Transcripts
1. INTRODUCTION: Hi everyone. My name is Malcolm
Hornsby and I've been a professional bass player
for almost ten years. In this Skillshare class, I'll be breaking down playing the bass guitar from
my perspective, sharing best practices, tips and techniques to
playing the bass guitar. I'll leave me share a few
tricks that I've come up with myself that have made
playing fun and exciting. We'll go over all the
basics and I'll be sure to add new lessons such
as tuning the guitar, how morons, pull-ups,
slept techniques anymore? I do hope you enjoyed
this class and feel free to add your comments in
the discussion panel. Let's dive in.
2. PARTS OF THE BASS GUITAR: Hi guys. In this lesson we'll
be talking about parts of the bass guitar.
Let's get started. This is called the headstock. The headstock, you
will find the top of the strings on the
headstock as well. You will find the tuning pegs. These are essentially
used to tune the guitar. Here we have the
neck of the guitar. On the neck of the
guitar will find the rest of the strings
hunted biscuits are, and also the frets. You'll also notice some dots
on the neck of the guitar, and these are used as a guide
just so you don't get lost. Or when maneuvering
the fret board, these spaces are
called your Fritz. Here we have the body of the
biscuits are on the body. You will find your pickups, your bridge, and your
volume and tone knobs. The pickups are essentially
used to control or help tonal quality and volume
when playing the bass. Your bridge is what helps
to support your strings. And this will essentially cause vibrations in the strings
when you're playing. So here we have also again, your volume until nubs, and this helps to
control the tone and volume when you're
playing the bass guitar. Here we have your output
junk that is directly used, connect to an amplifier that
helps to amplify the sound. Here we have your strap button. As you can see, it is used to hold my strap in place when playing so that
my guitar does not fall. Last, but not least, we have the plucking hand. And you're frightened, which you'll learn more about
in our next lesson. See you there.
3. HOW TO PLUCK THE STRINGS: In this lesson, we'll be
learning how to put the streets. The majority of bass players use the first two
fingers of the hand, the index finger, and
the middle finger. A good technique or
practice when you start playing is to
rest your thumb on the first string of the bass or on the pickups found
on the body of the base, depending on whether
you're playing the last string or if you're playing all
the other strings, this will actually help
to control your hand and movement of your
fingers alone you to always be somewhat fluid and flexible in
your movement when alternating between the strings and when moving up and
down the fretboard. Now we're ready to plug. When plucking, try using the
fleshy part of your fingers. Ensure that you're playing
through the strings are not necessarily playing with the very tip of your fingers. That will definitely
cause you to feel discomfort in your playing. And you won't be very fluid
in your movements anymore. With your plucking hand, arrest both your index and your middle finger
on the first string. So rather than looking
at the string, alternate between your index and middle finger
and play through it. Arresting both fingers on this string
immediately above it. This will indefinitely a
low you're playing to sewn clear as you move from
one string to the next, eliminating any vibration or you unintentionally playing another string
at the same time. I call this movement
the moon walk. Play along with me as
I demonstrate this. If you notice that the
strings are not playing, are causing excess vibrations, simply rest your fingers of your fretting hand
on the fret board. The idea is to mute the strings. I'm not playing as
my plucking hand, moon walks through the
strings I want to play. Please work on this exercise. Go slow, pause or
rewind if needed. And I'll see you
in the next video.
4. BEFORE YOU START PLAYING: It is very important, and I cannot stress this enough. Whenever you're learning to play the bass guitar or any
instrument for that matter, learn to sing the
notes you're playing. This will inevitably
train your ear on overtime helped to achieve
a perfect relative pitch.
5. LEARNING THE FRETBOARD PART 1: In this lesson,
we'll be learning the notes on the bass guitar. Let's get started. We
will first be learning the open strings.
You're open strings. Are these strings
played without using your fretting hand to
actually bar or fret. To get that particular node. I'll be starting with string
closest to the ground, all the way down to my last
string or my sixth string. Bear in mind, yes, I am playing
a six string bass guitar, but I'll also outline the notes for my
fourth string players. The first string is called c. Then we have the second string, this is known as G. Then we have our third string, this is called D. Then we have our fourth
string, this is called a. Then we have our fifth string, which is called ie. Last but definitely not least, we have our sixth string, which is called B. Now for my fourth
string, bass players, your string starts at the E and goes all the
way down to the G. So again, just to recap, we have E, a, D. Angie. No, it's time to outline
the notes on the fretboard. Just a reminder,
we're going to start on the B string. This
is how it sounds. Immediately after the B, we have C, Then immediately
after we have C-sharp. And then we have d. Then
we have our D-sharp, or commonly known as E-flat. Then immediately after we
have E, immediately after E, we have F. Then immediately after that we
have our F sharp, or G flat. Immediately after that we have, or G. Immediately after G, we have G-sharp, or
commonly known as E-flat. Then we have our a.
Immediately after a, we have our B flat or a sharp. And then we're right back to B. Now we're moving on
to the E string. Again. This is how it sounds. You'll notice that the notes on the E string also repeated. Or you'll hear the same notes that you heard on the B string. This is completely
normal and will be explained in another video to come immediately after
the E. We have our f. Immediately after F,
we have our F sharp. Immediately after
F-sharp, we have our g. Immediately after G, we have or a flood, or G-sharp. After a flat, we have a. Then we have our a
sharp or B flat. Then we'll have our B.
Immediately after we have C. After that, we'll have c-sharp. C-sharp will have a D.
Immediately after D, we have D sharp or E flat. And then we'll come
right back to e. No, we have a string. Again, just a reminder,
this is how it sounds. Now immediately after a, we have a sharp or B flat. Immediately after
this, we have B. Immediately after B, we
have C. Immediately after. See, we have our C-sharp. Then we have d. Immediately
after that we have D-sharp, or commonly known as E-flat. Immediately after E-flat, we
have e. Immediately after E, we have f. After F, we have F sharp. Then we'll have G.
