Man, this is it. This is what really "unlocked" the whole fretboard for me. Thanks a million. I purchased your books on your website last week as a THANK YOU. You gotta repost this on your BassBuzz channel. People need to know this! You are one of the good guys. And an inspiration for us beginner bass folk. Thank you.
This is the only scale exercise I need. By going up and down in runs of eight notes, I can familarise myself with the three shapes of each of the seven modes. Really helps me to see the fretboard as a whole. I can also practice triads (regular and inverted), seven-chords, pentatonic scales, fills, or anything else I can think of. The great thing is, I get to practice them in every possible fingering and in both directions. And in every key. I found that saying aloud what I'm doing while I do it is hugely helpful too. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.
Billy Sheehan is the man! I've spent a ridiculous amount of my time watching his instructional videos, clinics and live stuff. He has a great approach to playing bass, I feel you've made what he demonstrated much clearer! Thanks
One thing that everyone should consider about this scale exercise is that each scale you practice will also train the relative minor (or relative major) of that scale. C major is also A minor, so you'll be playing the same scale patterns across the neck, you're just changing the intervals. So by following what Josh says in this video, to "Find all of your Cs" (in order to establish where the tonic is), you can then do the same with A and still practice the same patterns on the neck, but now you're paying more attention to how the intervals sound different when you shift the tonic, in this case to A minor. In C major, C is the tonic or root note, whereas in A Minor, C is the flattened third of the scale, where A is the tonic. This is essentially how the different modes are established on the fretboard. With all of that said, this is a great exercise to practice daily with any scale, at slow and fast tempos.
@josh Fossgreen I got glued to this exercise and decided it had to become. My new objective for beginning of 2021. So far I stick to the C major (mixolidian) version and play from 70bpm until 160 flawlessly up and down the neck. I can play until 220bmp but precision and accuracy go worse and worse. Happy so far but I know I must start with the other scales. It helped improve my knowledge of the neck a lot. Grazie!
This is exactly what I needed. Shocked that you transcribed it for free in C Major. Got it (mostly) down, now learning the half-step whole-step alternating pattern matrix in the other keys without any tab, just using a tuner (and an eye and ear) for the correct execution. Billy Sheehan is too humble; he unlocked the bass fret-board for all weekend warrior hacks like me. Thanks man! (Hope he's cool with what you're doing here....)
Glad to help! And I don't know Billy personally but I doubt he'd be upset that I'm teaching this. I also doubt Billy or anyone else could claim to have "invented" this exercise, it's a pretty simple concept that's probably been done many times before.
Thank you for your fantastic free tutorials. I'm sick and stuck at home with end stage liver disease and try to play my acoustic bass all day every day , the tutorials ready help thanx...
Your remarks go straight to the core of the doubts that one (at least me) might have, and they make you go like "aha, so this doubt also ocurred to him exactly like that and thats very gratifying and REALLY motivational, cause NOW you have finally identified the problem that was filling you with cloudy negative doubts about if you are on the right path or not (its kind of a mark on this nature trail saying "yes, yes, you are not lost and on track, this is the way) so you just attack the problem right away cause you know thats where you have to hit next (or maybe a week after, when you finally overcome your (my) lazyness). So, first, thank you very much for this and second, following this trail of thought, when you say for us to memorize the root note in the beginning of the exercise in order to get familiarized and kind of start making associations of the shapes in relation to the root, what becomes the next step/way of thinking for you? Do you get familiarized of how it goes with the dorian, phygian, etc or you revolve around the root all the time in your brain while playing? Cause i notice my problem is that i think maybe with much more predominance on the root, im going on a pattern that might be phrygian but if i stop unannouncedly, i tend to go "oh shit, wheres the root so i can identify another pattern and get in the confortable zone". p.s. noticed david wilcock's book and it was curious to see it there, i used to see some of his interviews like a decade ago, while he was engaged with project camelot, and found him really interesting but never read a book of him. I got curiosity to read it, thanks.
I would aim for being able to think of any note of the scale as the root note for the duration of one full sweep up/down the neck, which basically just means running through all the modes.
