Bass Guitar Lessons

Rest your finger on the string, then pull the string backwards, letting it stroke; then get your finger out of the way so it can vibrate.

Open Strings – Open notes are when you look at sheet music and you go between your first and second finger and skipping strings.

Basic C means 4/4 time, the top four means there are four beats to the bar, and the bottom means that a quarter note receives one beat. A whole note is worth four beats. A half note is worth two beats each. Quarter notes are worth one beat, four are in 4/4. An eighth note
Triplets are three notes for every beat. Then there are 16th notes.

The right hand has to coordinate between each of these types of notes.

Try doing the following notes with whole notes.

E, A, B, G, E, A, B, G

If you have a metronome, then you can set it to beat to whole notes, or quarter notes, or whatever you’d like… however, setting it equal to quarter notes is generally done at the beginning. This way, one beat of the metronome would be equal to quarter notes. If you are doing eighth notes, then you’d play two twangs for each tick.

Three notes per beat would be triplets. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go to ‘Beginner bass’ on You Tube. Sixteenth notes would mean you are doing four notes for every tick of the metronome.

Half notes would be twice as many one beat per beat for quarter notes, so set a metronome to be beating equal to a quarter beat when you’re learning.

So, when you’re playing bass, you get two different sounds. You use the fingers to pop the bass and thumb slaps the bass. You can play with your finger, or a pick, or your thumb. All can give you different sounds. When you’re using your thumb, you use the side of the top your thumb above where it bends, not the end of the thumb. You strike the side of the string. You strum by rotating your wrist. You hit the string with the side of the thumb, then get away from it so the string can ring. This is the same technique you would use if you were doing bongos.

To strum with your finger, you pull the strings but you keep the fingers straight. First finger on the D string, middle finger on the G string. Get the finger under the string, Don’t actually touch the body, get finger under the string, then pull your wrist over. You need to build calluses on your fingers, so at the beginning you must not do it too much or they’ll bleed and get raw.

Funk – Funk oftentimes will use half notes. E-Minor is used with Funk music. Always make sure you get your finger out of the way after you’ve pulled a string so the sound is good. Keep your hand loose as you strike it, make sure it’s not tight, it should rotate at  the wrist. Don’t tense up and get your fingers out of the way so they can vibrate. Those are the main things you should remember when your picking with your fingers.

Straight Eights Rock – basic pulse which are all eighth notes. Used in Surf Rock, Rockabilly. Straight eighth notes. Not a lot of syncopation. You just play the roots, which makes a good foundation. C Blues would be an example. All of it will be eighth notes. Generally each finger of the left hand will be strumming individual strings rather than strumming whole chords. The left hand will be picking notes on the frets.

Arepeggios – Uses major minor thirds and major triads. Sometimes minor triads. Sometimes you start in a key such as the key of G. Arpeggiios use Major Triads, or Minor Triads such as G-Minor. R

So, there are your first bass guitar lessons. To learn more, go to YouTube, or have your music teacher show you.

Technorati Tags: bass guitar lessons