Music Theory For BASSISTS - What You MUST Know

Get all the tabs and backing tracks here: / charlesberthoud
FREE rhythm guide for beginners: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/apazml...
Here's all the most essential music theory you need as a bassist, to save you hours of searching randomly through KZbin! Enjoy!
Special thanks to AhLun, Sugabeat, Timothy Gabrielson, Jason Hedlund, Colter Fike, Cpt. Marley, Sid Stenersen, Turpid, Janniken Kløvstad, DebisU, David Geschke, Dario Cimmino, Edward Quinn, Divine Atah, Wanderley Moura, Griffin Lesher, James Oldfield, Cody Pecot, Marc Forand, Mortal Konbat, Björn Lindner, Abel Nelms, Brandon Dickey, Sebastián Labbé, Martin Andersson-Næset, Rossables, Phillip Scuderi, Zachary Amsden, Soho Phil, Pyroluem, James Ansell, Mark Roberts, Rob Nack, Eric Jordan, Shirl Walker, Risvan Vlad Rusu, Tony Jacobs, Michael Forrester, 949 Designs, slatibartfast24, Cpt. Marley, Nil N, Kelly Henderson, 游鎰駿, Zachary Gidwitz, Vladi Mun, Joe Norsworthy, Štěpán Emmer, Michele Marletta and all my other Patrons and members!

[@CharlesBerthoud]

Keep it up man, this channel has potential! 👏🏻

[@M2Mil7er]

_Spider-Man pointing meme_

[@bradyung798]

one day he might be a better bass player than charles!

[@alessiopizzignach3878]

Collab?

[@DoingDoneDid]

​@@alessiopizzignach3878agreed

[@pontiff1488]

Schizophrenia becomes stronger every day

[@pumpichank]

Love your channel and your advice! Being an active semi-pro bass player for 40+ years and still playing all the time, mostly in the rock genre, in long time bands, subbing, studio, and jams my advice for getting and keeping the gig is 1) learn to lock with the drummer from the first downbeat; 2) be a good hang - you spend a lot of time NOT playing and no one wants to spend that time with an a**hole; 3) use your ears and make everyone else sound great; 4) be on time to the gig! 5) and most importantly HAVE FUN and bring joy to your fellow musicians and the audience.

[@bassboy8910]

You are beyond brilliant. Great advice to all players- at 73 y/o I still have musicians show up late, not knowing their music, not having the basics you just mentioned- and wonder why they can’t get work. You are a master bassist and pro we can all learn from regardless of age. Thank you sharing your knowledge! ❤

[@KeithCopeland778]

This is one of the best, most understandable, and most practical music theory videos that I've seen so far! Thank you!

[@user-ir2bj3re1z]

👏👏👏 Thanks Charles. I've been playing for years bass and guitar and every time I check out one of your teachings I always take something from it. Love what your doing brother 👊

[@alwilson1972]

Thank you for making your lessons straight forward and practical. I’m loving your style.

[@beautifulinstrumentals2866]

Thank you, Charles. This is great stuff and immediately very helpful. Sharing your knowledge and skill via this free platform is remarkable and I know there are many who greatly appreciate your time and effort.

[@shawnariss1354]

I'm glad you put up a channel mang! Been amazed with yer work for some time now. Thankyou.

[@blackcatjazzin]

Excellent advice. I’m already doing this. I am a flutist/saxophonist and just started playing the bass, it’s a lot harder than my regular instruments But, I’m loving it. You are a fantastic teacher…….

[@Dyas777]

Awesome advices. I will reconfigure my practice routines based on this lesson. Thank you!

[@rocketcello5354]

dude i have grade 6 music theory, and this still helped. just keeping it simple makes it a lot easier to understand, and i'll probably come back to this video as a refresher in the future.

[@chriscoomans4434]

Yesterday i had an aha moment doing blues micro licks on acoustic guitar. This adds right on top of that. One of the most helpful videos i've seen in a long time. The timing helps too though. Thanks man!!

[@annastuhlmiller2657]

Thanks Charles!! You are one of the best music instructors. I am excited to learn bass.

[@COD8player4life]

These videos really help! Thanks for the effort, keep it up ❤

[@Kittenquest]

I just picked up bass not even 4 days ago as my very first instrument. This video is so helpful! Thank you so much! I cant wait to learn all this music theroy and actually get good at understanding music down to it roots as a bass player! Thank you so much!

[@slappinwithswollace]

You do a fantastic job at explaining things!

