The scales are easy to read if you use tab or read music. The book i mentioned, scales and modes by hall and manus does have the scales in many positions. The suggested fingering for the scale is to the left of the diagram. In this lesson we discuss the creation of a walking blues bass line and how to utilize the low b string to. Study book of scales for bass guitar contents introduction 3. The blues scale is a popular variation of the minor pentatonic and contains just one extra note an augmented 4th also called a diminished 5th. Scales and chords for the upright bass the following keys should be learned in the order presented. Scales, chords, arpeggios, and more presented with theoretical definitions and related resources. Encyclopedia of bass chords, arpeggios and scales book mel. I bought this book for my partner, who is a selftaught bass player.
For when you have to learn to play the bass right now. This book focuses on the most often used, including ethnic and exotic scales. The hungarian minor is also the fourth mode of the double harmonic scale. Development over one and two octaves follows, with fingerings and tablature for 4 and 5string electric bass guitars. Learn how to play the e major scale on bass guitar with our free tab, sheet music, neck diagrams, and more. I had such high hopes of posting about all of the things ive learned over the course of my first year studying bass and looking back at my fumbles.
Whats even worse is that last monday 34 was the oneyear anniversary of my starting this blog. If you really want to learn dont use scale books, theyre music by the numbers. You can use the major pentatonic scale for two different chord tonalities. Heres an example in case youre not familiar with the studybass approach. A hack for memorizing and combining pentatonic shapes youtube how to learn bass scales become a better bassist, not a robot duration. Great scale practice tips for bass guitar study book of scales.
The purpose of this book is to help beginner bassist to find the easiest way to play scales, triads and arpeggios. Oneoctave major pentatonic scale bass scales studybass. Hey bassitbeen playing for a year now,with no real focus beyond getting my technique down and learning songs i like. Heres an article i wrote back in the day about why learning songs makes more sense for the bass guitar than the rote learning of scales. This lesson demonstrates how to use the study book of scales for bass guitar as a basis for your scale practice routine. Most scales can be played in more than two positions, so that i would suggest to find all possible roots and play the same fingering. Guitarhabits dont let it bother you that most learning materials are for guitar. Notes in the commonly used scales see just below are separated by whole and half step intervals of tones and semitones. The bass players guide to scales and modes by stuart clayton.
Great scale practice tips for bass guitar with the study book of. Scales and arpeggios by jp dias gustavo lopez segura. When you shop through these links studybass earns a small commission at no extra cost to you. The homeprintable wall chart and book of scales free sponsored version by wayne chase for complete information on scales and modes, see the essential handbook for songwriters, performers, and music students, 2nd edition.
But practicing all of your scales will not only help you to become a better player, but they will also round out your sound and style. A beautiful photo of a fourstring electric bass is labeled with string numbers, open string names, and the fret location of all the natural notes on the fretbo. So how does one properly practice bass guitar scales. Along with doing twooctave scales, this is the main exercise i recommend to my students for getting a thorough knowledge of the neck of the bass. Bass lessons major scale lesson bass tab im tired of making music tabs so i thought id perhaps share with you guys some music theory. Today, we will be discussing the minor pentatonic scales for bass guitar. If you are not familiar with these terms, dont fear. You need 4 scales to cover 99% of a bass players work. For example, the minor pentatonic scale is shown in five different positions, plus an example of how the minor pentatonic is used is shown in examples from stanley clarke and billy sheehan. The most popular scales in hard rock and heavy metal are the pentatonic scales.
Mel bay a master catalog of major, minor, pentatonic, and. Youll just have less stuff to memorize if you have less strings. This scale is very versatile, is easy to play on the bass, and contains a very pleasingtohear group of. Despite this modal relationship, the double harmonic scale tends to exude a more middle eastern flavour due to the distinctive minor 2nd scale degree. In each key the basic iivv7 chord progression is shown in four different. The major 2nd and minor 3rd of the hungarian minor provide a.
