Bass Lessons

Bass Lessons - Begging Tap For Bass Vol.4 bass tab

Virtually all the notes that we've been playing so far have been

related harmonically as either fifths or octaves. This is largely

because at bass frequencies, smaller intervals do not give a

sufficient gap (in terms of Hertz) to allow your ear to tell them

apart. This can be most clearly seen on a piano where the left

hand

(the bass) often plays octaves while the right plays a much closer

harmony (usually thirds or less). If you were to play thirds

at bass

frequencies they would sound a muddy mess.

If we look a little more closely at the idea of left hand fifths,

there are two ways they can be played in the context of the tapping

we've done so far. We can either place the root on the E or the A

string. We'll consider each of these in turn.

We'll use the A Major Chord (as it's the one we're most familiar

with), so placing the root on the E string, and tapping the fifth and

octave on the top strings we get:

|--------14-------|

|--------14-------|

|-----------------|

|----5------------|

The fifth of the A chord is E. This is easiest played on the seventh

fret of the A string, so we may alternate between this and the

root.

|-------14-----14-|

|-------14-----14-|

|-----------7-----|

|----5------------|

Looping this round should give you a pretty good idea of where

we're

heading this week.

The alternative to placing the root on the E string is to play

the root

on the A string. We can't play this using open strings, as you

can't

hammer on an open string, so we'll play this at the twelfth fret

|-------14--------|

|-------14--------|

|----12-----------|

|-----------------|

We've played that plenty of times, so we can quickly add the fifth

on

the E string. Moving up a fifth is harmonically the same is moving

down a fourth, so this note is again found at the twelfth fret.

|-------14-----14-|

|-------14-----14-|

|----12-----------|

|----------12-----|

This is the same E as we previously played on the A string, 7th

fret, but now the A is above it, and we've reached it by moving

down. This is particularly obvious when we move between the two

patterns:

|----------------14-----14------14----14---------|

|----------------14-----14------14----14---------|

|------------12--------------------7-------------|

|-------------------12-------5-------------------|

When we move between chords we can choose which INVERSION we use to

minimize hand movement, and to keep the bass line moving in a

melodic fashion. In the following example we move from a C major

chord with the C on the A string, playing a G on the string below

(this is known as 2nd inverson), to an A minor root position (A at

the bottom on the E string, with a fifth on the A string).

|----------------17-----17---|------14-----14------|

|----------------17-----17---|------14-----14------|

|------------3---------------|----------7----------|

|--------------------3-------|---5-----------------|

This vamp forms the basis of the Stu Hamm track "Country Music (A

Night in Hell)". Repeat it round until you've got a really

comfortable rhythm going.

Before considering the whole tab we need one more trick - a major

third for the right hand. I'll cover these in more detail next

time,

but for now place your right hand in a position to play a fourth

(as

we have done so far), and just stretch your middle finger a little

further so it plays one fret further down:

|---14-----13-----|

|---14-----14-----|

|-----------------|

|-----------------|

You should now have few problems with the full rhythm part to

"Country

music". It's mostly based on the stuff we've covered this week.

Watch out for the slapped parts (marked with a T). You should be

able to slap these without moving your hand too far away from the

tapping position (see lesson 3).

|---------|---17---17---17---17-----|---17---17---17---17-----|

|---------|---17---17---17---17-----|---17---17---17---17-----|

|-------2-|-3---------3-------------|-3---------3-------------|

|-3--5----|------3---------3--------|------3---------3--------|

T T T

|---14---14---14---14-----|---17---17---17-17---17-----|

|---14---14---14---14-----|---17---17---17-17---17-----|

|------7---------7--------|-3---------3----------------|

|-5---------5-------------|------3------------3--------|

|---14---14---14---14-----|---17---17---17---17-----|

|---14---14---14---14-----|---17---17---17---17-----|

|------7---------7--------|-3---------3----5--------|

|-5---------5-------------|------3------------------|

|---16---16---16---16-----|-------------------------|---||

|---17---17---17---17-----|-------------------------|---||

|------5---------5--------|-----------2--3--------2-|-3-||

|-3---------3-------------|--3--3--5--------3--5----|---||

T T T T T T T T T

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