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Overview
Whatever you're playing—funk, soul, rock, blues, country—the bass is the heart of the band. Bassists provide a crucial part of driving force and funky framework that other members of any and work off. From John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, to "The Pixies’' Kim Deal, to James Brown's favored bassist, Jimmy Nolan, bass players have made big names for themselves and commanded respect throughout music history.
In Bass Guitar For Dummies, Patrick Pfeiffer—who coached U2's Adam Clayton, among others—is your friendly guide to laying down the low end. Starting from the beginning with what bass and accessories to buy, the book shows you everything from how to hold and position your instrument to how to read music and understand chords. You'll develop your skills step-by-step until you’re confident playing your own solos and fills.
- Sharpen skills with instructional audio and video
- Discipline your play with exercises
- Understand chords, scales, and octaves
- Care for your instrument
Whether you're new to the bass or already well into the groove, Bass Guitar For Dummies gives you the thorough balance of theory and practice that distinguishes the titanic Hall of Famer from the just so-so.
P.S. If you think this book seems familiar, you're probably right. The Dummies team updated the cover and design to give the book a fresh feel, but the content is the same as the previous release of Bass Guitar For Dummies (9781118748800). The book you see here shouldn't be considered a new or updated product. But if you're in the mood to learn something new, check out some of our other books. We're always writing about new topics!
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781119695578 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Wiley |
| Publication date: | 07/21/2020 |
| Series: | For Dummies Books |
| Edition description: | 3rd ed. |
| Pages: | 416 |
| Sales rank: | 201,066 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.90(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Bass Guitar For Dummies
By Patrick Pfeiffer Will Lee
John Wiley & Sons
Copyright © 2003
Patrick Pfeiffer, Will Lee
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0-7645-2487-9
Chapter One
Bass Bass-ics: What Is
the Meaning of Bass?
* * *
In This Chapter
* Differentiating between bass guitars and other guitars
* Understanding the function of the bass
* Checking out the parts of a bass guitar
* Getting ready to play bass
* Expanding the bass range
* Experiencing different music styles
* Taking care of bass-iness
* * *
Bass ... the glue of rhythm and harmony ... the heartbeat of the band!
The bass has unique qualities that draw you to play it - perhaps it's the rich,
deep, mellow sound or the hypnotic rhythms. In the right hands, the bass is a
tremendously powerful tool, because it gives a band its feel and attitude. The
bass is at the heart of much of the music you hear today. But what exactly is
the bass? What makes the bass so powerful? And how does it help give music
that irresistible feel? Whether you're a raw bass recruit or a seasoned veteran,
this chapter can help you answer these questions.
Discovering the Difference between Bass
and Its High-Strung Cousins
Bass guitars differ from their high-strungcousins (otherwise known as the
other guitars) in several significant ways:
some bassists started adding strings. Nowadays you find five- and six-string
basses (and beyond), but four-stringers are still the norm.
electric, acoustic, or a combination of the two.
sound of each bass string is tuned an equal distance from the string
above it, making the instrument perfectly symmetrical. So if you play a
scale starting on one string, you can use the same fingering to play that
same scale starting on a different string. This type of tuning makes playing
the bass much easier than playing the guitar, where the second-highest
string is tuned differently from the others.
fill the lower end of the sound spectrum. Think of these notes as the
"bass-ment," or foundation, of music.
longer the string, the lower the pitch; the shorter the string, the higher
the pitch. Think of a Chihuahua and a Saint Bernard: The Chihuahua has
short vocal chords, and a rather high-pitched bark; the Saint Bernard ...
well ... you get the idea.
bore you with the guitarist's job description, but the bass player's makes
for fascinating reading, as the next section shows. (By the way, if you do
happen to want to know more about the guitarist's job description, you
can check out Wiley Publishing's Guitar For Dummies, by Mark Phillips
and Jon Chappell.)
