Scales and such (please help)

[IvanBassist]

Hello I would like to ask for some help! I would say I’m an intermediate player by now, I can play some Primus, Chili peppers and a lot of Jamiroquai. I just CANNOT figure out scales and it is holding back my potential.. I know the major and minor scales but I don’t know how to use them! Every single video I watch doesn’t really help.. I would like some help with this please... I AM DESPERATE. Any suggestions or tips at all will be greatly appreciated!!

A good way to approach this is to reverse engineer the process. Take songs you already know and try to make sense out of those bass lines/riffs by comparing those phrases to the things you already know.

for example: the intro to around the world by rhcp. Do you know the harmonic material there? Which scale is Flea using there? If you know the minor scale, you can probably figure it out.

 

[Slevage]

Study chord structure.
Doing that in parallel with a keyboard and bass will help you visualize things.

 

[TreySonagras]

Hello I would like to ask for some help! I would say I’m an intermediate player by now, I can play some Primus, Chili peppers and a lot of Jamiroquai. I just CANNOT figure out scales and it is holding back my potential.. I know the major and minor scales but I don’t know how to use them! Every single video I watch doesn’t really help.. I would like some help with this please... I AM DESPERATE. Any suggestions or tips at all will be greatly appreciated!!

Hello I would like to ask for some help! I would say I’m an intermediate player by now, I can play some Primus, Chili peppers and a lot of Jamiroquai. I just CANNOT figure out scales and it is holding back my potential.. I know the major and minor scales but I don’t know how to use them! Every single video I watch doesn’t really help.. I would like some help with this please... I AM DESPERATE. Any suggestions or tips at all will be greatly appreciated!!

A couple of things I do with my HS jazz students is to learn the major and minor scales and then make a couple of alterations to them. I teach them to play the C major scale with the 7th note lowered a half step. This is a scale that can be played over a C7 chord. (Works with any other scale)
I will also teach them the A minor scale with the 6th note raised a half step. This is a scale that can be played over an Am7 chord (also works with any other scale)

 

[HolmeBass]

A couple of things I do with my HS jazz students is to learn the major and minor scales and then make a couple of alterations to them. I teach them to play the C major scale with the 7th note lowered a half step. This is a scale that can be played over a C7 chord. (Works with any other scale)
I will also teach them the A minor scale with the 6th note raised a half step. This is a scale that can be played over an Am7 chord (also works with any other scale)

I would say those 4 are the money-makers. Also makes sense to never even utter the “m-word” which seems to twist folks into knots.

 

[CallMeAl]

Something that's helped me immensely is to really really reaaaaally understand and get down the pentatonic scale and after that it's just a matter of adding 2 extra notes to fill any shape out.

This is a really good point! (Along with all the talk about chord tones). One step more complex than chord tones, pentatontics offer a skeleton, a gateway into many other scales.

I go down a mental spectrum of increased harmonic and melodic complexity to decide what’s appropriate for the situation. From least to most complex:
-Roots
-Roots and fifths
-Chord tones/arpeggios (where you decide major or minor)
-pentatonic
-6, 7, and 8- note scales
-chromatic

if I’m playing bluegrass, I start with roots and fifths, spice it up with the occasional chord tone or chromatic run. If it’s blues, I’ll start with arpeggios, and add complexity with linear scale movement and chromatics. It all depends on the situation, genre, song and the other instruments you’re playing with.

I think learning major scales is more important for understanding theory and chord progressions. For actual bass playing, chord tones, pentatonic scales and chromatic runs get way more play time.

 

[brianrost]

I’m an intermediate player by now, I can play some Primus, Chili peppers and a lot of Jamiroquai. I just CANNOT figure out scales and it is holding back my potential.. I know the major and minor scales but I don’t know how to use them!

Take all the Primus, RHCP and Jamiroquai songs you know and start investigating how scales are used in those songs. Write down the notes, even if just by name if you can't read music notation. That will help a lot.

Take some simple songs that you can sing ("Happy Birthday" is always a good one to start with), work out the melodies on the bass and start investigating how scales are used in those songs.

Do that for a while (months) and you will start understanding how to "use" scales.

 

[Kipp Harrington]

Hello I would like to ask for some help! I would say I’m an intermediate player by now, I can play some Primus, Chili peppers and a lot of Jamiroquai. I just CANNOT figure out scales and it is holding back my potential.. I know the major and minor scales but I don’t know how to use them! Every single video I watch doesn’t really help.. I would like some help with this please... I AM DESPERATE. Any suggestions or tips at all will be greatly appreciated!!

I just started checking this site out. Seems to be very thorough and explains things well.

