Wanna Play Some Heavy Duty Blues Bass? Part 2

This video starts with a quick explanation of the blues shuffle beat. Typically, the pulse is felt swing eighths. Or you can feel it as four triplets (that could also be interpreted as 12/8).

You don’t always have to play swing eighths, though. Sometimes it’s better to just play quarter notes on the beat and not play the weaker eight after each note. It’s good to have some different ways of playing over a standard blues pattern.

In the video I’m talking about different notes and scales you can use to form blues basslines and solos. I said “minor pentatonic” about 50 times when I meant to say “blues scale” – just so you know, I mean to say “blues scale”. Whatever.

The important thing is that if you’re playing a Major or Dom based blues tune, you can solo in the relative minor (minor scale three frets down from the root) as a blues scale. Also, you can add the notes of a blues scale right into the Major or Dom7 root scale and use them as ‘blue’ notes.

If you wanna play blues bass, it’s a good idea to listen to some. Check out some recordings by Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Albert Collins, Albert King, Freddie King, BB King,John Lee Hooker, James Cotton, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Charlie Musslewhite, Johnny Copeland, and the list goes on and on.

Different regions of the country developed different blues styles. Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Texas style blues sounds a bit different from Muddy Waters’ Chicago style. The history of The Blues is pretty fascinating stuff and worth checking out. Not to mention it makes you a better player. Nothing can replace busting out some tasty blues licks and in the pocket blues bass lines.

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