As someone who actually decided to pay for a full membership on his website, I can confirm that those lessons are pretty beastly and worth my money ;] Good job Scott!
I'm in a band called Zerø-clearance and I am the bassist. Scott, this video alone helped me more than anything. I'm also relatively new to bass. I will keep on watching the great vids man. I appreciate it!
I'm a guitar player, but this stuff is super important for it too! I've been jamming to radio stuff. I'm planning on just playing around with it. I've found that if I think too much about it or push something I'm not comfortable with, I get distracted from the feel, get frustrated, and I stop enjoying it. So the goal is to play more by feel than thought... but... to still think about it, but more feel than thought I suppose. One thing that hit me was the repetition part. I struggle with structure. I find myself searching for something that works and then I'll wander around for something else... I hope that over time I can limit my searching and become more structured... like an A B A B C BA as an example. Thanks for the info and insight Scott! Rock on!
Thanks for the lesson. It is really a lot of help. I had a vintage instructional video from Randy Jackson and he taught this grid in a different way. He used the drum beats as a map to follow. The highhats is the 16th note, the kick as the 4th notes and the snare as the 8ths. It is looooooot clearer to me now. "Different, but the same." - James Franco, The Interview.
Super cool video! My instructor finally convinced me bass playing all about the timing and the subdivisions. Just never thought it could be used like this to create new grooves.
thank you! That intro was way too long.. I mean.. we're here for the lesson.. so no need to convince us to have a look at the lesson.. we're here coz we know the lesson's gonna be great anyway... lol but you knew that! ;)
Hey Scott, you're the best online bass mentor right now!!! Thanks a lot, I find all your lessons to be very helpful. It would be awesome if you can customize the price of your online subscription fee for us here in the Philippines and Asia. Stay awesome! All the best to you and your awesome team :)
Every bass payer should early in his/her training use some percussion lesson :) so helpful! one thing one might wanna do is to go check some drum lesson on the web, plenty of them are free at disposal :)
+Joshua Collins Use a 6 string bass. You can also use heavier gauge strings & tune your guitar 1 octave lower, as John Lennon did on one of the Beatles songs.
And I for one am happy with that. He takes time and gets it across. Too many people seem to not understand how teaching and transferring information works. Especially when teaching something entirely new it helps to repeat and to go slowly. There are too many people on TH-cam who you have reached the point of that Gm7 chord in under 5 minutes and that's just too rapidly for those for whom this is new or difficult.
You can see just how much of a PRO bassist Scott is - not because of the notes he's playing or even his rhythm - but because of the sheer precision with which he keeps the headstock mere inches away from the whiteboard EACH TIME he turns from one side to the other! Once you notice this , it becomes almost hypnotic!!
This, in my opinion, along with Benny Greb's Art and Science of Groove, is seriously some of the most important stuff you can watch as a musician. I always love your concepts and methods of teaching!
+Logan Freund These two are great, and you can follow through without a problem which is always a big plus, and you certainly find a good amount of months worth of work ahead in both. However, THE most importat stuff you can watch as a musician, in terms of groove and rhythm, I have found is the Intro to Polyrhythms and the Metric Modulations DVDs and booklets by Ari Hoenig and Johannes Weidenmueller (the best bass teacher I have ever had). Scott's and Benny's methods barely scratch the surface of what these DVD's will do for you and your groove and time, and they are certainly a next step to take once you're comfortable with Scott's and Benny's (it'd be nice to have something in between, because the gap is huge). Next, also very related to rhythm and groove, but also as a musician in general and this will affect you in way deeper ways: Hal Galper's teachings. If you leave in NYC or close by, hit him up and ask him to teach you. He'll destroy you and everything you know about playing, and he'll rebuild you and you will never even listen to music with the same ears. If you are too far you can always check his website and read his articles, they are extremely powerful (though he needs some spell checking lol). And last but not least, in case you have done it all, you have Mike Longo's DVD series The Rhythmic Nature of Jazz. I haven't gotten to it, but that's what I'll be doing soon.
+Enrique Mancía I'll be looking into all of this, thank you for the wonderful recommendations! I should've specified that I meant Scott and Benny's methods were some of the most important introductory* lessons to learn about groove. Pretty much everything in their lessons I've already gotten down and understood for a while now, I just enjoy watching at this point haha. BUT as I already love and use polyrythms and modulation, I'll be sure to check out those DVDs!
This is, hands down, the best video you have put out (for me personally at least). Being self taught, I have been waiting years for something this simple, yet so dynamic. I can not tell you how much this improved my playing in even the first half hour. Every music teacher needs to have this practice as part of their method, without exception! Thanks SO much for this!!!
