Killer Bass Lines Made Easy with the Pentatonic Scale
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2025
- 👉 My full beginner bass course: yeah.bassbuzz....
Forget learning a million scales - here’s how to play killer bass lines with just five simple notes from the pentatonic scale.
Full Bobby McFerrin video - • Bobby McFerrin Demonst...
Alright LOOK, if you’re a beginner or even an intermediate bassist, you don’t need a million scales to come up with killer bass lines. All you need is the 5 simple notes of the pentatonic scale, used in all styles of music for bazillions of years.
But here’s the thing - it’s simple to learn the pentatonic scale in a few minutes and say “Muahaha, I learned the scale.” Buuuut that’s like buying a bunch of meat and veggies with no recipe and expecting to be the iron chef.
So in this video, you’ll learn:
The 5 tasty ingredients that make up the pentatonic scale
Stupidly simple recipes for creating great riffs
How to master the static and shifting pentatonic shapes to navigate the fretboard like a boss
How Rage Against The Machine used the pentatonic scale to write hit after hit
How some of the most famous Motown bass lines only use the pentatonic scale
How John Deacon used the ‘shifting shape’ to make Queen bass lines even sexier
How I would give my Rock n’ Roll hall of fame speech
You read all the way through this video description… you must really like bass lessons. Subscribe so you don’t miss the next one - yeah.bassbuzz....
#BassScales #BassBuzz
What’s your favorite pentatonic scale riff? 🎸
The intro to bombtrack probably. Really cool and catchy
Gotta be paranoid
I just realized that i predicted the first exercise in the video by accident 😂
Folkdog by MESH the ending riff is killer!
The 1st one Inlearned was Paranoid by Black Sabbath. I still use the pentatonic 40+years later.
Josh, I went through the whole bassbuzz curriculum, and learned how to play bass guitar well enough that I can play practically any song I hear. I love finding bass tablature to learn from also, although I know I must be careful to not always assume the tabs are correct. Nothing more fun than my wife coming home from a drive and saying, "I heard this song on the radio and I really liked it...can you learn to play it?" which means I get the pleasure of learning a new song! I've got a pretty extensive repertoire of songs that I can play, and I enjoy playing with my friend who is an accomplished guitar player and enjoys the same music that I do (70s and 80s rock). Wanted to thank you for getting me started in the right direction. I'm still working on a good 'bass face', but that will come with time!
the amount of information that you can work with just in the first 3-4 minutes is insane!
this channel is awesome!
Don't sleep on this course. 4 months in and I am jamming in a band… we now have 6 full songs written. Thanks Josh!
I like when he says "here's a crappy riff" which is the same riff I just made up.
bro~ you just changed my whole mind about Scales, i could never have understood them without your "recipe" reference. Ive never ever ever heard it like this before. i just picked up my guitar, looked up some scales and BOOM, i can finally understand where to go after those little things i make up!!! i legit feel i pulled together a thing i made up earlier today. and imagine, i always or usually deprive myself of looking at things i wanna see and simply bc theyre helpful. odd huh?
This is why Josh is such a good teacher.
Great stuff here sir, thank you for sharing this. I am a retired chef (and also a retired professional drummer) from Los Angeles, who is finally learning the bass and I love it. As a chef, I dig your analogies of cooking and bass playing, spot on boss. Channels likes this one makes it fun and easier, not easy. I am 'retired' due to over 21 surgeries, most on both feet and lower back. As a drummer I have played next to the bass for decades and always had an affinity for it and now, pushing 60, I am learning this amazing instrument. There are some drumming videos on my YT channel, like when we opened for Cheap Trick, as well as a couple bass videos (please don't laugh)
Thanx again for this awesome channel!!🙏🎸💙
Fantastic comment! I know it will pay off learning it, I wish you the best :)
Khruangbin! Josh's cool factor just leveled up by 100!
Fuckin love them
What was the 2nd composition?
Thanks!
Thanks
Damn I want to get to the stage where I can just donate £500 to a TH-cam video that I found helpful 😂
@@jesuislemeilleur3045 Took years of hard work 😅Josh is an awesome teacher and I have a vested interest making sure he continues to publish new content 🙂
Oh joyous day for it is another BassBuzz upload! Rejoice my fellow 4 stringed furniture players!
