How To Play 'So What' On The Bass Guitar (by Miles Davis)

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In this bass guitar lesson, James teach you how to play the popular " So What " by Miles Davis. You'll learn useful walking bass and bass line concepts.
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About eBassGuitar
Hi, I’m James Eager, a professional musician & online instructor. Over the past 15 years, I’ve taught 1000s of students.
eBassGuitar is the only video bass guitar lessons website dedicated to helping startup & aspiring bassists develop into the musician of their dreams.
#SoWhat #MilesDavis #PaulChambers #KindOfBlue #ModalJazz #Dorian
www.ebassguitar.com

[@lawrencebogar6136]

As A Jazz player, this lesson is what it's all about. Great Job James.

[@peterjonstefan2926]

you gave the best review/bass breakdown of this song i've seen yet.

[@gerardclaude1652]

Thank you so much for this lesson.

[@ebassguitar]

My pleasure Gerard

[@charlieburns1385]

Awesome James 👍🎶

[@SeniorTorro]

Thank you very much for the free pdf

[@hassaniusirisbinmikaeel6544]

beautifully played rendition of the "So What" classic. Upgraded my rendition to a new level. The variation of bass motives over the dorian scale after the opening melody gave the overall line so much depth and the triplets added near the conclusion to the piece gave the line such an original feel maintaining that jumpy swing so characteristic. Nicely played and articulated so professionally

[@ebassguitar]

Thank you! I appreciate that :-)

[@Bass.Player]

Nice lesson! Been playing this style for years, I love Jazz/blues and swing.

[@ebassguitar]

Me too! Thanks! Glad you like the lesson! Cheers!

[@anyazzzzz]

this is something I can understand, thank you.

[@ebassguitar]

Cheers, glad you like it

[@alessandromondelli5793]

Thanks for the lesson very useful and clear

[@ebassguitar]

My pleasure cheers James

[@javiermonteromolera]

Thanks a lot for your awesome help

[@ebassguitar]

Happy to have helped you out!

[@mingoli52]

very good.

[@AcerTheEraser]

Thank you

[@usomedicinal]

Great lesson!!! Thx

[@ebassguitar]

Glad you like it! Cheers!

[@brynyowannatkinson2915]

Wow...what a lesson James. Very nicely played. Always wanted to play this...going to grab your pdf and have a go. Thank you

[@ebassguitar]

Go for it Bryn! Enjoy!

[@aparthgeny4278]

You got a new subscriber! Thanks for all explanation, that really helped me about walking lines and modes, thank you!

[@ebassguitar]

Glad you learn something useful from the video! Thank you for subscribing! Stay tuned for more videos!

[@gusvelasquez5569]

Really nice job my friend Way to break things down Good Stuff Cheers

[@ebassguitar]

Thanks Gus!

[@jazzman1954]

Been playing this for years as a keen amateur. I can tell you that this ‘simple’ tune is dead hard to play without getting lost. Especially when soloing. One second of lost concentration and your done. Thanks for this mate.

[@ebassguitar]

Totally man... it’s much harder than it looks!

[@powerforward1955]

You are so right. I recently began learning “So What”...I’ve really been focusing on the intonation for the beginning bass melody...for some reason my fingers want to hesitate at a certain section. ...once the walking line begins, my ear generally keeps me on track but one slip-up and it’s done! Great tune...thanks for the tutorial.

[@SamuelWebster]

Good to see you talk about walking in Dorian. I see a lot of people teach this tune as a Dm scale over the Dm7 (which is not really a Dm7 but more like a Dm7+11+13)

[@taroncarterpollard7119]

Thank you for this lesson. I just joined a jazz band and I’m a freshman in high school, learning how to play bass and we are playing this song and I had no idea how simple it was to walk the bass. Your a badass bassist

[@ebassguitar]

Thanks man… a lot of music is simple when it’s broken down! Good luck man!

[@pavlekocbek]

yes, good luck, and of course I've been saying this to anyone. Recruiting girls and women for my punk band, I promise this to anyone, I can make you a star drummer, or guitarist in two months. Sid Vicious did it, totally changed the way bass was played, that's a virtuoso. In two months. But I also say the following, that it is really simple to get to 80% being a master, two months, but for that last 20% one usually needs 15 years, ten of them for the last 5% Think of it. And let me tell you something else, too. After 25 years, about 5 years ago, I really started to get it to the deepest of levels, far beyond 100% and I can't describe how my love for bass, guitars in general and music exploded in me, boiled my blood, shoot my livers through the top of my pot upstairs. I play for 9 to 15 hours a day, witch was totally unimaginable to me my whole life. I heard Hendrix did it, I thought he was insane, Now I get it. I think it's simply because I'm old now. And you know what, being old is cool. I thought it will suck. It doesn't. Old is bloody gold

[@michael_caz_nyc]

Nice job with this. Enjoyed your lesson. I love Miles & Coltrane, but I am new-to-Bass, (so I need help) - this was really great. oNe LovE from NYC

[@ebassguitar]

Glad you enjoy the lesson, it's great to know! If you need help with your bass playing, you can try our exclusive program - The Bass Lab PLUS with tons of step-by-step video tutorial, backing tracks and more! For more details click the link below: ebassguitar.com/bass-lab-plus-membership/

[@crimfan]

Modal jazz seems easy but it's not. The chords don't tell you what to do. Super easy to get lost. The only thing I would add is what happened in the later playing... throw in triplets as punctuation or some implied ii-V just to give harmonic punctuation. Another trick I used a lot to keep myself and the band on track was to shift octaves in the last 8 bars. That way the 32 bar form gets better outlined. The drummer should go with you!