Scott's Bass Lessons No problem. :) I'm a relatively new bass player myself. I played the drum set for a while, and now I'm gaining interest for the bass guitar. So far I've been learning from Rocksmith 2014, but these videos might be the missing link to push it to the next level. :D
+Scott's Bass Lessons Hi!! I m a Keyboard player but i love this tutorial!!! sure i m signed but could you tell me when the next lesson is gonna come????? thank you
This clarifies so much for me as a beginner because sometimes I'll be walking along, just through the day, and I'll hear the rhythm to a nice bassline. It'd stick inside my head for a bit but I'd always forget it because I had no solid way to write it down and remember. This chart gives me that means to do so. Makes things way easier to understand. It's simple, but effective if practiced. Which I will be doing, practicing. :D
Victor Wooten talks about this in a different way - but both directions help to reinforce the importance of what Scott is getting at. Great video Scott! :)
Scott, I have been playing bass for years. All self taught. This video was so helpful. Its like you pulled together all these little disconnected nuggets I had mined over the years together. Thanks man! Keep it up!
1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a clap, clap, clapclapclap, clap, clap 1 Clap and a Clap e and Clap Clap Clap and a 4 Clap and a Damn my high school music teacher hooked. me. up. EDIT: I totally posted this like 10 seconds before you started bringing the clapping into it
I am working on visualizing what I play on drums, guitar, bass, or whatever musical composition I am working on. So this video was quite stimulating to my focus. As well as learning the other stuff we can do with bar/measures. 1&a2&a3&a1&a2&a3&a as opposed to 1e&a with four sub-divisions. And how to simplify it to the rest of the band. Like whispering 123 223 323 423 0r 1234 2234 3234 4234. When the whole band knows what the whole sound looks like they can understand where their parts are. That's the visual part the band also feels. Thank you for doing what you do with music. I've always thought of musicians as sound weavers. Keep up the good work and thank the management for me.
If you want to learn bass really fast or become a professional musician or a guitarist or a bassist or any other instrument, here's the secret Mr George Benson taught me when he used to live in Hawaii, think like a drummer or a percussionist.
I found Latin grooves were great at working on my groove and internal time feel. I'd love to see a lesson on improvising using Tumbao baselines? Great lesson Scott.
Great video as always! Thanks a lot man: I started to learn music and playing bass late as an adult and it was frustrating, but with daily practice and your videos here and there I feel I've improved a lot and I'm actually enjoying it 🤞🏼
A great lesson. I've been playing bass since '61 in most all flavors of music. The Groove Grid really fixes a basic problem I've had: Getting lost because I was not laying down a repeating groove (except of blues). So occasionally my playing would get to the point "Where's 1"? Especially if playing complex funk or afro-cuban styles. I could play cool bass parts but only if the drummer laid down the basic rhythm structures 2 bars, 4 bar phrases, etc. emphasizing where the beat was in terms of beat in the measure so many thanks
This is an incredible beginner's lesson. I am a guitar player and recently picked up bass guitar to get in touch with my sense of rhythm (and because jamming in the lower frequencies just sounds so sweet). Like you I am very strategic with my musical learning and I have been looking for a good rhythm lesson which included diagramming for a while now. I searched through countless percussion books and rhythm guitar tutorial videos, but none of them were able to get the point across as well as Scott or provided such a valuable tool for building rhythmic intuition. Thanks Scott! Definitely subscribed.
Hey Scott, I came across your channel last week - long time guitar player, but because of your videos, I just bought my first bass! Thanks for the fun and inspiration!
Hi there Scott I dig your groove grid concept. I've always, since I were a kid, wanted to play bass or lead guitar, but never took any private lessons or classes in school. After many years pass I finally bought some gear and now ready to learn the comcept of playing my bass like a pro. l read books and listen to CD's but they can sometimes be confusing and very costly. but what I like about your groove grid, is it's not all about using penatonic scales chord progression etc..., not to say that they are not a part of learning music, but they can sometimes be discouraging especially for a beginner, it's finding the repeated rhytem broken down in quarters, eights, and sixteens using the main notes used from a specific chord and plugging them in randomly in your measure to create your own bass line. now. Thats an concept l can easily graspe. Now to start practicing it. Thanks for that tip. .
Been playin, studyin, giggin, writin, this ol Fender bass for 40 years....What a great way to break it down visually...Gave me a whole new world of options to eat from at the Big Bassline Buffet ... I thank you Mr Scott for the technical, visual insight that will help countless others that live on the groove train to find and secure their own big tracks to lay down. Always Your Brother JD
Great! You know "Rhythm and Reading" from Erich Bachträgl? You would have very much fun and every student i know got very much Rhythm from him. He was one of the best. R.I.P. Erich Bachträgl, Gernot Unterweger
Previous experiences with awful studio personnel convinced me that a "groove" is nothing more than a " shallow rut ". After going through this presentation, my perception of "groove" has been expanded ten fold. Many thanks ! ! !
You asked. What I'm working on is getting a grip, not on bass, but on music. I'm not a bass player, and I don't think it's likely I'll ever be one. The only reason I'm playing bass is because I recently picked one up from curbside on garbage day, and I've licked into playable shape. I'm a guitar player and a piano player, but I want to know what to do with this thing (which, by the way, has worked its way into my heart--it's a short-scale P-bass knock-off built by CMI about thirty-five years ago, and I love it. Can't help it.) But Scott, your approach to the theory of rhythm and harmony is (1) so enlightening and (2) so much fun, I'm really looking forward to getting on with this. You're going to improve my musicianship tremendously, no matter what instrument I play. Thanks.
groove, dont think about it. feel the beat, feel the melonies and harmonies, and let your fingers do all of the work. thinking just makes everything technical.
