Playing a Major Scale on Bass Guitar

Video Transcript

In this lesson I'm going to be teaching you the major scale, which is basically the building block scale of all western music. It's heard in tunes like "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (plays song), or also popular bass lines like this one (plays Violent Femmes bass line). All of those bass lines or the tune "Mary Had a Little Lamb", had this major scale in mind. Basically the major scale is composed of a whole-step, another whole-step, a half-step, and a whole-step, one more whole-step, another whole-step, and a half-step to the top. The correct way to play it on the electric bass with the correct fingering is as follows (plays major scale). The cool thing about fretted instruments is that we can take that same fingering and apply it anywhere with a root note in our second finger for the major scale in particular. So if we wanted to do a G-Major scale, instead of thinking about the notes like a piano player or sax player would, all that we have to do is play the same fingering. It's kind of cheating, but just also a great shortcut for us fretted instruments. For the G-Major scale, you just start on the G with your second finger (plays G Major scale). All I did is play the same fingering, but starting on G, and played the G-Major scale without even having to think what notes are in it. And that goes anywhere - if I wanted to play the A-Major scale, or even the D-Major scale, all I have to do is think about that one fingering, and I now have all the major scales for all 12 notes. So there's the major scales.

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