This is the greatest exercise i've learned. It really does open up the neck, not just in Cmaj and its relative Minor but in all scales with just one or two note changes. Kudos stretch!
hey Josh, i just wanted to say thank you for putting your videos up. they have been pretty helpful even for an 8 string guitar. keep up the good work buddy
I have been playing bass for 2 years now and cello for 9 more years than that and I was never great at theory but this is an ingenious way to become an even greater musician. If you go to Josh's website for the tabs, I encourage you to not just read off it like sheets of music but really understand the reason the notes are there
This is great. I have been taught how to play scales in fixed position (for major/minor scales there are seven positions), now I understand how I can combine them to play them accross the whole neck !
Hey josh, I am watching this video while your 7 years older self is teaching me lesson 73 of b2b course. Kind of tricky :) thanks a million for the lot of free knowledge transfer you offer since your early ages :) ciao! Sergio, from France
The mistake was composed of you hitting an F# on the A string. My prize request is simple, you don't have to grant it 100%. All i want is for you to at least try to make it come to life. Here goes: Make my comment a top comment, since i've never had a top comment in my life. Thank you, and keep on rockin'.
Josh Fossgreen you should reccommend short scale basses to anyone with normal hands. the 34" scale length is arbitrary, based on the fender bass design. yet kids are trying to play them. i got a 30" beatle bass at 30 after 15 years of playing long or regular scale and found out what i was missing. scale length and string tension is never a topic in bass lessons for some reason. i think everyone just accepts the arbitrary scale length as all there is, maybe because smaller basses arent seen as professional or something, which is nonsense.
Also - kudos to you for explaining the necessity and strengths of knowing scales, arpegs, modes while so many teachers are only teaching songs. I don't know how someone could vamp, improv or take a solo without knowing these things. (Yes, Sheehan & a few know them by ear, but @ some point, they all admit to doing a bit of study to learn them in order to aurally know them). Keep up the good work. When will Flight BB be ready?
Found a good way to recognize where your root is going through this exercise... Makes it a little more fun too! Whenever you get back to the 1 in the scale, hit the higher or lower octave at the same time. It helped me in recognizing some of the interval spacing and in linking the sounds in my brainspace so I could play through 2-octave runs much easier.
Been playing since 1963 and still learn something new every time I watch your VERY entertaining videos. Always working on dexterity but harder now at 64 Y/O. Current go-to bass is a Lakland 55-94 Deluxe. Question: why are your A and D tuners chrome? Carry On and Stay Low, my friend.
Cirrus’s are notorious for original brass hardware breaking, had to replace all six of my machine heads in the first five years of ownership...still the best bass I’ve ever owned!
Great exercise, can't wait to try it out. Would also suggest playing it as three groups of four per bar (i.e. semiquavers/16th notes in 3/4) to help get the string change smooth; otherwise you are always changing string on the downbeat and it might cause you to associate a change of string with playing an accent.
Excellent bass lesson and exercise, thank you! Also love the David Wilcock book in the background lol - you are awake and have ventured down the rabbit hole! Right on!!
Very nice, been looking for something like this so I can go back to play some of my old favorite tunes from 25 years ago. (fingers have gotten old and not as fast.)
Wow. thank you so much for this exercise. At first, knowing the modes, I knew that I needed to develop an exercise like this. I was lazy. You were able to structuralize the exercise for me and I am very thankful. Awesome video and exercise. Please post more exercise videos.
Been playing bass on and off(mostly off tho:S) for 18 years and I have mostly learned everything I know from 1 year of introduction classes when I was 12! I consider myself sort of decent. Some of my friends seem to think of me as a bass god. Its pretty strange.. anyways. Basically we can say I know VERY little of theory. Watching this video is my first step towards trying to learn some basic theory while exercising. I must thank you for that!
Thanks for sharing! I really like this exercise! I'm a little surprised I haven't heard or seen one like it before now. I'm going to try the 12 major keys and see how long it takes me. If it isn't shameful, I'll let everyone know...
to add something to what he said about not having big enough hands.... you can also move your hand laterally a little bit to compensate, just get quick and precise with incorporating it.
Great exorcise. It's even more fun on a 6-string bass. In regards to hand size, I'm a girl with small hands, and yet I have no problem playing a 6-string with a neck the size of a 2x4.
Hey man! I have exactly the same bass as the one you are playing in this video. I love it! I have a couple of others, but always come back to the Peavey!
Cool exercise, thanks. Some teachers (that I've had) would say to avoid that type of stretching (the 3 whole tones on one string thing), but I've always found it OK, having not-too-small hands. The other possible problem with it is the rhythmic thing of 3 notes creating a triplet - it could confuse some players used to playing 4 notes in 4/4. Anyway, I like it, but there are downsides to every system, I suppose. Cheers.