StudyBass Bass Lessons

 

[mambo4]

Bass lines outline the harmony in a stylistically appropriate rhythm.
That requires learning 2 things:

• harmony
• stylistic rhythm

Scales are a prerequisite of learning harmony.

@Malcolm35 regularly posts excellent helpful summaries of how it works like this

I just shared my thoughts another thread yesterday

The PDF linked in My signature is a good introduction to how harmony is built from scales

 

[mambo4]

I support your idea of learning sales. They are the basis of western music.

I know this is a typo but "Sales is the basis of Western music" is cracking me up.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Don't forget one of the most important notes you can play while jamming...empty space.

+1!

 

[mambo4]

Crap I lost edit functionality
Correct link to @Malcolm35's helpful post:
Best way to learn theory/application ... old dog, new tricks

 

[jw23mind]

Learn to hear intervals. If you are given a pitch, you should be able to sing any named interval (1-8, adjusting for major, minor, or diminished) relative to that pitch. Then scales will start to make more sense as you understand their construction. Just my 2-cents.

 

[JRA]

I know this is a typo but "Sales is the basis of Western music" is cracking me up.

because there's some truth to it!

per the OP: IME: i practice scales mostly for eye/hand/finger coordination (and sheer knowledge), but i mostly use chord tones on the gigs (mostly jazz). per the "theory," i think if you practice enough and gig enough = both experiences blend into each other as 'second nature'. i doubt that anyone here is suggesting that they're actually thinking about "theory" when playing those passing tones on their first trip through that wayne shorter tune at 300 BPM! that said: without the knowledge and the chops = they couldn't play it at 60 BPM, either! so there's that.

learn all you can, play all you can, good luck!

 

[Thundertips]

Hello I would like to ask for some help! I would say I’m an intermediate player by now, I can play some Primus, Chili peppers and a lot of Jamiroquai. I just CANNOT figure out scales and it is holding back my potential.. I know the major and minor scales but I don’t know how to use them! Every single video I watch doesn’t really help.. I would like some help with this please... I AM DESPERATE. Any suggestions or tips at all will be greatly appreciated!!

Understanding how to build triads and notes (Chord Tones) from the chords in a chord progression might me more important than knowing scales.

 

[coyote1]

Hello I would like to ask for some help! I would say I’m an intermediate player by now, I can play some Primus, Chili peppers and a lot of Jamiroquai. I just CANNOT figure out scales and it is holding back my potential.. I know the major and minor scales but I don’t know how to use them! Every single video I watch doesn’t really help.. I would like some help with this please... I AM DESPERATE. Any suggestions or tips at all will be greatly appreciated!!

Sounds like you could really use a good teacher.

 

[Thundertips]

I think of it like this: You’re playing a song. You’re on a chord, playing one of the notes in the chord. Your target is the next chord, where you will land on one of the notes in that chord. The scale that goes with the chord you’re currently on gives you the most logical choices of notes for getting from one to the other.

That's a good explanation. I think of it that way, too.

 

[Sean Hughes]

Try this scale. I am a beginner BTW. Pinky on the root note of the major scale on the E string; index (2), ring (3), and pinky (4) fingers on the A string; index (5) and ring (6) fingers on the D string; index stretched down one fret (7) and index (octave) on the G string. The root and octave are comfortably positioned. You can go higher to the 9 and 10 or easily go below the root to the 6 or even the 5 with a two fret stretch or slide.

 

[Ellery]

Scales have served me in this way:
Instead of memorizing every possible progression/ combination, I can determine chord tones and passing tones on the fly if I know what scale I'm in. It's not as hard as it sounds.

 

[Yellow Bang66]

For what purpose do you intend to use scales? Perhaps narrowing down your need might help people give you a direction. For instance, are you looking to learn how to solo? To write interesting bass lines? To learn the passing notes between chords?

Memorizing scales up and down the neck can be a useful exercise, but it is not exactly the only key to being a better musician.

Practice, Practice ,Practice.I know cliche' But true! Play the scales over & over. Learn the up side down & backwards, Listen very carefully, on who they sound! what they sound like & how they make you feel. How you play play them to make you feel Happy & sad! Play them over songs, beats,droning chord tones. arpeggios, every note, every other note, pentatonics, octaves everything. until you get a good feel of what their strengths are!Thats how I learned to use them.GL

 

[Ric5]

Hello I would like to ask for some help! I would say I’m an intermediate player by now, I can play some Primus, Chili peppers and a lot of Jamiroquai. I just CANNOT figure out scales and it is holding back my potential.. I know the major and minor scales but I don’t know how to use them! Every single video I watch doesn’t really help.. I would like some help with this please... I AM DESPERATE. Any suggestions or tips at all will be greatly appreciated!!

look up pentatonic / blues / pop scale