Bass exercises pdf

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Love your playing and teaching skills..! Growing slowly on my fretboard knowledge and confidence. Purchased most of your material and am very pleased with the outcome. I must find more time to practice..! Love the Funk..! Thanks, Jeffrey! See chapter 4 Scales and Chords for Hands for the more advanced scales in jazz. Electric bass players do not have to fear the technique that much, although some finger stretching exercises will be needed in the beginning.

A double grip is a combination of left- and right-hand techniques. A The only exception to this rule is the high- E pitched Piccolo bass. It is created by the strings and amplifier, of course, but an equally important factor is the position of the right hand on the body of the bass. Normal positions are I personally prefer position 4, which is faster than position NOTE The unfortunately rather common habit of placing the thumb on the E-string is not recommendable as it slows down the playing.

Every time you need the E-string, you must lift the thumb with the consequent errors and extra noise from the string. The position of the right-hand combined with the force of the picking is the basis of each bass players personal style. Nowadays, finger players outnumber the plectrum players. The fingers used two or three at a time are much faster and more elastic and precise as the plectrum.

Be careful that you do not hit one of the other strings, which sounds awful on a bass on a guitar too, by the way. Generally, a medium or very hard plectrum is best suited for a bass. The way you hold you plectrum is very important. The famous guitar teacher and musician Ivor Mairants see the bibliography has written en excellent book with exercises in plectrum for guitar players.

Parts of the exercises are very relevant for the bass player as well, including the basic positions shown in the book. Finger players use finger 1 and 2 to achieve an even flow of picks.

Plectrum players use the up and down stroke of the plectrum. In both cases, we can use some drum theory to decide the best way to obtain a steady pick pattern.

This creates an effective percussion like bass sound. The original Slap bass can be heard on early country records too.

In the ies, the technique was reintroduced and refined by the soul and funk bass players. It is still very common in funk music. This is one of the secrets behind his brilliant playing and extreme speed. He is really one of the masters.

The harmonics are a fundamental property of the string. Normally all the inherent notes of the tone can be heard at the same, but when you employ the special Harmonics technique, you isolate one of the specific high tones of the string. The positions of the Harmonics on the string seem unnatural compared to the temperated notes on the piano.

But these positions are actually the natural notes! The temperated system was invented in the th century to make tuning easier when playing in more than one octave. The stringed instruments are not pianos which you will notice if you try to lift a piano. There are two ways to produce Harmonics: The Natural Harmonics and the Artificial Harmonics: The Natural Harmonics are the basis of the timbre; the closer you play to the chair, the higher overtones, you will get, and if you play nearer to the neck, you will have deeper overtones.

But as you will learn, when you progress in music, the ugly notes also have a place in beautiful melodies. There are even more harmonics Non-standard than shown in this drawing!

Ninth Octave Fifth Sixth Dim. As the Natural Harmonics has a solid and ethereal tone, it may give the music an extra lift and provide the bass player with a couple of extra octaves. This is how the old Greek poets and songwriters sounded like. Go to the nearest Musical Instrument museum and listen to the music of non-western countries.

They sound so much different — but it is still music to the God of Harmony and Love. The Artificial Harmonics are a strange and wonderful invention. If you want to play a C as an overtone, you will find that the Natural Harmonics only offer one, almost inaudible secondary overtone. But parallel to the barre on the guitar, where a special fingering technique enables the guitarist to play chords in all keys, the Artificial Harmonics technique allows you to play any overtone you want. The trick is using 2 fingers on your left hand.

The right hand presses and picks the overtone Fig. You can use mixed Natural and Artificial Harmonics in scales. Especially the Artificial Harmonics takes quite a while to learn.

But if you play all 12 keys in all positions Fifth, Fourth and Third for one hour every day for a month — you might get close. Slide up or down the fretboard while pitching with the right hand. Great show and great risk of hurting your hand. Your finger muscles, the arms and your back are exposed to severe working conditions while you play.

You must learn to follow a number of important rules, in order to avoid Carpal Syndrome and slipped disc in the back, which are some of the occupational risk of being a bass player. And the bass must — of course — be in tune. Always use the most relaxed playing technique and take the necessary time to learn to play. Correct techniques take time to learn but when they become second nature to you, the rest is like a breeze. Play concentrated and relaxed.

It is important to play the bass, and you should not think above the forgotten rent, your friends or your dinner, while you play. You are a professional. Play a maximum of half an hour or 45min without pausing. If your wrist starts hurting, stop the playing immediately or play very slowly to relax the muscles.

Rehearse an even pressure on each finger, patiently, day after day. If you have blisters, do not prick the blister. You risk inflammation or blood poisoning. Rehearse a little less the next few days, and your blisters will harden. And after a few years you will have the skin of an old elephant on your fingers! NOTE Use the correct body and arm position if you play with the plectrum — see the section on plectrum playing earlier in this chapter.

What a misconception. Although eminent bass players like Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen play wonderful solos, they actually spend most of their time comping the solo players. That is the most important role for all bass players; being a part of the band — the team. Rehearse scales in random keys in 2 and 3 octaves, as many as possible, 1 hour a day.

Start in a very slow tempo and be sure the finger position is correct and the hands are relaxed. Raise the tempo slowly the first weeks. When you feel sure about the slow and moderate tempi, you may increase the tempo even more.

Do not despair if a finger or position troubles you, Play the figure again and again, slowly. Subscribe to the sporadic email newsletter in your user settings. I couldn't continue this project without user support. It's enough work for 10 people, but it's all just me. I, and many other bass players, truly appreciate your help keeping this alive. Once you realized the control you had over the band, you were in control. They can't go anywhere, man. Free Online Bass Lessons. Hello, I am your friendly bass teacher and all-round music educator, George Urbaszek, welcoming you to download some of my free online bass lessons.

Teach yourself how to play bass guitar with our easy rock bass guitar lessons for beginners. Comes with online access to free bass videos and audio for all examples.