Jam like a professional on bass guitar with these essential tips and techniques.
I'll show you how to take a 12/8 time signature and a simple scale and play a whole load of cool bass lines.
The lesson moves step by step through some of the key areas you need to master in bass guitar improvisation.
Scroll down for the free PDF. There isn't a free drum beat for this one but here's the one I used in the lesson.
Bass Guitar Scale Shapes
Bass Resources
I mentioned that you have to learn all the shapes of the pentatonic scale. Here's a lesson that contains a PDF with all the shapes you need to learn:
To go even deeper, check out my course Music Theory For Bass Players.
Dan, something I struggle with is learning all the notes in all the keys. Is it enough to know the patterns and their “inter-connected-ness” to become fluid or do I need to focus on the note names? Memorizing the note names seems way more daunting-difficult than all the various patterns.
Curious on your take on this.
Thanks
Great question! I think they happen in tandem. The more you understand key signatures and the fact notes go up and down in the alphabet, the easier it is to know the notes names. Then you rely on patterns as you alluded to, as well as just knowing the notes well on the fretboard. It all combines to make note learning and interval recognition easier.