It has all the different varieties of way the scales are played. My daily practice routine consists of practicing scales for 30 minutes starting slow,then speeding up towards the endand chord tones for another 30 minutes. Apr 28, 2016 learn bass guitar scales and modes bass guitar scales represent structure and patterns in our music, and starting to learn those patterns makes it suddenly easier to recognize, understand and apply them. Bass guitar scales major and minor bass scales youtube. Every title weve seen by stuart is 1st class, so we were excited to see what he had in. Major and minor bass guitar scales bass books and music. This is a chromatic note that leads into the 5th from the 4th and creates a nice bit of tension and release. Hal leonard pentatonic scales for electric bass book. Aug 19, 2011 the bass players guide to scales and modes by stuart clayton this is one of the newest made available by stuart clayton and arrived to us just couple weeks ago. Mel bay this is a very valuable study and reference book for the bass player. The best books for a bassist to read and learn from.
This book is intended to serve as a poin t of departure for the study of pentatonic scales. Your best source to find bass charts like bass arpeggios, bass fretboard notes, videos, tab paper, and more. Scales and chords for the upright bass desert bluegrass. If youre working through the lessons, you should definitely pick up a few of these so you can practice some of. Well first off, if you are just playing the scales up and down as if they were some sort of chore, then you are missing out on some dire lessons. The online course is a lifetime subscription that accesses more exercises and lessons. Hes really good, but wanted to learn new scales to broaden his knowledge. Memorizing just a few scale shapes will give you the ability to write bass lines, improvise and understand music in a totally different way.
So, we can use scales to open up our ears, we can use scales to learn the fingerboard of the bass better, and we can use scales to hear harmony and music in different ways. How to play the major pentatonic scale on bass guitar. For each, this book presents the structure and construction, the main chords with which the scale works well, and a list of relevant scales. The melodic bass library scales and modes for the bass guitar an indispensable book on scales and modes for the bass guitarist. All the examples are written in the key of c in order to make easer the scale comparison. Mel bay presents the most commonly used scales and modes with fretboard diagrams for fourstring bass. Development over one and two octaves follows, with fingerings and tablatu. Learn bass guitar scales and modes bass guitar scales represent structure and patterns in our music, and starting to learn those patterns makes it suddenly easier to recognize, understand and apply them. Great scale practice tips for bass guitar study book of. When you take the time to memorize bass scales, it gives you more tools in your musical arsenal when you create music by yourself or with other musicians. In the book, i am on page 29, where both of these scales are explained and i want to play you the three diminished scales in the fingering as its shown in the book. Pay attention, burn through this as fast as you can, and you.
Why learning songs makes more sense than practicing scales. This lesson covers the minor pentatonic scale and how to play it all over the bass guitar neck. Now whats really interesting about these diminished scales. The only online bookseller dedicated to the bass guitar and acoustic bass, offering song books, instruction, technique, artists and more, since 1998. The collection of material of this book is, in our opinion, the basics to playing bass guitar for some event. The main goal of this book is to introduce, reinforce, and provide musical applications of the major and minor pentatonic scale from an electric bassist s perspective. Learning how to play the major pentatonic scale on the bass guitar is like getting a twoforone deal. You need three strings to complete the major pentatonic scale, so start it on the e or a string. The gig bag book of bass scales gig bag books dineen, joe, bridges, mark on. It looks like a method book and can be used as one, but it is better to think of it as a collection of potentia lly useful intervallic sequences 1 that are designed. Although the name pentatonic scale can be used for any fivenote scale, in rock, pop and jazz music it most commonly refers to the pentatonic minor scale, which is the scale well be covering on this page. A must know if you ever want to have a good jam session. I named it the beast because it takes a while to get through the exercise, and you can practice in every key, with every 7note scale you know.