I've been playing on and off for about 10 years (getting hard to remember how long!) and this is actually great video. Had it sitting around in my watch later list for a while, but finally had some spare time to sit through it! I've realised I've been doing a little of this internally when playing (but not when practicing so much!), but it's fantastic to see it basically simply explained on a white board. I suffer from some (thankfully somewhat mild) learning difficulties and this can make learning things on bass either much easier or much more difficult for me (eg, I either 'get it' or say 'huh?' for quite a while!). The way you've explained it makes it very easy for me to understand and I can already think of a few ways to start thinking and practicing this stuff. Thanks a lot for putting up this video and I've subscribed on your site. And if you do read this comment, hope you have a great day! :)
I can already tell that this is going to make a massive difference to my bass playing.I always felt that I had a pretty good internal rhythm, but didn't really know how to harness it. The graph has really helped me and I'm already looking forward to the next lesson. Thank you Scott for unleashing my internal groove !!
I am a guitar player and this is one of the most helpful lesson I have ever listened to! I'm gonna do the rest of this video series right away. Thanks for sharing!
Great exercise: DO THIS AGAINST A CLICK/METRONOME Stomp your foot on the 1and clap on the 2, stomp 3 clap 4. More advanced: Stomp on 1 Clap on “uh”. Now switch foot and hands and repeat. Continue to play around all throughout the 4.
Talking about timing....I'm only 5 years late to make a comment on this video :P On the subject of 'groove', even musicians who can groove can't say shit about it. And it's not just about time division, but as much about dynamics. As a matter of fact, only psychologists have thoroughly studied this evasive phenomenon. In the end, there's no adequate definition of groove. So, here's one: GROOVE IS KINETIC FRAMEWORK FOR RELIABLE PREDICTION OF EVENTS AND TIME PATTERNS :D
Just a minor correction but while Funky Drummer was with the James Brown Band, that drummer was none other than CLYDE STUBBLEFIELD! Possibly the grooviest drummer that ever lived!
Did someone already say this? You might place the chest mic. in the center of your chest (center of the left-right head movement) so the sound fade left-to right, has better clarity... Good Lesson, I appreciate breaking down the word GROOVE. I learned something today. Thanks!
Trew he-yo...not trudge-hill-yo... ;) Spanish yo eh ? If we've got to figure out your limey accent, at least make an effort with Spanish...fair? Love u and your lessons, peace.
I know why you mentionned Victor Wooten first, you sly Scott you ;) This comes straigth outta 'The Groove Workshop' Can't believe nobody noticed before. In any case, great lesson still. Props!
Yeah, this is great. As an old rock-bass player, and an 8-bit music enthusiast fiddling with midi, this is great for visualizing what’s already in the back of my mind. It’s kinda like I visualize when I compose, mostly because of the music editors I use, I guess. It’s really hard to not skip forward to articulation 😅 I never really got the hang of that playing an actual bass. Maybe it’s not too late to pick up on finger playing, and leave that 1 mm nylon pick in the night stand… Great stuff!
I am a drummer. I truly believe that everybody should practice with a click i.e. metronome. At least work some scales/rudiments for 10 or 15 minutes at a time along with a click. I promise you it will ingrain into your synapses and the 1 will be like breathing. I am not a bass player but I am a major enthusiast (I mean heck, I’m watching this video) but I am looking forward to learning to play....play well. 👍
Hi, thanks for your videos - time and effort put in much appreciated 👍 thanks! I'm a 6 string guitarist rythum and lead, a bit of both, love drums and bass! and the groove!! Aww mannnn! !! THAT in any song worth listening to had that groove, It is always the catchy noticible part that drew me in, so naturally I'm feeling the songs I love the most have this going on now I think of it after seeing your vid more enlightened and confirmed so thanks again, amazing how one vid can do so much on a closer look at one area of music lovit it ❤️ First thing I was taught or learned more probably lol at secondary school music class or anything about music theory full stop-.... was ear training or something I can't remember what the lesson was it was back in 93' but distinctively in my mind its still fresh, the important lesson learned was to try isolate each instrument in the mix- the song the teacher put on was a "GREASE" Song summer loving or something under the board walk or both long time ago! and that was difficult unless you honed in on the groove, and when i tried this at home with the RHCP or Pink Floyd, The Verve, Cast etc even rave, i had saved up for a half decent set of decks, nothingfsncy justbelt drive not the technics-1210' s direct drive beasts! Anyway , all other instruments (outside of drums and bass-the groove) were either going with in unison one wayor the other on smack in the middleon time, , playing 1/4 notes or chords or full chord progressions, The lesson included finding the relationships between the instruments, volume changes, chord changes, what happens when crossing over to chorus from verse etc, any subtle changes my younger ears would have picked up like a dog, compared to the old goat I now am(has its benefits) , pitch/key changes and pink floyd was the hardest to seperate and isilate the keyboard synth from bass sometimes and Gilmour would often roll with the drummer at the faster parts just at the change between end/start of each if his solo oarts, then verse to wherever, and repeat with another barrage of his amazing collection of licks and riffs, and definitely uses the drummer or syncs up with the drummer more than some guitarists