Welcome to my Free Bass Guitar Ebook Practice Tips

24 Pages·2011·0.76 MB·English

Bass Guitar Practice & Playing Tips
by Instructor Scott Morris
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Welcome to my "Free Bass Guitar Ebook Practice Tips"

My name is Scott Morris.
I am the featured guitar instructor here at http://www.guitartabbooks.com and
also the author and instructor of the "You Can Play Guitar" instructional series.
I'm glad you took the time to visit our website. That surely tells me that
you're interested in learning more about playing the bass guitar.
This bass guitar eBook is basically an edited version of my free guitar
eBook.
However these same principles also apply to learning and playing the bass
guitar.
There are more than 25 Topics in this Ebook I am going to share with you.
They will save you a lot of time, frustration and wondering just what to
do or what correct approach you'll need to take when first learning how
to play the bass guitar.

These tips don't just apply to total beginners.

Even if you have been playing awhile and are at an advanced level of playing,
you may be surprised to learn that many guitarists often overlook these basic
common sense tips along the way.

I consider the information I'll be sharing with you to be the most
valued important information that I have learned in more than 30 years
as a professional guitarist, and after teaching literally thousands of
privately taught students as well as many thousands more from around the
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world, who have learned how to play the bass guitar using my bass guitar
DVD lesson
"Intro To Bass Guitar"

These are the things I wish someone had taken the time to show me when
I was just getting started!
Get Your Bass In Tune
The most important thing about playing your bass guitar is to make sure that your
instrument is in tune.
No matter how good a bass player is, if the bass is not in tune it simply
will not sound good.
One of the best bass tuners to use is
"B.G.S. TuneIt" which comes as free bonus when you
purchase Alex Sampsons Bass Guitar Secrets.
Alex's method has earned our top bass guitar product review.
Click here to read that review.
Quite simply "TuneIt" is a fully functional 'by-ear' tuner that
covers accurate standard tunings for 4, 5 and 6 string basses.
The unique difference that separates it from other generic tuning
programs is that "TuneIt" uses real recorded and accurate bass tones
rather than lame computer generated midi tones.
Once you start using "TuneIt" you'll never again want to use those
horrible, electronic sounding PC tuners.
Aside from getting your bass guitar in tune, it's also important to
learn how to properly take care of your instrument to avoid things
like getting a warped or cracked neck, or other possible damages.
Here are 2 additional articles to help provide you with more insight.
These articles were written by Chris Elmore of Elmores Music and were
wrote for guitar care and maintenance. These same tips also apply for
properly taking care of your bass guitar.
Article 1
How To Protect Your Guitar & Make It Last Longer
Article 2
Guitar Maintance 101
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Mistakes Most Beginner Bassist's Make
Almost everyone who has an interest in wanting to learn how to play
bass guitar was inspired at one point in time by a favorite song or
artist.
In more than 3 decades as a private instructor, I couldn't tell you
just how many times a new student's first words were "I just want to
learn how to play Cliff Burton of Metallica's bass solo Anethesia Pulling
Teeth".
Or... "I just want to learn how to play killer bass solos".
The truth is often hard to explain to a new student and can be even more
difficult to accept for an excited newbie who is extremely anxious to
learn.
However, there are some very easy to play songs that almost all students
can learn during their very first lessons.
The cool thing about playing the bass guitar is that you don't need
to learn alot of complicated theory to start learning easy songs.
Many songs may only conisit of 3 or 4 notes.
Take the old classic song "Wild Thing" for an example.
When played in the Key of G, this songs consist of the 3 notes
G, C, and D.
Play G note on the E string at the 3rd fret. Then play C note on the A string
at the 3rd fret. Then play D note on the A string at the 5th fret.
Here is how easy it is it to play this song. These are the notes in correct
order to the main verses of the song.
GG/CC/DD/CC
Other songs may consist of a few easy to play bass riffs.
Bass riffs, just like bass solo licks are derived from scales.