I like this...its awesome to do thirds, groups of three, fourths, and groups of fourths, and fifths, and groups of five.....etc....(to twelfths if I want....) Thanks Josh....Now I can start soloing with this pattern blended in with pentatonics..I commit to this daily....
Steve Stavropoulos Nice ideas! I'll actually be integrating the skeleton of this exercise into some pentatonics stuff I put out in the next couple months. :)
This is definitely a beast of a run. Have you read Alex Webster's Extreme Metal Bass book? There's a plucking exercise that's sort of similar to this except that it only runs up to about the tenth fret or so and only uses the B and E strings. That's challenging enough, but this... gah. Glad I found your channel, man! I've been playing for 14 years and I've now decided I want to be good at it. Haha. Your videos are helping tremendously with that. Keep it up!
Awesome exercise! Two questions. 1. Were you using just two fingers on the picking hand with some raking involved when you were shredding? & 2. I love the wholetone scale. It is one of my favorite scales. So it sounds like a silly question. But are you able to shred this exercise with the wholetone scale? And if so, imagine putting the bass through one of those harmony pedals and setting it up to a major third above the note you are playing. Then add some delay on it. Talk about a dreamy effect if you can pull that off.
Hey John, yes, just two plucking fingers. This particular exercise does not work without some tweaking with hexatonic scales, including the whole tone. You can do something similar by playing three notes per string walking up the whole tone, then go up a scale tone and come back down, repeat, repeat, but it's not quite the same thing.
Josh Fossgreen Thanks for making the videos I find them super helpful but I have a question. I use a pick when i play bass only cause i play guitar more often should I learn to use my fingers instead?
I just wanted to say that you seem like a pretty cool guy! I'm just about to start this exercise and am REALLY excited to see the results! Thanks for the video!!!
"...you kind of have to be patient as your hands and the rest of your body grow into adulthood..." Dude, that's some sage-like advice right there. Nice lesson, too.
I actually understood what you seid.. You play great and know what your at.. Im self taught.. Listen and played primus a lot. I play slap in a metal band with 2 8 strings tuned to my octave. Its really hard to write to lol. Anyway. Keep doing vids.. Ill keep watching
HeyJosh, love this lesson,but one major question of mine is how do you practice this exercise in all the keys without biting off more than you can chew, if that makes any sense? Like how long do you spend on one key when you have 12 of them?
Make it's systematic at the very least go through it two times per key but in order to not burn yourself out and if you're uncomfortable with a certain key don't spend more than 4-5 repititions on it, remember you're playing on a very symmetric instrument so the physicality of key will be the same mostly so by the time you work your way back to the weaker keys you'll be stronger at them anyways.
I have just started playing the bass again after a little 10 yearish break and this is fantastic stuff!!! The internet is now my teacher!! WOW! And you Josh seem like a good place to 'start' and this beast scale of yours is exactly the sort of thing I want to use to shake off the rust and exponentially expand upon what I was doing before but I am still struggling to understand this internet creature... I don't see a link to the pdf that is supposed to be under your face at about 2 minutes into this video???? I MUST HAVE IT!!!! please help! lol! Anyone...
JF - Domo arigato - you read my mind. Was going to ask you to share this monster with everyone. Don't know if we're referring to same video but I remember the video I saw this from, Billy was explaining his lack of knowing theory but discovered how to play G maj 3 notes per string upper neck. (People in Indonesia didn't believe him re: his lack of knowledge - I remember that because it was funny! Same interview ?)
superb exercise, i hate using note names although i understand them, preferring to go by sound - do you know of a similar exercise for arpeggios? stay raw my favourite bassguiteer
Josh, thanks for the great video, and for the free pdf files. Let me add a remark on the pdf, if you don't mind: I find the written out version of the exercise very helpful. However, i would prefer "8va" notation over the use of half a dozen ledger lines for the upper frets. I am aware of the fact that you are giving the c major version away for free, which is a great help and which i appreciate. However, the ledger lines keep me from buying your ebooks ;-) Rock on, Dave
I don't understand your comments about practicing this exercise in different modes. YOU ALREADY ARE! When you start on E in the key of C, you are playing Phrygian mode, when you start on F in the key of C you are playing Lydian Mode, etc... You are learning the mode patterns detached from the names of the modes. Might as well name the modes and call them what they are and the practice will be more fruitful because you will end up seeing how the modes all fit together. I can see you have practiced this a lot. :) Good job.
