Some Thoughts on the Bass Guitar

Since I don't want my bass guitar students to feel left out on this blog, I thought I might dedicate this post to them--and in the process, share some of my "philosophy" regarding the bass guitar.

But if you are a guitar "picker," you should really read this too, so that you understand your role compared to the bass player's role!

At it's very core, the bass player's main duty is to be the "glue" that helps to hold the bottom end of a song together.  While the guitar players, keyboards, and vocals generally provide the melody and chord structures, the bass player is the one who provides the "anchor" and "bridge" between these melodic instruments, and the beat of the drums.

In many ways, I find it helpful sometimes to think of the bass guitar as a percussion instrument that you can play notes on.

A few more tips that I hope you will find helpful:

1) Take lessons, and dedicate part of each day to practicing your scales, lessons, and playing along with recordings.  Relax, take a deep breath, and enjoy what you are doing.

2) Listen, listen, listen to what the drummer is doing on his kick, snare, and hi-hat--the two of you will really work together to set the pace, feel, and 'groove' of the song!  In many songs, you will follow the same rhythm as the drummer's kick drum pattern.

3) Where possible, play with other musicians.  I cannot overestimate the importance of spending time with other musicians who are learning as well. In the end, you will learn much from each other, and they will also help you to find your musical "voice."

4) Don't overplay!  As mentioned above, the bass player and drummer provide the strong foundation upon which the rest of the musical house is built!  Keep it simple, keep it solid!

5) Work with your teacher to learn chord structures, and the notes which make up chords.  You can use this knowledge to play interesting passing notes between chords, and to form super-cool chord inversions that will really make your part stand out.

That is my "in a nutshell" philosophy of bass playing--but of course, there is much more to be covered in a future post.  So in the meantime, keep up the good work, and be proud to provide a strong foundation that supports the entire song!

Watch the video below!

Thoughts and Tips for Bass Guitarists