Understanding the Bass Player's
Function in a Band
As a bass player, you play the most crucial role in the band (at least in my
opinion). Everyone in the group depends on your subtle (and sometimes
not-so-subtle) lead. If the guitarist or saxophonist makes a mistake, hardly
anyone will notice, but if the bassist makes a mistake, everyone in the band
and the audience will instantly know that something is wrong.
Making the link between
harmony and rhythm
You're responsible for linking the harmony (chords) of a song with a distinctive
rhythm (groove). This link contributes to the feel, or style, of the music.
Feel or style determines whether a song is rock, jazz, Latin, or anything
else. Chapter 7 tells you exactly what you need to do to establish excellent
grooves, and Part IV discusses the different musical styles you're likely to
play. You want to be able to emulate any bassist in any style and, at the same
time, be creative - using your own notes and ideas!
Moving the song along
Every song is made up of chords that are special to that tune, and all the
notes in the tune relate to the sounds of those chords (see Chapter 5 for
more information about chords). In some songs, all the chords are the same,
and so all the notes relate to that one chord sound, making such songs easy
to play. Most songs, however, have different kinds of chords in them; in these,
the first group of notes in the tune relates to the first chord and has one kind
of sound; the next group of notes relates to another chord sound; and so on
throughout the song.
By playing one note at a time in a rhythmic fashion, you propel the music
along. You set up each chord for the other players in your band by choosing
notes that lead smoothly from one chord sound to the next.
Good music creates a little tension, which then leads to a satisfying release of
that tension (a resolution). For example, you can feel the tension and release
in as simple a tune as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." The tension builds as
you sing the first line: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star." Can you end the song
right there? No, because you want to hear how it ends. That's the tension.
When you get through singing "How I wonder what you are," you feel a resolution
to the tension, a sense of coming home. You can end the song there; in
fact, that's how it does end. The bassist plays an important role in creating
and releasing tension. You're pretty much in the driver's seat!
Keeping time
Keeping a steady rhythm, or a pulse, is one of the bassist's primary functions.
I refer to this function as locking in with the drummer, because you work very
closely with the drummer to establish the rhythm. So be nice to your drummers.
Listen to them carefully and know them well. And while the two of you
are on such cozy terms, you may want to spend some time together reading
what Chapter 3 has to say about rhythm.
Nothing works better than a metronome at helping you develop an unfailing
sense of time. The steady (and sometimes infuriating) click that emanates
from it provides an ideal backdrop for your own note placement, be it on or
off the beat. You can find out more about the metronome in Chapter 3.
Establishing rhythms
As a bassist, you need to have a very clear understanding of exactly how the
rhythm relates to the beat. You need to know where to place the notes for
the groove in relation to the beat. And you want to make your grooves
memorable (see Chapter 7 for more about how to create memorable
grooves). If you can't remember them, no one else will be able to
either - including the listener (who, of course, makes the trip to hear you play).
Looking cool
While the guitarists move through their aerobic exercises, dripping with
sweat and smashing their guitars, you get to be cool. You can join in with
their antics if you want. But have you ever seen footage of The Who? John
Entwistle was cool. And, if you ever get a chance to see U2, check out their
bassist Adam Clayton. He's one cool cucumber, too. Great bassists are just
too busy creating fabulous bass lines to join in the antics of their band mates.
Whew! A bassist has important responsibilities. Good thing you picked up
this book.
Dissecting the Anatomy of a Bass Guitar
You can call it a bass guitar, an electric bass, an electric bass guitar, or just a
bass. You hear all these labels when you discuss music and musical instruments - and
you may encounter individuals who believe that only one of
these labels is correct. But it really doesn't matter which term you choose,
because they all refer to the same instrument.
Figure 1-1 shows you a picture of the bass guitar (or whatever you prefer to
call it) with all of its main parts labeled.
You can divide the bass into three sections: The neck, the body, and the
innards. The different parts of the neck and the body are easy to see, while
the innards aren't so obvious. You have to remove the cover (or covers) to
get at the innards, but knowing what they're there for is important.