will in my humble opinion, It's probably just done to try piss Rogers Waters off! but it worked and i believe any group's relationship dynamics play a huge part of how well the band are, pinkfloyd and RHCP both have big character leading alot- bassists and thats probably a factor of why they're so good, healthy competition promotes individuals to create parts initially to outshine and fulfill the ambition, Back to the isoating eaxh instrument in the song and also identify the timing differences, notes or chords cant remember, was the challenging part for me, but it gave me a much more focused perspective and responsibility. found it was that way for me. We were taught the same day, timing, tempo, and rhythm... it's all coming back back to me now 🎶 lol couldn't resist 😆, anyway I started on rythum guitar then only this past 2 years been focusing on lead and solo, wow am I so glad I learned rythum first! Chord tones etc, and now have more of an understanding of the symmetry and synchronisation of music because I recelearned the difference between Any maj or min chord or triad is a major 3rd to a flat 3rd, so simple I literally just leard that on paper last week,knew it via muscle memory, but only when i delved into triads and chord tones and after learning that did i have a much clearer picture of the simomer chords, and the navigation part was easier after that too, knowing R 3rd 5th and thats all you need to make ine chord sound like a different chord but itsthe same notes and add more colour to the music. Rambling on more so... Beauty of it all is music theory and how it's all mapped out already for us, awaiting discovery! Everything you need to know about music is already there. Memorise and find ways to connect lines, but never without a groove! If you read to here all the way through, I would like to thank you, for if you did, your patience and understanding
Cheers! Great video 7 years hence. Although, as far as I know we say Bar on this side of the atlantic as well. I've never said "12 measure blues...." It actually only sounds right in a thick Glaswegian accent.... I think the terms are interchangeable every where.
At 20:40 he says smth really interesting: Percussion! Every musician should play some percussion, because it helps the rythm sense. And because it's fun. I do percussion every day. Bass guitar as often as I can. Buy yourself a Darbouka (cheaper than a good shirt), it has both bass sound when you hit towards the middle, and high pitch/ slap at the edge of the head. And a couple of shaker eggs is a must. Rythm is the reason we all play, isn't it?
That shameful moment when you realize that you could be playing a lot better 3 years ago ...hahahahahaha. Thanks Scott!!! Another mind blowing lesson....
For a short I was a bass drumer in an orchestar,didn`t give it no credit till now.. after that a I find my self druming on my knees during practice..Realized it helped me playing the bass but I didn`know why and how.... And now,thanks for showing me why :)
Great video -- but i'm really wanting to have that conversation about what the kick drum is doing.....after many many years on guitar i honestly never paid much attention to the kick drum until i decided to learn how to really play the bass, as opposed to just being a guitarist who messes with the bass. That has been a big gap in my music career -- basically leaving the kick for someone else to worry about.I Now I'm obsessed with all things KICK....thanks.
Something free from SBL lasting longer than 10 mins and being useful? That's new... Too bad you didn't credited - or at least i didn't saw - Anthony Wellington.
Hi Scott, my name is Scott (no kidding). Thanks for the lesson, very good breakdown of groove. What I really got from this was a great definition of groove that I can use to explain to folks in my bands when we have fallen out of the pocket and I want to get them back on track into something that grooves. (if that makes sense). What I am currently working on is simplicity. When I play with my classic rock band I will be playing some really funky and fast say in the style of The Doobie Brothers, lots of grace notes and percussive dead notes and whatnot. But then I will play something in my country band like "Strawberry Wine" or "Midnight in Montgomery", which requires me to hold long notes and essentially "unfunkify" my bass and get some good sustain and tone and get rid of some of those unfortunate accidentals (strings that I touch that ring out when I was trying to strike another string that are quickly muted but still stick out because there are no successive notes to cover them up).. I know i made up some words there and rambled.. but thats what I am working on. Thanks so much for the lessons! I am a fan!
Another way to look at groove & coming from some1 who writes songs + records >> much of what we feel as groove is >> minute alterations to the exact placement of the notes. This is obvious when you record and look at the precise placement of the notes. It's also obvious when adding other parts to the song and trying to get them to fit together. It's not sufficient to quantize everything to the grid. When thou quantizes, the groove is gone. Groove is special. Ableton even has something called the "Groove Pool" . It's a thing where you can store these "off placements" . Once stored, you can apply a Groove to anything u want. You can extract the groove from something and then apply that groove to something else. What I mention is not detracting from Scotts lesson. It's just a more technical study. Something for later on the journey to music mastery.
Scott...Your videos are excellent and I really appreciate this one. I have a question I believe you can articulate better than I can. What can a player do, bass or otherwise, to move away from the mechanical (counting/using subdivisions to find where to play each note) and begin to feel the timing/groove, that internal clock that no longer requires any mechanical breakdown but relies simply on what one hears?
