Scales

Greetings fellow travelers,

I hope you all had a funky February!

I will discuss a little bit about scales for the bass and how having this basic knowledge can help you better your bass playing. Also here is a link I found with some of those scales for you to start practicing!

http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/m/misc_scales/major_and_minor_scales_btab.htm

First, I would say that knowing your scales will help you identify which key a song is in and actually help you pick up songs you hear on the radio by ear. A lot of jazz and blues tunes use a lot of scales and if you are jamming with your buddies you will be able to keep up with whatever they’re playing. While your guitarist is wailing away on a solo, you can keep up the rhythm with a cool jazzy groove while playing a simple scale.

You can easily groove out on a scale, add on to it while staying in key, and sound like you’re grooving your own solo as well!

Another reason to learn scales, among other bassics (pun intended), is the same reason basketball players learn how to dribble, move, and use proper defense; learning the fundamentals, or the foundation, of anything will ensure a solid growth pattern. Sure, all the fun is in shooting the ball but, if you do not know how to move and dribble, you will not be an effective player, and the same goes for playing the bass.

To be honest, I never took lessons and I just started really looking into scales and theory after playing bass for 14 years! I would say that I am a really good bassist, great at slap bass, and grooving out, but I could always be better. I truly feel that if I had learned the basics in the beginning I would be even better today.

So go out there, learn the bassics, and keep on slapping!

Stay groovy my friends,

Dodgebass