If you seriously want to learn bass riffs and bass guitar solos, then you'll
also need to learn bass guitar scales.
It's also important that you learn chords and arpeggios which are used to
play songs and can also be applied to playing solo's.
One of my very favorite quotes that I shared with every privately taught students,
was the same quote I used when filming the You Can Play Guitar" instruction method.
That quote is....
"First you need to learn how to crawl before you can walk, and then learn
how to walk before you can run!"
I hope that makes perfect sense.
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Here are some basic tips that will provide you with the directions to
help you get started.
1) If you're a total beginner, a good place for you to start is to make
a list of your favorite songs, groups and artist you want to learn.
2) If you know someone who plays guitar or bass, don't be shy and don't
be afraid to ask questions.
Asking questions is what learning is all about, especially in the early
stages.
Ask those you know who play guitar and bass what they consider to be
easy songs for a beginner to learn. You will be surprised to learn that
literally millions of songs consist of the same 3 of 4 chords that will
be easy for you to follow.
Not to mention the thousands of songs that ride just a few steady bass
notes that follow the guitar player when he's playing power chords!
For a basic explanation of how bass players often follow a guitar
player, see this free lesson.
Following The Roote Note
Be Organized
Make a special place to practice where you can easily find all of your
practice books, DVD lessons and favorite sheet music or tablature, whether
it be in your bedroom, basement, garage or elsewhere.
Take pride in this and make it your favorite room of the house.

Always place your bass picks and other practice tools you may use
in the same place (like the guitar cord you use to plug into your amp,
and spare strings, in case you break one and need to replace it).
Keep things in order and don't be a "messy Marvin".
You can either be the practicing musician who has everything scattered
from one end to the other and has to look all over the house to remember
where you put your bass guitar picks before you can even practice, or you
can make things easy on yourself and always keep things where you can find
them.
If you plan on playing live gigs with a band, this is something you better
plan on getting used to.
Professional musicians who play music for a living don't travel from town
to town to new gigs and just throw whatever they can find into a different
box each night after their gigs.

They keep everything labeled and in the same place for quick easy access
to make setting up easy and stress free.
This is something you should do for yourself as well with all your learning
and practice tools so you don't waste valuable time getting stressed out
looking for all the things you need to learn and practice with.
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Another good idea is to decorate your favorite practice place or rehearsal
studio with inspirational things that will encourage you to always try
something new and make you want to go the extra mile when you practice.
For example, there are thousands of different bass guitar chords and scales
and there is always more than one way to play each of those chords and scales.
Adding things like bass guitar posters

can be a huge inspiration and also provide you with many new ideas of ways to
add to and improve your playing ability.
Click here! to see all music posters...
Bass Guitar Tablature
If you're a total beginner and not sure where to start, I would suggest that
you learn how to read bass guitar tablature.
Way back, when the rule of thumb that was forced upon beginner bass students,
was that you first needed to learn how to read sheet music.
Thankfully, that rule no longer applies.
Some facts are that learning how to read sheet music (also referred to as
standard notation) can take months or even years to learn.
And you may surprised to know that even major recording stars who write hit
songs often have not the first clue as to how to read sheet music.
How is this possible?
Many simply learn the basics and learn the bass guitar an an instrument,
learning either the basic chords or the most important and commonly used
chords and bass guitar scales.
A song doesn't have to be hard to play in order to be good. Some of the
biggest hit songs ever written consist of only a few easy bass riffs!
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So the bottom line is, you don't need to learn how to read music in order
for you to learn how to play the bass guitar.
Today's most common method of learning to play bass guitar is by using bass
guitar tablature, which is a simple method that teaches students by showing
them which guitar string to play, and which fret to play on each bass string.
In case you're a total beginner and not sure what bass guitar frets are,
they are the bars that are lined up on the neck of the bass guitar.
Here is a diagram of the parts of the bass guitar,

Bass Guitar Tablature Methods

Click here! to learn my easy to learn method of bass guitar tablature, and for a easy to learn diagram
that will teach you the names of the bass guitar notes.
These are the same symbols that I used to teach my DVD bass guitar
method
"Intro To Bass Guitar"
If you want to learn how to read standard bass tablature like the guitar tabs
you find in guitar magazines, bass tablature books or from bass tab sites
online,
Click here! to view more bass guitar tablature methods
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Learning Software & Training Tools
If learning how to play note for note songs is a goal of yours, then you'll
want to make it as easy as possible.
There are 2 very important tools that can assist you in learning the songs
of your choice.
Tool #1 is called Song Surgeon.
This tool will increase your playing ability by 667%!, by allowing you to
slow down any song to make it easier to learn and has additional helpful
features that you surely want to see!

