How to Practice James Jamerson's Chromatic BASS Exercise!

[@JoeHubbardBass]

To the recent spate of comments claiming they can't hear the bass on this lesson- try listening on a decent device, use some headphones or get your hearing checked.

[@ropesauce]

learn how to mix audio

[@67NewEngland]

Drums are MUCH loader than your bass...majority rules Joe. Who needs their hearing checked...?

[@blakevickrey]

🤦‍♂️🤔🤷‍♂️

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Troll!

[@GOGOLH]

Sounds just fine to me.

[@AlexSosaBolivia]

Fantastic! I've owned this book for years but this lesson really helped me get that exercise together. Subscribed and thank you sir.

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Cheers Alejandro!

[@jessbrittain1643]

Joe, thank you. This is great. GREAT. I'm a life-long devotee of JJ and these exercises REALLY drill down to the very essence of his style. It's refreshing to come across a very good player who actually has something substantive to offer with respect to helping other players get it together. Incidentally, check out JJ on the Four Tops 'Turn to Stone' to hear him applying these techniques. Boy, he"s all over that tune. (P.S. excellent tone by the way!)

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Cheers dude!

[@FrederickTSchurgerDC]

Thanks for pointing this out! I pulled the book off the shelf, as it's been a long time since I worked in the book. And now to start working thru it again!!

[@caglimedia]

one of the most useful bass lesson i ever had! Thanks Joe!

[@JoeHubbardBass]

You're welcome!

[@impronta]

Thank you, a very good video, really useful. JJ is bread to every bassman.

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Glad it was useful, thanks for the support!

[@alexarnoldmedia]

Hey! Not to bring back up a sour subject but I have an honest constructive criticism on why people can't hear the bass. Yes everyone should listen on a better device, with headphones or studio monitors where possible but a lot of people like to watch these kind of videos on the go or on their laptop when they're away from such spaces. I think the problem has to do partially with the level, but more so with the EQ not hearing enough of the mid-high range. Small speakers obviously don't have a true bass driver so all the main frequencies of bass don't come through but if you have enough mids our ear kind of fills in those missing frequencies a bit. It may sound worse in person but for recording you actually want a little bit extra in the mid and mid-high range (1k-2k and a bit of ~4k sometimes, obviously still prone to a case by case basis but as a general note these often help). Cheers!

[@1BassJohn]

Fair statement, but I believe a good artist will not compromise his tone for that. If you watch Joe's other videos too, his tone has plenty of mids and punch, I don't think that really is the issue here. Most people will at minimum be listening to this with their iphone ear buds or Android buds in, and they really aren't too bad these days. :)

[@robertriley4105]

Joe, you are a remarkable player and teacher, and I can hear you just fine using only my android phone

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Many thanks Robert!

[@robertriley4105]

@@JoeHubbardBass wow, another bass player/teacher I was surprised to hear back from, thanks Joe you made my day.

[@JoeHubbardBass]

@@robertriley4105 My pleasure.

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Hey Guys! Just uploaded a new bass tutorial on how to practice James Jamerson's famous chromatic exercise. Remember that Jamerson was a jazz trained musician who pioneers integrating jazz melodic concepts into Soul, R&B and Funk bass lines.

[@holdencaustic]

Joe Hubbard Bass - Love it!!

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Cheers dude!

[@brockadcock2735]

thanks this is gold

[@dubswarner]

Joe this really unlocked some parts of the fretboard for me. That Eb took me awhile to get, but feeling great that I've internalized the info. Thank you!

[@johnpierson8398]

I think the important thing is to listen carefully. I have played guitar for > 40 years and am a wanna be bass player :) I purchased the Standing In The Shadows book back when the audio came on two cassettes! Nevertheless, what I heard when I discovered the great James Jamerson was a unique musical voice who happened to play bass. His playing on all the great songs he played on, was mixed down in the mix and not dominating the song. Yet his playing stood out by the music he was playing. I think Joe has done right by James with this video by playing in the style and sound he did. Love your videos and playing Joe!

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Thanks Dude!

[@angelopluskwa]

Thanx, this really showed me the intention about the exercise.

[@laurieharper1526]

This is excellent and tricky to play cleanly. I'm working on it. Thanks.

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Absolutely! Keep at it Laurie.

[@maxron6514]

James Jamerson Great guy!!!

[@diemuino]

Excellent lesson Joe!! Have a great 2018!

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Thanks Diego- Happy New Year to you and yours!

[@PushSueAside]

Loved it and subscribed

[@UltimateBassGroover]

Good job !!

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Thanks!

[@scottcoleman4184]

Awesome Bass Sound, even sounds fat on my little phone headphones. Can't wait to try this exercise, my friend lent me the JJ book once and I need to get it, and your books aswell Joe... Thanks for the lessons , they have really helped my playing recently and I've been shown stuff by some very nice players over the last 20yrs, mention no names... Hopefully will say thankyou by buying your books soon. Cheers Scott 👍

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Cheers Scott!

[@gietamoi]

THANK YOU!!!

[@JoeHubbardBass]

You're welcome Gie!

[@bassplayeronly]

Can not hear u over the loud drums

[@ChrisBassTXP]

Use proper headphones or speakers, it sounds just fine!

[@vinniesep]

Got the PDF. Came via e mail shortly after purchase

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Great!

[@archiereece3229]

good vid cool bass runs

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Thanks!

