Bass Lesson Archives - Page 13

Although scales, arpeggios and repertory are necessary for any musician’s development, etudes and exercises such as the ones below should also be part of any instrumentalist’s diet. Such exercises allow us to focus on a single aspect of technique. Single task left hand drills are essential if we desire to have true dexterity in the left hand fingers. There are...

My most recent lessons have focused on the use of the pentatonic scales as it relates to improvising and learning the fretboard (see my lessons on improvising over a minor key progression and breaking down the pentatonic scale for more background). Today we’ll continue this topic with the exploration of improvising over a D minor 7 chord using the pentatonic...

Q: What is a “polyrhythm”, and how can I use them? A: Technically speaking, a polyrhythm is exactly what it says… more than one rhythm happening at the same time. This could be a Cascara rhythm combined with a Clave, or even just a swing pattern on the ride along with the hi-hat on 2 and 4. I find African,...

Today, we’re going to break down the minor pentatonic scale, its positions on the fretboard, and its uses. As the name suggests, the pentatonic scale is a five note scale. If we look at this scale in A minor, our scale is: A = root (1) C = minor third (b3) D = fourth (4) E = fifth (5) G...

This is a lesson mostly for beginners, but it should serve as a great refresher for the rest of us. Unfamiliarity with the fretboard has a lot of downsides. It’ll slow your playing, because your mind has to figure out where your fingers should go, rather than just instinctively knowing where you need to be. Your technique will suffer as...

In this new lesson, we’ll break down the concepts of utilizing triads in expanding your fretboard knowledge and control. We’ll explore triad inversions, different fingerings and using triads as target notes to achieve this goal. The video starts with a demonstration of a solo over a G Major chord. I’m playing a G Major triad. A triad is of course...

Or Lubianiker (aka “Rule of Thump”) is on to something cool in the world of bass lessons. He’s posted his first experiment with interactive bass lessons on YouTube in which he plays simple licks in E minor and you choose how to mix and match them to create your own licks. Or provides links to each little lick and breaks...

In this lesson we’re going to focus on a style known as finger-style funk (or “finger funk”), with the goal of developing both dexterity and accuracy in your playing. Finger-style funk is typically centered around the 16th note, and many of the notes are muted. You’ll notice in the notation for this lesson that those muted notes are indicated with...

In my last lesson, we covered the topic of improvising over a minor 7 chord. This time around, we’re going to focus on improvising over a minor key progression. For this lesson, we’ll use this progression: | Am7 | G7 | FMaj7 | FMaj7 Bm7b5 | For this particular progression, you can play the A minor Aeolian/A minor pentatonic scale,...

Today, I’m kicking off a new Practical Theory lesson series, starting with an approach to improvising over a minor 7 chord. In the video below, I demonstrate a solo groove before describing the approach. In jazz, funk, and rock, if a solo section consists of a static minor 7 chord, most often the Dorian minor scale is used. The Dorian...

In this installment of our new bass lesson series, we’re focusing on a slap-based, percussive bass technique widely known as “Double Thumbing” or the “Victor [Wooten] style”. This technique involves an approach to slap where you hit the string with your thumb and follow through, landing on the next string. So the first note – an open E – would...

Many students have trouble mastering vibrato technically and understanding its usage musically. There are numerous debates regarding vibrato usage in musical contexts, so today we will focus on a simpler matter: how to achieve technical mastery of this skill. From an instrumental point of view, our goal is to have complete control over the width and speed of our vibrato,...