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

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

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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.

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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.