[@j.p.fitting9226]

Thnx! That just put a bunch more into 'Igor's X' 4me! I know he played in all those 'Horn Keys' but i wondered why no Standard Major, Guitar keys? Shifting up solves it, thnx count it in cycle of 5ths

[@martinrooth4644]

Great lesson Joe. I’ve had the book for sometime and feel that I’m almost ready to give the exercise a go.Your tutorial will certainly help.As I understand it, Jamerson often used open strings. Would you recommend playing this with open strings (or not) and would this be beneficial. Thanks

[@Asanbass]

Groovy!!!👍👍👍

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Cheers!

[@Bassmon53]

Thanks Joe, loved it. What is that rig you're using? Never mind, probably too heavy for me... :-)

[@JoeHubbardBass]

I'm using the Warwick LWA 1000 head and in this video the Warwick Hellborg 2x12 cab. That Hellborg cab is quite heavy, but they do a lightweight 12 cab which is really good and competitively priced.

[@lloyddarbon5034]

Hey Joe! Sorry if this has been asked before, but bar 3, beat 1 (the triplet beat), would he have played an open G, or raked the '8', '5', '1' over the three strings like you do here? I've been playing it with an open G which gives me time to shift my left hand to position 1 for the remainder of the piece.🙂👍 p.s. love this lesson, hence my question. Thank you.

[@randomdude1345]

I think that raking is the way to go. Especially because he's famous for playing with just index finger, so he used to rake a lot in these cases.

[@davidfung7902]

Sounds great! I'd be remiss not to give you a chance to plug that giant instrument cable you're using! What is it?

[@JoeHubbardBass]

It's a Vovox cable. I think they're based in Switzerland, I think. Expensive, but the quality is really good.

[@vinniesep]

I purchased the PDF for this exercise. Purchase was confirmed, but I could not find a link to download the PDF!

[@danielealfredomarano5465]

Might I play it on my double bass?

[@kennethkaltenbach1366]

I normally never want to inspire a bass player to turn up but dude , you got to turn that volume up on your bass. I could hardly hear the lesson .

[@zscools4915]

DOWNLOAD PDF: www.joehubbardbass.com/youtube-store-page/ Who has seen the link for downloading the pdf?

[@67NewEngland]

Joe...I figured out why we can't hear your bass! You can't play Jamerson on an active jazz bass...lol. It causes some sort of chromatic signal cancellation in the mids.

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Thank God you're around to tell me that!

[@bsmooth512]

@@JoeHubbardBass how much for skype lesson to teach me this whole lesson? Please advise

[@JoeHubbardBass]

I don't teach single Skype lessons. To get further info, go here: www.joehubbardbass.com/study-bass-with-joe/

[@MrDimwits]

Another winner, Mr Hubbard. I've been skipping over this exercise for a long time, just playing the songs. This video is very useful. Thanks.

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Thanks- glad it was useful!

[@davidgreen3532]

I hear the bass pefectly. Remember folks, this a BASS tutorial - by definition it is comprised of low frequency information. To expect your phone to reproduce it well is just not realistic.

[@agustin9504]

Bro has a sponge on the bridge

[@dannster]

Aren't there 30 keys altogether?

[@JoeHubbardBass]

That relates to major and minor key centres. There are 7 flat keys and 7 sharp keys, plus the key of C which has all natural notes; that equals 15 major keys. For every major key there is a relative minor key, so we've got 15 minor keys. 15 + 15 is 30. In relation to an exercise like this, where working this over a Dom7th chord. By running through the cycle we get 12 different Dom7th chords. Of course, you could think about some of them as their enharmonic equivalents if you desire to.

[@dannster]

Joe Hubbard Bass Thanks Joe!

[@mrmilesrobinson7909]

As it’s a bass video any chance of turning the bass up. Any real bass player would have his girlfriend hounding the sound guy to do it anyway lol

[@juanduarte695]

I'cant hear the bass line...just can hear the beat of the drum...salute

[@silkywellman9046]

Noel Gallagher hair

[@albertrd.9342]

You talk a lot about pedals and pedaling. I don't know this terminology. Please explain.

[@albertrd.9342]

I think that I figured it out. I found another video on Pedaling.

[@christopherroa9781]

pedaling is A technique that goes back to Bach's Counterpoint. It involves using 1 note as a "pedal" and alternating between that note and other notes. In the first measure of this exercise the "pedal" is F and the line is played C-F-D-F-D#-F-E-F. Notice how the line can be broken down into C D D# E alternating with F in between

[@lampa77]

How bout less drums and louder bass

[@pstrokeslibsarctic]

Noel Gallagher hairdo

[@robertbasone7667]

The volume on the bass is perfect… don’t know why people can’t hear it….play it on a good system…duh.

[@thescatman5029]

I can hear the bass clearly.

[@thomaspick4123]

My goodness, your face! If you are that constipated, take a break and take a dump. You will feel better and that expression on your face will go away.

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Hey Thomas Pick! Just checked out your profile picture and you're criticising my looks?

[@bustabass9025]

Joe Hubbard Bass Touche'! (Laffin')👑🎸🎵

[@vooveks]

@@JoeHubbardBass Lol. Burned! :)

[@SuperMickey49]

Your face have you seen yourself obviously not there’s no need for it your only doing scales

[@JoeHubbardBass]

Maybe you should study the "How to Write a Legible Sentence" course.

[@Bassmon53]

Those aren't scales, it's a chromatic exercise based on a scale. It's pretty cool to get your dexterity down - try it. And I show my face on my profile - do you?

[@bsmooth512]

@@Bassmon53 hi how much is Skype lession to teach me this technique? Please advise

[@Bassmon53]

Brian Dennis Hi Brian I don’t teach. Just don’t have time for it, sorry.