Basic Harmonics

Hi,

Adding harmonics in your bass playing can be pretty musical.

The example given show a note pressed and the <5> is harmonics on the 5th fret.

You just need to place your finger lightly against the string but not touching the fret.

Try plucking it nearer to the bridge pickup and have a higher treble setting on your amp.

If successful, you will hear an unique chime sound.







For more advance study, please listen to:
1. Jaco Pastorius
2. Stu Hamm
3. Victor Wooten
4. Steve Bailey
5. Vail Johnson
6. Victor Bailey
7. Jeff Berlin
8. Billy Sheehan
9. John Myung
10. Michael Manring
11. and etc

Have fun

Melodic Minor Scale

Hi,

Another scale that you may want to consider having in your toolbox is the Melodic Minor Scale.

The notes in the C Major Scale - C D E F G A B C (you should know by now :))

The formula for Melodic Minor Scale - 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7 1(8) = C D Eb F G A B C

We can apply this scale on a minor chord but preferably not on a minor 7 chord. Try it on a Minor Maj7 Chord.

You can also apply the C Melodic Minor Scale on the (V7) which is G7 in the key of C

The notes in a G7 = G B D F, which are also inside the C Melodic Minor Scale.

You can try the D Melodic Minor Scale, F Melodic Minor Scale and the Ab Melodic Minor Scale.

Have fun.

Walk Down

Hi,

G D7 Em7 Bm7 C G Am7 D7

Find the above chord progression familiar? Maybe for some of you.

The natural approach for beginners are to play the root note.

To make things more smooth, we can use the walk down approach.

Something like this - G D7/F# Em7 Bm7 C G/B Am7 D7

Bassist will play the slash note on the right - e.g D7/F#, we play the F# note and let the guitarist or pianist play the D7 chord.

Some people call this "inversion".

Basically, instead of playing the root note which is D in the D7 chord,
we play the 3rd which is the F#.

As mentioned in our previous lesson, Dominant chord are formed by the formula 1 3 5 b7

D7 = D F# A C

Therefore we can use the G to D7/F# to Em7, creating a walk down.

Using the same approach we can apply it on the C G Am7 to become C G/B Am7

Since you can walk down, you can also walk up, depending on the chord progression.

Hope you enjoy this lesson.

Cheers

Funk Groove

Hi,

Here is a simple exercise for those who are interested to learn Funk.




Important thing to take note is the ghost note and the Funk feel.

Chromatic scale was used as well.

Have fun

2nd Dominant

Hi,

As some of you already know, the 5th degree in a Major scale family chord is a dominant chord.
I.e. G7 in the Key of C.

Looking at a common chord progression(1 6 2 5) in key of C , the chords are C Am7 Dm7 G7.

Now, playing the same progression, instead of playing the Am7, play a A7 chord.

You will notice that the voicing is even more jazzy, creating a tension.

That is an example of applying the 2nd dominant.

You can try also changing the Dm7 to a D7 chord, but perhaps play a Am7 instead of A7.

Experiment around.

Have fun.

Bass Workshop

Praise God for the first Bass workshop conducted on 1st June 2008.
There were sharing of good bass players in the world and watching their video.
There were teaching and discussion on melody, harmonics and techniques.
Most importantly, everyone enjoyed themselves.

Slap Exercise

Hi,

The key to slapping the bass and allowing people to enjoy and tap along with you, is by adding ghost notes to your playing.

The above is a cool slap groove which is not too complicated but yet a good practice.

Make sure that the ghost notes (X) can be heard.

Have fun

Rock Exercise

Hi,

This exercise is simple but yet fun when play fast.

Try it slow first and slowly build up the speed.

If you do not have a band or drum machine to practice with, can use an online metronome.

The basic chords are G C D C G.

Have you have queries, please feel free to email me.

Enjoy and have fun.

Blues Scale

Hi,

The blues scale is a pretty common scale and sometimes we use it without even realizing it.

Remember the pentatonic scale? Say G minor pentatonic, its G Bb C D F right?

You need to add a flat 5th into the minor pentatonic to form the blues scale.

So the G blues scale will be G Bb C C# D F.

Hope this information helps.

Cheers

7th chords

Hi,

Often you will see chords like Cmaj7 or Cm7 and etc.

Basically they are just chords with a 7th note.

As we already know, chords are formed by 1+3+5.

A Major 7th chord will be 1+3+5+7.
E.g Cmaj7 - C + E + G + B

For Minor 7th chord, it will be 1+b3+5+b7
E.g Cm7 - C + Eb + G+ Bb

For Dominant 7th chord, it will be 1+3+5+b7
E.g C7 - C E G Bb

How about Sus 7th chord? It will be 1 +4+5+b7
E.g C7sus - C F G Bb

Trying adding the 7th to your chord now. :)

Chords from Major Scale

Hi,

Chords are 2 or more notes pressed together simultaneously.

From the major scales, we can form 7 basic chords.

Let's take a look at the notes in the C major scale: C D E F G A B C

To form a basic chord, we can press the 1 and the 3 together.

If 1 = C ,E will be 3, we get a C chord.

Now we move to D. If D= 1 , F = 3, that is a Dm chord.

Next, E=1 than 3 must be G, that is a Em chord.

F=1, A=3, we get a F chord.

G=1, B=3, we get a G chord.

A=1, C= 3, that is a Am chord.

B=1, D=3, a Bm chord is formed.

