My particular interest is in fretboard knowledge, groove development, baseline variety. Thanks!
And here is a cut and paste paper that may help with fretboard knowledge:
Warning it's long and offered as a study piece. Copy it and put it in a reference binder.
If you are teaching yourself I'd start you off with knowing where the notes are on your fretboard. Why? So later on when your ear tells you, or you see a chord your fingers know what to do with that information. So lets get started. The following are some things you can work on before you get with a teacher -- that can tell you how to do it correctly.
Notice the strings E, A, D, G go up in 4ths and come back down in 5ths. How does that help? Looking for a 4th, look at the next string up, same fret. Looking for a 5th, look at the next string down, same fret. For example C on the A string, it's 4th and 5th are up a string same fret and down a string same fret. The I-IV-V are in a very convenient "spot".
For this paper we will be referring to notes as A, B, C & 1, 2, 3. For example:
C Major Scale…….....…C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C (octave)
Scale degree number. 1. 2, 3,.4,.5, 6, 7, 8 (octave)
The Major Scale Box Pattern will also be used in our examples.
G|~~|---A----|-------|---B---|---C---|1st string
D|~~|---E----|---F---|--------|--G----|
A|~~|---B----|---C---|-------|---D----|
E|~~|---------|---G---|-------|---A----| 4th string
C and D played on the A string.
E, F and G played on the D string.
A, B and C played on the G string.
Why did I place the C root note on the A string? If we place the root (or tonic) note of the scale or chord progression on the A string the 4th and 5th scale degrees will be above and below the tonic/root note. Why is that important? The I-IV-V chord progression finds its way into hundreds of simple songs. Having the I, IV and V root notes all together in one spot will prove to be an advantage.
Octaves - Playing the root of a chord and just pounding out root notes is safe - and boring. Think about octaves, which is the root in another octave, R-8, or R-8-R-8 or R-R-8-8, safe and simple. Hold on --- the 5 is always right below the 8 so the R-5-8-5 becomes another safe bass line you could get into muscle memory very easily. More on that later.
Any note’s octave can be found up two strings and over two frets. To simplify this paper “over” will mean move toward the bridge and “back” will mean move toward the nut. OK this will find the 8 or octave note, if you want to return to the 1 note go down two strings and back two frets.
5th fret rule
The A at the 5th fret is the same as the open A string.
The D at the 5th fret is the same as the open D string.
The G at the 5th fret is the same as the open G string.
7th fret rule
The E at the 7th fret is the same as the E open string.
The A at the 7th fret is the same as the A open string.
The D at the 7th fret is the same as the D open string.
Finding the other notes
- From any note where is its 2? Over two frets same string.
- From any note where is its 3? Up a string and back one fret.
- From any note where is its 4? Up a string same fret.
- From any note where is its 5? Up a string and over two frets, or right below on the next string down, same fret.
- From any note where is its 6? Up two strings and back one fret. Right over the 3.
- From any note where is its 7? Up two strings and over one fret. If you want C’s 7th find a C and the 7th is back one fret. This comes in handy when moving back down a scale.
- From any note where is its 8? Up two strings and over two frets.
Major scale box showing scale degree numbers and
the root or tonic note on the 4th string.
G|---2---|-------|---3---|---4---| 1st string
D|---6---|-------|---7---|---8---|
A|---3---|---4---|-------|---5---|
E|-------|-T or R-|-------|---2---|4th string
This box, using scale degree numbers instead of note names will allow you to utilize the scale or chord spelling in your bass lines. See a Cmaj7 chord coming up in the song. The spelling for the Cmaj7 is R-3-5-7. Find those scale degrees within the box and you have a safe bass line. Start with just roots, need more add a 5. The 8 is always a safe addition. From there the correct 3 and 7 fill out a bass line very well.
Same box pattern for a C major scale. Place the T (tonic note) of the scale and then play the spelling for the scale you want.
Basic Chord Spellings
- Major Triad = R-3-5 for the C chord.
- Minor Triad = R-b3-5 for the Cm chord.
- Diminished Chord = R-b3-b5 for the Cdim chord.
7th Chord Spellings
- Maj7 = R-3-5-7 for the Cmaj7 chord.
- Minor 7 = R-b3-5-b7 for the Cm7 chord.
- Dominant 7 = R-3-5-b7 for the C7 chord.
- ½ diminished = R-b3-b5-b7 for the Cm7b5 chord.
- Full diminished = R-b3-b5-bb7 for the C with the little o - no strike through.
See a chord and play it's chord tones. As every key will have three major, three minor and one diminished chord it's a good idea to get your major, minor and diminished bass line chord tones into muscle memory so when you see a chord your fingers just know what will work. Now the song may only give you enough room for the root, or root five - adapt and get as many chord tones into your bass line as needed. Root on 1 and a steady groove from the other chord tones plus something to call attention to the chord change is what we do.
Scale Spellings Yep, gotta do our scales so our fingers know where the notes are and our ears get used to the good and bad sounds. Scales are a right of passage thing. Got to know them, however, chord tones is what we get paid to play.
- Major Scale = T-2-3-4-5-6-7 Home base
- Major Pentatonic = T-2-3-5-6 Leave out the 4 & 7
- Natural Minor Scale = T-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7 Major scale with the 3, 6 & 7 flatted.
- Minor Pentatonic = T-b3-4-5-b7 Leave out the 2 & 6.
- Blues = T-b3-4-b5-5-b7 Minor pentatonic with the blue note b5 added.
- Harmonic Minor Scale = T-2-b3-4-5-b6-7 Natural minor with a natural 7.
- Melodic Minor Scale = R-2-b3-4-5-6-7 Major scale with a b3.
Copy and put with your study material. Good luck, and welcome to the bottom end
