Ear training is a way of developing our ability to figure out and then play or write any music we hear. The ultimate aim is to be able to freely express whatever music we want on the bass guitar and in that sense we’re literally learning to talk through the instrument. At first you might [...]
THIS WEEK we’re looking at fret markers and how they can REALLY help with navigating the fretboard. Beginner Bass Players often have no clue as to what the fret markers represent. Why would you if nobody told you? Soooo, I’m going to give you 3 HUGE tips for using fret markers. The first tip might [...]
In this lesson I’ll be showing you the PERFECT bass riff to get you started playing bass as a complete beginner. This bass riff is great for working on loads of the basics such as crossing strings, finger strength (especially in that pinky) and just general riff playing. Even if you’re not a complete beginner [...]
This week I’m answering a request for the slap riff from the song Can’t Stop by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. This riff by Flea is fairly straightforward as long as you’ve got a good grasp of playing ghost notes. […]
In this week’s lesson I’ve got a kickass major scale exercise for you that will help developing both your technique and your muscle memory when playing sequential scalar lines. […]
Hi everyone! In this lesson I’m going to show you how to analyse a bass riff by breaking down the chord tones and non chord tones. To do this it’s handy to know the chord progression of a tune but you can also often just see the chords being implied by the bass line. This [...]
In this lesson we’re going to look at a technique that many players find tricky – The single finger sliding trill which I refer to as a shake. […]
In this lesson we’re going to look at the bending of strings on bass guitar. String bends can be pretty tough on bass because of the increased string gauges but they are possible and lots of players like Billy Sheehan, Geezer Butler and Cliff Burton have used them to good effect in both solos and [...]