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I had an 'aha' moment.

#8
I started with a Bass Guitar Chord chart but found I was just using the G and D chord shapes (major, minor, m7, 6th etc) and moving the shapes for all the other chords. Eventually I made this one below. Just knowing the top four patterns can have you playing along with songs very quickly.

Bass Chords.jpg

This one below basically has the rest of the fretboard covered.

arpeggio patterns.jpg
 
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#10
Many people wrongly assume that the study of scales is the study of melody. It's not. The study of melody is the study of melody. Scales are just one way sound is organised and their linear structure makes them useful for developing your technique. Arpeggios are chords one note at a time. Imagine a guitar player who couldn't play any chords. Would you even consider home a guitar player? Prolly not! Arpeggios are the meat and potatoes of bass playing and rhythm/groove is the delivery vehicle. Whether you're playing Scandinavian black metal or Afro Cuban Guaracha major is still major and minor is still minor. The groove however...
 
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#12
BAG said:
I started with a Bass Guitar Chord chart but found I was just using the G and D chord shapes (major, minor, m7, 6th etc) and moving the shapes for all the other chords. Eventually I made this one below. Just knowing the top four patterns can have you playing along with songs very quickly.

View attachment 1072283

This one below basically has the rest of the fretboard covered.

View attachment 1072284
Click to expand...

Thanks for these!
 
#15
MalcolmAmos said:
Scales get our fingers moving on our fretboard and our ears learn the sound of good and bad notes which let's us play melodically. Chord tones, aka arpeggios are what we make bass lines from.
Click to expand...

...unless we're trying to create smooth incremental step-wise bass lines, and then we're back to using scales. :)
 
#17
my take on writing/improvising bass lines in tonal music:

arpeggiate the chords. fill between those notes with scale steps, for melodic interest and metric placement. even when taking a line "outside" for a little bit, it's best when the "out" notes imply some recognizable chord on top of the "real" chord at that moment.


post-tonal, atonal, or serial music is a different game.
 
#18
Herbal said:
Arpeggios.

I have always been thinking in scales when I play and never really in arpeggios.
I got a book from a charity shop that shows how to play arpeggios through a key and it was like !this is what I'm missing.!
:D
Click to expand...
awsome! Learn something daily!!
You Sure you're Not missing the modes as well ?
lonian, dorian, phrygian lydian, etc.
 

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