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Fretboard Exercises Archives

Vertical Soloing: C Minor 11 Arpeggio Exercise
Vertical Soloing

Vertical Soloing: C Minor 11 Arpeggio Exercise

In this lesson, Lorin Cohen shares an arpeggio exercise that develops our “Vertical” approach to the fingerboard and the ability to ascend swiftly up the neck.

Exercise For Unlocking The Fretboard
Ask Damian Erskine

Exercise For Unlocking The Fretboard

In this video, we’ll work through a great pattern that I learned from the great trombonist Dave Glen. It’s a fantastic way to make the transition between scales and arpeggios and also helps you to relate them more naturally to different chord types. I found this very useful when I first heard Dave talking about it and I think you...

Making Bass Exercises More Musical (and Fun)
Ask Damian Erskine

Making Bass Exercises More Musical (and Fun)

In this video, I’ll be talking a bit about how I try and apply exercises in a more open and musical context (aka, have more fun with them). There are a few minutes of talking and then a lot of playing around with the ideas we’ve been covering for the past few weeks. I hope you all get something from...

Talking Technique: Switching Drills for 4, 5, and 6 String Basses
Talking Technique

Talking Technique: Switching Drills for 4, 5, and 6 String Basses

Switch much? If you find yourself switching between four-, five- and six-string basses a lot, or even just between different bass models, here’s a lesson for getting comfortable with whatever bass, fast. Playing different instruments is like driving a different brand new car. It takes time to get comfortable and settle in. If you find yourself switching around, try these...

Creative Bass Lines: Increasing Fingerboard Knowledge – Part 3: Minor Arpeggios
Creative Bass Lines

Creative Bass Lines: Increasing Fingerboard Knowledge – Part 3: Minor Arpeggios

Continuing our series on increasing fingerboard knowledge, here’s the accompanying Minor Arpeggio Exercises to play all across the fingerboard. This is the same principle as the Major types. I’ve given you a number of variations to try, and you’ll see this gives you more options when playing over a minor chord type. As usual, practice everything slowly, paying partucular attention...

Creative Bass Lines: Increasing Fingerboard Knowledge – Part 2: Arpeggios, Major 7ths & Beyond!
Creative Bass Lines

Creative Bass Lines: Increasing Fingerboard Knowledge – Part 2: Arpeggios, Major 7ths & Beyond!

We have not one, but two lessons for you this month! In this lesson, I’ll talk you through major 7th, then 9th, ?11th and 13th arpeggios, which follows part one (“Triad Visualization”). I am a firm believer in learning these concepts in multiple ways/fingerings – it all goes to increase our overall knowledge of the fingerboard, and that’s a good...

Talking Technique: Feeling Rusty?
Talking Technique

Talking Technique: Feeling Rusty?

So you haven’t gotten to touch your bass in a while. It happens! We all have those times where we don’t get time with our bass for extended periods. When we get the bass in our hands again, our gut instinct is to get all our fast chops back, but that’s not such a great idea. The way to get...

Fast Fretboard Position Shifting on Bass
Bass Lessons

Fast Fretboard Position Shifting on Bass

Here’s a lesson I’d consider more beginner/intermediate-level, but it is a great refresher for all of us. Many times, we have to play a line which requires some quick shifting along the fretboard. Here’s a simple exercise for fast position shifts. Follow along with the video.

Fretboard Exercise: C Major Triad Reggae Groove
Bass Lessons

Fretboard Exercise: C Major Triad Reggae Groove

As bassists, it is important that we know our chords and arpeggios. Coupled with that is the importance of knowing the entire fretboard. In this exercise, we’ll play only three notes – the C Major triad. To make it fun, I’ve set it up as a reggae-style groove. As you’ll see in the video below, I cover the entire fretboard...

Covering All the Keys Using a Cool Minor Bass Lick (And Having Fun)
Bass Lessons

Covering All the Keys Using a Cool Minor Bass Lick (And Having Fun)

We’re taking a bit of a detour from our regular bass lick series lessons to work on moving around the fretboard and playing a line through all the keys. In this lesson, we’re going to start with a lick in A minor, and work through the cycle of fifths. Each key lasts four bars each. Follow along in the video,...

Learning to Transpose: A Lesson for Playing Bass Lines in Every Key
Bass Lessons

Learning to Transpose: A Lesson for Playing Bass Lines in Every Key

I’ve found many bass players have difficulty with transposing bass lines, so here’s a lesson that should help. Transposing on bass isn’t terribly difficult, since we can rely on shapes and patterns up and down the neck, to play a line in several keys. In the video below I demonstrate how to navigate the neck, playing the same pattern over...

Single String Shifting Exercise
The Lowdown with Dr. D

Single String Shifting Exercise

Single string shifting exercises are great for teaching us the geography of the fingerboard. Not to mention the help they provide in solidifying pitch accuracy and bow control. As a result, variations of the exercise given below have likely been in existence since the first human put first put bow to string. Edouard Nanny has a version at the end...