Advanced Bass Concepts Every Player Should Know
Once you move beyond basic root notes and standard groove patterns, bass playing becomes a lot more interesting…
Some of the most exciting playing comes from understanding how to add colour and tension to your lines, without overplaying.
In this blog, we’re going to explore a couple of modes, extended arpeggios and chord shapes, in order to help you expand your musical vocabulary and be more expressive on bass.
These are all topics explored throughout the Rockschool curriculum and although taken from the Grade 7 Bass book, these are techniques that any bassist can start exploring!
Modes
Modes are great to break away from the familiar sound of major and minor scales.
A Mode is a displaced scale, so we use the same notes from our scale, but change the note we start on, creating a completely different mood and musical character. Today, we’re going to look at two different modes, Lydian and Phrygian.
Lydian has a bright, floating sound that works brilliantly in fusion, cinematic music and modern progressive styles. It’s exactly the same as a major, except the fourth degree is raised by one semitone. You can see this in the example below, where in F Lydian, the B♭ becomes a B natural.
(F Lydian, as seen in Grade 7 Rockschool book)
Phrygian, on the other hand, creates a darker and more tense atmosphere that’s often heard in metal, flamenco and heavier groove playing. This time, it’s exactly the same as a minor, except the second degree is lowered by one semitone. You can see this in the example below, where in B♭ Phrygian, the C becomes a C♭.
(B♭ Phrygian, as seen in Grade 7 Rockschool book)
Try This: Play a simple groove using a standard major scale, then switch to Lydian using the same root note. Listen carefully to how the mood changes.
9th Arpeggios
Arpeggios are often called “broken chords” because instead of playing all the chord notes together, we play them one note at a time.
Adding the 9th degree gives the sound extra depth and colour, creating the richer harmonic textures often heard in jazz, funk, fusion and neo-soul. These shapes are especially useful when improvising or connecting chord changes in a more musical way. Rather than simply running scales up and down, arpeggios help you target the important notes within a chord.
(D major9 arpeggio, as seen in Grade 7 Rockschool book)
(B♭ minor9 arpeggio, as seen in Grade 7 Rockschool book)
(E♭ dominant9 arpeggio, as seen in Grade 7 Rockschool book)
Try This: Take a groove you already know and replace one of your usual fills with a dominant 9 arpeggio shape. Notice how it changes the overall feel of the line?
Chords
Bass is often thought of as a single-note instrument, but learning chord shapes can completely change your approach to playing and arranging music.
When we stack three or more notes together, we create a chord. In this section, we’re exploring major 7, minor 7 and dominant 7 chord shapes on bass.
Major 7 sounds smooth and warm, minor 7 creates a more moody feel, while dominant 7 adds tension and energy often associated with funk and blues music.
Bass chords help to develop harmonic understanding, but also opens up new creative possibilities for accompaniment, solo playing and songwriting. It’s also a great way to visualise how notes relate to each other across the fretboard.
(E Dominant7, as seen in Grade 7 Rockschool book)
(Am7, as seen in Grade 7 Rockschool book)
(Amaj7, as seen in Grade 7 Rockschool book)
Try This: Experiment with letting chord shapes ring out fully instead of muting them quickly… You’ll start hearing textures you may not have heard before.
Ready for more?
Or, if you’re ready to dive in as a student, you can find a Rockschool tutor near you or continue learning with RiFF: our brand-new interactive sheet music player featuring every Rockschool book ever released, all in one place!
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Photo Credit: Wayne Mahy Photography