Sunday, February 13, 2011

Bass Guitar Scales : Why Study Them?

By Nick Dillon


Learning bass guitar scales will improve your playing on many different levels. It will give you the creative and expressive means to grow as a musician making your playing more enjoyable and fulfilling.

Utilising various bass guitar scales has many advantages. It will allow you to play with a band very easily, explore different genres of music, strengthen your fingers, create your own music, allow your music to convey emotion and ultimately allow your playing to progress very quickly.

When you can play bass guitar scales you can very easily jam with a band simply by knowing what key they are playing in. This means you can improvise in most situations very easily, as you know exactly what notes are available to you.

By knowing bass guitar scales it is much easier to create music as you already know how certain scales will sound. You won't have to experiment with different notes to know which ones give you the desired effect that you're after. This will allow you to open up your creative channels and lets you apply the familiar scale rather than experimenting with different notes to give you an intended effect.

By applying bass guitar scales you can easily convey emotion with your music. For example to create a darker sound you will already know that minor scales have this effect on your audience. To convey a happy, bright feel, you will already know that the major third will help convey this feeling. Thus by knowing how the different intervals contained in scales sound and feel, you can convey your message more accurately in your playing.

By learning bass guitar scales and repeating them, you will strengthen your fingers and embed the scale pattern in your playing and memory. Over time, your playing will get easier and easier, as your fingers will eventually fall into the scale shape patterns with little effort. You will see your playing become more enjoyable and relaxed as your fingers naturally know where the right notes sit.

By applying different bass guitar scales you can easily zero in on the specific sound of different genres of music. For example you may choose to learn the major pentatonic scale if you are interested in country music, or you may learn the Phrygian mode if you would like to add some Spanish "flavour" to your music. Certain scales are matched to certain styles and genres of music, by knowing the scales you can greatly add to the diversity of your sound.

Learning bass guitar scales will advance your playing in many different ways. If you only learn a few scales that relate to your style of music you will find your playing is much easier and more fun.




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