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BASS PLAYER Lesson Four Página 1 de 5

P U T T I N G I T AL L T OGE T H E R

Whenever I wor k with a s tudent inter es ted in impr oving their technique, I like to utiliz e playing ex er cis es that us e actual mus ical
components , s uch as s cales or ar peggio for ms . Us ing this method, a player is able to fur ther develop his /her ear by as s ociating
the s hapes played in each ex er cis e with a par ticular s ound that can be us ed in a var iety of mus ical contex ts . I n other wor ds , they
ar e lear ning to as s ociate a par ticular vis ual cue with an auditor y one. Mos t player s who have been playing for a while have
alr eady begun to develop a ëcomfor t zoneí bas ed on familiar s hapes and patter ns that they have wor ked on in the pas t. However ,
we cannot count on thes e s hapes and patter ns alone to ex pand our ability to ex pr es s our s elves on our ins tr uments . Memor ized
patter ns ar e s imply a s tar ting point in our development as player s . T hey ar e r eally nothing mor e than s tr uctur es that as s is t us in
r ecalling a par ticular s ound that is compatible in an har monic envir onment. S ubs equently, if we lear n the patter n only, but donít
lear n its s ound and function, we ar e only becoming familiar with its s tr uctur e on the finger boar d. Per s onally, I like to think of
patter ns s olely as ear tr aining devices . We lear n how a par ticular s et of notes ës ounds í or ëfeels í as we r epeat it over and over
again in ex er cis ed for m.

Our fr ees t for m of mus ical ex pr es s ion on our ins tr ument occur s when we ar e not thinking mathematically about what to play, or
r ecalling a s hape that we have memor iz ed; ins tead, it happens when we finally abandon all ëthinkingí, and allow what we ar e
ëfeelingí to influence the notes we choos e. Obvious ly, this is quite an idealis tic goal to tr y and achieve if we donít take the time to
r ecognize what notes or phr as ing methods accur ately r eflect our feelings ! S o, the challenge then becomes how to connect our
s hapes and patter ns with a s pontaneous and hones t for m of mus ical ex pr es s ion. T he s olution is ver y s imple in concept, but it
takes a s ignificant amount of time to mas ter : L et W H AT Y OU H E AR gu i de w h at you pl ay. S tated another way, it can be
s ummed up like this : Wor k at making EVERY pos s ible combination of notes , s hapes , s ounds or patter ns s o familiar to you that
you ar e able to pr edict the s ound of any note B EF ORE it is even played.

T his is wher e our technique pr actice us ing mus ical components comes into play. I t is not enough to s imply memor ize the patter n,
its elf. We need to lear n the S OUND of the patter n. For ex ample, letís s ay we wer e going to play a one octave C maj or s cale in an
ex er cis e, playing the notes as cending and des cending as s hown in E x . 1:

E x. 1

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BASS PLAYER Lesson Four Página 2 de 5

Fig. 1 s hows a s hape we might us e to play this ex er cis e for 4 s tr ing, 5 s tr ing, and 6 s tr ing bas s :

F i g. 1

As you play Ex . 1, notice that it has a par ticular s ound and char acter to it. T his is the s ound of a one octave maj or s cale, and if
we wer e to s imply move our hand pos ition, we could likewis e play another maj or s cale s tar ting on a differ ent r oot note. Even
though our placement and the actual pitches played would change with our hand pos ition, the tonality and bas ic s ound of the
ex er cis e would r emain the s ame, in addition to the patter n, its elf. Now tr y playing Ex . 1 again, but this time tr y s inging along
with the notes as you play them. I f you have hear d a maj or s cale played s ever al times befor e, you may alr eady be familiar with
its s ound, and as a r es ult, ar e alr eady able to s ing this ex er cis e without hear ing it fir s t. I f you ar e not as familiar , tr y to memor ize
the actual s ound of the s cale, us ing the ex er cis e to help you lear n the s ound of each individual note. Youíll want to wor k this to
the point wher e you can s ing it or hear it in your head without the help of your ins tr ument. T his is a ver y s imple implementation
of the concepts I had pr es ented ear lier . Fr om her e for war d, us e any and all patter ns you lear n as ear tr aining ex er cis es , as well.
T he mor e complicated the ex er cis e, the mor e challenging the ear tr aining becomes , but it ultimately r es ults in a playing appr oach
that does not s ound like you ar e s imply piecing together s ever al compatible patter ns and ex er cis es .

