook and backing track package, Double Bass Scales: The Play-Along Collection. The package covers 17 different scale types in all 12 keys, over one and two octaves. The package includes 408 written scales and 800 backing tracks....

Talking Technique: Killer Dead Note Grooves
Talking Technique

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, right-hand percussion, and left-hand percussion. For this lesson we examine how dead notes (and silence) affect the groove. As is often the case, a good way to begin practicing them is by utilizing scales. We’ll be...

Talking Technique: Harmonic Minor Speed Shedding
Talking Technique

Talking Technique: Harmonic Minor Speed Shedding

As with many scales, the harmonic minor scale gives us a great tonal playground to work with, but it also gives us a great platform to work on our technical playing. This lesson will work on some J.S. Bach-inspired harmonic minor bass lines to focus on our coordination and speed training. There’s nothing like a fun technical exercise! If you...

Introduction to Chromatic Scales
The Lowdown with Dr. D

Introduction to Chromatic Scales

For many bassists, the chromatic scale is an underused resource in their practice toolkit. Properly approached, practicing chromatic scales can vastly improve our shifting, intonation and mental map of the fingerboard. Below are a few beginner exercises using the chromatic scale that I find to be useful for those just becoming more familiar with it. Single string 1 8va chromatic...

Preferred Scale Books for Bass Players
The Lowdown with Dr. D

Preferred Scale Books for Bass Players

Recently I’ve been getting a lot of people asking for recommendations for “good” scale books for the double bassist. This is an interesting subject, as there so many books out there! Furthermore, whether a scale book is “good” or not often depends not on their content, but rather how they are applied. This is why a good teacher and a...

Getting “Unstuck” from the Blues Scale
Ask Damian Erskine

Getting “Unstuck” from the Blues Scale

Q: How do I get myself unstuck from using the blues scale? Whenever I solo in fingerstyle or slap, I can’t help but to be stuck on the blues scale. I want to move on from it. Also, when I’m doing slap, I stick to octaves, but I want to be able to do different intervals and move around a...