BASS PLAYER Lesson Eight

PLAYING SCALES DIAGONALLY

I hope that the intervallic studies we have worked with so far have inspired you to move outside of your technical ëcomfort zoneí. Above all else, I hope that you have become more accustomed to hearing these shapes on your own, and likewise have become better able to recognize these sounds in the music you hear. This time around I would like to share with you another approach to scales and modes that will take us out of a single position and allow us to move diagonally across the neck. This way we are able to cover a larger portion of real estate on the fingerboard, and move to different ranges of the bass neck instantly using a minimal amount of movement.

Playing diagonally is really just a glorified way of sub grouping the notes from a scale into smaller portions separated by intervals. For all of the exercises played in this lesson, we will be using an interval of a diatonic 3rd to separate each scale fragment, and each scale fragment will be composed of three consecutive notes from each scale.

Written in a formula, the approach might look like this (each number represents its respective degree of the scale):

1,2,3, [shift starting finger up a diatonic 5th] 5,6,7, [shift starting finger up a diatonic 5th] 9,10,11, [shift starting finger up a diatonic 5th] 13,14,15, etc...

The only condition we will place on this exercise is that each 3 note scale fragment will begin with finger 1 (the index finger) of the fretting hand. That forces the fretting hand to change positions after each 3 note grouping, and this is the key to the exercise.

There are a couple of ways of looking at this. Letís take the ionian mode, for example, applied to a 4 string bass. Using this approach, we begin with our hand in our typical 3 note per string position (fig.1). However, we will not be playing all the notes of the scale from this position:

Fig.1
figure_01

Notice that your index finger is lined up with the root of the scale. Starting with this fingering, we would play the first 3 scale degrees of the pattern, 1, 2, 3. Then, we would shift our hand to the next string in order to place our index finger up a diatonic 5th from our starting note (the 5th degree of the scale). We then would play three more notes of the scale starting with the 5th, 5,6,7. Once again we would move our starting finger up a diatonic 5th from the 5, and then play scale degrees 9,10,11. Finally, we would move our starting finger up another diatonic 5th from the 9 and then play scale degrees 13,14,5. In pattern form, it would look like fig. 2:

Fig. 2
ionian
figure_02
Another way of describing this approach for ionian is as follows: Using 3 notes per string, first play the first 3 notes of Ionian. Then move your starting position up a diatonic 5th and play the first 3 notes of mixolydian from the 5. Then move your starting position up another diatonic 5th and play the first 3 notes of dorian. Finally, move your starting position up another diatonic 5th and play the first 3 notes of aeolian. On a 4 string bass, this would be as high as you could ascend before running out of strings.

The patterns for each of the remaining 6 major scale based modes are outlined in figures 3-8. Practice each of these in both ascending and descending fashion. Pay close attention to your fingerings, as they will assist you in making clean shifts from string to string.

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Fig. 3
dorian
figure_03

Fig. 4
phrygian
figure_04

Fig. 5
lydian
figure_05

Fig. 6
mixolydian
figure_06

Fig. 7
aeolian
figure_07

Fig. 8
locrian

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PLAYING SCALES DIAGONALLY I hope that the intervallic studies we have worked with so far have inspired you to move outside of your technical ëcomfort zoneí. Above all else, I hope that you have become more accustomed to hearing these shapes on your own, and likewise have become better able to recognize these sounds in the music you hear. This time around I would like to share with you another approach to scales and modes that will take us out of a single position and allow us to move diagonally across the neck. This way we are able to cover a larger portion of real estate on the fingerboard, and move to different ranges of the bass neck instantly using a minimal amount of movement. Playing diagonally is really just a glorified way of sub grouping the notes from a scale into smaller portions separated by intervals. For all of the exercises played in this lesson, we will be using an interval of a diatonic 3rd to separate each scale fragment, and each scale fragment will be composed of three consecutive notes from each scale. Written in a formula, the approach might look like this (each number represents its respective degree of the scale): 1,2,3, [shift starting finger up a diatonic 5th] 5,6,7, [shift starting finger up a diatonic 5th] 9,10,11, [shift starting finger up a diatonic 5th] 13,14,15, etc... The only condition we will place on this exercise is that each 3 note scale fragment will begin with finger 1 (the index finger) of the fretting hand. That forces the fretting hand to change positions after each 3 note grouping, and this is the key to the exercise. There are a couple of ways of looking at this. Letís take the ionian mode, for example, applied to a 4 string bass. Using this approach, we begin with our hand in our typical 3 note per string position (fig.1). However, we will not be playing all the notes of the scale from this position: Fig.1 Notice that your index finger is lined up with the root of the scale. Starting with this fingering, we would play the first 3 scale degrees of the pattern, 1, 2, 3. Then, we would shift our hand to the next string in order to place our index finger up a diatonic 5th from our starting note (the 5th degree of the scale). We then would play three more notes of the scale starting with the 5th, 5,6,7. Once again we would move our starting finger up a diatonic 5th from the 5, and then play scale degrees 9,10,11. Finally, we would move our starting finger up another diatonic 5th from the 9 and then play scale degrees 13,14,5. In pattern form, it would look like fig. 2: Fig. 2 ionian Another way of describing this approach for ionian is as follows: Using 3 notes per string, first play the first 3 notes of Ionian. Then move your starting position up a diatonic 5th and play the first 3 notes of mixolydian from the 5. Then move your starting position up another diatonic 5th and play the first 3 notes of dorian. Finally, move your starting position up another diatonic 5th and play the first 3 notes of aeolian. On a 4 string bass, this would be as high as you could ascend before running out of strings. The patterns for each of the remaining 6 major scale based modes are outlined in figures 3-8. Practice each of these in both ascending and descending fashion. Pay close attention to your fingerings, as they will assist you in making clean shifts from string to string. Top Fig. 3 dorian Fig. 4 phrygian Fig. 5 lydian Fig. 6 mixolydian Fig. 7 aeolian Fig. 8 locrian Top
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