Immediately after G, we have our A-flat G-sharp. And then you guessed it,
we're right back to. Here will be outlining the
notes on the D string. Just a reminder, this
is how it sounds. Immediately after the
D, we have E-flat. Immediately after E-flat,
we have E. After E, we have f. After F, we have our F sharp or G flat. F sharp, G, G, we have R G sharp or a flat. After a flat, we have a. After a, we have B flat, or a sharp, or B flat. We have B. After B, we have C. After. See, we have C-sharp. And you guessed it after
C-sharp, we have dy.
6. LEARNING THE FRETBOARD PART 2: No, we will be looking at
the notes on the G string. Just a reminder, this
is how it sounds. After G, we have G
sharp or a flat. Immediately after effort. We have a immediately after a, and we have a B
flat, or a sharp. Immediately after B flat
or a sharp, we have B. Immediately after B, we have C. Immediately after
C, we have C-sharp. C-sharp, we have d. After d, we have E flat, or D-sharp, E-flat. We have E. After E, we have the
note F. After F, we have F sharp. And then you guessed it
immediately after F sharp, we have G note. We'll be taking a look at
the notes on the C string. Just a reminder, this
is how it sounds. Immediately after C,
we have a c-sharp. C-sharp, we have dy. After D, we have E-flat. E-flat, we have E. After E, we have f. After F, we have F sharp, F sharp, we have G. After G, we have a G sharp, or a flat. After a flat, we have a. After a, we have B flat. B flat, we have B. And you guessed it after B, we have yet again, see.
7. UNDERSTANDING HALF STEPS AND WHOLE STEPS: In this lesson, we'll be
talking about steps are tunes. In music. Steps are essentially the distance
between two nodes. There are two types of steps,
half-steps and whole-steps. A half-step, otherwise
called a semitone, is the distance between two nodes having no
nodes in-between them. It is the next immediate node before or after the note
you are currently playing. On the guitar, it's the
next immediate threat. For example, C to C sharp, or F to E flat, or effort. A whole step on the other hand, or tone is the distance between two nodes with one
node in-between them. So you're skipping the next immediate
notes on the fretboard. For example, C to D, F to G, d flat, E flat. Understanding this concept is extremely important for learning skills and even develop your finger placement and
finger strength as you play.
8. MAJOR SCALE: In this lesson, we'll be
discussing the major scale. A scale is a set of nodes
that are ordered by pitch. There are tons of
scales and music such as the chromatic scale, the whole half-diminished,
the Harmonic Minor, the melodic minor, the minor, even the pentatonic scale. We can go on and on. The most important skill you need to know is the major scale. For many people, we would
have been introduced or exposed to this scale
without even knowing. It's the DO RE, MI, FA, SO that Ido, that you
hear every so often. Or there's somewhat of a formula to play the scale
from any point of the guitar. It's the whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, and then a half-step. Let me illustrate. Next. We can go into two ways. You can play the
major scale without sticking to one string. See
you in the next lesson.
9. FIRST PATTERN ON THE MAJOR SCALE: In this lesson,
we'll be focusing on the first Potter and
of the major scale. Pay attention as I illustrate. Please note that this is a
pattern for the major scale. As such, can be played
anywhere on the bass guitar. Again, I play for illustration. So to reinforce the pattern. Again, this can be played at any point on the bass guitar. So I'm playing the first
major scale pattern here on some more. But I can also play it here. So just to reiterate, from any point on
the fret board, we can play whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step. In the next lesson, we'll
go over another pattern, how we can play the major scale.
10. THE NUMBER SYSTEM: In this lesson, we'll be
focusing on the number system. What is the number system? This is actually one of the
fundamental foundations of what and how we play that
links back to the system. This is a way of playing or writing chords or
notes to a song in a universal or neutral
key using numbers instead of coordinates. We start by taking the
key the song is in. I'm playing the scale. Let's start with
the C major scale. I see scale husband
notes C, D, E, F, G, a, B, and then C or an octave. So again, the nodes in a
C major scale are C, D, E, F, G, a, B, and then C. So let's give each of
these nodes are number. You'll recall our previous
lesson on the major scale. And recall that pattern. Let's also follow the formula
of whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole
step, half-step. So if we recall the notes in the C major scale, again, C, D, E, F, G, a, B, C. In this case, the C will be R1, d will be R2. E will be our three. F will be our four. G will be R5, will be our six. B will be R7. And then C octave. Unimportant detail to
remember is that each of the nodes of the major scale
has a chord built from it. No matter what key it is in, this sequence is
always the same. It is always major,
minor, minor, major, major, minor, minor
seven flat five, and then back to measure. So now if I'm playing
in the key of C, and I'm told to play the one. I'm playing C. If I'm
told to play the four, I'm playing F, y. Well, you might notice that
this is for places or from C, if we were following
the major scale system. So it's an effective
communication method that many musicians use. Instead of calling
of the actual notes, they call it the numbers. So you're numbering the nodes
on the scale, 12345671.
11. UNDERSTANDING PROGRESSION: In this lesson, we'll be focusing on understanding
progressions. Progressions, or a
roadmap or a guide, if you will, in music, when playing a song, the progression is
actually what guides you to complete the
song in its entirety. In this lesson, I'll be playing
some common progressions. The first progression
we have is a 251, and as always, we'll be
playing in the key of C major. Another common
progression is our 736, commonly used and
heard in gospel music. As illustrated before in
our previous lessons, I'll be playing in
the key of C major. Another common
progression is our 514. Or we can play another
common progression, which is our 456.
Malcolm Hornsby
