Play Bass Guitar 5: Styles & Techniques

Walking Shuffle - Concept 13 is a video guitar lesson presented by Andrew Ford and is sourced from Blues Bass Survival Guide.

Here is a blues walking bass line sample using the 1-4-5 chord progression in C. The approach is similar to that of a jazz walking line which we will discuss more about later, but more pattern-oriented, smaller intervals between notes, more driving, aggressive and with more attack. The line I will demonstrate will exclusively be made up of quarter notes. See if you can hear some of the patterns as I play it. One of the main patterns in this example walks up from, or down to, the major 3rd chromatically. There is also other chromatic movement that adds flavor to the line while smoothly tying the chords together making it more consistent and linear sounding than a jazz blues walking line.

Pentatonic Scales - Concept 14 is a video guitar lesson presented by Andrew Ford and is sourced from Blues Bass Survival Guide.

Pentatonic scales are five note scales used in popular music. The two most common are the major pentatonic and the minor pentatonic scales. The intervals making up the major pentatonic are a whole step, whole step, minor third, whole step, and minor third. The intervals in the minor are a minor third, whole step, whole step, minor third, and whole step. So each is constructed of three whole step intervals and two minor third intervals. Let's play each scale, then afterwards play a riff based entirely on that scale.

Blues Scale - Concept 15 is a video guitar lesson presented by Andrew Ford and is sourced from Blues Bass Survival Guide.

The blues scale is a lot like the minor pentatonic scale. Only difference is that it adds one additional note, which is the #4 or maybe more accurately labeled the b5. This is what we would call one of the blue notes in the scale, the others are the minor third and b7. This scale is often used on a dominant 7th chord or a minor chord. It is also used as a tool for beginning soloist so they can use one scale and solo through a whole 12 bar progression. Here is the A blues scale, you should learn this scale in all 12 keys. In addition, I have a one bar riff based on the A blues scale that shows one way to apply it. A couple of slurs are used also to make it more melodic.

Intros, Breaks, & Endings - Concept 21 is a video guitar lesson presented by Andrew Ford and is sourced from Blues Bass Survival Guide.

There are many ways to start a blues, one is a progression starting on the 5 chord, moving to the 4 chord then resolving to the 1 and finally returning to the 5 to set up the beginning of the song, each chord lasting one bar. Other times it may be just the 5 chord for a bar. Then other times you may just play through the whole 12 bar form for an intro, or just come right in with the head or melody with a drum or guitar pickup. Intros, like many aspects of the blues can be very spontaneous. In this first example we have a 12/8 blues in A with a one bar intro that starts on the 5 which is E. In example 2 we have a shuffle with a full 4 bar intro starting on the 5 again in the key of A. The progression is 5 chord, to the 4 for a bar, then resolving to the 1 and then setting up the beginning of the song with the 5 chord E again. This is just a small sampling of the many possible blues intros. Next we will look at 5 common endings you might encounter when playing the blues. Endings also can be very spontaneous so you should always be alert and in tune with the other band members. The first example is a two bar ending that comes in the 11th bar of the blues progression and goes from the 1 chord for 2 beats to the 4 chord for two beats. The next bar continues with the 5 chord for 2 beats and ends back on the 1 chord on beat 4 of the 12th bar. Example 2 is also a 2 bar ending that uses a diminished passing chord before walking down using a pentatonic motif. Example 3 features an ending that uses an Ab7 half step passing chord before moving to the final G chord. A very common motif. Example 4 uses a quarter note descending walking line before ending with the same motif as in Example 3. The quarter note line uses a D# passing tone that connects to the D in the last bar. In example 5 we have another shuffle figure using 8th notes walking down and ending with another D# passing tone that leads to our last phrase that uses the F note over the D7 chord as a blue note. It then continues to walk up chromatically and ends on the G. Next we have breaks. Breaks can happen anywhere in a song, but one normal spot is in the last chorus of a song. In this situation they normally will be cued very well by the leader. They can also happen in the 11th bar of the form or any place else that makes musical sense. Later in the performance section we will introduce another common break and the kicks that follow.

Turnarounds - Concept 22 is a video guitar lesson presented by Andrew Ford and is sourced from Blues Bass Survival Guide.

A turnaround is a chord or group of chords at the end of a section of music that helps us transition to the next section, which is often back to the beginning. Hence the name, turn around and go back. The most common turnaround chord used in blues and other styles of music is the 5(V) chord. This V chord can be used by itself or as part of a group of chords that together create the turnaround as in a 1-6-2-5 progression. The turnaround is often found in the last two, or sometimes 4, bars of a section but there are no hard rules, it can be only the last bar, or even the last 2 beats of the last bar. Let's look at some common turnarounds, all of these will be in the key of A and will occur in the last 2 bars of the form.

Slow Blues - Soft Touch Groove 1 is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Irvine and is sourced from Bass Mechanics: Crucial Groove.

In this section, I'll demonstrate and describe two highly functional methods of playing harmonically supportive bass lines which also fill in the track with longer notes and introduce tasteful melodic counter melody.