Blues Bass Guitar Lessons

blues bass lessons

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If you want to learn bass playing, regardless of your goals, the best place to start is with the blues. The blues are the epitome of emotion in music; they are simplistic, deep, and full of both sorrow and solace. They also happen to be one of the most popular genre among musicians.

Learning the blues is like learning to ride a bike; it takes time, but once you get the hang of it, you will never forget it. The blues will make an enormous impact on your playing, both in an emotional sense and in a stylistic sense.

If you are serious about learning how to play blues bass, there are a few things that you should take into consideration.

The Fundamentals Always Matter

The first is timing. No matter what style you wish to play, musical timing is the most important aspect. Practicing with a metronome helps you to build your timing and allows you to become an accurate player. You want all of your note values to be proper and even.

If you are playing a group of eighth notes, all of your eighth notes should be the exact same length. The same goes for quarter notes, whole notes, half notes, and sixteenth notes. If you are an exceptionally trained player (which you won’t be if you haven’t used a metronome yet) your thirty-second notes should all be even as well.

It isn’t enough to have your timing down for groupings of the same notes; while the twelve bar blues do incorporate the same note values throughout, most songs you come across will not. This means that you need to be able to keep your eighth notes even regardless if they are surrounded by other eighth notes or quarter notes.

The Feel is Crucial to Sound Bluesy

blues bassistAnother important factor of learning the blues is feel; the blues is all about it. If you tend to be a person who likes everything in your life planned out to the T, then you may have trouble not playing like a machine.

The blues aren’t a science and there is no special equation or rulebook that will allow you to learn them. If you aren’t willing to let go of everything and put out all your feelings through your fingertips than you are going to struggle to learn the blues.

Likewise, if you tend to be a person who masks their emotion, the blues may not be the style for you. The blues is an emotional outlet, which means that you need to be in tune with your heart to play it. Sure you can play blues licks for the style of it, but to actually play the blues you will need to wear your heart on your sleeve.

How well and how fast you learn the blues will all depend on the above factor of emotional willingness as well as how much work you put into them. If you think that the blues will fall into your lap you will end up in a rough spot.

You have to be willing to set aside time each day to practice your blues bass playing. Sit down with a metronome and practice. Remember that practice time is for practice; don’t allow yourself to become distracted. Have fun, and good luck. Be check out the list of articles and individual lessons below for more…

List of Blues Bass Guitar Lessons:

Click here to access a massive library of professional video instructions that cover various bass playing styles such as blues, rock, jazz and metal. Join one of the largest community of bassists who want to interact and learn from each other too!

#1 – An Introduction to the 12 Bar Blues Bass for Beginners
One of the most well known chord progressions in blues music is the 12 bar blues. It is an universally progression that is understood amongst musicians, making it one of the easiest basis for improvising and “jam together” pieces.

#2 – Blues Riffs And Licks That Every Bassist Must Learn
Everybody love creating licks and riffs. In fact, I personally think they are one of the highlights of picking up the bass guitar. In this article, we will help you open up new doors to develop your creativity.

#3 – Experimenting With Chords Substitution And Improvisation
While blues playing has long been a traditional style of music that revolves around similar chord progressions, that doesn’t mean that you can’t experiment with chords substitution even with the well established classic progressions.

#4 – Blues Sliding to Make Your Playing Smooth And Fluid
Sliding can make your playing sound smooth and dynamic. When applied to blues playing, the slide technique can add more levels of textures and feel to your sound.

#5 – Learn How to Play With Feel Using Slow Bass Grooves
The blues genre is all about learning to play with feel. For starters, slower blues grooves can be a great experience for bassists who are just breaking into the genre.

#6 – Important Tips to Remember When You Set Your Eyes Out on Mastering Music
While the blues are one of the best places to get started in learning music, it can also be a potential pitfall for newer players. Here are some crucial tips and advice that you should bear in mind when it comes to approaching guitar learning.

Transform Yourself From An Average Player Into a Competent Bassist

JamPlay has thousands of video lessons that are conveniently arranged in structured lesson sets. With high quality instructions from world renowned bassists, Jamplay is an unparalleled learning resource. Whatever your genre preferences, you’ll find something here to help you improve your current level of playing.

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One Comment

  1. Axe God-
    December 7, 2013 at 4:00 pm

    I’m really glad I found this website and want to thank you personally for the time and effort in creating the blues tutorials here. They really help my understanding of getting the grooves correct.