This is the second in the series of lessons on slap bass from Mark J Smith at Talkingbass.net. This lesson covers the use of muted notes or ghost notes in getting that funky sound we all want. Ghost Notes! In this lesson we’re looking at the concept of playing muted notes as part of a…
More chord construction. This week we look at all the different suspended chords like the sus4, 7sus4 and sus2. Suspended Chords Suspended chords sound just like the name suggests – they have the sound of a suspended tension and want to resolve. This is because suspensions replace the 3rd of a chord with the 4th….
This lesson covers chords that contain simple additions to the triad rather than the seventh chord. The 6, add9 and 6/9 chords Altered Note Chords We have already covered the basics of building chords by stacking thirds, but there are several chords that aren’t a consequence of stacking. The first group are known as added note chords,…
The chord construction lessons continue with Altered Extensions. These are the extensions of the b9, #9, #11 and b13. Altered Extensions So far, we’ve covered extensions of the triad and the 7th chord, but we’ve only looked at the natural extensions – the major 9th, perfect 11th and major 13th. When we see chord symbols…
This lesson covers the construction of the Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor and Melodic Minor scales and how they relate to Minor keys. The concept of relative major and minor keys is also discussed with reference to Key Signatures. The Natural Minor Scale The natural minor scale is made up of the root note, major 2nd, minor 3rd, perfect 4th,…
You might have heard the terms Tonic or Dominant used in describing certain scale degrees but did you know there are more of them? This lesson discusses the names of scales degree and why they are useful to know in a practical sense. Recap In previous lessons, we looked at the difference between intervals and…
The latest lesson deals with Extensions beyond the 7th chord. Arpeggios containing the 9th, 11th and 13th are all covered Recap So far, we have covered triads and 7th chords, which we built from stacking various combinations of thirds. This system of stacking thirds can be extended beyond the 7th and if we follow it…
This latest lesson on Music Theory for the Bass Guitar covers the concept of key and key signatures as well as the Circle Of Fifths. Recap First, let’s take a look at the major scale pattern we looked at in the first lesson. The major scale is built up from a pattern of tones and…