Spark Your Bass Intros with Cycles of

Note Groupings
Cycles of note groupings force the listeners ear to focus on resolution points.

Here is a simple application of a cycle of note groupings, used to create

movement in a bass intro.

Apply Cycles of Note Groupings to Create

Movement
In this short Instagram clip, I apply cycles of note groupings in order to
create movement with my slap-bass intro.

I am utilizing notes derived from a D minor pentatonic scale.

Rhythmically, I am only feeling this phrase: 1234, 12, 1234, 12, 123, 123

Explore combinations of short and long cycles of note-groupings and you will
discover exciting rhythmic possibilities. You will find that your phrases
resolve in places that you normally would not even consider.

This practice will stretch your ears and your overall awareness of rhythm.

Fearless Flow
Fearless Flow is a technical device that can be used to create a continuous
flow of rhythm. This is effective for bass solos and bass grooves. When
applied, interesting counter-rhythms will naturally occurmasking the
simplicity behind this concept.

Play Linear Grooves On the Bass Guitar

Linear grooves is not a new concept and has been used by bass players such
as Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Bill The Buddha Dickens, and Oteil
Burbridge.

These linear grooves create a natural flow of syncopated counter-rhythms

that make you sound like you are doing a whole lot. But in actuality, you
really arent doing much at all.

This is a really fun approach to playing the bass and can yield some
unexpectedly pleasing results!
Create Bass Phrases That Always Feel
Good
The quarter-note pulse is the fundamental rhythm in any bass phrase that
musicians and non-musicians can still feel.

If your listeners can feel your quarter-note in all of your bass phrases, I
guarantee, they will not get lost when you are taking a bass solo or playing a
complicated bass groove.

The Key To Making All Bass Phrases Sound Good

If you want your bass phrases to always sound good, ensure that you are
feeling a strong quarter-note pulse with whatever you are playing on the
bass.

The quarter-note is a strong and safe rhythmic anchor for any bass phrase
and should still be felt no matter what bass phrase you are playing.

The following bass concept specifically teaches you how to never lose the
feel of your quarter-note pulse, no matter how rhythmic you choose to be.

You will be able to freely explore syncopated rhythms and still feel a strong
quarter-note pulse.

You will also be able take a bass solo, using short and long bass phrases and
always feel good.

Make Your Bass Phrases Feel Awesome Using The

Quarter-Note Concept
The quarter-note is easy to feel and comprehend by most listeners, making it
one of the strongest rhythmic anchors for any bass phrase. Rhythmic
anchors are similar to resolution points in that your rhythms will emphasize a
strong focus and resolution to these points.

Rhythmic tension is created by playing counter-rhythms, polyrhythms, and/or

syncopated rhythms. Rhythmic release is created by completing your bass
phrase on a rhythmic anchor or resolution point.

Youll find that this approach even works for playing bass phrases
over odd-meter.
 To start, simply get used to feeling every single quarter-note within a
measure.

A few ways to improve the feel of your quarter-notes is by:

Making it a habit to tap your foot on every quarter-note as you play

your bass.

Practice playing quarter-note bass lines, similar to that of a walking

bass line. This will teach you how to hear chord tones resolving on a quarter-
note and will allow you to focus on just making your quarter-notes feel good.

Make your metronome tap to the & of each beat and play quarter-
notes on your bass. With the metronome clicking on all the offbeats and your
bass on all the downbeats, you will create a sound similar to that of disco
music. Gradually increase the speed of the metronome to ensure that you do
not drag your quarter-notes even at very fast tempos.

You worked on getting your quarter-notes to feel good, now its time to add
other notes to start making actual bass phrases. *You do not have to play
every quarter-note to make your bass phrases feel good. You do not
have to start or end your phrases on a quarter-note. You just have
to make sure that your quarter-notes are still being felt.

To do this, make sure that when you come across a quarter-note within your
bass phrase, you emphasize that beat.

Emphasis can be created through:

change volume

change in timbre

change articulation

playing a chord instead of a single note

reharmonization of a chord or a chord substitute

The best way to hear this concept in action is to simply listen to your favorite
bass solos. Tap your foot as you listen to these bass solos and notice how
often a quarter-note is actually being emphasized. Itll happen quite a bit!
The more you become aware of your quarter-note pulse, the less your bass
phrases will sound rhythmically random and the more your bass phrases will
groove!