[@TheRip72]

Excellent lesson. Straight & to the point.

[@michaeldebecker1472]

Everytime I watch one your videos I hear the call of the bass and I want to go and practise... Thanks a lot for all your precious and inspiring advices! 👍

[@Johny9405]

I used to play bass guitar and guitar in high school. Your videos are inspiring me to to pick up my old bass again. Thank you!

[@krispendleton4662]

Solid Charles! Thanks for the tips and practice sheets. More videos on the foundational practices please

[@jmd76family]

Great stuff. When I started out learning notes on fretboard I'd draw out the neck with frets on paper and fill in the notes. Doing from memory helped me learn when I picked up the actual bass

[@handsomenotch5544]

Thank you so much Charles❤

[@nootypenguino]

Thank you for the help. Gonna look at this in more detail

[@dalewier9735]

Very good advice for the beginner and excellent reminders for all others.

[@scottwatelet5769]

Thanks for a great tutorial! My Signature bass should be here soon!

[@EvilAsh_AuDHDer]

Thank you for being So enthusiastic about teaching us

[@InyaYT]

I loved this. Thank you

[@crystalkillmon5138]

Thank you!

[@teartamother1892]

Im so happy you're doing this channel, awesome.this video is exactly where I'm at so it was like you were talking directly to me lol nice one Charles you are awesome

[@sine_0]

Thanks for putting up the chart with the keys on they bass. I've been playing music for over a decade and never learned proper theory, and this videos makes me want to at least memories the keys/ popular chords.

[@ca6460]

I'm a little surprised you didn't mention intervals - the musician's alphabet. Having a good grasp of intervals and their shapes on the fretboard makes everything else a little easier to pick up on. Guessing that will be its own lesson soon enough. Good work, as usual.

[@LxE9799]

Gonna send this video to all my guitar and bass students in the future, thanks a lot Charles! You're doing god's work

[@10petitsCaptains]

Thx for the video.

[@FollowEman]

This is a great video!

[@erickaphin8861]

This is so awesome

[@karko00s]

1:14 I am so thankful for this, Charles

[@Gray137]

I won't lie, explaining music theory, to me at least, kind of goes over my head a bit. Something that's been helping me with bass and bass VI is finger placement and shape/patterns, makes a world of a difference for me and helps give me something to not only practices everyday but somewhere to start and move forward. I was curious as to wether or not you might have a lesson for something like that to help us not so musically inclined people

[@JustThatGuyCaleb]

Even as someone who doesnt play bass this stuff is entertaining as hell

[@cerbi2720]

As a fellow bassist, I think the knowledge of chords are usually skipped so I think you should make a more detailed video about chords

[@mayablack6010]

Just got my first bass today, I think I’ll stick to messing about and seeing what sounds cool cuz this seems like effort👌

[@laraa7386]

You can play around for a few months, learning songs you like. But after those few months you will hit a wall- and then youll be back here

[@linkstudios5626]

@@laraa7386I got my first bass fir Christmas and I feel like I already hit a wall so here I am but this video is very intimidating to me 😭

[@mayablack6010]

@@laraa7386 Yeah, you’re probably right but I got all the time in the world so I’m not really in any hurry

[@mayablack6010]

@@linkstudios5626 broooo I got my bass as an early Christmas present, I haven’t really hit a wall yet, still havin fun playing about

[@kingkraken9878]

ive been playing bass for years and never learned any music theory or anything.. @@laraa7386

[@gaguol]

Epic lesson, thanks Charles ❤

[@BassCampOfficial]

👏🏻🥉

[@estarling8766]

Glad to see you in the teachers' league . It's a sound, plain strategy for every bass beginner to start up with.

[@leonardo41477]

OK...the negative harmony reference was genius and hilarious!!

[@billybaru82]

This is great 👍

[@ShadowT23]

I've been a guitar player for 15 years now but I'm about 3 years into taking bass seriously and not just seeing it as a guitarist playing a bass. Man, something about bass just gets me, I fucking love the instrument. And last year I invested in a high quality Ibanez 5 string and it was a great purchase.

[@ktwoa]

Terrific!!

[@EvandroMeneguella]

Loved the subtle message about metal 😅😅😅

[@arctico1714]

And in Metal play nothing because no one can hear you anyway, idk why but that is so funny to me

[@damienthorne861]

He is absolutely correct! Learn the notes across all of the fretboard first!

