Bass Scales – The Big Picture.

Last week I had a post about the Complete C Major Scale Shapes for the Bass. This week I am going to show the easy way to take that information and use it to be able to play any Major Scale anywhere on the Bass.

The great thing about the Bass is that the way it is tuned a clever thing happens. Everything that you learn in one Scale or Key you can move around the Bass to play in every Scale or Key.

To explain. Below is the C Major Scale Shape 2 from last week and the recommended fingering. If you are not sure about the information go back to last week’s post on scales and read the explanation.

When playing this scale shape use one finger to one fret the whole way through.

String 4 – Finger 2, finger 4.

String 3 – Finger 1, finger 2, finger 4.

String 2 – Finger 1, finger 2, finger 4.

String 1 – Finger 1, finger 3, finger 4.

So if you wanted to play The D Major Scale using this shape you would go to String 3 and place finger 2 on the C. Then slide the finger 2 up to the D note on fret 5.

If you then play the fingering sequence shown above you are playing the notes of the D Major Scale.

String 4 – Finger 2, finger 4.

String 3 – Finger 1, finger 2, finger 4.

String 2 – Finger 1, finger 2, finger 4.

String 1 – Finger 1, finger 3, finger 4.

The incredible thing about this is if you moved the whole shape up 2 more frets you would be playing in E Major.

I have only used one shape as an example but you can use all the shapes (that don’t have open strings). This will enable you to play any song, in any key, anywhere on the bass. Enjoy.