I took that course. That was a good course. It really helped to give me a good, solid foundation missing from my play.
Oh man! Thank you! I love Laura Lee! I mean… I’m in love with her everything bass related. ☺️ And “August 10” is one of my favorite Khruangbin’s song! I’m also a beginner bass player and I just want to thank you for what you do. 🙏
Tim Commerford is just the king of the minor pentatonic. Ain't surprised to find him here!
Those videos where you tear down an artist receipe for his lines are really easy to put in practice. Keep em coming!
This morning I wanted to learn to play August 10 by Khruangbin (since ya know, it's August 10th), so I learned to play it from a tab video. Now I come across this video and Josh is talking about the same song! It was meant to be.
I kinda came up with similarly shaped "patterns" that I could move around the fretboard myself, never knew there was well known theory behind them. Great video!
missed you Josh, thanks for the video
Awesome work iam 73 years old been struggling with this for years but this is absolutely awesome thank you,
After playing guitar and Bass for 50 years I am forever amazed at how a lot of music teachers on TH-cam can take something simple and make it confusing mainly because they want to impress you instead of simply teaching you. Playing and teaching music can be summed up best by one of the best musicians and producers, Chet Akins. 1. “ Most of the money I ever made in the studio were on the first 5 frets.” 2. To a musician laying down a track of a song that Chet was producing, “ could you play that again and only put half of everything you think you know in it?”
Shape shifting is alien! Wonderful vid as usual Josh.
absolutely superb lesson - solid gold info!
As a beginner bass player I enjoy your how to videos, I've put likes and subscribed to your channel because you certainly make learning to play bass fun! 👍
Hi Josh!
Glad to see you mention August 10 in one of your videos. I LOVE Khruangbin! Glad to see that I correctly identified Lora's approach to fretting when I learned this song on my own ~4 years ago just by watching her live videos. It's definitely a more relaxed approach for girls and learning this from a female bassist felt so natural to me because I don't have long fingers to stretch over 4 frets. I still can do it but feels very tiresome and I couldn't stand playing this whole song in a box position.
Note-wise: I can't help but hear additional notes in the main riff of this song - whenever I play it, I add an quick extra forth down after the note that is leading into the next phrase (only for the first two phrases). For example it would be BB BDE BD EB on the first bar instead of BB BDE BD E. The B at the end of the phrase is very brief but it leads into the next bar nicely, and I throw in a tiny slide in place of a shift before the first note of the next bar.
Am I mishearing it or did you just simplify this riff a bit for this video lesson?
Can you tell me the name of the Khruangbin song in this video please?
@@drummercliffo He has its name on screen in the video at 5:09. It's August 10. I also mentioned it in the comment you replied to. Man, people can't even read thoroughly these days.
Great video, Josh. I had to "scale it back" a bit in the beginning, but I'll get there eventually. Good advice, well explained. Kudos! 👍
This couldn't have come at a better time, I just started learning the pentatonic scales yesterday 😩🙏 Thank you!
Another wonderfully crafted, instantly applicable lesson.
I'm subscribed, but you hadn't shown up in my recommendations for so long that I finally had to SEARCH for you. Glad I did. This is the first time that I clicked on the bell icon for ANYONE, so hopefully this won't happen again.
Dude, I had to come back to this video to say I have been playing nothing but August 10 for weeks 😆 it might've changed my life. Thanks Josh!
Completely enjoying learning from Josh. Now I just need to find a drum teacher like Josh for my daughter to learn to play drums!
If I would have had you as my bass teacher when I started out playing bass in the early 90's, I would have made progress SO much faster!
Another fantastic lesson Josh. I love how you gave the alternate shape to the major and minor pentatonic. That's so very helpful.
I love that you used Khruangbin in this video! August 10 is a very cool song by them, i love that bass line. Seeing them at Red Rocks later this month!
You had me hooked when you brought the Joy Of Cooking!