This lesson demonstrates how to use the study book of scales for bass guitar as a basis for your. The bridge is the assembly that anchors the strings to the body. Pentatonics on electric bass was written to provide a focused and musically satisfying approach for electric bassists to learn the major and minor pentatonic scales in all 12 keys. Practice the scale until you can play it continuously and fluently. The harmonic minor scale includes a threesemitone step. But in actuality this is the greatest theory book i have ever seen it lays everything out in terms anyone can understand and by the end of the book you will have a pretty good understanding of the basics of music. Well first off, if you are just playing the scales up and down as if they were some sort. Complete book of scales, modes and chords emmel, brian on. Pickups are also mounted to the body and work like little microphones that pick up the sound from the strings.
Scales in traditional western music generally consist of seven notes and repeat at the octave. Fingerings, exercises and proper usage of the essential fivenote scales bass builders friedland, ed on. Minor pentatonic scales bass clef for bass guitar, double bass, trombone, euphonium and any other bass clef instrument. Strings are vertical while imaginary frets are shown horizontally. For this lesson, ill be explaining the pattern for a music scale. Four different scale and chordal arpeggio forms are shown for each major, minor, and dominant seventh chord.
A comprehensive guide to constructing walking jazz bass lines for the double bassist and electric jazz bassist is a complete 12key guide to techniques and devices used to construct walking jazz bass lines in the jazz tradition. With both the major bass guitar scale and the minor bass guitar scale tabbed out for you to make it easy to learn. Bass lessons pentatonic scales bass tab here are some basic pentatonic scales for bass. Constructing walking jazz bass lines, book 1, the blues in 12 keys. When my bass teacher handed me this book i looked at him and said are you ing joking. Unless specified, whenever we mention pentatonic scale on this page, well be referring to the pentatonic minor scale. The scales are revered for their simplicity and ease of use, as well as their interval spacing. All stuff for bass guitar, theres so much free bass stuff going on here its ridiculous.
Gear bass guitar shop, recommended bass guitars and amps, bass books and more. The book starts with the basic major scales, then delves into the modes lydian, phrygian, etc. What is the easiest way to learn scales on bass guitar. Fingerings, exercises and proper usage of the essential fivenote scales bass builders. For example, the minor pentatonic scale is shown in five different positions, plus an example of how the minor pentatonic is used is shown in. Unfortunately, hes never really taken notice of musical terms, notes, scripts, etc, so the score line is a bit difficult for him to interpret, often asking me what different characters mean. If youre working through the lessons, you should definitely pick up a few of these so you can practice some of the songs and get the most out of the lessons.
Bass scale wall chart wall chart mel bay publications, inc. Apr 01, 2014 the melodic bass library scales and modes for the bass guitar an indispensable book on scales and modes for the bass guitarist. Encyclopedia of bass chords, arpeggios and scales book mel bay publications, inc. Nov 22, 2011 with both the major bass guitar scale and the minor bass guitar scale tabbed out for you to make it easy to learn. A beautiful photo of a fourstring electric bass is labeled with string numbers, open string names. This book is a fast and fun way to learn how to use scales and modes. Every title weve seen by stuart is 1st class, so we were excited to see what he had in store here. Best bookmethod to learn scales and modes and whatnot. Learning scales and modes and being able to identify their sounds will give you a better command of the fretboard.
Pentatonic scales are widely used in all styles of music. Now i wanna talk you through how to practice the scales that we learned. Scales are one way to talk about tonality, but theyre not always the most musical. The first section describes the scale or mode, lists the chords it works well with. Parts of the bass a bass is made up of three main sections. Throughout the studybass lessons, i reference songs that are transcribed in these books. The bass players guide to scales and modes by stuart clayton this is one of the newest made available by stuart clayton and arrived to us just couple weeks ago. The lessons contain diatonic, modal, pentatonic, whole tone, and diminished scales as well as modes of both the harmonic and melodic minor scales, eastern, middle eastern, and other exotic scales of jimmys own invention.
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