Quarter-notes tend to be strong and safe rhythmic anchors for any bass
phrase. However, they are not the only rhythmic anchors found in
music. Certain styles of music emphasize other rhythmic anchors within the
measure to create rhythmic intensity. I recommend that you become aware
of these rhythmic anchors to propel your music.

Remember, whichever rhythmic anchor your music calls for, make sure to
always place strong emphasis on those rhythmic anchors and your bass
phrases will always feel awesome no matter how complicated you choose to
be.

Incorporating Chromaticism with Your

BassLines
Effective Chromaticism can add interest and movement to your basslines
and fills.

Learn a simple, rhythmically accurate, scale for adding chromaticism with

little thought!

Chromaticism Using the Dominant Bebop Scale

For example purposes, lets look at a C Dominant Scale: C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb,
C

If you were to play this scale as straight eighth-notes, the following bold
notes would be occur on the beats 1, 2, 3, and 4. The remaining notes would
occur on the upbeats of 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Example: C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C

Going up the scale one time sounds fine and rhythmically accurate. The
chord tones of a C7 chord are C, E, G, Bb. Each of these chord tones are
occur on the strong beats.

On the contrary, if we go down the scale one time, the following notes are
emphasized:

C, Bb, A, G, F, E, D, C.
Things start to sound a little ambiguous now. Descending on this scale, one
time, seems to outline the sound of an F6 chord (F, A, C, D), and less of a C7
chord (C, E, G, Bb).

This is where the concept of bebop scales come in handy. Bebop scales add
an additional chromatic note in order to allow the chord tones to always
occur on the strong beat, no matter what direction of the scale you go.

A C Dominant Bebop Scale has these notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb, B, C

The Dominant Bebop Scale inserts a chromatic note between the root and
the b7 of the scale. This additional chromatic note makes it really easy to
play a line based on this scale, without having to think about the placement
of your notes.

Hear the bebop scale in action. In this Instagram clip below, I use a bebop
scale with my bass fill.

Surprise Your Listener with Bass

Harmonics
Jaco Pastorious was notorious for dropping unexpected ear-shattering bass
harmonics seamlessly into his bass grooves. These bass harmonics often
sustained on the high strings, while maintaining the bass groove on the
lower strings.

Crank up your pickups mids and learn how to execute devastating bass
harmonics chords that will shock your listeners ears!

Create Devastating Bass Harmonics Chords

Before you begin to attempt to execute playing bass harmonics on your bass
guitar the way Jaco Pastorious did, be sure to keep these 5 tips in mind:

Crank up the mids on your pickups. This will allow your bass harmonics to
effortlessly ring and sustain clearly! If you have the ability to select which
pickup you can use, turn up the pickup that is closest to the bridge.

Pluck your bass string close to the bridge. You will find that the closer you
pluck to the bridge, the clearer your bass harmonics will ring.

Keep your fretting light. Once the bass harmonic is sounded, you no longer
need to leave your fretting finger there. This will free up your fretting hand to
continue maintaining the notes of the original bass groove on the lower
strings! Curve your fingers while playing the bass groove on the low strings.
This will allow the higher strings to continue to sustain the bass harmonics
you just played.

Pay close attention to the location of your fretting finger. A slight shift can
produce an entirely new bass harmonic note. The bass harmonics chart
below shows you the exact location of your fretting finger.

Satisfy your Resolution Points! Focus the rhythmic placement of your bass
harmonics on the Resolution Points specific to the music in order to maintain
and propel your bass groove.

Bass Harmonics Chart:

There are more natural bass harmonics. However, the ones shown in this
chart show you the bass harmonics that will ring the most clearly and easily.
Notice the logic of the fretboard and when the bass harmonics begin to
repeat itself.

Once you are familiar with the logic of these natural harmonics, you can
create your own chord voicings!
 It helps to keep the chord voicings to 2-note or 3-note voicings on the high
strings, leaving the lower bass strings available to continue to play the bass
groove.

*Although not every note on the chromatic scale is available, you can still
play or imply almost any chord with these notes alone!