Hello Josh thank you for another brilliant video. I've been playing bass for more than 25 years now and I still learn and improve from your advice 😃 do you know any TH-cam videos like yours but for guitar player please ? A friend of mine wants to learn the guitar and I would like someone like you (well like your videos) to teach her. Thanks for your reply if you have the time 😊
Laura Lee inspired me to play bass. Nice to see her praises here in your video lesson!
love your videos!
This is an awesome lesson! I've been looking for scales in the context of famous riffs to anchor it my memory, and I finally found it here! Thank your!
Basic and simple. Adding flavor to the bass line to fill in other octaves.
Just starting out on bass 🫡
I think i have stumbled across a gem of a channel🙏
I really needed this video to “up” my game.
Great vid! Could you make one about bridge/saddle adjustments, how you like it, advantages and disadvantages of certain settings. I dont think most people including myself know these things
"Sounds kind of crappy, right?
Thanks, I came up with it myself. "
Sounds like my entire band experience...
Such a great lesson
You’re teachings are very helpful and you’re fun to watch. Thanks!
I started learning guitar just a few months ago (although I literally just ordered a bass, so I'm switching teams here in a few days)...I gotta say that your videos are great for learning regular ol' guitar skills, too! Good fingering/fretting technique, useful scales, and understanding the building blocks of the songs we all know and love, connecting theory to practice - this stuff isn't just for the burgeoning Fleas of the world! Thanks for all you do. 😊
RE: Laura Lee glued fingers...I have a slightly shorter pinky finger than average (most gloves I have a 5mm gap at the tip). This wasn't as much of an issue when I played flute, but on guitar it's, well...It's something else. So, where I can get away with it, I'll use my ring finger instead. Do you think that's an issue with something like pentatonic riffs like this, if I'm just subbing out the ring for pinky finger? 😬
I do try to leverage stuff like micro-shifting if I can, otherwise I get some super noobie buzzing. When practicing I try to just stretch my fingers a smidge more and pray that muscle memory will eventually make this a thing of the past for me, but I worry about adopting a bad habit that will hold me back later on as I advance.
_________________________
P.S. For whoever is curious, I got a Jackson SBX IV in neon orange, although I dwelled for a LOOOONG time on maybe getting a Yamaha TRBX 304 or 504, especially after seeing Josh's review/comparison with the 304. In the end I just could not resist that electric orange, and I'm so damn excited to get started learning bass! My plan down the road is to get something like a TRBX505 to have a 5-string option, instead of downtuning a 4-string, but I wanted to get acclimated to a 4-string, first.
My guitar is a cheap-o Squier "bullet" Mustang, where the short scale really helps a lot to compensate for the short pinky thing, but the switch to a big, bad bass honestly has me feeling a little anxious. On the other hand, some very smol kiddos out there manage to play just fine, so hopefully everything will turn out with consistent practice on my part. 😅
He makes it all crystal clear!!!!!
You are a great teacher!
There goes Josh, answering questions I didn't even know how to ask again.
Great editing! I love your analogies .
Hope all is well Josh, yet another excellent video.
I love the minor Penta, I find myself just naturally playing that when I'm sitting around at home. Nice vid man. I feel like I've been to a wonderful smorgasbord & no indigestion either.
Greetings & awesome goodwill from Sydney DownUnder ❤🦘🙏😎👌🎸👍
“Pick up a flat rock, skip it across Green River
Well……”can’t hear a descending Em pentatonic run without hearing the CCR classic.
Top Shelf There Brother Josh Man - After The Fourth Bar , Mexican Girl Is When I Use A Simple Static Pentatonic Riff - Also , The Classic Tom Petty's Breakdown Also For All kinds Of Pentatonic Flavors - Thanx For This Particular Tutorial
Stay Groovy ,
Cheers
Love your videos!! I also love that you feel secure enough to use a Squier on so many of your videos, and don't feel that you have to 'flex' by using a Fender etc... Actually, that Squier looks quite interesting - could you tell us more about it? Which control plate is it that you use? Is it active/passive?
That was crazy clear and interesting. Thanks.
