Playing Bass!

june 4, 2021

Morning, Gemini! I've recently been into playing the Bass

guitar... It's a pretty awesome instrument and I've been on

it since December.

Scales

Music in general is cool. You got major scales

C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

You can play a major scale in any key with the system:

10111101

(Where 1 is a whole step, and 0 is a half-step)

Each major scale has a corrisponding minor scale:

A B C D E F G A
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

You can play a minor scale in any key with:

1011011

(the two above use all the same keys, only starting in

different places)

Chords

Major

Chords aren't played that often on bass, but they're

important. You can make a C major chord by:

• Playing the root note (C)
• Counting up 4 half-tones (E)
• Counting up 3 half-tones (G)
• Counting up 4 half-tones (B)

This is called a "C Major 7", because it goes up to B, the

7th note in the scale. 7-chords are super popular in jazz,

and you can just as easily play "C E G" without the B.

Also this works for all notes, not just C!

Minor

You can play a minor C chord by:

• Playing a C major tone (C E G)
• Lowering the second note down (C Eb G)

That's all! Nice.

Progressions

There are progressions, like 245, usually written in roman

like "ii V I" to denote minor/major keys in lower/uppercase.

A ii V I progression in C is:

D G C

Because D is the 2nd note in a C scale, G is the 5th, and C

is the 1st (or "root"). This progression is a popular jazz

progression, and it's used in "Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5.

Bass

You rest your thumb on the top (largest) string, lifting it

when it needs to be played.

You play with your index and middle fingers, always

alternating.

You should find ways to silence the other strings that

aren't being played. This usually doesn't take much.

Play lots of major, minor, and chromatic scales in a few

octaves and read some sheet music.

Play songs you like, listen to cool bass guys on YouTube.

To play an octave on a bass, play an open string, then the

12th fret, OR:

• Play any note
• Go up 2 frets (2 half-notes higher)
• Go down 2 strings (2 strings smaller)

Conclusion

Music is cute, still trying to figure it out...