What I mean is that your mental framework will change the physical experience of playing. What you're describing is one way to "think" your way through the exercise. The way I'm emphasizing in this particular video is to keep "thinking" in C major the whole time. They're both useful, and even though you're playing the same physical notes you have a different experience based on how you "think" your way through it. Does that help clarify at all?
Hey Josh. Bought your ebook, always happy to endorse quality online bass tuition! One question: I find covering a major 3rd under the hand a bit of a stretch in the lower positions (for this and for your maj7 arpeggio exercises). Is it something you recommend using all over the bass, or is it more an upper register sort of thing or will it just take time to adapt to stretching my hand out enough to employ it in the lower registers?
Thanks Hector! Yes, that is a stretch, especially on the larger frets. I do recommend using it all over the neck, but you can use "micro-shifting" to compensate for hand size/flexibility when needed, so maintain the same fingering but don't force yourself to stay stretched out across the position the whole time. I think I talk about that a bit in this video - ruclips.net/video/EXt5AWNf1O4/видео.html
Do you need to know the individual notes of each fret before doing this exercice? do you reccomend this? Is it still okay to learn this exercice without knowing them yet? is it still efficient?
Yes, definitely. This is an advanced exercise which I don't think is particularly useful if you don't already have your basics down. I would start by learning note names on the neck - ruclips.net/video/AUiarFWWFoA/видео.html And then work up one and two octave scales before attempting this exercise - ruclips.net/p/PLMIGBQ8tBb8lbROp2y-Tp_bo5s6m9xpqU
You're a beast man thanks !! I've actually gone pretty far without learning my entire fretboard but I think it's starting to slow me down. Cheers for the quick reply :) I'll definitely check those videos!
Man, this is it. This is what really "unlocked" the whole fretboard for me. Thanks a million. I purchased your books on your website last week as a THANK YOU. You gotta repost this on your BassBuzz channel. People need to know this! You are one of the good guys. And an inspiration for us beginner bass folk. Thank you.
This is the only scale exercise I need.
By going up and down in runs of eight notes, I can familarise myself with the three shapes of each of the seven modes. Really helps me to see the fretboard as a whole.
I can also practice triads (regular and inverted), seven-chords, pentatonic scales, fills, or anything else I can think of.
The great thing is, I get to practice them in every possible fingering and in both directions. And in every key.
I found that saying aloud what I'm doing while I do it is hugely helpful too.
THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.
It's crazy. I saw this video 3 days ago, and only picked up my bass just now. I can already see where this one will take me...
haha fingering
Billy Sheehan is the man! I've spent a ridiculous amount of my time watching his instructional videos, clinics and live stuff. He has a great approach to playing bass, I feel you've made what he demonstrated much clearer! Thanks
One thing that everyone should consider about this scale exercise is that each scale you practice will also train the relative minor (or relative major) of that scale.
C major is also A minor, so you'll be playing the same scale patterns across the neck, you're just changing the intervals. So by following what Josh says in this video, to "Find all of your Cs" (in order to establish where the tonic is), you can then do the same with A and still practice the same patterns on the neck, but now you're paying more attention to how the intervals sound different when you shift the tonic, in this case to A minor. In C major, C is the tonic or root note, whereas in A Minor, C is the flattened third of the scale, where A is the tonic.
This is essentially how the different modes are established on the fretboard. With all of that said, this is a great exercise to practice daily with any scale, at slow and fast tempos.
Man, if your not a music teacher, you should be. from one bass player to another, keep on teaching us! great job!!!
Hate the haters on youtube..dude wicked lesson. Awesome way to get to know your scale a bit more
@josh Fossgreen I got glued to this exercise and decided it had to become. My new objective for beginning of 2021. So far I stick to the C major (mixolidian) version and play from 70bpm until 160 flawlessly up and down the neck. I can play until 220bmp but precision and accuracy go worse and worse. Happy so far but I know I must start with the other scales. It helped improve my knowledge of the neck a lot. Grazie!
This is exactly what I needed. Shocked that you transcribed it for free in C Major. Got it (mostly) down, now learning the half-step whole-step alternating pattern matrix in the other keys without any tab, just using a tuner (and an eye and ear) for the correct execution. Billy Sheehan is too humble; he unlocked the bass fret-board for all weekend warrior hacks like me. Thanks man! (Hope he's cool with what you're doing here....)
