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Theory for bass players

#81
I have "walking Bass Lines" by Friedland but have put it on a back burner because it is all quarter notes. Now, I realize it is a good publication and I am going to get into it but at the moment I am really trying to read well and transfer it to the fretboard. I am so used to a piano keyboard that it was difficult for me to read a note and place it on the fretboard but, I am a HECK of a lot better than I used to be. I want to be able to read and automatically go to the proper position on the fretboard. When I played Piano I wasn't that interested in theory and never got too much beyond intermediate theory. I just wanted to play the pieces
 
#82
Hi @quindecima

Here is a fun practice technique for the Bach Cello Suites, maybe you will enjoy as much as I do. :)

I choose one section of the Suites, for example the famous Prelude in G Major. Then I play it 4 different ways:
  1. Piano two hands
  2. Piano right hand only
  3. Piano left hand only
  4. Bass
It's fine to reverse the order of #2 and #3 if you like. What I discovered (and this is just me, your results may vary) is that something magical happens inside my brain when I switch hands on the piano. Playing the same music with the right hand and then the left hand (or vice versa) is harder than it sounds, because muscle memory is reversed; every finger movement is a mirror-image opposite. There have been a couple of times I've actually felt my brain grow bigger from this "switching hands on the piano" exercise. ;)
 
#87
MixBass said:
Since you like Bach: a fun theory exercise is to make a chord chart of what changes you think are being implied. Bach is full of jazz harmony and can be harmonized a multitude of ways IMO.
Click to expand...
What a great idea.
20190111_081946.jpg
 
#93
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