min7 Arpeggio Study for Electric Bass

Continuing the series of simple down-the-neck arpeggio patterns for the electric bass.

As with all the exercises in the series, the ultimate goal is to develop an automatic awareness and instant recall of the common chord tones for each of the major chord types.   Be aware of the patterns, but more importantly, try to recognize the chord tones in relationship to each other - learn to see where the third is, or the seventh, root, fifth (or more...)  These are the building blocks for bass figures and lines - whether walking, playing an ostinato,  a tumbao, two beat, push or whatever.....

As always, practice backwards and forwards, slowly and with a metronome.  If you can, try to set the metronome as the 2 & 4.  (So adjust your tempo by cutting it in half and counting the beats of the metronome as _ 2 _ 4)

 


min7 arpeggio study for electric bass (PDF)

All material posted here is free to use for all independent learners and private music teachers, provided all credit and copyright notices are retained intact.  Educational institutions and those teaching in their employ must contact me directly for explicit written permission.

Maj7 Arpeggio Study for Electric Bass

Continuing with the series of Arpeggio Studies we have the Maj7 chords in the lower portion of the neck.

Play each arpeggio figure evenly, forward and backward until you are familiar with the fingering.

 

PDF of this file and more free lessons and exercises available on my website.

Dom7 Arpeggio Study for Electric Bass

This is an arpeggio study of Dominant Seventh Chords on the electric

 bass.  

While it is labeled 'First Position' there are a few fingerings that extend up to the sixth fret and require some minor hand shifts.  My goal was to offer at least two fingering options for each chord - using both open strings and introducing some basic closed shapes -  while allowing the student to stay within the lower 5-6 frets of the bass.   It is essential to be fluent in all common chord shapes in this area before moving to the closed chord voicing shapes up the neck.    

Practice all shapes forward and backward.  Experiment with sequencing the chord tones once you have memorized them.

Minor Triad Study - Electric Bass

Part Two of our examination of basic structures on the electric bass.

For more information about this series of studies, take a look at the first post in the series on my website.

I hope you find it useful.  Feel free to reuse as you long as you retain the credit and © information.  Cheers!

Major Triad Study for Electric Bass

To create  functional and musical bass lines that truly reflect the harmony and changes, a solid understanding of chord construction and chord families is essential.   By learning to outline all of  the basic chord types as arpeggios, we develop some wonderful skills:

1. We  begin to  recognize small fingering patterns associated with various chord types. 
2. We are comfortable executing chord patterns throughout the fingerboard.
3. We learn the to see the  various chord degrees (Root, 3rd, 5th, 7th etc) and their positioning relative to the root on the fingerboard. 
4. We internalize the sound of the chord to a much greater degree.

Practice Suggestions

1. Work on just a few keys at a time.  3-4 week is plenty if this is new material.  
2. Learn a single measure at a time before combining them into larger patterns.
3. Learn the pattern  for each measure forwards and backwards. 
4. Clean and confident technique.  Use a metronome.  Focus on control and precision, not speed.
5. Study the numbers above the staff.  They indicate the chord degree of each note.  Look for patterns. 
6. As you play the arpeggios, say the chord degree for each note to internalize the sound of the chord.

I hope you find this useful.  Cheers!

ps stop by and check out www.innervoicemusic.org - free lessons and more!

Major Scales for Bass in All Twelve Keys

Recommended Use: Practice a key or two per practice session until the scale figures can be executed at tempo both cleanly and musically.   Focus on clarity of tone, ease of motion and  proper technique for both the left and right hands.

This is also a good scale warmup before a practice session for more advanced students.  Completing the entire exercise with repeats at tempo requires a fair bit of hand strength and endurance.

PDF of this lesson & much more available free @ innervoicemedia.net

Direct Link to Lesson Post

Major Scales for Guitar in all Keys

Over the first few months of this blog, I'll be posting a variety of exercises, drills, etudes and other material for a variety of instruments - primarily bass and guitar, but also some banjo, uke and piano material - as well as concepts and exercises in music theory, improvisation, composition and practical musicianship.

As I figure out how this whole internet thing works, though, I'll be starting with some of the basic material I've developed for my students.  Most of this work is grounded in building strong fundamentals - scale and chord concepts and patterns, left and right hand technique, and an introduction to some of the core concepts of modern musicianship.

The Major Scale is one of the most important scales in Western music - it forms the basis for Diatonic harmony and is familiar to most everyone upon casual hearing.   We'll discuss all the implications of the major scale at a later time; my intent at this point is simply to introduce the basic structure of the scale and offer a variety of positions in which the scale may be found on the guitar.  I'll add the scales for bass shortly.

Western music is built upon a 12 tone system. The distance between each of the twelve tones is called a semitone or half-step.  Two semitones make a whole tone; two half steps make a whole step. The major scale consists of a specific pattern of whole and half steps that give it its unique sound.  The scale can built from any of the 12 tones.  Whichever tone is the starting point is known as the tonic, the root or the one, depending on who you're talking to.   Therefore, there are twelve possible major scales.

