Before you can learn what to learn on the bass guitar, it’s important to know how to learn, and that’s what this article is all about. It contains twenty-one specific tips on how to learn to play the bass guitar. We’ll talk about what to learn some other time. For now, let’s stay with the fundamentals of mindset, focus, technique, and creating good habits that will get you started on the right track. Because if you spend a little time learning how to learn, you’ll find that you progress more quickly, and that’s a Very Good Thing! Read the rest of this entry »

Keep Thumpin'!

Lane on Bass

Ask not what Bass can do for you, Ask what YOU can do for Bass!

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They say that practice makes perfect. However many students don’t focus themselves properly during practice time, and so don’t even come close to perfect. The result of this imperfect practice is that, instead of learning to play an exercise correctly, they teach themselves how to play it wrong, and will often find it very hard to correct the mistakes. Read the rest of this entry »

Keep Thumpin'!

Lane on Bass

Ask not what Bass can do for you, Ask what YOU can do for Bass!

Lane's Web Site | Lane's Bio

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Now that you’ve had time to get the C major modal patterns under your fingers, let’s transpose them and work with another key. It’s pretty simple, really. All of the other keys will use the same guidelines as far as what scale/fingering occurs where. Read the rest of this entry »

Peace and Low Notes,

Roy C. Vogt Teach Me Bass Guitar Bass Instructor, Belmont University, Nashville, TN

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One of the first things I do with an incoming student at Belmont University is to make sure they understand the diatonic modes and chords, and can play them on their instrument. Simply put, the modes are from Classical Music and were used in Gregorian Chant (hence their other name: Church Modes). Read the rest of this entry »

Peace and Low Notes,

Roy C. Vogt Teach Me Bass Guitar Bass Instructor, Belmont University, Nashville, TN

Roy's Bio | Roy's Web Site | Teach Me Bass Guitar | Belmont U.

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Once we’ve gotten our hands working in sync, the next task will be to make some music with them. One of the easiest and most useful ways to create a functional bass line is to use the major and minor triads.

The triads (R-3-5) are derived from the major or minor scale in this fashion: Read the rest of this entry »

Peace and Low Notes,

Roy C. Vogt Teach Me Bass Guitar Bass Instructor, Belmont University, Nashville, TN

Roy's Bio | Roy's Web Site | Teach Me Bass Guitar | Belmont U.

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Here are a couple of exercises I’ve used to help my beginning students get more finger independence and dexterity. We’ll start with the basic one and move on to the more advanced…. Read the rest of this entry »

Peace and Low Notes,

Roy C. Vogt Teach Me Bass Guitar Bass Instructor, Belmont University, Nashville, TN

Roy's Bio | Roy's Web Site | Teach Me Bass Guitar | Belmont U.

Got a suggestion for an article, lesson or weekly tip? Care to submit an article of your own? If so, please send us an email.

This is the month when I meet a whole lot of new bass students, both in my private practice and my role as the Bass Department Head at Belmont University in Nashville. A lot of times, one of the first things I’ll become aware of is the need for a little tune-up as far as the LH fingerings go (this would be RH for Jimmy Haslip, Keith Horne and all of my lefty bass buddies, BTW).

These exercises are good as warm-ups if they are played slowly and they can be used to build speed if utilized at the end of a practice session as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Peace and Low Notes,

Roy C. Vogt Teach Me Bass Guitar Bass Instructor, Belmont University, Nashville, TN

Roy's Bio | Roy's Web Site | Teach Me Bass Guitar | Belmont U.

Got a suggestion for an article, lesson or weekly tip? Care to submit an article of your own? If so, please send us an email.