The neck
The neck of the bass guitar falls under the dominion of the fretting hand
(usually the left hand). The following list describes the function of each part.
machines for the strings.
heads) hold the ends of the strings. (The other ends are anchored at the
bridge on the body; see the next section for more info about the body of
the bass.) By turning the individual tuning heads, you can increase or
decrease the tension of the strings (which raises or lowers the pitch).
provides a groove for each string. It forms one end of the vibrating
length of the string.
the strings, that holds the frets.
perpendicular to the strings, along the length of the fingerboard. They
determine the pitch (sound) of the note that's played. Frets are arranged
in half steps (the smallest unit of musical distance from one note to the
next). When a string is pressed against a fret, the string's vibrating
length, and thus its pitch, is changed.
because you remove and replace them periodically. However, your bass
would be absolutely useless without them (except maybe as a "bass-ball"
bat). The strings are connected to the tuning machines at one end
and the bridge at the other. The vibration of the strings produces the
sound of your bass.
neck that the thumb of your fretting hand rests on. The fingerboard is
attached to the front of the neck. The neck and the fingerboard are
usually made up of two separate pieces of wood, but not always.
The body
The body of the bass guitar falls under the dominion of the striking hand
(usually the right hand). The following list describes the function of each part
of the body:
plastic bar that lies underneath and perpendicular to the strings. You
can have two magnets for each string, or one long magnet for all the
strings. The magnets form a magnetic field, and the vibration of the
string disturbs (or modulates) that field. This modulation is then translated
into an electric signal, which in turn is converted into sound by
the amplifier and speaker.
(loudness) and tone (bass and treble) of the pickups. They are located
toward the lower side of your bass (when you have it strapped on).
bridge holds one end of each string and is located at the end of the
body. Modern pickups, such as piezo pickups or lightwave pickups, are
sometimes installed inside the bridge. These pickups read the vibration
of the string at the bridge.
body where you attach one end of your shoulder strap (usually the
thick end).
body (by the bridge) where you attach the thin end of your shoulder
strap.
the cord from your bass to the amplifier (for more on amplifiers,
see Chapter 17).
The innards
The innards aren't obvious to the eye (they're hidden in the cavity of the
instrument and covered with plates), but they are essential to the sound and
feel of the bass guitar. The following list describes the innards of the bass
guitar.
length of your bass guitar's neck. The truss rod controls the curvature of
the neck and fingerboard and keeps them stable. The truss rod is usually
accessed through the top or bottom of the neck if you need to make
adjustments.
electronic capacitors, the round devices connected to the other side of
a volume knob), and other important-looking electronic items that help
convert the vibration of the string into sound. The cavity for the electronics
is usually located under a plate on the back of your bass guitar's
body. It may also be located under the control knobs on the front of your
bass.
own power source), you have one or two nine-volt batteries attached
to the electronics (via some wires). These batteries are located in the
same cavity as the electronics or in an adjacent cavity on the back of the
body. If your bass has passive electronics (electronics with no batteries),
you don't have to worry about replacing batteries.
On a Need-to-Know "Basses":
Gearing Up to Play Bass
Getting yourself ready to play both physically (with exercises) and mentally
(with theory) is essential to being a good bass player. You also have to pre-pare
your instrument by tuning it and by playing it correctly. When you play
the bass guitar correctly, your fingers can move with ease from note to note.
Coordinating your right and left hands
Because you play the bass with two hands (one hand striking and the other
fretting; no, it's not worried!), both hands have to be well coordinated with
each other. With the exercises in Chapter 4, you can warm up your hands on
a daily basis (just like an athlete warms up before a sporting event).
Mastering major and minor
chord structures
Two basic tonalities prevail in music: major and minor. Each tonality has a
distinctive sound.
Continues...
Excerpted from Bass Guitar For Dummies
by Patrick Pfeiffer Will Lee
Copyright © 2003 by Patrick Pfeiffer, Will Lee.
Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Foreword xvIntroduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 3
Icons Used in This Book 4
Beyond the Book 4
Where to Go from Here 5
Part 1: Getting Started With the Bass Guitar 7
Chapter 1: The Very Basics of Bass 9
Discovering the Differences between the Bass and Its High-Strung Cousins 9
Understanding the Bass Player’s Function in a Band 10
Forging the link between harmony and rhythm 11
Moving the song along 11
Keeping time 11
Establishing rhythms 12
Looking cool 12
Dissecting the Anatomy of a Bass Guitar 12
The neck 13
The body 14
The innards 15
On a Need-to-Know “Basses”: Gearing Up to Play Bass 15
Coordinating your right and left hands 16
Mastering major and minor chord structures 16
Tuning your bass 16
Combining scales and chords 16
Playing Grooves, Solos, and Fills 17
Creating grooves and riffs 17
Treating yourself and your audience to solos and fills 17
Experimenting with Different Musical Genres 18
Stocking Up on Some Bass Gear 19
Buying a bass 19
Getting an amplifier 19
Accessorizing your bass 20
Giving Your Bass Some Good Ol’ TLC 20
Chapter 2: Gaining the Tools and Skills to Play 21
Getting a Handle on Your Bass 21
Holding Your Bass 22
Strapping on your bass: Strings to the outside 23
Voilà! Standing with your bass 23
Sitting with your bass 24
Placing Your Hands in the Proper Position 25
Positioning your left hand 25
Positioning your right hand 27
Reading a Fingerboard Diagram 33
The language of music: Scales and chords 33
Viewing a diagram of the major and minor scales 36
Playing open-string scales 37
Finding the notes on the neck 37
Identifying intervals: They’re always in the same place 39
Tuning Your Bass Guitar 41
Reference pitch sources to use when playing alone 41
Reference pitch sources to use when playing with others 43
Tuning the bass guitar to itself 45
Playing a Song on Your Bass Guitar 53
Making some noise with the open strings 53
Closing the strings 54
Chapter 3: Warming Up: Getting Your Hands in Shape to Play 57
Understanding the Sound Your Bass Makes 58
Performing Right-Hand Warm-Ups 58
Right-hand same-string strokes 59
Controlling the strength in your striking hand: Right-hand accents 61
Skating across the strings: Right-hand string crossing 62
Coordinating Your Left Hand with Your Right Hand 63
Doing finger permutations 64
Muting the strings to avoid the infamous hum 65
Putting it all together 66
Part 2: The Bass-ics of Playing 69
Chapter 4: Reading, ’Riting, and Rhythm 71
Reading Notation: No Pain, Much Gain 71
Chord notation: The chord chart 72
Music notation: Indicating rhythm and notes 72
Tablature notation: Showing strings, frets, and sequence 73
The vocal chart: Using lyrics and chords for a singer or songwriter 75
Finding Any Note in Any Octave 75
Using the Metronome: You Know, That Tick-Tock Thing 80
Setting the metronome 80
Playing along 80
Dividing Music into Phrases, Measures, and Beats 81
The quarter note 82
The eighth note 82
The sixteenth note 83
The half note 83
The whole note 83
The triplet 83
The dot 84
The tie 84
The rest 85
Discovering How to Read Music 85
Rhythmic chunks 85
Interval chunks 86
What comes up must come down 88
Playing Your First Song While Reading Music 90
Chapter 5: Understanding Major and Minor Structures 93
Building Major and Minor Scales 94
Major scales 95
Minor scales 96
Building Chords: One Note at a Time, Please 97
Triads: The three most important notes of a chord 98
7th chords: Filling out the triad 101
Getting your kicks with boogie licks 104
Inversions: Down is Up, and Up is Down 106
Major chord inversions 106
Minor chord inversions 108
Spicing Up Your Sound: The Seven Main Modes (Scales) 110
