The Instant ‘Modal Switch Trick’ For Improvising On Bass

[@bobderosa100]

Excellent lesson, Luke. I've heard dozens of teachers tell students to try to start an improvised line on the 3rd of the chord, but not indicating where to go from there. You essentially said the same thing, but also opened the door to using all the notes of that mode to create a melodic line. Brilliant!

[@BecomeABassist]

Perfect - so glad it makes sense to you @Bob DeRosa.

[@thomasfioriglio]

Thanks Luke. I still have a lot of work to do on my modes but as always, you explain it in a clear easy way.

[@BecomeABassist]

Awesome to hear @Thomas Fioriglio. Let me know how you go using this idea!

[@jamesgarethmorris4335]

GREAT STUFF, WELL EXPLAINED AND SUPER USEFUL

[@BecomeABassist]

Glad you found it helpful @James Gareth Morris

[@warrenkoontz7675]

I was nicely absorbed by this lesson when suddenly, at around the mid point, it was interrupted by an ad for SBL. The competition is keen out there!

[@Catteries]

Hi Luke. All I do these days is Improvise to backing tracks which I really enjoy as I am just making up my own music as I go along so these tips are very helpful. Even my wife says I'm sounding pretty good these days. I just got fed up of trying to copy what other Bass players do on their records so decided to just create my own sounds. I love your videos but must confess I do look at other Bass tutors as well but no one explains things as well as you do. One such guy is called Devon Bradshaw with his video '' Reggae Bass Tips '' Just him and his drummer. It is a good video and Reggae on a Bass guitar sounds great so I am enjoying improvising Reggae right now. Any chance you could do a Reggae lesson. This guy talks about '' The sweet spot '' but doesn't explain how to play it. Thanks again for your videos. I've learn't an awful lot from you these last 15 months or so. Cheers. Harry

[@jurrefonck8462]

Wow, nice harry

[@BecomeABassist]

To be honest @Happy Harry, I don't have a *ton* of experience playing reggae, but if I were to cover it in a lesson, what would you want to learn, other than the 'sweet spot' idea?

[@wilfredomendez3450]

Beautiful dude, thx sharing.

[@BecomeABassist]

No worries at all @Wilfredo Mendez!

[@sagnikdas4168]

Thanks for this excellent lesson.....Love from India......It really helps me a lot...

[@pickbassguitar2802]

Another great video, thanks

[@BecomeABassist]

You're very welcome.

[@geordiepom]

Another awesome video. Cheers mate

[@garyhess3139]

Thanks Luke, I’m getting better.👍

[@phyzic8706]

Hey Luke I’m so confused what to learn on bass. Suggest me something that will help me. I’m a beginner but not fully

[@richardconnolly4311]

Very much appreciated! So if it was A major it would be A Ionian Bminor Dorian C minor Phygiran and so on

[@BecomeABassist]

Exactly Richard! Nicely done

[@richardconnolly4311]

@@BecomeABassist if you were playing a 1 4 5 say G7 C7 D7 and wanted to use multiple modes. What would you suggest trying.

[@BecomeABassist]

If they're all dominant chords like that and you wanted to assign modes to each of them, you'd use their associated Mixolydian scales (G Mixo for the G7, C Mixo for the C7 and D Mixo for the D7). Doing this would help to outline the specific chords since there's not a single scale what would work over all of them. That's why you'd consider using 3 different Mixolydian scales. It's also very context dependent though. Those are all the chords of a basic G blues, and if you wanted to play a fill during a G blues, then the G minor pentatonic or the G blues scale would be a good choice too. It wouldn't outline any of the specific chords, but it'd (probably) sound good.

[@warrenkoontz7675]

Is this similar to a first inversion?

[@gordonblues843]

Luke, is your logo based upon the Aria Sinsonido bass guitar? It looks just like it.

[@phyzic8706]

Is it necessary to learn mode of scales on bass

[@BecomeABassist]

Not necessarily, but I know they helped me a lot when I was learning and they help a lot of my students when they want to get into improvising.