Diatonic Harmony

Hi,

The term diatonic means that the notes come from the same key.

Chords and notes that fall outside those made from these scales are not diatonic.

In the key of G major,the seven notes are– G, A, B, C, D, E, and F#.

A Cmaj7 is a diatonic chord in the key of G major since the notes are - C E G B which fall inside the G major scale.

A Cm7 is not a diatonic chord in the key of G major since the notes are - C Eb G Bb,
where Eb and Bb fall outside of the G major scale.

Hope this is clear.

Thanks

Dominant 7th

Hi,

Dominant 7th Chord is frequently used in many genres especially in Blues.








The above example is the pattern and notes for G dominant 7th chord.
All you need to do is study the fingering pattern and you can form other dominant chords easily.

Formula for Dom7th chord - 1 3 5 b7

G7 chord consist of G, B, D, F.

As for finger position you can try:
R (middle)
3 (index)
5 (last)
b7(middle)

Have fun.

Guitar plucking on Bass

Hi,

Bass can sound melodic too.

This article talks about plucking the bass like a guitar.








Use your thumb to hit the root note, follow by your index finger plucking on the open D string and middle finger plucking on the open G string.

For the left hand, you can use your index finger to fret the root note, ring finger to fret the open D string and last finger to fret the open G string.

Follow the above tab and you should be able to get what I'm trying to say.

Have fun.

Basic Flea Slap Style

Hi,

For those who are interested in Flea's slap style, this lesson is a good starter.







Slap on the C and hammer on to D, followed by a mute slap and pop.

The mute slap and pop is crucial to create the percussive feel.

Try it slow and as you increase the speed, you will be amazed that such a simple exercise make you sound so experience.

Enjoy!

Relative Scale

Hi,

Every major scale has a relative minor scale and every minor scale a relative major.

They share the same notes.

For example, a G major scale and a E minor scale are relative scales.

The notes in a G major scale are - G A B C D E F# G (G Ionian)

The notes in a E minor scale are - E F# G A B C D E (E Aeolian)

The different is the starting note.

The root of the relative minor is always the sixth note of the major scale.

The root of the relative major is always the third note of the minor scale.

This work for all the keys. Let's try key of C.

The notes in a C major scale are - C D E F G A B C (C Ionian)

The notes in a A minor scale are - A B C D E F G A (A Aeolian)

Have fun

Chord Tone Improvisation

Hi,

One of the best ways to create bassline is by using chord tone,which are the notes in a chord.

Let use Cmaj7 for an example.

The notes in a Cmaj7 are C E G B (1 3 5 7).

What people tend to do is when the other musicians strike a Cmaj7 chord, we bass player naturally play the C, which is the root note,or sometimes followed by E -> G-> B than to the next chord.

You can start simple improvisation by experimenting different placement of the note. i.e 3 1 5 7 or 5 1 3 7, or 3 5 1 7 or 7 5 3 1 and which ever ways you can come out with.

By doing this, you will break the fix pattern of playing 1->3->5->7.

Hope this helps.

Have fun

Arpeggio Exercise

Hi,

Arpeggio is playing the notes in a chord one by one instead of simultaneously.

In a G chord, the notes are G B D.

This arpeggio exercise is in G and helps to make it sound more interesting.






Hopefully this can give you some ideas to use arpeggio to create your bassline.

Have fun.

G Major Scale Octave Exercise

Hi,

This G major Scale Octave exercise can help you to practice for Stanley Clarke's "School Day".

First you try to play it using finger style, next move to slapping and popping.






When you pop, try to keep the note short.

Try to practice it with a drum machine or metronome.

Have Fun.

Different Tuning

Hi,

Most 4 string bass player will probably tune their bass with the standard E A D G.

We are expose to players like Stanley Clarke and Victor Wooten who tuned their bass to
A D G C(tenor bass).

Some people wonder if they are to tune the G string up to C or how?

For me, I will buy the high C string from a 6 string pack and use it instead.
Another common tuning is the drop D - D A D G. Either you can manually tune down to D or fix in the Drop D hipshot.

Standard 5 string bass tuning is B E A D G, but you can also tune it to E A D G C (standard+tenor bass). Many bassists tune it this way as they wanted to do more melodic stuff on their bass like Steve Swallow and Dominique Di Piazza.

I also see some people tune their 5 string to A E A D G(Drop D concept).

Standard 6 string tuning is B E A D G C. You can also tune it E A D G C F or F# B E A D G.
I personally haven't tried it before but I'm sure it is nothing new.

Michael Manring Hyper Bass is another interesting instrument where the tuning is C F Bb Eb.
Different songs he will tune it differently. He is so scary.
You guys can read up more if you like.

Cheers

SMV Thunder Tour (Singapore)

It was my privilege to witness the historical assemblage of Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten in their once-in-a-lifetime Asian tour.

Nothing beats watching them real live on stage.

Most of the songs played were from their Thunder album.

I personally enjoyed Marcus's bass clarinet playing and slapping tone, Victor's looping solo and Stanley's double bass percussive slap and solo.

The show ended with the famous "School Day" tune where the whole audience stood up and clap along.

I believe most musicians that attended the concert is further motivated to bring music to a higher level.

Cheers

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. :)