T op

Now that you know how to pr actice technique mor e effectively, letís continue with s ome wor kouts for your hands bas ed on a
s lightly mor e elabor ate ver s ion of our bas ic maj or s cale patter n. For this les s on, we will us e a r efer ence finger ing for the I onian
mode, which is the maj or s cale patter n bas ed off of its r oot. I n or der to ex tr act as many notes fr om a s ingle hand pos ition as
pos s ible, we ar e going to us e a thr ee note per s tr ing appr oach for each of the following ex er cis es . T he fr etting hand finger ings for
thes e patter ns on 4, 5, and 6 s tr ing bas s ar e labeled on each fr et block diagr am in F ig. 2a- 2c:

F i g. 2 a

F i g. 2 b

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BASS PLAYER Lesson Four Página 3 de 5

F i g. 2 c

For this les s on, we will pr es ent 3 differ ent types of ex er cis es that utiliz e this 3 note per s tr ing appr oach. (E ach ex ample s hown is
for 4 s tr ing bas s , but you can apply them to 5 or 6 s tr ing bas s by changing your s tar ting pos ition and adding as many notes as
neces s ar y.) As you pr actice each one, r emember to keep your hand pos ition and finger ing as s hown in Fig. 2.

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1 . As cen di n g/ D es cen din g in a s in gl e pos it ion


T his is the mos t bas ic of the ex er cis es , but it takes on a new level of difficulty when we follow s tr ict 1- 2 alter nate picking with the
plucking hand in both dir ections . I n this ex ample, we s tar t with the lowes t pitched note in the patter n (the r oot of the G I onian
mode) and play thr ough the patter n to its highes t note. We then des cend thr ough the patter n back to the r oot and s tar t over
again. Ex . 2 s hows this ex er cis e applied to a 4 s tr ing bas s , s tar ting at the 3r d fr et, E s tr ing. Plucking hand finger ing is pr ovided
under neath the s taff. (For the fr etting hand finger ing, r efer to Fig. 2a- 2c.)

E x. 2

T he plucking hand alter nate finger ing is pr obably the mos t challenging par t of this ex er cis e. Mos t of us have a tendency to ër akeí
the s tr ings on the des cending por tion. (Raking is when the s ame finger is us ed to s ound 2 cons ecutive notes .) As I had
mentioned ear lier in a pr evious ar ticle, tr y not to r ake at all when you ar e wor king with ex er cis es that call for s tr ict alter nation.
T his way you will develop full independent contr ol over both techniques and will be able to always choos e the bes t appr oach for
each s ituation.

2 . S u b gr ou pi n g s cal e f r agm en t s in a s in gl e pos it i on


S ub gr ouping is when we br eak down a lar ger for m or patter n into s maller pieces that can be played or appr oached individually.

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BASS PLAYER Lesson Four Página 4 de 5

I n the cas e of s cale patter ns , it is helpful to pr actice playing s maller fr agments in or der to br eak away fr om a pur ely linear way of
r ehear s ing, s uch as s hown in E x . 2, above. E x . 3 demons tr ates a way of s ub gr ouping the notes in our G I onian patter n s tar ting
with a 2 note gr ouping and then incr eas ing the s iz e of each fr agment by one note as the ex er cis e pr ogr es s es . T his continues in an
as cending and des cending fas hion until the complete 3 note per s tr ing patter n is played as cending and des cending at the end of
the ex er cis e.

