Members lowndown Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Does anyone know any (web) links to tutorials on how to best learn chords? I was at my first ever jam/audition last night; and I've learnt bass through tabs, but really need to know chords to play along with the guitards! I was thinking about doing the old 'put stickers all over the fretboard' thing, but there must be a better way to learn then doing that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Goofball Jones Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 You do know when you play the chords you play them as arpeggios and not strum all the strings together....I mean, I'm sure you know that, but just throwing it out there. Good book to look into is "The Bass Bible". Will show you all you need to know. It's a little on the expensive side, but worth it. As far as online goes look into: http://www.studybass.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Perfessor Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Start with triads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catphish Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Playing a chord requires the sounding of at least two notes at the same time, and there's nothing wrong with doing it on a bass. That said, the most value a bass player learns from knowing chords is for things like arpeggios and walking bass lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lowndown Posted January 4, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Start with triads. What are triads? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catphish Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 What are triads? Triad consists of Root, Third (a major or minor third above the root) and Fifth (a major or minor third above the third). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chunky-b Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Try starting with one of these: There are several versions. I found one at a local music store to help me figure out some of the harder ones. Also look for a book like: Then just start memorizing away. Then you can start learning the theory of chord construction and the triads, minors, blues, and other scales... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members countrybass Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 I play chord frequently. In fact, with this modern country, I play ALOT of arpeggiated chords, but there are occasions that I do strum s 5th chord. In order to get a good sound out of it I hit the higher note first while strumming. It sounds cool, but it has to be used tastefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Goofball Jones Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Playing a chord requires the sounding of at least two notes at the same time, and there's nothing wrong with doing it on a bass. That said, the most value a bass player learns from knowing chords is for things like arpeggios and walking bass lines. Never played two notes at the same time on the bass. I've seen others do that, just never came up for me. Think of it this way....playing a chord on a guitar is usually like saying a word. like "DOG"...while on the bass playing a chord you spell out the word "D-O-G". Yes yes yes...shoot me down with all the theory and "so-and-so" plays it this way all you want...but for the most part that's it. I'm just trying to break it down into simple terms. That's all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sludgebass69 Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Are you wanting to learn chords to play on the bass?...or learn chords so you know what the guitarist is playing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lowndown Posted January 4, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Are you wanting to learn chords to play on the bass?...or learn chords so you know what the guitarist is playing? Chords for bass... so when the guitard says play F,D,G (or something similar) then I know roughly where to start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Goofball Jones Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Chords for bass... so when the guitard says play F,D,G (or something similar) then I know roughly where to start! Well, ultimately when the guitarist is playing a G or an F chord....you're playing the root of that...namely a G or F note. But then you can get notes along that scale depending on the structure of the song. Sure, playing just the root is boring, but it works. Can refer to this too: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members whit townsend Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Sounds like first you need to learn the names of the notes on your fretboard.So you can at least play the root.Then you can go on to scales, chord construction, and aripeggios. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lowndown Posted January 4, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Sounds like first you need to learn the names of the notes on your fretboard.So you can at least play the root.Then you can go on to scales, chord construction, and aripeggios. Bingo! Thinking about it I could just draw up a table myself of all the notes on the fretboard on some paper, then pin it up and "look and play" doing it that way. Think I just need to practice and memorize the notes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chunky-b Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Bingo! Thinking about it I could just draw up a table myself of all the notes on the fretboard on some paper, then pin it up and "look and play" doing it that way. Think I just need to practice and memorize the notes! Go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bassguitarnotes.jpg Print out and reference as needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lowndown Posted January 4, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bassguitarnotes.jpg Print out and reference as needed. That's perfect. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Perfessor Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Bassbooks.com has books on bass chords, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catphish Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Bassbooks.com has books on bass chords, too. Have you tried any of them out? Any recommendations specifically? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members whit townsend Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Bingo! Thinking about it I could just draw up a table myself of all the notes on the fretboard on some paper, then pin it up and "look and play" doing it that way. Think I just need to practice and memorize the notes! Its not that hard.First memorize the open strings.Then memorize the notes:ABCDEFGThen remember this fact:There is ONE FRET between E&F and between B&CThere are TWO FRETS between every other note.Now pick an open string, the E, and count it up:Open its E1st fret its F(remember 1 fret from E to F!)2nd fret its F#(or Gb) same note3rd fret its G4th fret G#/Ab5th fret its A6th fret its A#/Bb7th fret its B8th fret its C(remember 1 fret from B to C)9th fret its C#/Db10 fret its D11 fret its D#/Eb12th fret its E (you always wind up on the same note as the open string an octave higher at the 12th fret.) Now do the same with the A stringopen: A2nd B3rd C (remember 1 fret from B to C)5th D7th E8th F( again 1 fret from E to F)10th G12 A D string:D open2nd E3rd F(1 fret from E to F)5th G7th A9th B10th C(1 fret from B to C)12th D G string:G open2nd A4 th B5th C ( 1 fret B to C)7th D9th E10th F( 1 fret E to F)12th G Pick any noteRemember the open string notecount up, 2 frets for each letter EXCEPT B to C and E to F) You'll have it down in no time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Goofball Jones Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Also, be sure to check out studybass.com. it's all free and can help. Even have a nice fret-board config that you can print out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Kindness Posted January 4, 2008 Moderators Share Posted January 4, 2008 Pay attention to what is being said in this thread, explore more on the internet and get this book (or one like it, I just happen to really like this one) so you have some sort of logical layout for the information. Better than all of that above is get an instructor that understands your learning needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tolka Posted January 4, 2008 Members Share Posted January 4, 2008 Also, be sure to check out studybass.com. it's all free and can help. Even have a nice fret-board config that you can print out. +1 on this site. It explains everything in an easy to read and understand way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.