greghagger
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Interesting. The Squier P-Basses must be light. My Mustang is considerably lighter than any other 4-strings that I’ve picked up before. But I know they are making basses a lot lighter nowadays.
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Short-scale basses are becoming very popular lately, and there are many reasons why, not least because they are so much lighter than full-scale basses. Personally I'd never really considered short-scale basses before I had to play one when covering for another bassist on a gig. This particular short-scale bass was a Fender Mustang, and I've got to say that I was pretty impressed! The Mustang was instantly easy to play, and through a decent amp, it sounded much fatter than I imaged it would. So, of course I've gone out a brought one! In my latest YouTube video, you can check out what I think of my new Mustang bass, and hear how it stacks up against a full-scale P-Bass. This is a useful video if you’re considering buying a short-scale bass, and you want to hear how a Mustang bass sounds. Enjoy!
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It seems that bass players are frequently talking about other bass players that have good groove or who, 'play-in-the pocket'. There's good reason for this. If you're watching a bass player at a gig, you might notice some nice note choices, but invariably, it's the way that the bassist locks in with the drummer. and the band, that often catches people’s attention. Good groove is not as elusive as you might think though, and working on your timing with a metronome, click, or drummer will help you to improve in this area. My latest YouTube lesson covers these areas of playing and delves deeps into the different places that you can play with the beat. There’s a free PDF under the video. Enjoy!
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One of my favourite pieces of fretless playing has to be from Pink Floyd's, 'Hey You', and I've loved this bass line ever since I first heard it on 'The Wall.' The bass line has two sections of lyrical, melodic fretless bass and some very effective slides throughout the bass line. What I particularly like about the fretless bass tone from Hey You, is that it doesn't have a ton of chorus on it, like a lot of the 80's fretless features. You just get the pure sound of the fretless and this really adds to the emotion of the song. If you want to work on your fretless playing, this is a brilliant choice of bass line to play and study. You can also jam this bass line on a fretted bass, if you don't have a fretless. There’s a full transcription of the bass line in notation and Tab under the video lesson. Enjoy this classic bass line!
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- fretless bass
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Sounds great! I didn’t realise over here in the UK how popular Simple Man is for bands to play. It’s such a great song!
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The song 'Simple Man' by Lynyrd Skynyrd is such an epic and the bass line is really inventive too. Ed King was the bassist on the original recording and there's an interesting story regarding him, this bass line, and Leon Wilkeson. All will be revealed in my latest YouTube video! It's a pretty tricky bass line so I've spent some of the video teaching a simplified bass line that I've created for this song. Even though this bass line is much easier to play, it still sounds great. There’s a link in the video description to a transcription of the simplified bass line and the main sections from the original bass line. Enjoy this classic!
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I’ll definitely have to try one then!
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- andy fraser
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A very common question that I'm often asked is, "how do I lock in with the drummer?". This question might resonate with you, and it leads to a whole host of other questions like, "do I have to play with the kick drum?", or, "can I create my own independent bass groove?". These are all very good questions that I wrestled with in my earlier years of bass playing. We should all be looking to interact with the drummer, but we might not always know just how to do this. So, I've made a video explaining my take on how to lock in with the drummer, and in that video I present simple concepts that you can take away and use when jamming or creating grooves with drummers. I hope that you find this useful. Leave a comment and me know what you think.
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Nice, have fun with the bass line. How is your EB-3 to play? I’d like to try one.
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Andy Fraser's bass lines always impress me when I study them in details, particularly when I remember that he was very young when he recorded the Free material. Recently I had a recommendation to look at Andy Fraser's bass line from the live version of the free song, 'I'm A Mover', and what a groove! The bass tone is magnificent with superb 'in-the-pocket' playing throughout. This bass line really epitomises how I think the bass player can both lead, and support the band at the same time. You can check out this bass line in my latest video lesson and download a free copy of my transcription in the description underneath the video. I hope that you enjoy this awesome bass groove!
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If you've heard the words, 'chord tones' and wondered what they are, why they are important, or even how to use them, then read on... Chord tones are very important to us bass players as they are the essential notes of the chord, that we can use to outline and establish the harmony for the rest of the band. These are our building blocks, and you need to know what they are, and how to use them if you want to start creating and improvising your own bass lines. Chord tones really are very simple to use, once you know how, of course! So I've put together a short lesson explaining chord tones in a way that is very easy to understand. I’ve put the link to a handy free PDF under the video and this containing the fret diagrams from the lesson and a bass cheatsheet.
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If you're a fan of Chas Chandler and The Animals, then you'll bound to know 'It's My Life'. If not, then check this song out as it has a really great little bass line that drive the song from start to finish. Chas Chandler was such a solid bass player and his sense of groove is excellent. This bass line isn't too technical but it good for practicing groove, and it's also a fun one to play. You can check out the bass line in my latest video lesson by clicking the link below. Full transcription in notation and Tab under the video. Enjoy!
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If you're familiar with my teaching style, you'll know that I'm not one for promoting the playing of mindless exercises for hours on end. I believe that It's much more constructive and effective to spend the majority of your practice time working on bass lines. But technical exercises do have their place, especially for helping to develop certain aspects of playing technique and for fixing any annoying flaws that we might have. There's one single exercise that has had the most impact on my playing, because it helped me to develop a good fretting hand technique, including sorting out my 'flying pinky' finger! I've lost count of the times that I've recommended this exercise to my one-to-one pupils, so I thought it was high time to set it down in stone in a YouTube lesson, so that you can access it to help with your own playing. It's simple to grasp the concept of this exercise, but I bet that you'll find it harder to play this exercise perfectly! This is the sort of exercise that you can also use to slowly warm up before each practice session. Check out the exercise in my latest YouTube video by clicking below. You can download the exercise on a free PDF under the video. Enjoy!
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- gbshed.com
- greg hagger
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You may have noticed that chord progressions seem to follow similar patterns and that certain chords will be major, and others minor. Well, there's actually a formula that dictates the chord type of every chord in a particular key. Knowing this formula is extremely useful when creating or learning chord progressions. But there's also a very logical way of working out these chord types, and that is by building triads off every degree (note) of the major scale. Now, if this sounds daunting or the theory is going over your head, don't worry as I've made a YouTube lesson on this topic, that's very easy to follow! This area of music is very important, and shouldn't be missed out, so check this lesson out and learn it once and for all! #gregsbassshed #fretboardshapes #triads
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- chord tones
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A long while ago I made a video on the five major pentatonic bass shapes. It's taken a while and a few friendly prompts, but I've finally got round to making a video on the five minor shapes. This lesson is sort of off the back of my video No.275 that I made a few weeks ago on the minor pentatonic scale. These minor pentatonic shapes are so useful to us bass players, and if you're struggling with knowing notes options for creating your own riffs, licks and fills, then this video is for you. It will help you to understand a framework across the whole fretboard to help with improvising. In the lesson, I guide you through the scale shapes and explain why they are so useful. This is an easy lesson to understand but an important one, so you don't want to miss it!