How Chords Can Make Your 4 String

Bass Sound Big
Incorporating chords on a 4 string bass can be challenging. Often, youll find
many bass players resort to spending the big bucks on a 5 string bass or 6
string bass. It is true that playing chords on a bass with more than 4 strings
opens the door to infinite possibility of lush wide-spaced chord voicings.
However, there is still plenty of boundary to explore within the confines of 4
strings. I am going to show you an effective way chords can make baselines
with your 4 string bass sound big!
Placement of Chords Can Emphasize Parts of Your
Bassline
One way to make your baselines sound big on a 4 string bass, is to play
chords on either beat 1 of the measure or the first note of the phrase of your
bassline. This practice makes your bassline sound dynamic and big in a
number of ways:

1. The listeners ear gets drawn to the unexpected emphasis of an

already strong beat (beat 1)

2. Beat 1 naturally gets a fatter sound with the addition of more chord
tones

3. Movement is created because more than one bass note is heard

4. Chords introduce a different texture on the bass

Achieve Musical Freedom In A Fraction

Of The Time!
Achieving musical freedom is less about practice and more about a mindset.
Adopt the proper mindset for playing the bass guitar and musical freedom
falls at your fingertips.

Here are 4 easy tips that puts you one step closer to achieving total musical
freedom on the bass guitar. Its time to start playing the bass guitar how
youve always wanted!

Musical Freedom Can Be Found In The

Fundamentals
The fundamentals of music are rhythm, harmony, and melody.

Start allowing all three fundamentals of music to bleed into every bass line
and every bass solo you play.
This means, hearing a drummer playing a drum beat while you play a bass
line. This also means, hearing a chord or set of chord changes that your bass
line is supporting. And also, this means hearing a melody that your bass line
is reacting to.

Find Musical Freedom In Bass Concepts Versus

Bass Riffs
Bass riffs can only go so far. Often you are limited by what you habitually
know sounds good.

Developing bass concepts allows you to expand on the smallest idea. Bass
concepts also allows you to place these ideas anywhere in the music.

Expand Your Ears, Expand Your Musical Freedom

You are what you eat. You will naturally play the music you listen to. You can
only create and compose music that your ear can comprehend.

Listen to a variety of styles of music to expand your ear. The more you can
hear, the more you can imagine and play on your bass guitar.

The Fastest Way To Musical Freedom: Isolate And

Eliminate Your Weakness
If you cant hear chord changes, then direct your attention to hearing chord
changes. If you cant play to a metronome, then direct your attention to
metronomic practices until you can do it. If you cant physically play the bass
guitar effortlessly, then direct your attention to technique until your fingers
and hands move effortlessly.

Practice less on the material that someone just told you that you should
practice, and more on what you stink at.

Improve Your Fretboard Facility

Does your unfamiliarity of the fretboard get in the way of your learning?

This bass lesson teaches you how to realize patterns on the fretboard.

Understanding fretboard logic on the bass keeps you from wondering what
notes your fingers are on, drastically improving the speed of your learning.

Introduction
Optimal performance is more about your perception than your effort. Golfers
understand this concept well.

If you try to muscle your way into hitting a golf ball far, the ball will only
travel a shorter distance (power) and be less likely to travel in the direction
you try to make it travel (control).

Although this is cliche, it is still a profound concept.

Your technique on your bass is similar to that of a golfer.

With the right perception you can harness optimal power and optimal control
with your bass.

The Unfamiliar Fretboard

I find that a large part of what slows my students down, when they try to
play a long and fast melodic line on their bass, is their unfamiliarity with their
fretboard.

Instead of having their fingers effortlessly glide along the neck of their bass,
their fingers slow down as their mind has to think about where the notes
they wish to play are.

I also notice that their fingerings seem to have little logic.

 This also slows down their technique as their fingers criss-cross, going from
one string to another.

The Perception of Pattern

When you realize a pattern, your mind can remember and recall necessary
muscle movements quicker.

More importantly, your mind can also manipulate these movements quicker!

The ability to manipulate (changing the location, changing the fingering,

changing the technique of how something is played on your fretboard, etc)
is crucial to your technical facility on your bass!

So, one of the first things necessary to master the fretboard is to see these
patterns!