[@Practicalmusicministryskil4906]

Thank you for the video! I just started sharing videos on my KZbin channel in the hopes of making music literacy accessible to all!

[@tobyfisher9517]

perfect advice for me, im a wanna be punk preformer and right now im only in jazz bands. (I want to form a punk band so baddd) i am a singer/song writer and its very helpful to have this video to always come back too. THANK UUU

[@sebbassbloodysebbass]

Thank you to help all the amateur bass players!!

[@markperry7655]

I strongly feel (in terms of learning the fingerboard) that it’s best to learn where the natural notes are first, so the C Major scale and A minor scale, and then learn about how to name the other notes while learning the circle of fifths.

[@idiocracy587]

Charles is the true teacher

[@sethrose1632]

Thanks for the lesson! I have been playing for a couple years using tabs but have wanted to learn more about theory. Excited to learn more!

[@getsideways7257]

Ok, you got me with that reverse psychology trick, I'm off to research negative harmony now :)

[@artemisnite]

When Charles Berthoud has a new KZbin channel, I have a new channel to subscribe to. Simple as that.

[@sfksmiley]

I learned the notes really fast by looking at the strings starting at 0 and i realized that it goes in alphabetical order but the sharp always comes after the actual letter and the flat always comes before the actual letter

[@Coleknox67]

THIS GUY HAS POTENTIAL TO BE A GREAT ONLINE BASS GUITAR TEACHER! He just jumped a lot of parts. IT WAS LIKE TELLING ME THE PLAY FOR A BASKETBALL TEAM BUT NOT TEACHING HOW TO DRIBBLE, PASS, OR SHOOT THE BALL. I KNOW HE IS EXPERIMENTING WITH THIS KZbin THING; BUT, IT IS TIME FIR HIM TO FINE TUNE THE CHANNEL SO HE CAN BUILD HIS TOP SELLING ONLINE COURSES!

[@Coleknox67]

I think some more in-depth music theory is needed with a part 2 video where you explain how to learn your fretboard notes more easily. Also A PDF FILE SHOWING WHERE THE ACTUAL NOTES ARE FOR EACH KEY SCALE HELPS STUDENTS SEE WHERE THEY SHOULD FOCUS!

[@rykerblade_snb]

Ha! Bass-ic setup today

[@mattcorey2784]

LOL @ metal jab. love it Jason got screwed.

[@Tekkerue]

Awesome lesson as always! My only suggestion is regarding the background music, my preference would be no background music at all during the explanations but if you really want to have music, then keep it very simplistic and soft. Having busy background music competing for attention makes it harder focus and absorb what you are saying. Especially since these lessons (so far) have been geared more towards beginners who might be hearing this info for the first time. When using audio examples for demonstration purposes, maybe cut the background music entirely in between examples so people can keep the previous example in their head when going into the next example for comparison, like when you did the swing vs straight beats. You could insert a small video clip of slap/tap/shredding at the intro (and outro?) for those who find this channel before your main channel, to demonstrate that you really know your stuff. Anyways, just my two cents. 😉

[@jasonamundsen8190]

Agreed... Great content. The background music was / is a distraction. I'm hard of hearing and a little older :) so no background music would be appreciated.

[@samuelmaylor6634]

I didn’t hear the music until I read your comment. I just listened to what he said about the Bassssss.

[@robdiepenbroek338]

Nice reference of And 'Justice' for All (except maybe the Mr Newatead)

[@cygnus8982]

Excellent video for the much avoided and usually dreaded lesson.

[@endo-poptart]

Great lesson 🤘🏼 No bass on AJFA 😭😭😭

[@j.c1574]

Im pretty good at finding out songs by ear and can play with bands, but i know absolutely nothing about music theory

[@user-yr4yh2sx7g]

Thats awesome. Did that come easy or is that just a skill you developed through lots of jamming?

[@Al69BfR]

3:22 I always imagine chords as stacks of thirds. From there I can change some of the thirds to seconds or fourth to create chord variations like sus4 or 6th chords.

[@fwilao89]

🙏

[@justine_machine]

Hi, love your channel! I just started learning bass as a new hobby and I was wondering what ear training app you recommend?

[@bassporn]

Gold…

[@matthewdebono862]

Sorry if you've covered this before in another video, but any ear training apps you'd recommend?

[@leviathan7477]

Hey Charles, do you have a favorite ear training app that you would recommend? Thanks for the video!

