Tabs vs. sheet music/notation – Nearly everyone has an opinion on which one you should learn. But, after years of experience I don’t think one size fits all. For some bassists, reading sheet music is nothing but a distraction that won’t actually help them. For these players, learning and reading tabs makes total sense. On […]
Beginner Bass Lines – Guaranteed To Impress [Volume 3]
Beginner bass lines – the 3rd edition is here! It’s always good to have songs in your arsenal that you can pull out when someone says: “Play something for me”. Two of the most popular videos on the BAB YouTube channel and the website itself are ones that offer exactly that – songs and bass […]
The 30-Second Walking Bass ‘Hack’
I used to think that in order to get through a song with a walking bass line, you needed to have some sort of advanced degree in music theory. Everyone around me was telling me different things like: “You need to know all your scales to make it through” “If you don’t know your arpeggios, […]
Chord Symbols For Bass 3/3: 4-Note Chords
If you’re a bass player and you know how to find the roots of chords, you can be functional. If you know how to find your roots, thirds and fifths of all your chords, you can be professional. If you know how to find your roots, thirds, fifths and sevenths of all your chords, PLUS […]
Chord Symbols For Bass (2/3): Beyond Roots
Once you know how to find the roots of chords, you can be pretty dangerous – maybe even make it through an entire gig on bass! But if you really want to start making cool bass lines, riffs, fills and licks, then you’re going to need to get beyond using just the root. After all, […]
How To Read Chord Symbols For Bass (1/3): The ‘Bassics’
You get a chord chart or lyric sheet put in front of you with a bunch of chord symbols over it, but what the hell are you supposed to play? Especially if you’ve never come across some of the symbols before. This is basically what happened to me first time I saw a ‘real’ jazz […]