This video has just reminded me why I hate most tabs you can find on the internet. They almost never include the chords/roots, which becomes problematic if the tab gets complicated and you've not quite mastered a certain lick or fill. At least with the chord correctly noted you can shove in a pentatonic riff so your version of the song still sounds decent.
The Joy of Riffs
2:09 rest in peace to the G String. Press F to pay respect.
Which one?
B string all about it!
Just found your channel. Your vids are 10/10 man! Appreciate you and sub-ed!
Great lesson as usual
I love your videos josh thank you!
Great stuff Josh! 🙏🙏🙏
Love your sound too!
Can you tell about your bass and those strings please?
Strings have a great note too bright or clunky sound and seem more taught as I watch you play!
Anyways
Thank you so much - great stuff
🙏🙏🙏
Hi! I am a professional cellist, that always had a dream of playing the bass. I got a Squire PJ bass for Christmas, and has ended up spending more time with that bass, than with my 400K $ cello 😂 anyway: thanks a lot for great videos!
Thanx Bro!
Wow very nice and easy bass❤🎉🎉 from Philippines price 😮
Thanks so much.
😂thank you for another informative lesson!
Thanks for the tips
Great as always, Josh. QUESTION... what bass strap are you using in this vid. Looks comfy!
I love cooking and bass LOL😅
05:58 - giving me cleveland vibes.
My dude, can you make a video teaching how to learn cover songs using scales?
Great video
Khruangbin riffs WOOOOOOO!
I always considered the major and minor pentatonic scales to be the vanilla major and minor scales with the "bad" notes taken out.
Lovely video :D
Awesome August 10 song posted August 10 😂
Josh- understand the five shapes for minor and major. How do the other subsequent shapes fit into playing during a song? Ie. When to move into them? You have a class for that? Thank you very much !
Really quick
Hello bro!
You are doing an amazing job. Would you recommend a 4 -string or a 5-string guitar for a beginner training?
Nice hardware on that bass. Looks Satin or something. What is it?
Mmmmm pizza! Oh a bass guitar pizza!!❤
At 4;17 of video you played your bad riff and it sounded like Changin Time by Nazareth I love that bass line???
I notice you use your pinky to fret a lot of notes. I'm coming from guitar where it's generally one finger per fret, so if you're using your index finger on the 3d fret, you'd use your ring finger to fret the 5th. Is this not the same on bass?
What program are you using to illustrate? I need one!
The Australian accent for laura was crazy 😂😂😂
she doesn't sound anything like that.
@@jonhillman871 thats the joke, we know this.
5:50 - your baby finger is almost as long as your ring finger. I realized (55 years ago) that my baby finger is way shorter than the others, and so I was kinda out luck.
ok so I was barely keeping up n then at about 7:30 ish I got totally lost and I guess I should have taken a left at Albuquerque
Thanks for making me discover Laura Lee!
I’m a Beginner on the Bass I play guitar: great video it’s helping me understand! Thanks 😊
Hello, could you recommend a good bass guitar 4 strings. I am thinking about buying a Fender Player II Jazz Bass, but maybe you know more interesting options for your consideration🙏
What’s your advice for a headless bass haha
In the video Josh says the root note tells us the key we are in which for Bombtrack is E. However on the staff, the key signature has a sharp on the F which tells us we are in the key of G. Can someone explain why the root note and the key signature are different and which key we are actually in?
EDIT: I've done a bit more research and have the answer. The sharp on the F in the key signature can mean either we are in the key of G major or E minor. This is because E minor is the relative minor of G major and shares the same key signature but starts on a different note (E instead of G)
E minor is the relative key of G major, so both of them have one sharp on the staff 🤘
What song were you playing just as the video was ending
Another great lesson and great analogy 😂
Amazing stuff, love this😊
i just bought headphones for my amp and when i heard myself play i laugheddd. i didn't know i sounded like that 🥹 maybe it's time i learn some scales huh
A suggestion to help get to millions of subscribers: get Laura Lee on most vids! 😂
What is the model of guitar you are playing please? Where is it made? Thanks
Squier bass made by fender
SO JOSH WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE FENDER SQUIRE PLAYER PLUS P/J ACTIVE BASS ??