Bass Lessons Archives - Page 2

The foundation for harmonic structure is the triad. They are the basic chords of Western harmony, and using them in a solo provides a sense of structure and strongly outlines the underlying chords. Do not be fooled into thinking this is some boring drill where you arpeggiate the triads from chords in a lead sheet – there are lots of...

Chuck Sher has released Foundation Exercises for Bass, a new method book for beginner bassists looking to learn how to create bass parts through the intermediate level. The 87-page book offers a well thought-out, foundational approach, helping conceptualize many overlooked aspects of playing, such as time and feel. Foundation Exercises for Bass covers: The basic scales and chords used in...

It is critical to understand the natural resonances of the bass to get the strongest tone and make a plan for fingering strategies in each key. A working knowledge of natural harmonics and sympathetic resonances will allow you to make more sophisticated choices in your playing approach and ultimately improve your sound (and give you a ton of music-geek points)....

An important part of every musician’s evolution is ear training. It’s a strange concept, but becoming an active and educated listener pays off in a huge way. First lets cover a few points about what ear training is and isn’t and then we’ll get to the exercises. Ear training is a broad term used to cover two aural developmental practices...

In case you missed them, here are the top headlines from No Treble, for the week of October 12th. Lessons Jon Burr’s Pivots in Chord Inversions Evan Kepner’s Fingering Strategies for the Upright Bass Columns & Features Ask Damian Erskine: Reading Scenarios Ray’s Raving About… Kenny Werner’s “Effortless Mastery” Our Player Spotlight is on Mantis Evar We’re thrilled to welcome...

In one of my earlier lessons I talked about using melodic minor scales to create different degrees of altered tension over functional dominant seventh chords. I got a request from a No Treble reader named Mark, asking for ii-V-I applications. Mark, this lesson is for you! We’re going to focus on different ways to reharmonize the ii-V-I and how that...

Ever wonder what makes up a bass? The Examiner has posted an introductory article on the essential components to a bass guitar and upright bass. From the article’s introduction: The bass guitar is one of the most underrated positions in a band. Famous musicians and local heroes both agree that bass is the “glue that holds a song together”, yet...

David Ellefson, bassist for F5, continues with his Rock Shop series on YouTube with “The Discipline of Practice”. Ellefson explains the many benefits to disciplined practice and ways to make the process enjoyable as well as productive.

This lesson is derived from Jon Burr’s The Untold Secret to Melodic Bass. Be sure to check out the complete method book in downloadable PDF, Kindle Book and the all-new paperback formats. Last week we talked about “Anchors”. We introduced the idea of “Pivots” as “the primary oppositional tone to the root (or anchor). Here is some more discussion of...

Bassist David Ellefson continues his Rock Shop Webisodes with Part 6 of “Making a Recording,” a video continuing in his recording focus. His comment on the webisode project: “I’m always asked questions from fans and other musicians about playing the bass, the business side of our industry, and music in general. So, I decided to create these regular video webisodes...

This is the first chapter of “The Untold Secret to Melodic Bass.” Be sure to check out Jon’s previous lesson, Melodic Bass Lines, as well as the complete The Untold Secret to Melodic Bass in downloadable PDF or Kindle Book formats. I hope you, the bassist-reader, find the material useful; it’s an approach to the construction of bass lines based...

London-based bassist Mike Flynn has mastered the four-finger picking style, and he’s posted a video to demonstrate it for the rest of us. Mike shares, “I’ve been trying to get it for a while and as I already do the Wooten stuff that involves using two finger pluck with the index and middle fingers on your picking hand – it...