Glad to help! And I don't know Billy personally but I doubt he'd be upset that I'm teaching this. I also doubt Billy or anyone else could claim to have "invented" this exercise, it's a pretty simple concept that's probably been done many times before.
Thank you for your fantastic free tutorials.
I'm sick and stuck at home with end stage liver disease and try to play my acoustic bass all day every day , the tutorials ready help thanx...
You're welcome Gavin! Glad you've got the bass to keep you company.
After rehab from methamphetamine , Badger finally found his true passion... Bass playing.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
jajajaja Breaking Bass !
BRO LMAO
fallacies, fallacies
Your remarks go straight to the core of the doubts that one (at least me) might have, and they make you go like "aha, so this doubt also ocurred to him exactly like that and thats very gratifying and REALLY motivational, cause NOW you have finally identified the problem that was filling you with cloudy negative doubts about if you are on the right path or not (its kind of a mark on this nature trail saying "yes, yes, you are not lost and on track, this is the way) so you just attack the problem right away cause you know thats where you have to hit next (or maybe a week after, when you finally overcome your (my) lazyness).
So, first, thank you very much for this and second, following this trail of thought, when you say for us to memorize the root note in the beginning of the exercise in order to get familiarized and kind of start making associations of the shapes in relation to the root, what becomes the next step/way of thinking for you? Do you get familiarized of how it goes with the dorian, phygian, etc or you revolve around the root all the time in your brain while playing? Cause i notice my problem is that i think maybe with much more predominance on the root, im going on a pattern that might be phrygian but if i stop unannouncedly, i tend to go "oh shit, wheres the root so i can identify another pattern and get in the confortable zone".
p.s. noticed david wilcock's book and it was curious to see it there, i used to see some of his interviews like a decade ago, while he was engaged with project camelot, and found him really interesting but never read a book of him. I got curiosity to read it, thanks.
I would aim for being able to think of any note of the scale as the root note for the duration of one full sweep up/down the neck, which basically just means running through all the modes.
thanks mate!!
This is the greatest exercise i've learned. It really does open up the neck, not just in Cmaj and its relative Minor but in all scales with just one or two note changes. Kudos stretch!
Isn't it awesome? Glad you're digging it.
Holy crud... I've only started trying this out yesterday, and I'm already seeing how it's going to make me look at the fretboard different. Crazy...
hey Josh, i just wanted to say thank you for putting your videos up. they have been pretty helpful even for an 8 string guitar. keep up the good work buddy
Thanks John!
I have been playing bass for 2 years now and cello for 9 more years than that and I was never great at theory but this is an ingenious way to become an even greater musician. If you go to Josh's website for the tabs, I encourage you to not just read off it like sheets of music but really understand the reason the notes are there
You are not only Great Bassist,also you are Great person.I am much grateful for your kind help...........
This is great. I have been taught how to play scales in fixed position (for major/minor scales there are seven positions), now I understand how I can combine them to play them accross the whole neck !
Hey josh, I am watching this video while your 7 years older self is teaching me lesson 73 of b2b course. Kind of tricky :) thanks a million for the lot of free knowledge transfer you offer since your early ages :) ciao! Sergio, from France
One of the best exercises I've seen for learning how to move around the neck!
The mistake was composed of you hitting an F# on the A string. My prize request is simple, you don't have to grant it 100%. All i want is for you to at least try to make it come to life. Here goes:
Make my comment a top comment, since i've never had a top comment in my life.
Thank you, and keep on rockin'.
julio alferez LOL! Let's do it, guys!
Josh Fossgreen
you should reccommend short scale basses to anyone with normal hands. the 34" scale length is arbitrary, based on the fender bass design. yet kids are trying to play them. i got a 30" beatle bass at 30 after 15 years of playing long or regular scale and found out what i was missing. scale length and string tension is never a topic in bass lessons for some reason. i think everyone just accepts the arbitrary scale length as all there is, maybe because smaller basses arent seen as professional or something, which is nonsense.
Have you found any good resources for finding short scale basses? I'm interested. Thanks for your suggestions.
julio alferez Ik
David Wilcock Shyncronicity kit!
Yes! Will try to do it within the next month or so.
This is such a great exercise. Thanks for posting the tab! I'm planning to teach this exercise to a few students. Rock On. :)
this exercise is extremely impressive, thank you so much for this bass tutorial!!!
torn mask You're welcome!
