When deciding between hollow body, solid body or short scale and long scale basses, it will ultimately come down to a matter of preference and what sound you want to produce. All models have there advantages and disadvantages – knowing the differences between each will help you choose the right instrument for you.
Welcome to your first bass lesson! This video covers all the essential terminology and basic knowledge you will need as you continue developing your bass playing skills. Even if you feel you know a bit about the bass already, don’t be tempted to skip over this lesson, as there may well be some important information you have yet to pick up.
Just as we looked at bass symmetrics in major keys, here we will be applying the same theory to minor – again, knowing your I, IV, V theory will be important before tackling this lesson.
Bass symmetrics involves taking scales and other patterns and joining them together on the fretboard. You will need to have grasped a bit about I, IV, V theory and know a few scale patterns before tackling this lesson.
We have taken a look at symmetrics for major and minor-key patterns, but here we will be working off the pentatonic minor scale.
In the second of our two lessons on I IV V, we will be taking a closer look at how these notes fit into the scale and how all this theory can help you construct more interesting bass lines. You can find part 1 here.
Coming to grips with I IV V theory is essential for any serious musician – it has formed the cornerstone of many great bass lines and guitar solos, and also makes learning songs and jamming with other musicians so much easier. The information provided in this lesson will prove to be indispensable no matter what level you aspire to.
After you’ve gone through this lesson, please proceed to the second part of this lesson, where we break away from the theoretical and apply this stuff directly to the fretboard of your guitar or your bass.
In this lesson we will be looking at using root notes of chords to construct bass lines. This is a beginners lesson, but you will need to know how the notes are laid out on the fretboard.
In the second of our two-part lesson on bass soloing, we will see how we can start composing bass lines and phrases using the scales we looked at in the first video.
In the first of our two-part lesson on how to solo on the bass, we are going to start off by looking at some important scale positions and key notes.
Getting to know your roots and fundamental rhythms on the bass will be a must if you want to make any progress. Here we will look at several popular techniques and rhythm styles that are used in a range of genres.
Here is a handy lesson for working out bass guitar chords on a scale. You will need to know the layout of the notes, but the chord shapes won’t be too hard to figure out.
Related Videos:
If you ever wondered why we use bass scales, this lesson will be a great place to start finding out.
This lesson on the I IV V Perfect Harmony Box is the final of three lessons on using intervals on the bass. You can checkout the other two below:
Once you get a handle on using the I IV V perfect harmony box, you can do a lot with it on the bass.
This is the second lesson on Bass Intervals, and if you haven’t yet checked out the one on the Perfect 8th, you might want to do that first.
The Perfect 5th is probably the most common interval in bass (apart from the octave), and it is used in many different types of music. Of course, country is famous for the 1-5 interval.
This lesson is the first of a series on using intervals on the bass guitar. Because the bass doesn’t use multi-note chords in the same way that a guitar does, you often find yourself playing just one or two notes at a time, or, more commonly, bouncing between a pair of notes. These form intervals, and understanding them is crucial to taking your bass playing further.
This lesson is on the perfect 8th, or octave interval, and it is the best place to start.
So you want to learn how to shuffle on the bass? We’ve touched on this in other lessons, though this one gets specifically at the heart of the matter.
Playing a shuffle on the bass tends to go hand in hand with a walking bass line, one of the most fun things to play on the bass. In this lesson we also cover playing a shuffle on the guitar, because understanding how the guitar and the bass parts interact is quite important.
This lesson is on the pentatonic minor scale, for the bass.
Make sure you’ve gone through the Tones and Semitones (Bass Guitar For The Total Beginner) lesson first, because that lays the foundation for what you’re going to learn in this lesson.
In this lesson, we’ll cover pentatonic minor scale in the 1 position, plus the open position, plus the Mixolydian scale, also known as the pentatonic climb. We’ll also look at how this applies to four and five string basses.
Once you’ve mastered the pentatonic scale pattern, the next step is to learn some riffs from that scale!
The flatted 7th is an extremely useful tool for the bass player… here’s a lesson all about it!
This bass lesson was created with the total beginner in mind, so if you’re just picking up the bass guitar for the first time, this is the place to start!
Some topics covered are:
Remember, if you have any questions, you can ask them in the comments area below.
This is the second lesson in our series on jamming with the bass and guitar.
Please make sure you’ve first gone through lesson 1 in this series.
On the bass you’ll review the major scale, as well as learn some more tips on walking the bass with a 12 bar progression.
On the guitar, you’ll learn a couple new chords that sound great in 12 bar progressions, and also more from the jamming front.
Here’s an introductory lesson to walking bass lines. Although this lesson is for beginners, you should make sure you’re at least familiar with the material in this lesson first as you’ll be using the major scale here too.
Here’s an introduction lesson for bass guitar players. If you’re just getting started, then you’re in exactly the right place!
In this lesson you’ll learn the G major scale, and how to use it.
As usual, any comments or questions are welcome, underneath the video.
Once you’ve got a handle on the major scale, the next step is to learn some riffs from it!
This is the first lesson that Colin and Jonathan have paired up on, so let us know what you think about it!
This lesson is for both guitar players AND bass players. Having an understanding of the other instrument will really help you out as a player, and will give you a better understanding of how your own playing relates to the rest of the bad.
We’ll teach you a simple progression and give you some tools that you can use to jam with others over the progression.