Bass Modes: Aeolian

So, here we go again with the modes…remember: MODES ARE NOT KEYS. There is a huge difference between a mode and a key- they are two completely different “systems” in music. With that in mind, we’re going to start with the Aeolian mode on the bass. This mode has exactly the same notes as the [...]

July 20, 2011 at 7:00 pm | Bass Scales | No comments

Bass Scales: The Minor Pentatonic

So, the minor pentatonic scale- pretty much the same idea as the major pentatonic scale, in that we take the full scale (although this time it’s the natural minor scale, not the major scale), and we pick only 5 notes… You may have also guessed by now that the prefix “penta-” is related to the [...]

July 13, 2011 at 7:00 pm | Bass Scales | No comments

Bass Scales: The Major Pentatonic

So we’ve covered the major scale, but that scale contains a whole 7 notes…and half of them don’t even sound that great. Couldn’t we just cut out the “bad” or “boring” notes, and only use the “main” notes? Well, all of the notes in the scale have their uses…but we can still condense the major [...]

July 6, 2011 at 7:00 pm | Bass Scales | No comments

Bass Scales: The Melodic Minor

So we’ve covered the minor scale, and then I explained how it evolved to create the harmonic minor because it creates better sounding chords for some situations. Next, we’re looking at the third evolution, the “melodic minor”- how it came to be and what it’s for. The Melodic Minor Here’s a recap of the harmonic [...]

June 29, 2011 at 7:00 pm | Bass Scales | No comments

Bass Scales: The Harmonic Minor

So, following on from last weeks “bass scales” post on the natural minor scale, this weeks lesson will be about the harmonic minor scale. I mentioned last week that the natural minor scale was called “natural” because we hadn’t altered it in any way…so by that logic, what makes the harmonic minor scale…”harmonic”? Yes, I [...]

June 8, 2011 at 7:00 pm | Bass Scales, Music Theory | No comments

Bass Scales: The Minor Scale

If you’ve read my post on harmonising a scale, you may have realised that if something is called “major”, it’s because the third note is a “major third” above the root note. If that sounds like gobbledygook to you then let me explain… For example, the major scale is called the major scale, because of [...]

June 1, 2011 at 7:00 pm | Bass Scales | No comments

Bass Scales: The Major Scale

Why learn the major scale? Well, it’s the very basis of modern music theory and harmony! It’s like the “default setting” that everything else is related back to: chords, scales, tonalities…everything! So the major scale is going to be our starting point for this look into scales for bass. Every scale follows a pattern of [...]

May 25, 2011 at 7:00 pm | Bass Scales | No comments

Bass Scales

I’ve done a whole series on scales for guitar, so it only makes sense to do the same for bass. I know some of you are probably thinking “…but the tuning is the same, surely it’s not that different?!”… …but you’d be wrong! In fact, bass and guitar are two very different instruments. So what [...]

May 18, 2011 at 7:00 pm | Bass Lessons, Bass Scales | No comments

How to Play Bass: Summary

Just to re-cap what we’ve covered in this series- and this is by no means the last post I’ll write for bassists, so stay tuned! We have covered: The fretting hand The picking hand How to create Basslines How to use Octaves Walking Bass Using Syncopation How to Swing Slap Bass and using Harmonics Just [...]

May 5, 2011 at 2:00 pm | Bass Lessons, How to | No comments

How to Play Bass: Harmonics

Harmonics are when you lightly touch a string at certain points, without pressing the string down. I go into more detain in this video: Quite useful on bass to get those higher-register notes and to allow you to form chords that aren’t too “muddy” sounding (as would happen if you tried playing chords normally on [...]

April 28, 2011 at 2:00 pm | Bass Lessons, How to | No comments

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