Just learning to play and really like this instruction.
Also - kudos to you for explaining the necessity and strengths of knowing scales, arpegs, modes while so many teachers are only teaching songs. I don't know how someone could vamp, improv or take a solo without knowing these things. (Yes, Sheehan & a few know them by ear, but @ some point, they all admit to doing a bit of study to learn them in order to aurally know them). Keep up the good work. When will Flight BB be ready?
Found a good way to recognize where your root is going through this exercise... Makes it a little more fun too! Whenever you get back to the 1 in the scale, hit the higher or lower octave at the same time. It helped me in recognizing some of the interval spacing and in linking the sounds in my brainspace so I could play through 2-octave runs much easier.
Great suggestion! I do that a lot too.
This looks like a great workout, I've been looking for something like this for a while. Thanks Josh.
Been playing since 1963 and still learn something new every time I watch your VERY entertaining videos. Always working on dexterity but harder now at 64 Y/O. Current go-to bass is a Lakland 55-94 Deluxe. Question: why are your A and D tuners chrome? Carry On and Stay Low, my friend.
Cirrus’s are notorious for original brass hardware breaking, had to replace all six of my machine heads in the first five years of ownership...still the best bass I’ve ever owned!
u are the mensch brooo, thanks for this lesson, is what ive been looking for a long time!
Great exercise, can't wait to try it out. Would also suggest playing it as three groups of four per bar (i.e. semiquavers/16th notes in 3/4) to help get the string change smooth; otherwise you are always changing string on the downbeat and it might cause you to associate a change of string with playing an accent.
Great point!
Excellent bass lesson and exercise, thank you! Also love the David Wilcock book in the background lol - you are awake and have ventured down the rabbit hole! Right on!!
:)
Loved the lesson as usual and thanks for sharing
Wow, this will keep me busy for a while! I have been looking for a way to really grasp my scales! Thanks!
Very nice, been looking for something like this so I can go back to play some of my old favorite tunes from 25 years ago. (fingers have gotten old and not as fast.)
killer exercise josh! been workin and workin.
This is one of the best exercises I have sen for the bass.Thanks a a lot!!!
You're welcome Paul!
Many thanks. Awesome lesson!
Wow. thank you so much for this exercise. At first, knowing the modes, I knew that I needed to develop an exercise like this. I was lazy. You were able to structuralize the exercise for me and I am very thankful. Awesome video and exercise. Please post more exercise videos.
Thx mate i have started to educate my fingers and now they have bachelors degree. Cheers!!!
Been playing bass on and off(mostly off tho:S) for 18 years and I have mostly learned everything I know from 1 year of introduction classes when I was 12! I consider myself sort of decent. Some of my friends seem to think of me as a bass god. Its pretty strange.. anyways. Basically we can say I know VERY little of theory. Watching this video is my first step towards trying to learn some basic theory while exercising. I must thank you for that!
Thanks for sharing! I really like this exercise! I'm a little surprised I haven't heard or seen one like it before now. I'm going to try the 12 major keys and see how long it takes me. If it isn't shameful, I'll let everyone know...
2 years amd still going huh? :D
Luka Zorica lol
Thanks dude that is awesome I like to practice jumping 3rds in the scales and working through. This will be a tough learn but worth it..
to add something to what he said about not having big enough hands.... you can also move your hand laterally a little bit to compensate, just get quick and precise with incorporating it.
Much harder than I thought, I kept getting lost.thx, great job
Excellent exercise! It's cool that you shared this. You can also do it with accents on the 4. 5. etc...
Great Post!! Thanks!
Thanks man, this really helps I have been trying to improve me speed forever, this has been helping
Great exorcise. It's even more fun on a 6-string bass. In regards to hand size, I'm a girl with small hands, and yet I have no problem playing a 6-string with a neck the size of a 2x4.
Thank you,this is good exercise for Guitar Bass , and for me, I learned Guitar Bass for a month. i will do it.
hehe...et cetera
always wondered wth billy sheehan was doing. nice to know there's some logic behind it. excellent vid as always.
thanks for the lesson josh
You're welcome!
thx, good one! I have small hands, but I use a regular scale bass. Works well for me.
Hey man! I have exactly the same bass as the one you are playing in this video. I love it! I have a couple of others, but always come back to the Peavey!
