Where to go from here.

Alex Lowe (6)

Bass Instructional Forum
1/31/2010 12:50 AM

I'm trying to teach myself to play bass, but I don't
really seem to be going anywhere. So far I've just
been listening to bass lines I like, finding tabs,
and trying to play them. Besides some gradual
improvement to my fretting I don't think I'm much
better than when I started 6 months ago. So, I was
hoping for some advice and direction. Is there
anything in particular I should be trying to learn?
Should I be trying to get a more technical
understanding of music? Or should I be focusing
finger exercises?

Responses (continued) [ Pages: 1 · 2 ]

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Re: Where to go from here.

3/2/2010 8:24 PM

Malcolm Jones (50) wrote:

Our bass lines are over chords, i.e. we play chord tones. Do you know how to gather the tones (notes) of a chord? If not... http://www.smithfowler.org/music/Chord_Formulas.htm
Major chord is made from the 1-3-5 note of the 1's scale. C chord = C E & G notes. If you play patterns you only need to know how to place the pattern -- that graph that gave you was a generic 1-3-5 -- Place the 1 or root correctly and you can play as much of the chord as think fits the beat or groove the best.

C Chord used in the song. Here are your choices:
Bunch of C's , i.e. Roots
bunch of R-5 or C - G notes.
How about a R-3-5-3 for a C chord. That fills a 4/4 measure nicely.
How about a R-b3-5-b3 for a Cm chord.
How about a R-3-5-b7 for a C7 chord.
How about a R-b3-5-b7 for a Cm7 chord.

If that helped let's talk some more.

Good luck.

Respond to this

Re: Where to go from here.

3/2/2010 8:36 PM

Malcolm Jones (50) wrote:

Our bass lines are over chords, i.e. we play chord tones. Do you know how to gather the tones (notes) of a chord? If not... http://www.smithfowler.org/music/Chord_Formulas.htm
Major chord is made from the 1-3-5 note of the 1's scale. C chord = C E & G notes. If you play patterns you only need to know how to place the pattern -- that graph that Wayne gave you was a generic 1-3-5 -- Place the 1 or root correctly and you can play as much of the chord as think fits the beat or groove the best.

C Chord used in the song. Here are your choices:
Bunch of C's , i.e. Roots
bunch of R-5 or C - G notes.
How about a R-3-5-3 for a C chord. That fills a 4/4 measure nicely.
How about a R-b3-5-b3 for a Cm chord.
How about a R-3-5-b7 for a C7 chord.
How about a R-b3-5-b7 for a Cm7 chord.

If that helped let's talk some more.

Good luck.

Respond to this

Re: Where to go from here.

3/2/2010 8:50 PM

Malcolm Jones (50) wrote:

Excuse the double post -- can we edit if so where is the edit button?

Previous Responses [ Pages: 1 · 2 ]