Why they not told me this 35 years ago ? Then i not stopped play 20 years ago because i was struggle on that basgitaar and not making progression , and give it away to buy a panfluit. ( SORRY i,m dutch ) Thanks for the new inspiration . I go try again because i love the sound of bass .
awesome! this is not new to me - but I had never thought to break it down this way for my bass playing. thanks Scott for a new perspective on 1-e-&-a-2-e-&-a...
I wondered why ppl learn the wrong things? Maybe we work on what we know and neglect what we don't know? I tend to use a small box to tap rhythms with my righthand fingers. Then it's already there when I'm on the bass. If I add one lefthand finger, there are real 16-note triplets. That's kinda my goal regarding speed, 16-note triplets. Thanks a ton for this full lesson.
Today I learned that Scott ends notes with a lil slapp. A mini slapp. That syncopation adds more to a the groove. Since realizing this I see him doing this quite often. hmmm. secret sauce. Something I'm working on right now is, exercises that help stretch the fingers. (he asked what we were working on)
This is a selfish way of explaining how bassists should groove.only so many ways to explain the invention of the wheel, so to speak. while this could be enlightening for some beginner bassists, it's wayy way to verbose. This could be explained better in 1/4 the time. and because it's so verbose, you have left out the most important lesson of 'the groove grid' as you call it. That is the fact that you use your ears to create the groove based on notes and nuances of the drums. This approach will work in a generic way, but you must learn to listen and lock in to make a real groove, as if you're sharing a brain with the drummer. not hating on your work- just a little constructive criticism. your approach may work if you're a songwriter composing every instruments harmony, rhythm and melody. In that case you could start with anything. But traditionally - and in live jam settings - drums should be the foundation of the groove. next, bass locks in with some harmony, and so on. of course there's no 'right way' set in stone. but from a teaching standpoint, this is a good way to get started.
this got me thinking "wipeout" and the emphasis placement, (been doing that since forever ! ) your insight breaks it down into logic,,or applied common sense,,😎👍
This was the best info I’ve come across!!!! You made it so easy to understand and the way you broke it down…. Like for reals I’m mind blown because I could understand it. Now to teach this to my hubby.
I'm sorry if you've already made a video on the sound you get, but could someone direct me to a video explaining your technique? Especially for the muffled sound and the slaps and all that. Thanks.
As someone who actually decided to pay for a full membership on his website, I can confirm that those lessons are pretty beastly and worth my money ;] Good job Scott!
I'm in a band called Zerø-clearance and I am the bassist. Scott, this video alone helped me more than anything. I'm also relatively new to bass. I will keep on watching the great vids man. I appreciate it!
I'm a guitar player, but this stuff is super important for it too! I've been jamming to radio stuff. I'm planning on just playing around with it. I've found that if I think too much about it or push something I'm not comfortable with, I get distracted from the feel, get frustrated, and I stop enjoying it.
So the goal is to play more by feel than thought... but... to still think about it, but more feel than thought I suppose. One thing that hit me was the repetition part. I struggle with structure. I find myself searching for something that works and then I'll wander around for something else... I hope that over time I can limit my searching and become more structured... like an A B A B C BA as an example.
Thanks for the info and insight Scott! Rock on!
Thanks for the lesson. It is really a lot of help. I had a vintage instructional video from Randy Jackson and he taught this grid in a different way. He used the drum beats as a map to follow. The highhats is the 16th note, the kick as the 4th notes and the snare as the 8ths. It is looooooot clearer to me now. "Different, but the same." - James Franco, The Interview.
Super cool video! My instructor finally convinced me bass playing all about the timing and the subdivisions. Just never thought it could be used like this to create new grooves.
This is a fantastic lesson! You have outlined the role of the bass player while at the same time taught the creation of bass lines. True gold ;)
6:15 to skip to the actual bass lesson
thank you! That intro was way too long.. I mean.. we're here for the lesson.. so no need to convince us to have a look at the lesson.. we're here coz we know the lesson's gonna be great anyway... lol
but you knew that! ;)
thank you so much, at 2.00 I started to wonder if there will be any music at all...
thanks!
DUDES JUST BAKED AND MOUTH RIFFING
my man scott is just vibing tbh
Hey Scott, you're the best online bass mentor right now!!! Thanks a lot, I find all your lessons to be very helpful. It would be awesome if you can customize the price of your online subscription fee for us here in the Philippines and Asia. Stay awesome! All the best to you and your awesome team :)
That vibrato at the beginning part! Haha! sounds amusing and quirky yet very catchy! love it!
working on groove stuff great concept scott thank you
you're a gentleman and a scholar, thank you for what you do!
+Raybee My pleasure! :)
Thank you Scott, this really helped me understand more on rhythmic lines are made
Rhythm is everything!
+Sia Mozaffari
That's what Jimmy Hendricks said.