Cool exercise, thanks. Some teachers (that I've had) would say to avoid that type of stretching (the 3 whole tones on one string thing), but I've always found it OK, having not-too-small hands. The other possible problem with it is the rhythmic thing of 3 notes creating a triplet - it could confuse some players used to playing 4 notes in 4/4. Anyway, I like it, but there are downsides to every system, I suppose. Cheers.
scubapig I'd have to say; even if they're a beginner they really need to learn triplets early on; or it never happens.
They should un-confuse themselves then.
Thanks. very very good lesson
I like this...its awesome to do thirds, groups of three, fourths, and groups of fourths, and fifths, and groups of five.....etc....(to twelfths if I want....) Thanks Josh....Now I can start soloing with this pattern blended in with pentatonics..I commit to this daily....
Steve Stavropoulos Nice ideas! I'll actually be integrating the skeleton of this exercise into some pentatonics stuff I put out in the next couple months. :)
Great lesson men! greetings from Argentina!
Thanks Julian!
Great Video. Helped me a lot. Thanks
This is definitely a beast of a run. Have you read Alex Webster's Extreme Metal Bass book? There's a plucking exercise that's sort of similar to this except that it only runs up to about the tenth fret or so and only uses the B and E strings. That's challenging enough, but this... gah.
Glad I found your channel, man! I've been playing for 14 years and I've now decided I want to be good at it. Haha. Your videos are helping tremendously with that. Keep it up!
Thank you very much, kind Sir, for this priceless lesson. :)
Nice extended Lord of The Rings set on your desk there.. Watched those in marathon once.. It was a full day. Oh yea, great lesson too!
Doing this on my 6 string right now, brain overload!
Awesome exercise! Two questions. 1. Were you using just two fingers on the picking hand with some raking involved when you were shredding? & 2. I love the wholetone scale. It is one of my favorite scales. So it sounds like a silly question. But are you able to shred this exercise with the wholetone scale? And if so, imagine putting the bass through one of those harmony pedals and setting it up to a major third above the note you are playing. Then add some delay on it. Talk about a dreamy effect if you can pull that off.
Hey John, yes, just two plucking fingers. This particular exercise does not work without some tweaking with hexatonic scales, including the whole tone. You can do something similar by playing three notes per string walking up the whole tone, then go up a scale tone and come back down, repeat, repeat, but it's not quite the same thing.
Yeah. I would imagine it would be different. So were you raking at all with your fingers? And there would be some position shifts for sure right?
Excellent exercise, thank you!
Just bought the e-book
Great lesson
Thanks man, awesome lesson.
Thank you Josh!
this sounds fantastic ill get to work on it
When did Ashton Kutcher start doing bass lessons lol jk thanks for the help.
Ha you're welcome!
Josh Fossgreen Thanks for making the videos I find them super helpful but I have a question. I use a pick when i play bass only cause i play guitar more often should I learn to use my fingers instead?
In my opinion yes definitely, but if all your favorite bass players use picks exclusively and that's all you care about, then ignore me! :)
Daaaayyuuummm!!!!
Fun
Thanks, you helped an enthusiastic bassist
GREAT LESSON, THANKS!
Excellent !
A lot of good information
Thank you Thank you
I just wanted to say that you seem like a pretty cool guy! I'm just about to start this exercise and am REALLY excited to see the results! Thanks for the video!!!
Awesome exercise 🎬
"...you kind of have to be patient as your hands and the rest of your body grow into adulthood..." Dude, that's some sage-like advice right there. Nice lesson, too.
THANK YOUUUUU JOSHHHH!!!!
Awesome exercise. Thanks :-)
Nice lesson! i tried to click the pdf-link but i ended up on a maturelove-finder site, however the second time i clicked i got it :) thanks
Fixed! Sorry!
I actually understood what you seid.. You play great and know what your at.. Im self taught.. Listen and played primus a lot. I play slap in a metal band with 2 8 strings tuned to my octave. Its really hard to write to lol. Anyway. Keep doing vids.. Ill keep watching
Great exercise man!
Good stuff...Thanks!
Thanks! I appreciate the example that starts at 4:33
HeyJosh, love this lesson,but one major question of mine is how do you practice this exercise in all the keys without biting off more than you can chew, if that makes any sense? Like how long do you spend on one key when you have 12 of them?
Make it's systematic at the very least go through it two times per key but in order to not burn yourself out and if you're uncomfortable with a certain key don't spend more than 4-5 repititions on it, remember you're playing on a very symmetric instrument so the physicality of key will be the same mostly so by the time you work your way back to the weaker keys you'll be stronger at them anyways.