Note: There are actually more possible major scales than twelve by name.  In fact, the accompanying pdf's for this lesson have more than twelve scales!  They are included to familiarize the student with the common keys and to fulfill my OCD need to have equal sharp and flat key in an exercise....
However, there are only twelve distinct major scales by pitch.  This is because sometimes the same things can have different names when seen in another context.  The patterns are the same, but the name and reference is different.  Scales (and chords/notes/etc) that have the same pitch or quality but different names are known as enharmonic equivalents.  We'll discuss that later.  

This is by no means an exhaustive scale listing - it is merely two different positions of each scale.  The intent is give the student some basic options for playing each of the 12 major scales in 2 octaves.  It also serves to introduce several of the common positions/patterns in which the scale appears on the neck of the guitar. The majority of these positions are closed patterns.  This means that they do not contain any open string notes - they can moved up or down the neck to play a different scale using the same pattern fingering from a different starting fret/note.   You will notice that several of the scales are merely previous patterns played on a different fret.

 Learn and practice the major scale in all keys.  For beginners, use this as an opportunity to develop familiarity with the sound of the scale in different registers and the feeling of playing in different places on the fingerboard -  developing basic fingering and playing technique while becoming more familiar with the sound of the scale. This simple exercice will also serve as an easy scale warmup for the intermediate player.

One piece of advice I give to many of my students is to start associating the scale fingerings with numbers, or Scale Degrees.   As you play the scale, say out loud the scale degree of the note you are playing.  Starting from the root, or the 1 of the scale, the next note is 2, then 3, etc. until you reach the octave, which is 8 as you count but would be 1 again in terms of the scale degree.   This is very helpful as you move forward and start learning to build chords and alter them.  Each scale degree has a unique sound and relationship to the 1, and to the other degrees in the scale.

It is recommended that you work with a metronome, and start with the slowest setting at which you can execute the scale with precision, clarity of tone and complete control.  You should aim to be able to execute the entire exercise with repeats cleanly at the suggested tempo of 120 bpm.

I hope you find it useful.  Cheers!

Major Scales for Guitar (all pages) PDF

Autumn Leaves Arpeggio Study

I have high school age student that is getting ready to audition for a music performance scholarship at a small college in central Wisconsin.  He is auditioning with a guitar performance of several jazz standards.

One of these standards is the classic tunes Autumn Leaves, a tune by French composer Joseph Kosma from 1945.  The original lyrics were crafted by French poet Jacques Prévert and American songwriter Johnny Mercer wrote English lyrics in 1947.

I had previously posted a simple octave transcription of the melody in a recent post.

While Autumn Leaves is a fairly simple song, it offers a variety of choices and challenges for the beginning jazz guitarist and improviser.

When beginning to examine a piece for performance and/or study, there are several things that must be mastered.  First, the melody of the song must be learned.  Second, the student should examine the chord progression - often called chord changes, or just changes - and then analyze the changes from the perspective of first the accompanist and then the improvisor.   Odds are in most performances, you'll be called upon to do both.

Autumn Leaves Arpeggio Study (PDF)

The music I've attached to this post is an arpeggio study of the chord changes.  Before we break down the progression and analyze it, we'd better make sure we can play the tones in the chords themselves!   All instruments should be able to arpeggiate their way through the changes, and chording instruments, such as the piano and guitar, should also be able to play at least the simple form of the chords smoothly in a basic comping pattern.

I'll offer a few choruses of the chord changes as well as a detailed analysis of the harmony and techniques for approaching the solo in later posts.

This study is quite simple - merely a variety of arpeggiations of the changes that flow fairly smoothly.  The guitar tablature indicates a variety of common shapes for the basic chords in a number of positions and fingerings.  I hope you find some new positions or ideas that perhaps hadn't occurred to you yet.

Please feel free to comment or ask questions.

enjoy!

Picking Development Exercises for Beginning Guitar

This is some of the basic picking exercises that I start all my guitar students out with.  The goal is to warm up with this daily until picking with control and precision becomes automatic.  Use a metronome, and really focus on developing precise control in conjunction with the click.  When you are picking eighth notes, feel the difference in the emphasis on and off the beat and associate that with the upstroke (and the lifting of the foot as you tap!)

Guitar Picking Exercises PDF

Autumn Leaves Octave Melody for Guitar

This is a transcription of the melody of the jazz standard "Autumn Leaves" that I wrote out for a student.  The melody is transcribed in octaves and is meant to be played with the thumb, a la Wes Montgomery.

CORRECTED (all pages) link to PDF

Reading Rhythms, Level 1

It is important to be comfortable reading rhythms, whether in standard notation or tablature.  Practice reading these rhythms at a slow tempo.  Some of them become quite challenging at faster tempos.

I find it best to practice by tapping my foot to the main beat as I tap out the rhythm with my right hand.  If you are just getting started tapping and reading rhythms, count the rhythm out loud. Only say the beats you need to count, meaning a 4/4 measure consisting of:  Quarter Eighth Eighth Rest Eighth Quarter would be read as " 1 2 and 3 and 4"

 

Whole Half Quarter PDF
Eighth Quarter Half PDF

LH strength & finger independence exercises

Developing LH strength, independence and control is critical for the electric bassist.  These are some exercises that I wrote out for my beginning bass students.  I actually use all of these as part of my daily warmup.

 


PDF  PDF

Keep on grooving, friends.

Hello world.

And away we go.....