[@FromTheMosh]

Can you recommend a particular ear training app? Thanks so much for this video 💚

[@michiban6]

Man, there are so many complaints in the comments. Some people are just ungrateful, I guess. 😔 Anyway, thank you for the video, Charles. This is good information that will help musicians who are serious about learning their instruments. 🙂

[@-melis-1746]

Listen to a virtuoso talk about basics is just great! We must learn to crawl before we can walk. :-)

[@ambushbugz]

No way its Charles !!!!!!

[@Coleknox67]

YA GOT TO GIVE THEM SOMETHING FREE. A free in-depth e-book showing where the notes are on the fretboard and where the notes are for each key in a scale for all seven scales will boost your channel. THIS HELPS A LOT VERSUS JUST SHOWING VIDEO DEMONSTRATIONS WITH TAB. IT CAN CONFUSE PEOPLE.

[@BryanQ95]

excellent stuff! any recommendations for ear training apps?

[@venepskeuten9206]

Thanks, my smooth brain still struggles with music theory at the moment tho.

[@fredflea4038]

Hey Basscamp, can you make a vid on how to become as good as Charles Berthoud? Thanks!

[@AndyPanda9]

2:00 I'm not finding any link to the practice backing track. Hope someone can point me to the backing track.

[@Egonzal316]

3:14 I think you meant Let It Be. Love your vids btw

[@gregpepper6053]

Do you find your self playing more roots and fifths to outline the chords? Or are you trying to highlight the major/minor 3 and/or 7ths to bring out the tonality of those chords?

[@emmanuelgutierrez6306]

Okay what about the bass in Mexican regional music? What kind of style is that? Please do a review on that and on Luis Miguel bass player. Thanks

[@MauriceBoone-jm2xu]

Every time i see a video like this i know i will never be any good its like listening to someone speak in another language. So many great bassists on youtube so i know its me.

[@spockhozzer7207]

Don't let the jargon discourage you. Nobody in any good bands actually talks about keys or major/minor or any of that stuff. A painter knows what color of paint they want to use next and where, even if it doesn't look great until it's done. They don't have to name the ratio to the nearest color or the RGB value or any of the technical stuff. That's for the audience to map out if they so choose. Same with music. If someone else wants to analyze why I went from this note to that note, have fun. I'm playing what I think sounds good and I don't give a damn if it's "incorrect"

[@arjenvelkers6804]

Thanks for the video. Do you have recommendations for an ear-training app? Really unsure how to get into ear-training.

[@seanehle8323]

That feeling when you thought you wanted to be a car mechanic, then studied aerodynamics and learned that what you really want to be is an Aerospace Engineer. Priceless.

[@monkeyeffer]

Which ear training app would you recommend? Thank you

[@jasonwatkins5481]

What ear training apps do y’all recommend?

[@joshmak3122]

Name of track that starts at 2:16?

[@salprangsangma558]

Gasujok

[@herbertcagejr9833]

Which ear training app do you recommend?

[@r_pro_]

Hey Charles, I saw the video you dropped on here about tapping, and it was really just basics. I'm wondering does your patreon have more advanced stuff? I want to get better at tapping, but a lot of stuff on yt is just for complete beginners.

[@CharlesBerthoud]

Yes, if you sign up you'll get access to my full beginner tapping course which actually gets fairly challenging towards the end, as well as an intermediate lesson and practice videos for all my songs which obviously includes some crazy tapping!!

[@r_pro_]

@@CharlesBerthoud 🙏🙏

[@NaiveGabri]

You should collab with charles

[@MrMack2024]

it would be nice if people rotate the bass 180° and display the image, this puts the E string at the bottom so when you look at the image, you can look "down" at your bass and look up at the sheet, making it a lot easier to read and play. instead of making you transpose the image in your head. no one every does it. "this is what i know" ya, we know that you can play lol.

[@trebm]

In this video you show the C major triads, is there an equivalent explanation for the C minor triads?

[@CazzumTech]

how to get the scales and backing track? cant find it on your page! :D

[@alwilson1972]

You suggested that we get an ear-training app. Is there one that you would recommend above other, especially for beginners? Thank you.

[@alwilson1972]

Hey Charles, I would still love me to know the best ear-training app that you would recommend. Perhaps I’m not looking in the right places. Help. Thank you.

[@GargesFriend]

3:14 Hey Jude definitely doesn't use this progression (I, V, VI-, IV). It's, instead: I, V, V7, I, which, in the key of C, is: C, G, G7, C. The song key is actually F and its first four chords are F, C, C7, F. Right?