Pentatonics??

[jamro217]

I only posted that simply because I happen to like the song and the way the guy presented it.
That's all. I'm not using it as an example of what I consider to be "bass playing".

If you're a guitarist entering the bass world to "stop thinking like a guitar player" is a lot easier said than done. Especially when that's all you've done for a very long time.

Start thinking as a musician who plays bass, guitar, sax, keys, drums, trumpet, violin, oboe, flute, timpani, tuba, tambourine, harpsichord...and writes originals. That's when all of this begins to make sense. How and why the instruments interact the way that they do. Getting back to your original question, major and minor pentatonic scales can and have been used in the same bass line, but probably weren't necessarily thought of as such. Possibly the writer was using fragmented portions of modes linked together. Think of playing a C# as opposed to a D flat. It usually depends on what key you're in, but the actual note played is the same. Now go one step further, imagine the composer had some novel idea about having instruments playing in different keys simultaneously. (I think Zappa did that a lot.) If you're learning the bass line by ear and ask the piano player what note he played, he'd tell you one thing, the bari sax player would call him a liar, soon chairs would be flying...mayhem. If they pointed to where you should put your fingers on the fretboard, they'd both be right. Sorry to go off on a tangent.

 

[Spidey2112]

That is simply wrong. You are not the only artist, mon ami... And you must read the entire post before making wrong judgements, especially if English is a foreign language.



The OP asked us how to play bass without sounding like a guitarist.
This had to apply to a band setting.
Many tried to offer advice on how to play bass in a band (not as a soloist...).
Then he posted a video showing someone playing a bass like a guitarist
But you just can't play bass like that in a band. That's for soloing.
I did not wish that he leave with a wrong impression.
Then you jumped in with rage and called bass guitarists sissies...
Bass Guitarists are not sissies... no matter what you wish to believe.

Where's the G string??

If you have to ask...

 

[Spidey2112]

Start thinking as a musician who plays bass, guitar, sax, keys, drums, trumpet, violin, oboe, flute, timpani, tuba, tambourine, harpsichord...and writes originals. That's when all of this begins to make sense. How and why the instruments interact the way that they do. Getting back to your original question, major and minor pentatonic scales can and have been used in the same bass line, but probably weren't necessarily thought of as such. Possibly the writer was using fragmented portions of modes linked together. Think of playing a C# as opposed to a D flat. It usually depends on what key you're in, but the actual note played is the same. Now go one step further, imagine the composer had some novel idea about having instruments playing in different keys simultaneously. (I think Zappa did that a lot.) If you're learning the bass line by ear and ask the piano player what note he played, he'd tell you one thing, the bari sax player would call him a liar, soon chairs would be flying...mayhem. If they pointed to where you should put your fingers on the fretboard, they'd both be right. Sorry to go off on a tangent.

Beautiful in their own right, but so much more, together...

... that's enough syrup, who brought the pancakes? Pigeon Forge, where are you?

 

[Clef_de_fa]

Where's the G string??

Well ... knowing Manring ... it could be tuned various ways but it is such a small gauge that the camera didn't pick it up

 

[MalcolmAmos]

Now that I think of it, I guess this is why playing the R, 3rd, 5th in a standard I,IV,V progression always works.

Yes! There are a zillion things you could do, but, the above dirt simple logic seems to work. Notice the size of the period.

Pentatonic scales don't seem to work for me. Main reason I'm not trying to play melodically. My job is to work with the drummer and lay down a groove. Chord tones do that very well.

 

[jamro217]

Beautiful in their own right, but so much more, together...

... that's enough syrup, who brought the pancakes? Pigeon Forge, where are you?

St. Alphonso's Pancake Breakfast...

 

[joebar]

I agree with chord tones being first; however...

the foundation of my playing (veteran 30+ years) is pentatonics. I believe I use them with a high level of taste as well as incorporating the chord tones and flavor notes.
I find them ultra useful because they share common ground with more than one mode.
if one is playing Motown or country, mastery of the major pentatonic would be high priority. for rock, the minor.

 

[TedH]

Pentatonics are lovely for flashy fills and reasonably safe improvisational territory, but I think you'll find few concepts more sacred to bassists than chord tones. As a musician, you can and absolutely should be entertaining and expressive, but as a bassist, you also have a job in the band to be the foundation, and that responsibility deserves equal if not greater attention.

Your ultimate goal is to make the strongest statement you can while saying as little as possible.

--^@

^^ This. I would supplement the above chord tones (1,3,5,7) with chord scales (i.e., adding the 4 and the 6 to the chord tones).

Find the key of the song and the chords that the keys/guitars are playing (i.e., not just the root note, the actual chord), then any type of scale (pent, chord, chromatic, etc) will fall out pretty quickly. You don't need to learn to read music, but you should look at the music (or slash notation) for the above, and then it's ear training time to see where within the chord the bass player is going. Your ear will get very good at understanding that the bass is highlighting the 7 or the 5 or whatever else just by listening. Understanding the key and the chord becomes the street map.

 

[swooch]

Regarding the original post regarding major/minor pentatonics.

It can give a nice bluesy sound to mix major and minor. Look at "Hard to Handle" by the Black Crows for instance. The main riff goes up on a major scale (notes 1,3,4,5) and then back down on a minor scale (4,b3,4,b3,1).

For some reason the opposite doesn't seem to flow as well but that might just be me.

 

[TedH]

Regarding the original post regarding major/minor pentatonics.

It can give a nice bluesy sound to mix major and minor. Look at "Hard to Handle" by the Black Crows for instance. The main riff goes up on a major scale (notes 1,3,4,5) and then back down on a minor scale (4,b3,4,b3,1).

For some reason the opposite doesn't seem to flow as well but that might just be me.

Good point; Tell the Truth by Clapton/Derek and the Dominoes does that same thing. Chords are major (E and A), and the bass runs with the relative minor pent (F# and C#).