questions about using chord progressions?

[mrchief128]

so i'm wondering if i'm doing this the right way... when i try to jam with a song or another musician, i take the chord progression, and play all the root notes, and try to make something between, this could just be stepping up or down to the next chord, or playing parts of the chord...is this generally the right way to do it? i sometimes feel limited because i have to play each root note, or can i skip some?


another question, i need some help with scales, should i try memorizing them completely, if so, do you have any tips as to how to memorize them?

[sevenyearsdown]

Go to studybass.com and try some of the lessons. I think the "roots and fifths" section sounds like what you are looking for at this stage. Scales can come after that.

[Scot]

I think your best bet at this point is to try to emulate the bass lines on recordings you like, figure out the chord changes and try to analyze why the bass lines work over the changes. What notes to play over chord changes (and when to play them) varies a lot from one style to the next.