Every bass payer should early in his/her training use some percussion lesson :) so helpful! one thing one might wanna do is to go check some drum lesson on the web, plenty of them are free at disposal :)
Man, just amazing stuff, nothin else to say.. keep ut the good work. :)
This was a great breakdown. thanks a lot. I find the rhythm stuff really hard though, probably cos I have no musical talent :`(
5:14 - end of intro :)
12:50 - drawing groove grid
what's that song played at 5:22 ? It sounds familiar!
wheres part 2 & 3 ?
the e's and the a's
please suggest some exercise to get those
How do you take six string guitar parts and transfer them into a recognized piece that sounds like the six string guitar part but in a lower octave.
+Joshua Collins
Use a 6 string bass.
You can also use heavier gauge strings & tune your guitar 1 octave lower, as John Lennon did on one of the Beatles songs.
Scott's a great player and the vids are top notch and professionally produced, but god...he takes forever to get to the point.
Though i really like his attitude and think he's a nice lad, i also thought the same. Still great videos and i gave this one a thumbs up.
And I for one am happy with that. He takes time and gets it across. Too many people seem to not understand how teaching and transferring information works. Especially when teaching something entirely new it helps to repeat and to go slowly. There are too many people on TH-cam who you have reached the point of that Gm7 chord in under 5 minutes and that's just too rapidly for those for whom this is new or difficult.
Maybe you are right. I already know a bit or two about music theory, so this might be the reason I feel he goes on too slow sometimes.
A good teacher takes his time. But I agree, he's not for those with ADD. For the rest of us, he's great.
TH-cam double speed option is what I use
You can see just how much of a PRO bassist Scott is - not because of the notes he's playing or even his rhythm - but because of the sheer precision with which he keeps the headstock mere inches away from the whiteboard EACH TIME he turns from one side to the other! Once you notice this , it becomes almost hypnotic!!
This, in my opinion, along with Benny Greb's Art and Science of Groove, is seriously some of the most important stuff you can watch as a musician. I always love your concepts and methods of teaching!
+Logan Freund Benny Greb - LOVE him man! :)
+Logan Freund These two are great, and you can follow through without a problem which is always a big plus, and you certainly find a good amount of months worth of work ahead in both. However, THE most importat stuff you can watch as a musician, in terms of groove and rhythm, I have found is the Intro to Polyrhythms and the Metric Modulations DVDs and booklets by Ari Hoenig and Johannes Weidenmueller (the best bass teacher I have ever had). Scott's and Benny's methods barely scratch the surface of what these DVD's will do for you and your groove and time, and they are certainly a next step to take once you're comfortable with Scott's and Benny's (it'd be nice to have something in between, because the gap is huge).
Next, also very related to rhythm and groove, but also as a musician in general and this will affect you in way deeper ways: Hal Galper's teachings. If you leave in NYC or close by, hit him up and ask him to teach you. He'll destroy you and everything you know about playing, and he'll rebuild you and you will never even listen to music with the same ears. If you are too far you can always check his website and read his articles, they are extremely powerful (though he needs some spell checking lol).
And last but not least, in case you have done it all, you have Mike Longo's DVD series The Rhythmic Nature of Jazz. I haven't gotten to it, but that's what I'll be doing soon.
+Enrique Mancía I'll be looking into all of this, thank you for the wonderful recommendations! I should've specified that I meant Scott and Benny's methods were some of the most important introductory* lessons to learn about groove. Pretty much everything in their lessons I've already gotten down and understood for a while now, I just enjoy watching at this point haha. BUT as I already love and use polyrythms and modulation, I'll be sure to check out those DVDs!
Look into Bob Brozman...peace.
So I downloaded the Art and Science of Groove. I’m 7 little lessons in and don’t see how to apply it to bass. Any suggestions?
This is, hands down, the best video you have put out (for me personally at least). Being self taught, I have been waiting years for something this simple, yet so dynamic. I can not tell you how much this improved my playing in even the first half hour. Every music teacher needs to have this practice as part of their method, without exception! Thanks SO much for this!!!
19:19 Understatement of the week. *Plays amazing bass fill and literally waves it off* "Whatever it was."
+Aidan “Rocket” R. ...Lol ;) thanks for stopping by and catching the lesson Aidan!
Scott's Bass Lessons No problem. :) I'm a relatively new bass player myself. I played the drum set for a while, and now I'm gaining interest for the bass guitar. So far I've been learning from Rocksmith 2014, but these videos might be the missing link to push it to the next level. :D
+Scott's Bass Lessons
Hi!!
I m a Keyboard player but i love this tutorial!!!
sure i m signed but could you tell me when the next lesson is gonna come?????
thank you
I already stole that riff. Amazing!
I've been playing bass for about 3 years. This video changes everything, thanks scott ;)
Ooooh teach me chromatic passing tones!! @9:49
This clarifies so much for me as a beginner because sometimes I'll be walking along, just through the day, and I'll hear the rhythm to a nice bassline. It'd stick inside my head for a bit but I'd always forget it because I had no solid way to write it down and remember. This chart gives me that means to do so. Makes things way easier to understand. It's simple, but effective if practiced. Which I will be doing, practicing. :D
+Isa Cruz Great stuff Isa! :)
So basically, if you want to be a good bass player, be a good drummer.