Most people trying to learn their fretboard start out by running modes up and
down their bass.

What Ive noticed with my students is that, the students that have done this
method, only ended up reinforncing set fingerings.

When placed in live improvised sessions, I noticed their mind still jamming
upperhaps the wrong finger landed on the wrong fret to execute a lick.

Their minds have become used to finding these notes in only one way!

Instead of just running modes up and down your fretboard, it is more

important to understand the patterns that are creating these modes.

Here are 2 steps to that can help you to understand patterns:

1. Learn all the possible octave locations for just one

note: Because of the logic of the fretboard every pattern of notes remains
the same an octave higher or lower. I am not talking about memorizing
where all the Fs or Gs or As are on your fretboard! I am talking about
creating perceptions of where octaves of any note is located. ie: One octave
up is 2 strings across, 2 frets up. One octave up is 12 frets up. One octave up
is 1 string across, 7 frets up. Etc Doing this establishes certain patterns
about your fretboard in your mind and quickly creates a logic of the
fretboard. The location on the fretboard of any octave is the same for every
note on the bass.

2. Understand certain patterns that make a particular scale: Start

with a major scale first because it is easy for your ear to hear whether
something is off or not. When you get comfortable with this step, then move
onto more exotic scales, like a Lydian Augmented scale. To do this, play a
scale using 3 strings. Notice that pattern. Fingering is not important. What is
important is that you can actually see this pattern regardless of your
fingering! Now play this scale using only 2 strings. Notice all combinations
and patterns. Now play this scale using only 1 string. Notice all combinations
and patterns.

When you are comfortable with the second step, immediately apply it with
step 1. Start playing these patterns in all octaves. You will notice that when
you can really see the patterns, fingerings become less significant. You can
land any finger on any fret and still find your way around the fretboard easily.
When practicing your modes, I recommend mastering step two in your
process. Playing scales and modes up higher octaves become more natural
and require less effort and practice.

More Freedom For Your Jazz Bass Solos

Instantly create good sounding jazz bass solos with minimal music theory
and very little thought.

A streamlined thought process for approaching jazz bass solos, allows you
to focus more on the delivery of your musical statement.

When your mind is free, you can groove harder, articulate your phrases with
more drama, and just have more fun with improvising!

Simplify your thought process for your jazz bass solos and automatically start
delivering notes that make your solos sing.

Simplify Your Jazz Bass Solos Into The 3 Primary

Sounds

One of the most effective and efficient ways to approach your jazz bass
solos, involves simplifying your perception of chords.

Start perceiving the sound of each chord, in a chord progression, as

belonging to one of the 3 primary sounds.

The 3 primary sounds found in any chord

progression, are:
1. Major sounds (1, 3, 7)

2. Minor sounds (1, b3, b7)

3. Dominant sounds (1, 3, b7)

Examples of Major Sounds: Cmaj, Cmaj7, Cmaj7#11, Cmaj6, Cmaj9

Examples of Minor Sounds: Cmin, Cmin7, Cmin/maj7, Cmin7b5, Cmin6,

Cmin9

Examples of Dominant Sounds: C7, C7#11, C7b9, C13, C7b13, C7b9b13,

Calt7, Diminished chords, Augmented chords

No matter what extensions are notated for a chord (ie: b9, 9, #9, 11, #11,
13, b13), only concern your ear if the sound you are hearing is a Major
Sound, a Minor Sound, or a Dominant Sound.

Implying Dominant Sounds In Your Jazz Bass Solos

It is a common practice to imply a Dominant Sound over a static Major Sound

or static Minor Sound.

The purpose of implying a Dominant Sound is to simply create more

movement in your line. Implying a Dominant Sound will create momentary
tension, prior to resolving back to the static chord sound.

Movement may be needed when you are soloing over static chords. At some
point after exploring the over sound of a static chord, the ear will need
something else to maintain its attention.

Implying harmony over static chords will momentarily catch the ears
attention, prior to resolving back to the static chord sound.

Quick Explanation of the Application of Diminished

Chords in Jazz Bass Solos

Diminished chords create a partial Dominant Sound. Adding a specific note

will complete its Dominant Sound.

If you want to imply a Dominant Sound in your jazz bass solos, then you can
include a diminished chord arpeggio.