Using Chromatic Tones: All the Other Notes 115
Chromatic tones within the box 115
Chromatic tones outside the box 116
Bringing a Groove to Life with Dead Notes (Weird but True) 117
Playing dead — notes, that is 118
Raking dead notes 118
Sampling Accompaniments 120
Using your accompaniments in a tune 123
Keeping your groove gloriously ambiguous 124
Part 3: Making the Moves, Creating the Grooves 127
Chapter 6: Creating the Groove 129
Anatomy of a Groove: Putting Together the Necessary Elements 129
Getting your groove skeleton out of the closet 130
Playing a song using only the groove skeleton 132
Choosing the right notes for a groove 133
Creating Your Own Groove 136
Covering the “basses”: Creating dominant, minor, and major grooves 136
Waggin’ the groove tail 144
Movin’ and groovin’ from chord to chord 146
Finding the perfect fit: The designer groove 150
Grooving with a Drummer 153
The bass drum 153
The snare drum 154
The hi-hat 155
Jammin’ with Other Musicians 155
Preparing your ear 156
Listening for “the note” 156
Pivoting the note 159
Getting Creative with Existing Grooves 161
Altering a (famous) groove 162
Simplifying a groove 164
Chapter 7: Going Solo: Playing Solos and Fills 167
Soloing: Your Moment to Shine 167
Playing with the blues scale: A favorite solo spice 168
Jamming with the minor pentatonic scale: No wrong notes 171
Using the major pentatonic scale: Smooth as can be 172
Moving from chord to chord 174
Creating Fills without Any Help from Your Dentist 176
A match made in heaven: Connecting your fill to the groove 177
Timing a fill 177
Part 4: Using the Correct Accompaniment For Each Genre 183
Chapter 8: Rock On! Getting Down with the Rock Styles 185
Rock ’n’ Roll: It’s The Attitude! 186
Hard Rock: Going at It Fast and Furious 191
Pop Rock: Supporting the Vocals 193
Blues Rock: Doin’ What “Duck” Does and Playing a Countermelody 195
Country Rock: Where Vocals Are King, and You Take a Back Seat 198
One Rock Fits All: Applying a Standard Rock Groove to Any Rock Song 200
Chapter 9: Swing It! Playing Styles That Rely on the Triplet Feel 203
Swing: Grooving Up-Tempo with Attitude 204
Jazz: Going for a Walk 205
Working the walk 206
Applying a jazz blues walking pattern 211
Blues Shuffle: Walking Like Donald Duck (Dunn, That Is) 214
Funk Shuffle: Combining Funk, Blues, and Jazz 217
Chapter 10: Making It Funky: Playing Hardcore Bass Grooves 221
R & B: Movin’ to Rhythm and Blues 222
The Motown Sound: Grooving with the Music of the Funk Brothers 225
Fusion: Blending Two Styles into One 226
Funk: Light Fingers, Heavy Attitude 229
Hip-Hop: Featuring Heavy Funk with Heavy Attitude 232
Knowing What to Do When You Just Want to Funkifize a Tune 234
Chapter 11: Sampling International Flavors: Bass Styles from Around the World 237
Bossa Nova: Baskin’ in a Brazilian Beat 238
Samba: Speeding Up with Bossa’s Fast Cousin 239
Afro-Cuban: Ordering Up Some Salsa (Hold the Chips, Please) 240
Reggae: Relaxing with Offbeat “Riddims” 242
Calypso Party Sounds: Dancing through the Groove 244
Combining Reggae and Rock: The Distinct Sound of Ska 245
African Grooves: Experimenting with Exotic Downbeat Grooves 247
Grooving on a steady beat, South African–style 247
Checking out the bass groove styles from Cameroon 248
Music without Borders: Grooving to the World Beat 251
Chapter 12: Playing in Odd Meters: Not Strange, Just Not the Norm 253
An Odd-Meter Oldie but Goodie: The Waltz 254
Beyond the Waltz: Navigating Beats in Odd Meter 255
5/4 meter: Not an impossible mission 256
Take a groove you know and make it grow 259
7/4 meter: Adding two more beats 260
Complex Simplicity: Syncopation and Subdivision 264