Note: i have played drums for 15 years.
Victor Wooten talks about this in a different way - but both directions help to reinforce the importance of what Scott is getting at. Great video Scott! :)
Switch subtitles on at 9:20
You're welcome
Scott, I have been playing bass for years. All self taught. This video was so helpful. Its like you pulled together all these little disconnected nuggets I had mined over the years together. Thanks man! Keep it up!
That’s exactly how I felt!!!!
You continue to be one of THE most potent educators on line! Thanks for this!
1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a
clap, clap, clapclapclap, clap, clap
1 Clap and a Clap e and Clap Clap Clap and a 4 Clap and a
Damn my high school music teacher hooked. me. up.
EDIT: I totally posted this like 10 seconds before you started bringing the clapping into it
Hot..............more please
I am working on visualizing what I play on drums, guitar, bass, or whatever musical composition I am working on. So this video was quite stimulating to my focus. As well as learning the other stuff we can do with bar/measures. 1&a2&a3&a1&a2&a3&a as opposed to 1e&a with four sub-divisions. And how to simplify it to the rest of the band. Like whispering 123 223 323 423 0r 1234 2234 3234 4234. When the whole band knows what the whole sound looks like they can understand where their parts are. That's the visual part the band also feels. Thank you for doing what you do with music. I've always thought of musicians as sound weavers. Keep up the good work and thank the management for me.
If you want to learn bass really fast or become a professional musician or a guitarist or a bassist or any other instrument, here's the secret Mr George Benson taught me when he used to live in Hawaii, think like a drummer or a percussionist.
This is great! I've been a drummer for years but new to the bass. This has been an amazing resource for transferring my rhythm into the bass language.
Same here. We can sit on a simple groove and astonish guitarists….and it sounds good. Scott is a good teacher
I found Latin grooves were great at working on my groove and internal time feel. I'd love to see a lesson on improvising using Tumbao baselines? Great lesson Scott.
Great video as always! Thanks a lot man: I started to learn music and playing bass late as an adult and it was frustrating, but with daily practice and your videos here and there I feel I've improved a lot and I'm actually enjoying it 🤞🏼
A great lesson. I've been playing bass since '61 in most all flavors of music. The Groove Grid really fixes a basic problem I've had: Getting lost because I was not laying down a repeating groove (except of blues). So occasionally my playing would get to the point "Where's 1"? Especially if playing complex funk or afro-cuban styles. I could play cool bass parts but only if the drummer laid down the basic rhythm structures 2 bars, 4 bar phrases, etc. emphasizing where the beat was in terms of beat in the measure so many thanks
Groove is a repeated percussive measured rhythm played on the bass and the drum as well as the guitar and the piano !
This is an incredible beginner's lesson. I am a guitar player and recently picked up bass guitar to get in touch with my sense of rhythm (and because jamming in the lower frequencies just sounds so sweet). Like you I am very strategic with my musical learning and I have been looking for a good rhythm lesson which included diagramming for a while now. I searched through countless percussion books and rhythm guitar tutorial videos, but none of them were able to get the point across as well as Scott or provided such a valuable tool for building rhythmic intuition. Thanks Scott! Definitely subscribed.
Hey Scott, I came across your channel last week - long time guitar player, but because of your videos, I just bought my first bass! Thanks for the fun and inspiration!
Where is the second lesson? Or am I just being stupid and it’s obvious?
Scott sorry sometimes you just talk to much.
Have a point make your point move on...
Hi there Scott I dig your groove grid concept. I've always, since I were a kid, wanted to play bass or lead guitar, but never took any private lessons or classes in school. After many years pass I finally bought some gear and now ready to learn the comcept of playing my bass like a pro. l read books and listen to CD's but they can sometimes be confusing and very costly. but what I like about your groove grid, is it's not all about using penatonic scales chord progression etc..., not to say that they are not a part of learning music, but they can sometimes be discouraging especially for a beginner, it's finding the repeated rhytem broken down in quarters, eights, and sixteens using the main notes used from a specific chord and plugging them in randomly in your measure to create your own bass line. now. Thats an concept l can easily graspe. Now to start practicing it. Thanks for that tip.
.
Thank you, I love the way you explain stuff
Been playin, studyin, giggin, writin, this ol Fender bass for 40 years....What a great way to break it down visually...Gave me a whole new world of options to eat from at the Big Bassline Buffet ... I thank you Mr Scott for the technical, visual insight that will help countless others that live on the groove train to find and secure their own big tracks to lay down. Always Your Brother JD
So much value shared in this video. Thanks for your groovy generosity Scott.
Great! You know "Rhythm and Reading" from Erich Bachträgl? You would have very much fun and every student i know got very much Rhythm from him. He was one of the best. R.I.P. Erich Bachträgl, Gernot Unterweger
Scott your playing skills are impeccable!