For example: A C diminished chord (C, Eb, Gb, Bbb) with a B on the bass
will create a B7b9 sound. An Eb diminished chord (Eb, Gb, Bbb, C) with a D
on the bass will create a D7b9 sound. A Gb diminished chord (Gb, Bbb, C, Eb)
with an F on the bass will create an F7b9 sound. A Bbb diminished chord
(Bbb, C, Eb, Gb) with an Ab on the bass will create an Ab7b9 sound.

Notice, that by simply playing a bass note that is a half-step below any note
of the diminished chord, a dominant 7b9 sound is created. The root note of
that Dominant Sound you just created, will be that bass note.

Quick Explanation of the Application of Augmented

Chords in Jazz Bass Solos

Augmented chords also create a partial Dominant Sound. Adding a specific

note will complete its Dominant Sound.

If you want to imply a Dominant Sound in your jazz bass solos, then you can
include an augmented chord arpeggio.

For example: A C augmented chord (C, E, G#) with a Bb will create a C7#5
sound. An E augmented chord (E, G#, C) with a D will create an E7#5 sound.
A G# augmented chord (G#, C, E) with an F# will create a G#7#5 sound.

Notice that by treating any note of an augmented chord as a root note, and
adding its b7, you will create a dominant 7#5 sound.

Focusing your efforts on the 3 primary sounds will simplify your thought
process tremendously. With minimal music theory and minimal thought
process, your efforts can focus more on your delivery (dynamics, groove,
articulation, and phrasing).

What Notes To Focus On For Your Jazz Bass Solos

The ear primarily hears the melodic movement on the downbeats. Therefore,
emphasize chord tones (roots, thirds, fifths, sevenths) on the downbeats.
Natural Ninths and Natural Sixths can also be played on downbeats. These
tones simply add color to your lines. However, maintain the majority of your
focus on the chord tones.

Altered tones (b9, #9, #11, b13) are mainly used to create movement in
your lines, because those notes gravitate toward resolution. Therefore, when
tension in your line is needed, or when additional movement in your line is
needed, simply begin to introduce altered tones.

Linear Jazz Bass Solos That Create Major and Minor

Sounds
For Major and Minor sounds, mainly use diatonic notes to connect the
primary melodic movement that is being played on the downbeats. Non-
diatonic notes will often be derived from an implied Altered Dominant 7
sound.

Introduce non-diatonic notes when a Dominant Sound is needed to create

more movement in your line. Weaving Altered Dominant 7 sounds into your
Major and Minor lines will create sweet notes that grab the ears attention.

Linear Jazz Bass Solos That Create Dominant

Sounds

For Dominant Sounds, chromatic leading tones can often be explored to

connect the primary melodic movement.

The Dominant Sound is very tolerable with the use of chromaticism.

In a sense, the Dominant Sound, sounds chromatic.

Simple But Highly Effective Tips For Creating

Freedom In Your Jazz Bass Solos

Always remember, the ear hears the melodic movement occurring on the
strong beats. Harmonic clarity exists in the strong beats.

Arpeggios quickly define and create harmonic clarity. However playing your
entire jazz bass solo with arpeggios gets tiring, because the line ascends or
descends too quickly. Create variation by adding lines derived from
modes/scales, or by adding chromaticsim.

Decide on a mode that you will use for all of your major scales and minor
scales. The notes in this mode/scale will be used to connect your chord
tones. This will slow down the direction of your line.

If you pace your jazz bass solo in terms of speed (fast, medium, slow), your
lines will maintain interest. Arpeggios are fast speed. Scales are medium
speed. Chromaticism is slow speed.

If the changes are moving quickly, do not concern yourself with trying to add
more movement by implying a Dominant Sound in your line. Focus on
harmonic clarity.

If the chords are static (not moving for long periods of time), then you can
explore adding more movement, by implying harmony (ie: a Dominant
Sound) in your line.
Simplify your perception of chords. Is the chord you are hearing a Major
Sound, a Minor Sound, or a Dominant Sound?

Freedom from thinking will provide you with more freedom to

explore other aspects of music, such as groove, articulation,
phrasing, and dynamics. You can focus less on the notes and more
on the delivery of your musical statement.