In this weeks lesson I’ll be looking at the common double note octave lines you might hear in loads of different disco songs.
Double Notes
A common technique in disco bass is to double the second note in an octave pattern. This gives us an eighth note followed by a sixteenth.
The fingers you use for each note is important as you need to be able to get back to the low note as quickly as possible. Your first finger should be shorter than the second, so it makes sense to lead with that one. The order of fingers you want to use is index, index, middle.
This can feel really weird at first but don’t worry! Start as slow as you can, (even if it feels ridiculous), and build up from there.
Tip: Keep your right-hand thumb resting on the E string for stability.
Applying Double Notes
Now we are going to add some double notes to a disco bass line we looked at previously:
Practice this riff until it feels comfortable and you don’t need to read it anymore. Then, to apply the double notes, you simply add them to the second half of each beat.
Hmm, when I first heard this in the 70’s I used my thumb on the lower notes and first and middle fingers on the high double notes and continued to do so. Will have have to try this, but keeping the thumb anchored is going to feel different!
U are too good
But still I can’t get the e books
– Anand
Have you signed up and logged in. The ebooks are in the Members Area
It literally took me years (of irregular practice) to get this into my muscle memory. At first it felt just impossible. Then it suddenly just started working. Just a day after it feels completely natural and sounds great even at higher speeds.
By the way, it never worked the other way around (index, middle, index), though it seems the “default” fingering.
Thanks a million for these lessons, God bless you.