Picking Bass Notes

This guitar lesson on picking bass notes is pretty short, because I scooped one of my buddy Colin’s guitars to do the lesson quick while he was out of the room! Haha. Gotta have some fun in life, right?

Well, anyways, the main point of the lesson is that when you’re picking,  you really need to be aware of where the bass notes are in the chords you’re using. The bass notes really pull the listener along. The other notes in the chord are great, but if you don’t have the root note in there, you’re going to miss it.

Video problems? Watch Picking Bass Notes on Youtube.

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    1. Yes, I pluck the root note with the pick, but then after that the patter is really up to you. Sometimes I will actually use the pick to get all the other notes as well, and sometimes, as you saw in this video, I’ll just use my other fingers. I recommend finding a very simple pattern to start with, ie strings 3 2 1 2 3 or something like that, and once you’re more familiar with it, try doing something like 3 2 3 1 3 2 3… basically just experiment with it; there’s no right or wrong here.

  1. hi Johnathan,
    i’ve been practicing two DVD’s i purchased from
    you.Unlocking1-1V-V also,Guitar Scale Patterns.
    However my instrument is the bass guitar and
    when i plug into an amp i make sure to use a bass amp.so in the future please keep that in mind.Anything in the future that is bass oriented let me know ok?

  2. I’ve noticed that the blues scale played over a jazz/swing jam tracks, sounds well, jazzy. What needs to be added to say the Am blues scale to make it a true jazz scale? Also, how about a few jazz tips?
    Jerry

  3. Hi Jerry, if you want to make it sound jazzy, just add loads (Or fewer) of chromatic notes in between the blues notes, just creep up and down one semitone at a time to make whatever sounds good to you! Experiment, you’ll get the hang of it.

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