Try to always play with intention and never play anything without knowing what you are playing (be it notes, scale runs, licks, etc… just try to be aware of what you are doing it and why). Always pay attention to what notes you are playing when playing anything. Here are some suggestions on how to memorize your fretboard note names even when you don't have a bass with you. Page [tcb_pagination_current_page] of [tcb_pagination_total_pages], Learn how to reach a higher level with your bass playing, © 2020 Online Bass Courses Privacy Policy. Why you should memorize your fretboard, and good and bad ways of going about it. Block: Memorizing The Bass Fretboard Notes. As a classic rocker, a change I might make for my kind is to insert the minor seventh into this short list. After logging in you can close it and return to this page. I think that this short article is extremely comprehensive and very powerful. Start with the box shape of an octave and now you only really have to find the note on your lower two strings. I understand that there is a great deal of comping in major in jazz. A major 7th up is the same note as a minor 2nd down. Not only can you come up with creative lines that way, you get to see the commonalities between chord tones. Familiarise yourself with the piano keyboard, Insert details about how the information is going to be processed, 20 Tips For Bass Players (Beginner/Intermediate), Bass Guitar Effects Tip: Use A Looper Pedal, 100 Pro Tips To Improve Your Bass Playing, 7 Metronome Exercises For Bass Guitar To Work On Your Timing And Groove, 10 Ultimate Groove/Feel/Timing Tips For Bass Players. Then you should be able to “see” where it lands on the upper strings as well. This will also sign you up to my weekly newsletter where you will get free bass tips, lessons and advice. You can start by playing the root and then the appropriate interval. Regarding the point, “Try to always play with intention,” try to sing what you intend to play. To use the interactive features of StudyBass, please enable javascript. I would suggest learning intervals in this order (totally subjective): I’m not sure why it works this way but when thinking about the notes above the root and how they relate to the same note below the root, they will add up to 9. Work on them one-by-one. This is another way of breaking you out of the familiar. Learning to read music sounds like a scary task for so many. Know every note in all its locations. Incredible Way To Learn The Bass Fretboard! Notes on the bass seem so confusing until you realise that they come from the piano keyboard which is a completely different design to a bass fretboard! Send it to askdamian@notreble.com. If this seems confusing, don’t worry about it for now, but this is what I mean: That’s just something you can keep for reference. Marek Bero Publishes “Bass Gym 101: Odd Time Bass Grooves”, Jimi Hendrix “Live In Maui” Features Documentary and Rare Performance, Markbass Unveils the Mark Vintage Pre Preamp Pedal, Perfect 4th – same fret but one string higher, Major 7th – one fret below your root and octave. This lesson goes into it much more: Incredible Way To Learn The Bass Fretboard! Your email address is safe with me. Doing so is the ultimate expression of knowing exactly what one is playing at all times. Each note may take a bit to really internalize, but with each note learned, the next one comes more quickly. Work in the way that works best for you. This opens up most of the neck and breaks you out of tried and tested patterns you come to rely on. Please log in again. ©2003-2020 Leading Tone Media, LLC - all rights reserved, Copying or distributing studybass.com content, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited. My own method for learning every note on the entire fretboard. Don’t miss an Ask Damian column. In these lessons I show you how to go about memorizing all of the fretboard … A 3rd would be the 3rd note of the major scale. Privacy policy. I like your interval list and agree that learning many of these intervals first will help one tremendously in understanding the fingerboard or fretboard. And, as I mentioned, both reading and writing notation is likely the quickest way to internalize all of this information. Sliding across one string creates some interesting sounding phrases too plus you get to learn the formula of the scale and the sounds of the intervals. If all this seems to be coming too fast slow down and take your time. How did you learn your fretboard? Please share in the comments. This includes scales or simply when you are running intervallic relationships (practicing playing octaves, 5ths, etc…). Good bassists can find and identify every note on the fretboard with ease. It’s unrealistic to expect that every bassist of every level and level of aspiration should learn to read notation (although I encourage it!) Personally, I was lucky. Take any scale you know and play it on just two strings. Here are ten tips that I guarantee will help you master the bass guitar fretboard. This is the lesson for you if you want to learn how to do that. You can use the major scale as your guide. In other words, a 5th would be the 5th note of the major scale. I stress to the reader, as soon you know both the major and minor thirds, you will take a significant leap in understanding both major and minor chords all over the neck. Every single point should be worked tenaciously. 3 Note Per String Scale Patterns On Bass (Expand Your Creativity! This lesson follows on from 10 Ultimate Groove/Feel/Timing Tips For Bass Players and 10 Music Theory Tips For Bass Players. It forces you to find the notes and also to find them in relation to where you are, which means that you’ll learn more than one place to play an “F”, for example. The login page will open in a new tab. This is an area of bass playing worth focusing on as being able to fly around the neck without thinking about things vastly improves your creativity. Let’s hear it from you, readers! © 2020 No Treble, LLC and respective copyright holders. Reading guitar music where there may be 6 notes played simultaneously is quite a challenge. If you get any value from my lessons and would like to help keep this site running and the weekly lessons flowing, click the button below for a small donation. Another way to break out of old habits. A major 3rd up is the same as a minor 6th down. Unsubscribe easily at any time. I am a guitar player and some of my thoughts below reflect such perspective.