Imagine this: You’ve just been pulled up on stage at a jam session to play a song on bass. Except you don’t know the song that’s being played. That doesn’t seem to matter to anyone else though. They’re still expecting you to create a bass line that works. This kind of thing happens all the […]
How To Write A Bassline: Basslines From Scratch (Lesson 1/9)
Do you know how to write a bassline? As a bass player, making basslines is one of the most important things you’ll do. Sure, sometimes bass players will be crafting fills, playing melodies or even improvising, but for probably 95% of the time, we’re playing basslines. The very best bass players don’t just know how […]
How To Jam On Bass – 3 Methods And 3 Tips
Have you ever wondered how to jam on bass? You see some musicians get up on stage and create beautiful music from absolutely nothing – and it seems like magic. Do the musicians that do this know some kind of ‘secret’ that the rest of us haven’t discovered? No! Learning how to jam on bass […]
How To Find The Key Of A Song By Ear On Bass: The ‘Intuitive’ Method
Knowing how to find the key of a song by ear is a huge win for ANY bass player. Once you know the key, you’ll be able to make very educated guesses for notes that are in the song. Even better though, it means that you can safely avoid notes that aren’t in that key. […]
Should You Learn Scales Or Learn Bass Lines Instead?
There are hundreds – maybe even thousands of things you can work on to improve your bass playing. It can be a real jungle! How are you supposed to know what’s going to actually help you improve? A lot of people boil it down to focusing on two things: Learning bass lines/songs Learning scales Now […]
Walking Bass Lines – 5 ‘Plug-And-Play’ Formulas
Walking bass lines can be an absolute mystery. Someone shoves a chord chart in your face and expects you to know exactly how to get through it. In theory, it’s easy. You just have to play 4 notes per bar, right? In reality, it can be a lot trickier than it sounds. The conventional wisdom […]