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E x. 3

As the ex er cis e moves along, pay clos e attention to the s ound of each s ub gr ouping as they get lar ger and lar ger , until ultimately
you r each the top of the finger ing patter n and then des cend back down to the r oot. Now put your bas s down and look at this
ex er cis e again. S ee if you can s ing the ex er cis e without the help of your bas s . Look clos ely at the s hape of the ex er cis e on the
s taff. Notice how the placement of the notes on the s taff vis ually par allels the s tep- wis e movement of the pitches on your
finger boar d. I tís okay if you canít s ee this r ight away. I t takes s ome time to be able to ës ight s ingí effectively. B ut now you
hopefully s ee how to make the connection between s ight and s ound, and as a r es ult, your pr actice effor ts will be much mor e
fr uitful. You will s tar t to hear this type of s calar movement on your own as you wor k thr ough other types of s hapes and
ex er cis es . As in Ex . 2, donít ignor e the plucking finger s í s tr ict 1- 2 alter nation as you wor k thr ough thes e s ub gr oupings !

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BASS PLAYER Lesson Four Página 5 de 5

3 . S t r i n g s ki ppin g i n a s in gl e pos it ion


S tr ing s kipping ex er cis es involve s calar movements that do not move acr os s adj acent s tr ings , as is the cas e with Ex . 2 and E x . 3.
I ns tead, they r equir e us to make j umps acr os s wider s tr ing dis tances with both the fr etting and plucking hands . T his appr oach
pr es ents its own s et of challenges , however . For ex ample, it is har der to deal with plucking hand s tr ing muting when the hand is
bus y ëhoppingí acr os s the s tr ings . T he bes t way I have found to deal with this pr oblem is to utilize a movable anchor with the
plucking hand. (You can get mor e infor mation on this if you will r efer to my Augus t, 2001 ar ticle.) You will als o find that it is
s lightly mor e difficult to achieve cons is tency in tone when your plucking hand is having to r each far ther dis tances to pluck cer tain
notes . Cr os s ing s tr ings r equir es a s light change in hand pos ition, and you have to compens ate for this change in feel. Ex . 4
demons tr ates one way of us ing s tr ing s kipping to play thr ough our G I onian s cale patter n.

E x. 4

Notice that each cons ecutive 3 note gr ouping cor r es ponds to a s ingle s tr ing taken fr om our 4 s tr ing s cale patter n in Fig. 2a. I n
other wor ds , in Ex . 4ís as cending movement we fir s t play the 3 notes fr om the E s tr ing, followed by the 3 notes fr om the D
s tr ing, followed by the 3 notes fr om the A s tr ing, and then finally the 3 notes fr om the G s tr ing. T he des cending motion is s imply
the r ever s e. Once again, s tr ict 1- 2 alter nation fr om the plucking hand is of utmos t impor tance in this ex er cis e in or der to fur ther
develop cons is tent and accur ate plucking hand technique.

As with all technical ex er cis es , you want to s tar t ver y s low and then move your way up to mor e challenging tempos . T ake car e
not to allow your s elf to become car eles s with any of the fr etting hand finger ings or plucking hand alter nation. Your dis cipline will
pay off immens ely. Als o keep in mind that thes e 3 ex amples ar e j us t a tiny s ample of the countles s ways in which you can
ex pand your appr oach to pr acticing s cale patter ns . I f you ar e alr eady familiar with the r es t of the maj or s cale modal finger ings ,
you have pr obably alr eady figur ed out that you can apply thes e ex er cis es to them, als o. F or the pur pos es of this ar ticle I wanted
to choos e ex amples that wer e eas y to play but als o unique enough to ins pir e s ome hybr id appr oaches of your own. I hope that
they have opened s ome door s for you and have helped to add s omething fr es h to your pr actice r outine. Obvious ly, thes e
appr oaches s houldnít end with the maj or s cale. You will want to ex pand your pr actice r outine to include other s cales and for ms in
all pos itions on the bas s neck and in all keys . Finally, allow me to s tr es s one mor e time how impor tant it is to s ing thes e ex er cis es
as you lear n them! Your dis ciplined technique pr actice, combined with your attention to ear tr aining will continue to br ing you
clos er and clos er to mas ter y of your ins tr ument.

T op

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