Bass Guitar Scales : Do I Need To Know Them?
By learning bass guitar scales you will advance your bass playing on many different levels. It will give you the expressive and creative means to grow as a musician making your playing more enjoyable and fulfilling.
Utilising various bass guitar scales has many advantages. It will allow you to play with a band very easily, explore different genres of music, strengthen your fingers, create your own music, allow your music to convey emotion and ultimately allow your playing to progress very quickly.
When you can implement and play different bass guitar scales you can very easily play along with a band simply by knowing what key they are in. This means you can improvise in most situations very easily, as you know exactly what notes are available to you.
By knowing bass guitar scales it is much easier to create music as you already know how certain scales will sound. You won’t have to experiment with different notes to know which ones give you the desired effect that you’re after. This will allow you to open up your creative channels and lets you apply the familiar scale rather than experimenting with different notes to give you an intended effect.
When applying different bass guitar scales you can easily influence emotion with your playing. As an example, to create a dark or gloomy sound you will already know that the various minor scales have this effect on your audience. In contrast, to convey a bright, happy feel, you will already know that the major third will help convey this feeling. Therefore, by knowing how the different intervals or notes contained in scales feels and sounds, you can convey your message to your audience more precisely.
By learning bass guitar scale patterns and repeating them many times as you practice, you will strengthen your fingers and embed the scale pattern in your playing and improvising. As time progresses, your playing will get easier, as your fingers will start to naturally fall into the scale shape patterns without much thought. Your overall playing will be more relaxed and enjoyable as your fingers naturally know where the correct notes lie.
By applying different bass guitar scales you can easily zero in on the specific sound of different genres of music. For example you may choose to learn the major pentatonic scale if you are interested in country music, or you may learn the Phrygian mode if you would like to add some Spanish “flavour” to your music. Certain scales are matched to certain styles and genres of music, by knowing the scales you can greatly add to the diversity of your sound.
Learning bass guitar scales will advance your playing in many different ways. If you only learn a few scales that relate to your style of music you will find your playing is much easier and more fun.
To find out more on bass guitar scales click on the following link : blues guitar scales