I have just started playing the bass again after a little 10 yearish break and this is fantastic stuff!!! The internet is now my teacher!! WOW! And you Josh seem like a good place to 'start' and this beast scale of yours is exactly the sort of thing I want to use to shake off the rust and exponentially expand upon what I was doing before but I am still struggling to understand this internet creature... I don't see a link to the pdf that is supposed to be under your face at about 2 minutes into this video???? I MUST HAVE IT!!!! please help! lol! Anyone...
ahhh! found it! And what an absolutely brilliant exercise!
Hi Josh! How long have you been playing?
Thanks for this tip. One of the best exercises
JF - Domo arigato - you read my mind. Was going to ask you to share this monster with everyone. Don't know if we're referring to same video but I remember the video I saw this from, Billy was explaining his lack of knowing theory but discovered how to play G maj 3 notes per string upper neck. (People in Indonesia didn't believe him re: his lack of knowledge - I remember that because it was funny! Same interview ?)
superb exercise, i hate using note names although i understand them, preferring to go by sound - do you know of a similar exercise for arpeggios? stay raw my favourite bassguiteer
It just so happens I created such an exercise :) - ruclips.net/video/Rwvi2_aloEk/видео.html
awesomeness of the highest order, many thanks!
"in these new and thrilling ways" Epic \m/
Josh, thanks for the great video, and for the free pdf files. Let me add a remark on the pdf, if you don't mind: I find the written out version of the exercise very helpful. However, i would prefer "8va" notation over the use of half a dozen ledger lines for the upper frets. I am aware of the fact that you are giving the c major version away for free, which is a great help and which i appreciate. However, the ledger lines keep me from buying your ebooks ;-) Rock on, Dave
Love that intro bass riff !
Now THAT’S a fine bass!
love you, subbed
I don't understand your comments about practicing this exercise in different modes. YOU ALREADY ARE! When you start on E in the key of C, you are playing Phrygian mode, when you start on F in the key of C you are playing Lydian Mode, etc... You are learning the mode patterns detached from the names of the modes. Might as well name the modes and call them what they are and the practice will be more fruitful because you will end up seeing how the modes all fit together.
I can see you have practiced this a lot. :) Good job.
What I mean is that your mental framework will change the physical experience of playing. What you're describing is one way to "think" your way through the exercise. The way I'm emphasizing in this particular video is to keep "thinking" in C major the whole time. They're both useful, and even though you're playing the same physical notes you have a different experience based on how you "think" your way through it. Does that help clarify at all?
Thank you so much!
Hey Josh bro I'm lovin that intro bass lick. Do you have a lesson on it?
Emeka Skerritt not yet but someday!
Hey Josh. Bought your ebook, always happy to endorse quality online bass tuition! One question: I find covering a major 3rd under the hand a bit of a stretch in the lower positions (for this and for your maj7 arpeggio exercises). Is it something you recommend using all over the bass, or is it more an upper register sort of thing or will it just take time to adapt to stretching my hand out enough to employ it in the lower registers?
Thanks Hector! Yes, that is a stretch, especially on the larger frets. I do recommend using it all over the neck, but you can use "micro-shifting" to compensate for hand size/flexibility when needed, so maintain the same fingering but don't force yourself to stay stretched out across the position the whole time. I think I talk about that a bit in this video - ruclips.net/video/EXt5AWNf1O4/видео.html
awesome thank you
Do you need to know the individual notes of each fret before doing this exercice? do you reccomend this? Is it still okay to learn this exercice without knowing them yet? is it still efficient?
Yes, definitely. This is an advanced exercise which I don't think is particularly useful if you don't already have your basics down. I would start by learning note names on the neck - ruclips.net/video/AUiarFWWFoA/видео.html
And then work up one and two octave scales before attempting this exercise - ruclips.net/p/PLMIGBQ8tBb8lbROp2y-Tp_bo5s6m9xpqU
You're a beast man thanks !! I've actually gone pretty far without learning my entire fretboard but I think it's starting to slow me down. Cheers for the quick reply :) I'll definitely check those videos!
waoooh am inspired on that thanks, one question : IS THIS APPLICABLE ON 5-STRING BASS GUITAR?
great lesson
raydamann a
I had this book/dvd set. I seem to remember him not including the tabs for this. What. The. Hell.