Learn More About Song Surgeon...
Tool #2 is called Video Surgeon.
This additional amazing song learning software tool will allow you to learn
how to play any song that you can find on video from sites like YouTube and
others that offer videos of your favorite tunes.
This tool allows you to slow down the video, zoom in, change the pitch, create
loop points to make practicing easy, rips DVDs, which allows you to get more
from your existing DVD bass guitar lessons, and also use the footage on your
video camera.
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Learn More About Video Surgeon
In addition to these 2 very helpful song learning computer software tools, we
offer a VERY helpful ear training method that will improve and train your ear
so you can hear and recognize every single note and chord by ear, just by
listening.
It is called...
Pure Pitch
Play Music By Ear Program
Make A Regular Practice Schedule
Focus is the keyword here. Practice scales and chords separately.
Scales have different finger movements that focus on each individual fret hand
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finger playing each single note at a time, as opposed to chords requiring you
to place your fret hand fingers in position and then, applying pressure while
holding the chord down long enough to strum it.
The average radio airplay song is around 3 minutes long.
Some songs may be as long as 8 to 10 minutes.
You'll be surprised how tired your hand can get if you're playing a song that
requires you to play a lot of bass chords.
Although, there are certain tools you can buy to increase your hand strength,
like this guitar grip exercise tool
there is really no better practice than actually playing the bass guitar.
While tools like the guitar grip exercise tool will strengthen your entire
hand and wrist, which will build strength and make playing easier, playing
the bass guitar will do the same as well.
It increases the finger coordination of each bass guitar solo lick that you
play and it will help you become more coordinated, changing and switching
to different chords while you play songs.
If you're serious about learning the bass guitar, then the old fashioned rule
of practicing a minimum of 1 hour per day should apply to you.
If you want to reach the professional level of playing the bass guitar and
become a professional musician who gets paid to play music for a living, then
you should practice as many hours each day as you can fit into your schedule.
Many professional musicians practice 8 hours or more on a daily basis.
Don't frown upon practice.
Practicing is something you should look forward to and want to do if you
really want to play the guitar.
And each practice session will get you one step closer to your goal, whether
you want to play just for fun, or wish to soon be playing on a big stage and
getting paid.
Learn The Names Of The Notes On The Fretboard
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Learning the names of the bass guitar notes and where to find them on the
neck (fretboard) of the guitar is surely one of the most important things for
every bassist to learn.
Breakthroughs in teaching concepts by the accredited content professionals at
The Learning Dock - creators of Teach Me Bass Guitar
have led to the creation of a first-of-its kind bass guitar teaching tool:
The real-time, on -screen fretboard.
Click here! for more info.

Practice Slow
A big mistake any guitar player can make when learning something new is to
play too fast.
Often this will cause you to miss notes and important techniques along the
way.
Chances are, if you can't play something correctly at slow speed, you won't
be able to play it right at fast speed either.
Instead, start slow and then gradually increase your speed each time as you
continue to practice until you have obtained the speed you desire.
Trim Your Fingernails
If you're having trouble getting good sounding notes whether you're playing
a bass guitar chord or single notes, a good thing to troubleshoot for is the
length of your fingernails on your fret hand.
When your fingernails are too long, they will hit the fretboard before your
finger can apply pressure to the string or strings, which will prevent you
from pushing down hard enough to produce good sounding notes.
Trim your nails and push down hard at first until you have developed good
callouses.
This will improve the sound of the notes and chords that you play.
Practice Arpeggios
An arpeggio is defined as a chord played as single notes.
Although an arpeggio is a chord, when played as single notes, it is widely
used as part of many bass lines by the best of professional bass players
such as Geddy Lee bassist from the band Rush, Steve Harris of Iron Maiden,
Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers only to mention a few.
The best bass guitar arpeggios method I have found that when applied will
instantly improve your Gospel, Funk, R&B, Latin, Rock and Metal bass lines
without you having to copy what you hear others play are offered by
Alex Sampson.
See...
Bass Guitar Secrets
The Fretboard Formula For Bass Guitar
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