Bass Guitar: Expert Guides and Resources

The six-note blues scale is one of the most commonly used scales in bass guitar soloing — and with good reason: It’s comfortable to play, it’s easy to move from chord to chord, and it sounds great. The blues scale is a one-size-fits-all scale, no matter what the chord tonality (major, minor, or dominant). However, as with those one-size-fits-all pieces of clothing, the blues scale doesn’t always give you a perfect fit; you may have to move a note or two by a fret.

Bass guitars are versatile instruments. They fit in with almost any style of music, including R & B. R & B (rhythm and blues) originated in the late 1940s and is often referred to as “R & B/Soul.” It’s still one of today’s most popular styles of music. R & B is dominated by session players — musicians who record with numerous artists.

The bass guitar, more than any other instrument, is at its best when tightly aligned with the drums. Together, the bassist and drummer develop the powerful grooves that drive the song by constantly listening and reacting to each other. Here are ten classic bass-and-drum combinations (sorted alphabetically by the bass player’s last name) that have enhanced a multitude of songs.

Blending a bass line means choosing the notes you play so they support the song perfectly without being overly noticeable. It’s almost like the hidden beams in the ceiling of a modern house — you don’t see them, but if they weren’t there, the roof would collapse. A bold groove, on the other hand, has a much more obvious role in a tune.

Fusion is the merging of two or more styles of music, and can be applied to grooves on the bass guitar. Fusion generally refers to the combination of rock rhythms and jazz harmonies, but any combination of styles is possible. Fusion-style bass playing is intricate and complex, and full of nervous energy and fast notes; its deep grooves allow you to really rock the joint.

Country rock tunes tell a story — and the story needs to be heard (just think of Garth Brooks). This means that you, as the bassist, take a back seat in country rock. In the bass groove for country rock, the root and the 5 dominate. Here is a root-based groove for country rock. Even though it’s a simple groove, it’s one of the most popular grooves used in country music.

Bass guitarists can really mix it up with funk shuffle grooves. Funk shuffle (also called shuffle funk) is a hybrid groove style, which means that it combines several elements of other styles — funk, blues, and jazz. When funk, which normally uses straight sixteenth notes, is combined with blues and jazz, which use triplets, the resulting combination is a lopsided sixteenth-note groove (a combination of long and short notes) — a very cool combination.

You want your left hand to cover one fret per finger without causing any undue stress. By using one finger per fret on your bass guitar, you set up your hand to execute almost any musical figure without shifting, or moving your hand position to reach a note. (A figure is an independent and self-contained musical phrase, sort of like a sentence when you're speaking.

You can play reggae style grooves on the bass guitar. Reggae music is most often associated with Jamaica and the Caribbean islands. The trademarks of reggae bass are a thuddy sound (short, dark notes) and syncopation — offbeat rhythms (usually spelled and pronounced “riddims” by reggae musicians). Aston “Family Man” Barrett (who played with Bob Marley) and Robbie Shakespeare (who played with Peter Tosh) are two giants of reggae bass.