[@ebassguitar]

Great share! Cheers!

[@bustabass9025]

Good beginner's take on this Miles Davis classic. Paul Chambers' bass line is a lot more detailed. The transcription for this tune clearly identifies his driving force from the first pickup note, and walking all the way to his mesmerizing fade out. This is a good start. Hopefully listening to the original will give bassists an appreciation for what Paul Chambers brought to the music and how he influenced jazz during its greatest period.

[@ebassguitar]

Absolutely... this is just the beginning of the wonderful paul chambers journey! What a player...

[@powerforward1955]

Busta Bass, I agree. This is a good start. I realize I’m considered Old Skool (my personal spelling), but listening to Chambers to better understand his music, the nuances and his nearly perfection, might give some a better appreciation for Chambers and thereby affect playing his music. ...doing that with the music of Jamerson, Palladino, Caron and others I found myself listening for a lot more than just which notes to play; but rather the approaches, tone, dynamics, etc. Thanks for lesson ebassguitar and stay on the bass journey. Peace to all.

[@philreid984]

The eyebrows, gotta luv 'em. Thank you for this break down on this deceptively simple but hard song 👍

[@KaltOhm]

One thing you might want to mention is that the intro has a pick up bar at the beginning. So you start counting, the melody begins on the “and” of the first beat of the pick up bar, and the first A section begins when you hit the D right before the bands goes “baah bap”, if that makes any sense 😄. The bass call is in the even numbered bars (0 or picku up, 2, etc) and the “baah bap” responses fall in the odd numbered ones(1st, 3rd, etc). Hope that helps to better count it in your head.

[@ebassguitar]

Yeah good point - great share

[@boikhutsoponatshego9941]

Dope.

[@ebassguitar]

Cheers!

[@cubbyjo]

Finally, someone who gets the opening right.

[@ebassguitar]

Thank you Dean!

[@lagiapostolou3242]

hi james can i get the pdf for this lesson please

[@DEMcouver]

I think you can certainly think of it as being Dorian or even Minor Pentatonic, but I think there’s a lot to be said for Aolean, as well. I think a lot of the chromaticism is suggestive of both. I think it’s all pretty interchangeable and if the notes happen to clash occasionally, you can just call them blue notes.

[@garyyoung7187]

hi James great lesson thank you however I don't have a computer just phone is there maybe another way I can get this lesson tab tia

[@ebassguitar]

It’ll work fine. Click the link in the description and we’ll email it to you…

[@tjfettig]

Great video, tried to get the pdf three times (NO LUCK) I find the score somewhere. Suggest you fix the issue🤔

[@ebassguitar]

Email [e-mail] and the team will sort it out for you :-)

[@akshaysarbhukan6701]

Sir, I just bought a bass. Can you please suggest me from when should I start to develop a good bass playing technique?

[@ebassguitar]

Best time to start developing a good technique is right now!

[@akshaysarbhukan6701]

@@ebassguitar sorry, I meant to say how should I start, what should be the focus as a beginner.

[@ebassguitar]

The focus should to get playing right away... there’s a beginners course over at ebassguitar inside the bass lab plus which will do just that!

[@LoveGr00ve]

The most important thing is to have fun and enjoy whatever you are playing. You can start playing with a pick, with your fingers, you can practise palm mute, or slap - it doesn't matter at all as long as you are enjoying the process.

[@XCLent0]

@11:32

[@rudepen]

Your website is not working. Plz check

[@ebassguitar]

Should be fine now!

[@hotheatsneakers5848]

He literally showed me how to do everything EXCEPT PLAY THE DAMN HOOK

[@ebassguitar]

I think I explained the hook is most often played by other instruments... so I focused on the most important role for the bass player nailing the form and creating the walking bass line. No point in being able to play the hook if one can’t play the form properly!

[@jazzman1954]

The ‘Hook’ is basically two notes. Work it out for yourself sunbeam.

[@captainbrianwilkinson7723]

I would just say that the "reply" is two notes the piano always played 2 note on the reply as we have for xx years your intimating theres one note, (please correct me if your not :-) )great vid though, although I play lower & softer for that "feel" best regards, heres a reference re the reply kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnKUXoGVg8SMfNE

[@ShapochkinKirill]

Nice timing at 6.56... 🤕😆

[@ebassguitar]

Thanks man! I’m guessing you’re referring to me pushing a little, easy to do when teaching and instructing over the top :-)

[@ShapochkinKirill]

@@ebassguitar I'm sorry ... .it's exactly as you wrote. I think this tune is much too difficult for online teaching though.

[@newage5d831]

have you ever tried to trim your eyebrows?

[@ebassguitar]

Yeah; the barber does it when I see him ever 6 weeks or so. Why do you ask?