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Lesson Archives - Page 3

Learning the Bass Fretboard by Rocking Out
Bass Lessons

Learning the Bass Fretboard by Rocking Out

Here’s a lesson I’d classify as beginner/intermediate level, but the truth is, it is something I think can benefit all of us. The goal of this lesson is to become comfortable with the entire fretboard, through learning the notes on every fret. Using a simple Rolling Stones-style rock groove backing track, this lesson focuses in on working our way through...

Lesson: Half-Time 16th Note Shuffle Bass Groove
Bass Lessons

Lesson: Half-Time 16th Note Shuffle Bass Groove

Here’s a new lick to add to your bag of tricks: a half-time 16th-note shuffle groove with a hip-hop vibe. The pattern is based on the G minor pentatonic scale. (Note: If you need some background on the pentatonic scale, here’s a good lesson to help you get started.) Follow along with the video and this transcription (PDF with both...

Lesson: Getting Funky with Trills on Bass
Bass Lessons

Lesson: Getting Funky with Trills on Bass

In our last lesson, we focused on using vibrato to your bass lines for better phrasing. This time around, we’re going to spend time working on trills on the electric bass. As you’ll hear in the video, playing a line without trills is not bad. But when you add those trills, the line has so much more life to it....

Bass Lesson: Using Vibrato in Your Bass Lines for Better Phrasing
Bass Lessons

Bass Lesson: Using Vibrato in Your Bass Lines for Better Phrasing

Today we’re going to dive in to the topic of using vibrato in your playing in this beginner/intermediate-level bass lesson. Vibrato is key to expression and better phrasing, making it a vital tool of the trade. In the first example in the video below, we’ll play a rock groove in C. Our line is a simple one, with 4 bars...

Lesson: Funky Slap Bass with Open Strings
Bass Lessons

Lesson: Funky Slap Bass with Open Strings

Here’s a simple slap pattern based on open strings and octaves. As I demonstrate in the video, I’m playing a pattern, first in A, and then switching to E (same line). Before switching back to the A, there’s an octave line to bring us back. The line uses hammer-ons and pull-offs. Around the 3 minute mark of the video, I...

Jayme Lewis: Modulating Sweep Arpeggios and Inversions Lesson
Bass Videos

Jayme Lewis: Modulating Sweep Arpeggios and Inversions Lesson

Here’s a cool lesson for the adventurous bassist: Jayme Lewis’s lesson on performing sweep arpeggios and inversions. Jayme walks through his effects to make the arpeggios pop before dissecting each part of the etude’s intricacies. He even provides a PDF of the lesson with music notation and TAB, via his website.

Walking Bass Lesson: 12 Bar Blues
Bass Lessons

Walking Bass Lesson: 12 Bar Blues

When you’re presented with a 12-bar blues, you have different options for how to create a walking bass line. In this lesson, we’ll cover those options. The song example I’m using is “Gotta Mind to Travel” by Coco Montoya, if you want to check that out.

Reviving Old Bass Strings: A New Approach
Bass Lessons

Reviving Old Bass Strings: A New Approach

I let one of my friends borrow my 1978 pre-Ernie Ball Music Man bass, and he really gunked up the strings. You’ll hear in the video below that the strings are pretty dead. There are all kinds of tricks out there being shared for reviving old strings: boiling, alcohol, whatever. This doesn’t require any of that, and you don’t even...

Lesson: How to Groove on Bass
Bass Lessons

Lesson: How to Groove on Bass

One of the important aspects of playing bass is your ability to groove. In this new lesson, I’ll offer up some beginner-level concepts to help you start down the path. We’ll explore keeping time and using percussive an ghost notes to make the lines come to life… the recipe for getting people out of their seats and dancing. Follow along...

Lesson: Funky and Relaxed Fingerstyle Bass Groove with Double Stops
Bass Lessons

Lesson: Funky and Relaxed Fingerstyle Bass Groove with Double Stops

Continuing our bass groove lesson series, here’s a cool (and relaxed) groove and exercise for you. In this groove, we’re employing double stops with one of the most common shapes: Major 10th, root note, and a Major 3rd (an octave above). Follow along with the video and this lesson transcription (PDF download). For the gear heads, I’m playing my Sandberg...

Groovy Fingerstyle Bass Lick Lesson
Bass Lessons

Groovy Fingerstyle Bass Lick Lesson

Here’s a neat little fingerstyle groove lick lesson, complete with double stops and that open string trick we’ve been playing around with over a couple of the recent lessons. I can’t seem to stop using this technique when playing licks. Maybe it is becoming my signature thing! Follow along with the video and the transcription (PDF). We’re in the key...

Lesson: Soul/Funk Fingerstyle Bass Groove
Bass Lessons

Lesson: Soul/Funk Fingerstyle Bass Groove

In this lesson, we’ll explore some fingerstyle soul/funk with a nice groove in A. As with the previous lesson, I’m making use of open strings to achieve some fast note doubling (this time, A and D). Follow along with the video and this transcription (PDF). For the gear heads: I’m playing a Sandberg California TT MarloweDK Signature bass through a...