Bass Guitar Scales : Do I Need To Know Them?

By Nick Dillon


Learning bass guitar scales will improve your bass guitar playing in many different ways. It will allow you the creative and expressive means to grow as a musician making your playing more fulfilling and enjoyable.

Knowing and applying bass guitar scales has many advantages. It will allow you to jam with a band very easily, create your own music, strengthen your fingers, explore different genres of music, allow your music to convey emotion and ultimately allow your playing to advance very quickly.

By knowing various bass guitar scales you can very easily jam along with a band simply by knowing what key they are playing in. This means you can improvise in many situations very easily, as you know exactly what notes are available to you and the notes that will sound good.

By knowing bass guitar scales it is easy to create music because you already know how certain scales sound. You don't need to experiment with notes to know which ones give you the desired effect. This opens up your creative channels and allows you to apply the scale rather than experimenting with different notes to give you a desired 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 scales and repeating them in a repetitive manner you will strengthen your fingers and embed the scale pattern in your playing. This will allow you to play effortlessly over time, as your fingers will eventually fall into the scale shape patterns without much thought. Your playing will be more enjoyable and relaxed as your fingers naturally know where the right notes sit on the fretboard.

By utilising different bass guitar scales you can easily zero in on a particular style or genre of music. For example you may choose to learn the pentatonic scales if you are interested in blues music, or you may learn the Lydian mode if you would like to add a spacey, eerie feel to your music. Certain scales are associated with certain styles and genres of music. By knowing the different scales and how they sound, you can greatly add to the diversity and colour of your music.

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.




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