Chords offer great tonal variation to bass lines. If you want to bring in blues-influenced grooves, chords may provide the answer.
Triads are the simplest chord form and contain only three notes. When played consecutively they form an arpeggio; otherwise known as broken chords.
Scales
Minor scales are expressive sounding scales, often used by songwriters for their expressive qualities and basslines/solo parts that need to convey certain feelings or emotions. Learning them is invaluable.
Scales are groups of notes organized in an order that has a consistent pattern when ascending and descending, such as tone, semitone, tone and back again as in a major scale. A minor scale follows this same pattern but with lower scale degrees as illustrated below in its diagram.
Once you understand these scales, you can move on to learning chords and arpeggio patterns.
Triads
A triad is a chord formed from the root, third and fifth notes of a major scale. To learn triads effectively you must first practice major scales as this will help your memory to keep pace with how they appear on the fretboard and provide a firm foundation from which to build bass knowledge.
Starting with your root note – for example C on an open E string – move one fret down (3rd fret: D) and two frets up (5th fret: F), to create your minor third.
Most scales and chords contain three notes – the difference between major and minor sounding scales or chords can be determined by this third note, giving major scales their brighter, cheerier sound while minor ones have darker, sadder tones. Triads are an integral component of playing bass since they provide you with an effective foundation on which to build multiple types of scales and chords on the fretboard.
Intervals
Intervals refer to the distance between notes in a scale or chord. When musicians use the term “interval,” they usually mean either major or minor intervals; there are also augmented and diminished intervals. An interval can span any number of half steps with either sharp or flat letter names (or both); C to E and F to Bb both represent minor thirds but bass players may use terminology like EMI/EMIN/EMin as references instead of simply using C to E/F to Bb as examples of minor thirds respectively.
Perfect intervals (unisons and octaves) correspond exactly with their respective notes in a diatonic scale (unisons and octaves). An interval can be made larger or smaller by altering its quality; for instance, an augmented fourth may consist of 6 half steps and can be described either as #5 (“sharp four”) or b5 (“flat five”). To modify its quality further, one could raise or lower either note of the interval, for instance raising or lowering one note or the other note of the interval respectively.
Arpeggios
Arpeggios are individual chord notes played successively rather than simultaneously, typically ascending or descending and covering more than one octave. Bass players often employ arpeggios when creating melodic bass lines or harmony and many harmonic minor scales have associated arpeggios.
This bass guitar lesson presents triad arpeggios in A minor. Triads are three note chords built by stacking thirds; Major thirds are 2 half steps (4 frets apart), while minor thirds can range anywhere between 1-3 1/2 steps (3 frets apart). To create a smooth transition between chords it may be beneficial to connect these arpeggios with diatonic passing notes found within the scale of their tonic chord (diatonic passing notes are notes found within its scale).
At first, practice these shapes slowly before gradually adding rhythms and grooves into your playing. Doing this will enable you to really get these patterns under your fingertips – with more practice they will become easier and more beneficial to your bass playing!