by Do you use chord charts?
If you have no idea what I’m talking about or avoid them because they’re crazy confusing, you’re not alone.
Not too long ago, I got an email from Trevor, one of my subscribers. It turns out we had actually met in real life many years ago and he’d stumbled across some of my videos. He had played all of his life by ear, but had come up against a new challenge:
A band he had auditioned for used chord charts – something he had never needed to use – and understandably, he had a lot of questions.
“Do I use a ‘concert’ part or the ‘Bb’ chart? Do the 5 lines in the chart mean I have to use a 5-string bass? Do I focus on the notes or the chord symbols above the notes?”
Using chord charts is a whole new way of playing music and requires a slightly different set of skills, so in today’s lesson, we’re doing a deep dive into chord charts and how to read them.
You’ll get my personal secrets for taking the confusion out of reading charts so if you ever get a chart put in front of you, you’ll know exactly what to do.
Check out the lesson here:
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Never get stumped on what to play over any chord ever again.
- Learn how chords are made and played
- Use the scale catalogue so you can always be sure you're playing the correct scale for every chord
- Handy table so you always know what notes are in any chord
Check Out My Walking Bass Line Formula Video Here
Once you can read and understand chord charts, you’ll find a new world of possibilities opens up for you and your bass. And this is exactly what I want for you; being able to show up and nail any song that uses a chart instead of fumbling around, getting lost and searching for the ‘good’ notes.
Like I said in the video, some chord charts are very prescriptive in what they want from you. Others just provide the landscape and let you run wild with it.
You need different skills for each kind of chart, but once you’re up and running things can get really fun really fast.
Good luck with the lesson and happy playing!
Cheers,
Thank you Luke. Really enjoy your lessons, they have helped a lot. I am now an intermediate bass player and at my last jam the jam master pointed to me at a turn around and said lets hear some bass! I played a bass line using the minor pentatonic scale. I feel the need to become more proficient and confident in theses situations. Can you help?
Hey Stephen. Absolutely nothing wrong with using a minor pentatonic scale to play a bass line at all. Some of the best bass lines in the world are pentatonic (Like these: https://becomeabassist.com/4-pentatonic-bass-lines/ ) I’m guessing though, that when you played it, you weren’t super confident about what you were playing, right? Totally understandable.
When it comes to making up something on the spot, whether it’s a bass line or a bass solo – if you’re not used to doing stuff like that, it can be overwhelming, but there are some things you can do to help. The first thing I’d encourage you to do is try to ‘sing’ everything you want to come out of your bass. I talk about that in this video:
https://becomeabassist.com/how-to-play-more-melodically/
It’s more geared towards bass solos, but the same principles apply to making bass lines. In this next video:
https://becomeabassist.com/bass-solo-how-to-improvise-on-bass/
I talk about how you don’t need to know tons of different scales to take a good bass solo and that you can use the content of the melody to make one. The same goes as well for using the bass line as the jumping off point for improvising. If you take the existing bass line, and just put your own personal spin on it, you’re guaranteed to stay in the pocket, in the key and it’s going to sound at least halfway decent – if not all the way decent. Check out these videos and let me know how you go. If you have more questions, I’m here to help.
Luke