Top 10: The Best Bass Lessons and How To’s in February

1. Expand Your Bass Fretboard Knowledge with the Pentatonic Scale

Here’s a great exercise aimed at expanding your fretboard knowledge. For this lesson, we’re going to use the five positions of the A minor / C Major pentatonic scale. The pentatonic scale contains five notes, of course, and you can play this from different positions. Learning these patterns will significantly increase your fretboard knowledge…

2. Butter Strings: A Guide to Finding the Best Bass Strings for You

Finding the right strings is something that’ll take some experimentation. You’ll need to discover what combination of string gauge, tension, material and height you prefer. Damian answers a reader’s question on the subject…

3. Setting Yourself Up For Success In The Practice Shed (Part 1)

If you are really serious about improving your bass playing, at some point you are going to realize that you need to have a solid practice plan in place. Check out Adam Nitti’s excellent guest column…

4. Harmonics: A Starter Guide for Bassists

Whatever the genre, we bassists seem to love harmonics. From Jaco to Dittersdorf, bass music is full of them. When we are introduced to playing harmonics however, the prospect can be a bit tricky. Dr. D breaks it down…

5. DI, Mic or Both? Perspectives from Bassists and Engineers

Direct? Mic? Both? So many variables in this decision bassists face. Damian shares his insights in this Ask Damian column…

6. Setting Yourself Up For Success In The Practice Shed (Part 2)

Adam Nitti wraps up his 2-part series on practicing and setting your routine…

7. Advanced Bass Fretboard Knowledge with the Pentatonic Scale

Last time, we took a look at some basic exercises aimed at expanding fretboard knowledge through the use of the pentatonic scale. For this lesson, we’ll cover more advanced patterns and build on what we’ve started in the first part…

8. 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…

9. Stage Volume: Turn Up and Play Light (and Other Considerations)

If you find yourself playing with a heavy right hand to cut through the mix, you’ll want to read this column and save yourself from pain and frustration…

10. Gigging? Make a Reserve Tune List

It’s 11:58, and you just finished a killer set. So much so that the crowd is clapping, fist pumping, raising their drinks in the air and collectively begging for one more song. The band members look around at one another and think, “yeah, this is awesome! But what are we gonna do???” Read Ryan’s column and get some inspiration…