Right Hand Technique ( 3 fingers)

Hi,

I would like to share with you the 3 fingers technique which I am trying to improve and apply.

The plucking concept is similar to that of playing on a classical guitar.

You can check out Bass players like Dominique Di Piazza and Damian Erskine for more applications and examples.








T - Thumb
m - middle finger
i - index finger

Practice slow and gradually increase the speed.

Have fun!

Playing Chords on Bass (3 positions)

Hi,

We know that a basic chord is formed by 1 3 5.

For example, the notes in an A chord will be A (1) C# (3) E (5).

I have tabbed out three different positions of an A chord.

Some of you will know them as inversions.







Remember the shape and shift it around to play other chords.

Hope this is clear.

Have fun.

G Major Scale Exercise

Hi,

The exercise below is an alternate way to practice the G major scale.

Sometimes when you improvise in the key of G, this pattern can be quite useful.





This will help you to be more familiar with the fretboard.

You can practice playing backward as well.

Have fun

Choosing a 4, 5 or 6 String Bass

Dear all,

This video by Russ Rodgers is a good introduction for beginners who are deciding what basses to get.



Hope this is helpful

Cheers

C7 Chord Arrpegio

Hi,

The dominant chord is very common in most genre of music like blues, funk and gospel.

It is important as bass player to know the pattern and notes of a chord.

The chart below shows the notes in a C7 Arrpegio.






The notes in a C7 chord are C (root) E (3rd) G (5th) Bb (b7).

Practice this pattern and slowly move up the frets to find the other notes in the chord.

Have fun.

Double 5th Exercise

Dear friends,

If G is "I", the "V" is D

If D is "I", A is the "V"

The exercise below is useful when you are playing a lick in G.






All the notes are from the G major scale.

From the G on the 3rd fret of the E string to the G on the 12th fret of the G string.

Try this out and play some variation.

Cheers

Basic Bass Chords Chart

Hi,

Playing chords on the bass is easy, fun and nice.

We know that a major chord has a formula of 135.

Example in a G major chord, the notes that formed the chord is G B D (135).

G minor will be G Bb D (1 b3 5) and G Dominant will be G B D F (1 3 5 b7).

The 5th is not necessary when playing a bass chord.

The chart below will give you a good introduction of playing chords on bass.











Have Fun.

Funk and Blues using Dominant 7

Hi,

This is a simple exercise for those who are exploring funk and blues.

The dominant 7 chords are frequently used in these genres.

The exercise below can be played over a A7 and D7 progression.






You may want to add some bending and sliding to create more feel.

You can practice the above as a slapping exercise as well.

Have fun.

Introduction to Chords Substitution

Hi,

This post is an attempt to understand basic chords substitution.

This is useful when the chords for both the verse and chorus of a song are the same.

Let's list down the chords in G major.

I II III IV V VI VII
Gmaj7 Am7 Bm7 Cmaj7 D7 Em7 F#m7(b5)

For example, the chords of a song uses I VI IV V progression.

The chords will be Gmaj7 Em7 Cmaj7 D7.

We can substitute I with III.

Instead of playing Gmaj7, we change to Bm7.

The new progression will be Bm7 Em7 Cmaj7 D7

The notes in a Gmaj7 are G B D F#

The notes in a Bm7 are B D F# A

Out of 4 notes, 3 are the same, therefore it will sound correct.

Hope this helps.

Have fun.

Arpeggios 3rd

Hi,

When we are playing bass, sometimes it is good to start on the root but end on the 3rd (10th)

How do you do it?

Let say you want to improvise over a G chord.

You can follow the notes below:

--------------------------------------------
-------------------------5(root)---9 (10th)-
---------2(3rd)--5(5th)--------------------
-3(root)------------------------------------

You will be surprise by this simple technique.

Cheers

Power Chord Slap

Hi,

A Power Chord is a chord that consist of the root and the fifth.

For example, to play a F Power Chord, you press the F note (root) and the C note (5th).

Now the exercise below is a triplet slap exercise.


---------5(p)--------7(p)---------9(p)-------
--0-(h)3------0-(h)5------0-(h)7------------
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------

Practice slowly and gradually increase the speed.

Have Fun.

Open Hammer Pluck

Hi,

Just to follow up on the previous post.

If you gave it a try, you will be surprise how fast you can play with little effort.

Now let's try another technique called the open hammer pluck.

All you need to do is add a pluck after the open hammer.

------------6(p)--------8(p)--------9(p)---
--------------------------------------------
----0-4(h)-----0-6(h)------0-7(h)---------
--------------------------------------------

Have fun!

How to sound fast?

Hi,

There are many ways to sound fast in your bass playing but what I would like

to share is to make use of the open hammer-on.

You may like to use your thumb (slap) to play this exercise.

----------------------------------------
-----------------0-5-7-----------------
---------0-5-7----------0-5-7---------
-0-5-7-------------------------0-5-7--

The above is a simple Em Pentatonic Scale.

Use your thumb to strike the string, than you can use your left index finger to fret the note followed by the hammer-on using your ring finger.

Have fun.

9th Chord

Hi,

There are some players who are confuse with the 9th chord and I hope to explain clearly here.

The notes in a C major scale are - C D E F G A B C ( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8(1) )

The notes in a Cmaj 7 chord are - C E G B (1 3 5 7)

The notes in a C7 chord are - C E G Bb (1 3 5 b7)

To play a 9th chord, it is simple.

For a Cmaj 9, the notes are - C E G B D (2+7 =9)

For a C9 , the notes are - C E G Bb D

So do not mix up Cmaj9 and C9.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Basic Paradiddle on Bass

Hi,

A paradiddle is a drum rudiment which consist of a four-note pattern of the form Right Left Right Right(RLRR) or LRLL.

This pattern can help us improve our rhythmic and percussive style of slapping.

Let's try this pattern on the bass where "R" is your right hand slap thumb and "L" is using your left hand to slap the fretboard.

Slapping with your left hand on the fretboard requires some practicing.

Now try the pattern RLRR LRLL and repeat it.

To get the percussive feel, mute all the notes.

Once you are more comfortable, you can increase the speed.

Experiment and you will be surprise what you can do.

Cheers