Syncopating in odd meter 264
Adding an eighth 265
Dealing with the rush 266
Chapter 13: Groovin’ in a Genre: It’s All About Style! 269
Playing Grooves in Each Genre: One Simple Song, Many Genres Strong 270
Pop: Backing up the singer-songwriter 271
Rocking by the quarter or eighth note 271
R & B/Soul, with or without the dot 272
Feeling da funk 275
Layin’ down some Latin grooves 276
When you’re feelin’ blue, shuffle 277
To Blend or Not to Blend: Knowing How to Fit In 279
Just blending in: How to do it 280
The bold and the beautiful: Creating a bold groove 281
Blending and bolding by genre 281
Signing off with a flourish 282
Chapter 14: Eight Degrees of Separation: The Beatles’ Solution 285
Playing Your Rhythm Straight or Syncopated 286
Pumping eighth notes 286
Syncopating the bass beat 287
Making Harmonic Choices 290
Feeling fine (with roots and 5ths) 290
Walking along Penny Lane 292
Coming together to move with the groove 295
Day-tripping in perfect agreement: Unison 295
Playing something to counter the melody with 299
Inverting while your bass gently weeps 300
Part 5: Buying and Caring For Your Bass 305
Chapter 15: Love of a Lifetime or One-Night Stand? Buying the Right Bass 307
Assessing Your Needs Before You Buy 308
Thinking long-term: Moving in together 309
Thinking short-term: Help me make it through the night 309
How many strings are too many? 309
To fret or not to fret 311
Needs Are One Thing . . . Budget is Quite Another 311
A Trip to the Bass-Mint: Where to Shop for Your Bass Guitar 312
Hitting the music stores 312
Consulting newspaper ads 314
Visiting online shops and individual online ads 315
When Money is No Object: Getting a Custom-Made Bass 316
Chapter 16: Getting the Right Gear for Your Bass Guitar 317
Making Yourself Heard: A Primer on Amplifiers and Speakers 318
Going with a combo or separate amp and speaker 318
Opting for solid state or tubes 319
Picking a speaker size 319
Setting the tone 320
Needs, Wants, and Nonessentials: Rounding Out Your Equipment 321
Must-haves: Cases, gig bags, and more 321
Definite maybes: Useful effects, gadgets, and practice items 323
Extras: Effects pedals 325
Chapter 17: Changing the Strings on Your Bass Guitar 327
Knowing When It’s Time to Say Goodbye 328
Off with the Old: Removing Bass Strings 328
On with the New: Restringing Your Bass 330
Ensuring a Long Life for Your Strings 335
Chapter 18: Keeping Your Bass in Shape: Maintenance and Light Repair 337
Cleaning Your Bass, Part by Part 337
The body and neck 338
The hardware 338
The pickups 338
The fingerboard 339
The strings 339
Making Minor Repairs to Your Bass 340
The taming of the screw(s) 340
Taking care of the finish 341
Leaving the electronics to the experts 341
Adjusting the Bass Guitar 342
Providing relief to the truss rod 342
Raising and lowering the bridge 344
Assembling a Cleaning and Repair Tool Bag 346
Storing Your Bass 347
Part 6: The Part of Tens 349
Chapter 19: Ten Innovative Bassists You Should Know 351
Stanley Clarke 351
John Entwistle 352
James Jamerson 352
Carol Kaye 352
Will Lee 353
Paul McCartney 353
Marcus Miller 353
Jaco Pastorius 353
Victor Wooten 354
X (Fill in Your Own) 354
Chapter 20: Ten Great Rhythm Sections (Bassists and Drummers) 355
Bootsy Collins and Jab’o Starks 356
Donald “Duck” Dunn and Al Jackson Jr 356
James Jamerson and Benny Benjamin 356
John Paul Jones and John Bonham 357
Joe Osborn and Hal Blaine 357
Jaco Pastorius and Peter Erskine 358
George Porter Jr and Zig Modeliste 358
Francis Rocco Prestia and David Garibaldi 358
Chuck Rainey and Bernard Purdie 359
Robbie Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar 359
Appendix: Audio Tracks and Video Clips 361
Index 375