The basic chords in a C major scales are: C Dm Em F G Am Bm C.

Some people play it this way: Cmaj7 Dm7 Em7 Fmaj7 G7 Am7 Bm7(b5) Cmaj7.

Have fun.

Minor Pentatonic Scale

Hi,

We have covered the major pentatonic scale in the previous post, let's take a look at the minor pentatonic scale.

Minor pentatonic scale consist of 5 notes from the minor scale.

The notes in a G minor pentatonic scale are: G Bb C D F (a common fingering pattern).

So when an instrument play the Gm or Gm7 chord, you can play the notes in the G minor pentatonic scale.

Have Fun.

Pentatonic Scale (Amazing Grace)

Hi,

One of the most useful scales that help guitarists and bass players is the pentatonic scale.

We will look into the major pentatonic scale for now.

Major pentatonic scale consist of 5 notes from the major scale.

The notes in G major pentatonic scale are : G A B D E (a common fingering pattern).

You can play the melody of the song, Amazing Grace by using the G major pentatonic scale.

If you would like to play using harmonics, find out the melody first,follow by the harmonics on the bass frets and pluck near the bridge pick up(turn up the treble).

Have Fun.

Dorian Groove

Hi,

This exercise is based on the G Dorian Scale.

Sound pretty interesting when you play it fast.

Here we go,

G Bb C, G C D, G E F, G F G, G

To make it more groovy, you can add a ghost note (X).

Like this,

G X Bb C, G X C D, G X E F, G X F G, G

Start slow and gradually increase the tempo.

Enjoy

Basic Walking Bass

Walking Bass lines are used in rock, blues, jazz, gospel and many other genres.

I would like to share the basic idea of building walking bass lines using chord tones.

Let's try playing a 4 chords progression in the key of G.

The chords are - Am7|D7 |Gmaj7| Cmaj7|.

We need to identify the notes in these chords.

Am7 - A C E G
D7 - D F# A C
Gmaj7 - G B D F#
Cmaj7 - C E G B

Now, each note is a quarter note (1/4).
The timing is like this - 1234|1234|1234|1234 (one note each).
The basic idea is always to play the root notes on the "1".
You can try different arrangement of the notes,
the exercise below is an example of what you can play.

e.g. ACEC|DCAF#|GBDG|CBDG

Get a guitarist to play along with you and experiment which notes sound better.

More complicated walking bass lines can be formed using modes,passing notes and need not start with the root note.

Have fun.

Famous Slapper

To be a good slapper on the bass, one need to have a good sense of rhythm and know what notes to hit (Ghost notes play a big part in funk slap style).

Would like to name a few good bass players whom we can study.

1) Stanley Clarke
2) Victor Wooten
3) Stu Hamm
4) Abraham Laboriel
5) Louis Johnson
6) Larry Graham
7) Mark King
8) Marcus Miller
9) Vail Johnson
10) Flea

There are many others in the world but these 10 listed are some of my favourites.

Play around with your amp settings, pickup selection, frequency cuts to get the tone you like.

Cheers

Night School

Hi,

For those who are familiar with Stanley Clarke, will surely know this song "School Day".

There is this part at his lastest DVD titled Night School, where many popular bass players improvise School Day with their style.

Some of the bass players include Stu Hamm, Brian Bromberg, Jimmy Johnson, Marcus Miller, Wayman Tisdale and etc.

Grab a copy now. :)

5 Steps for beginners

Recently I was sharing with some friends how to improve their playing.

I figure that most people these days just want to play but not learn the theory.

One reason I feel that theory is important - You will know what notes you can and cannot play.

Below are 5 steps to give self taught beginners a kick start.

1) Memorise the fretboard - Start with the first 5 frets (all strings) and slowly move up.

2) Learn the Major Chords and Scales ( Major Chord = 135, Major scale = 221 2221)

3) Practice plucking the strings alternating with 2 fingers (right hand)

4) Practice with a metronome / drum machine ( Start with 1 note per click)

5) Choose a song that you love and hear how the bassist play (Ask a friend or teacher to guide you)

Techniques like slapping, popping, tapping, chords, harmonics and etc are to help produce music.Learning to apply the techniques to your music is the challenge.

Internet resources, videos and books are your friends.
We are constantly learning new stuffs so don't feel pressure if you need more time. Email me if you need any elaboration.

Cheers

Minor chord family

Dear all,

Was great to see Stu Hamm performance live at the art house on 23rd August 07.

I think some who came were just accompanying their friends but nevertheless, I still enjoy myself.

For those who listen to Stu's music, you realize that he compose quite a lot of songs in minor key.

Let's refresh on the chords in the major key.

In the key of C - C Dm7 Em7 F G7 Am Bm7(b5) C

Try tapping that and you can play the Prelude in C.

Next the minor chord in key of A (based on A natural minor) - Am Bm7(b5) C Dm7 Em7 F G7 Am.

Do check out the minor chord family for Harmonic Minor and Melodic Minor.

Cheers,

Ben

Basic Tapping

Hi,

One way to make the bass sound more melodic is by playing chords.

Tapping can achieve a guitar plucking/piano playing type of sound.

The motion is similar as hammer on.

We will try a G chord for this explanation.
The 4 notes that you are going to tap are G (root) D (5th) G (octave) B (10th).
The fingering is similar as playing bar chord on the guitar.
Now your left hand fore finger on the root, followed by right hand fore finger on 5th , middle on octave and left ring finger on the 10th.

Give it a try :)