Previous experiences with awful studio personnel convinced me that a "groove" is nothing more than a " shallow rut ". After going through this presentation, my perception of "groove" has been expanded ten fold. Many thanks ! ! !
you kind of butchered Robert Trujillo's name :p Great lesson though ;)
He's English and has no occasion to even practice speaking Spanish (that I know of), so cut him a break. hehe! :)
Where are the second and third videos??
You asked.
What I'm working on is getting a grip, not on bass, but on music. I'm not a bass player, and I don't think it's likely I'll ever be one. The only reason I'm playing bass is because I recently picked one up from curbside on garbage day, and I've licked into playable shape. I'm a guitar player and a piano player, but I want to know what to do with this thing (which, by the way, has worked its way into my heart--it's a short-scale P-bass knock-off built by CMI about thirty-five years ago, and I love it. Can't help it.)
But Scott, your approach to the theory of rhythm and harmony is (1) so enlightening and (2) so much fun, I'm really looking forward to getting on with this. You're going to improve my musicianship tremendously, no matter what instrument I play.
Thanks.
groove, dont think about it. feel the beat, feel the melonies and harmonies, and let your fingers do all of the work. thinking just makes everything technical.
I've been playing on and off for about 10 years (getting hard to remember how long!) and this is actually great video. Had it sitting around in my watch later list for a while, but finally had some spare time to sit through it!
I've realised I've been doing a little of this internally when playing (but not when practicing so much!), but it's fantastic to see it basically simply explained on a white board. I suffer from some (thankfully somewhat mild) learning difficulties and this can make learning things on bass either much easier or much more difficult for me (eg, I either 'get it' or say 'huh?' for quite a while!). The way you've explained it makes it very easy for me to understand and I can already think of a few ways to start thinking and practicing this stuff.
Thanks a lot for putting up this video and I've subscribed on your site. And if you do read this comment, hope you have a great day! :)
. After 38 yrs of not playing the bass, at 58 i just starred again :) All i can say Thank You so Much for this Awesome Lesson,This is so essential .
after this video, we all reached a new level
Why didn't you ever complete this series? Or if you did where are the other two lessons. Web link says coming soon but it's been a couple years
I'm a Bass Major at a Performing Arts school in NZ & watching your vids on Bass really helps me get ontop of my stuff! Thanks Scott, you're the man :)
I can already tell that this is going to make a massive difference to my bass playing.I always felt that I had a pretty good internal rhythm, but didn't really know how to harness it. The graph has really helped me and I'm already looking forward to the next lesson. Thank you Scott for unleashing my internal groove !!
I am a guitar player and this is one of the most helpful lesson I have ever listened to! I'm gonna do the rest of this video series right away. Thanks for sharing!
Great teaching friend ,my 1st bass 5 stringer, I was doing awful,until I started using the I,M,I,M,I,M,IM & TH-cam teachings,thanks again friend..
Great exercise: DO THIS AGAINST A CLICK/METRONOME
Stomp your foot on the 1and clap on the 2, stomp 3 clap 4.
More advanced:
Stomp on 1
Clap on “uh”.
Now switch foot and hands and repeat.
Continue to play around all throughout the 4.
Hey Scott,
right now we are recording our new CD and this was really helpfull for me to play my bass lines more accurate - Thank you !
42:45 Victor Wooten and Anthony Wellington surely do at their Groove Workshop.
Talking about timing....I'm only 5 years late to make a comment on this video :P On the subject of 'groove', even musicians who can groove can't say shit about it. And it's not just about time division, but as much about dynamics. As a matter of fact, only psychologists have thoroughly studied this evasive phenomenon. In the end, there's no adequate definition of groove. So, here's one: GROOVE IS KINETIC FRAMEWORK FOR RELIABLE PREDICTION OF EVENTS AND TIME PATTERNS :D
Just a minor correction but while Funky Drummer was with the James Brown Band, that drummer was none other than CLYDE STUBBLEFIELD! Possibly the grooviest drummer that ever lived!
Groove is breaking away from 4/4 time...let's talk about 4/5 5/4 3/4 4/3 etc...more on that yes ? Polyrhythmics yes ?
Did someone already say this? You might place the chest mic. in the center of your chest (center of the left-right head movement) so the sound fade left-to right, has better clarity... Good Lesson, I appreciate breaking down the word GROOVE. I learned something today. Thanks!
Trew he-yo...not trudge-hill-yo... ;) Spanish yo eh ? If we've got to figure out your limey accent, at least make an effort with Spanish...fair? Love u and your lessons, peace.
I know why you mentionned Victor Wooten first, you sly Scott you ;) This comes straigth outta 'The Groove Workshop' Can't believe nobody noticed before. In any case, great lesson still. Props!
Yeah, this is great. As an old rock-bass player, and an 8-bit music enthusiast fiddling with midi, this is great for visualizing what’s already in the back of my mind. It’s kinda like I visualize when I compose, mostly because of the music editors I use, I guess. It’s really hard to not skip forward to articulation 😅 I never really got the hang of that playing an actual bass. Maybe it’s not too late to pick up on finger playing, and leave that 1 mm nylon pick in the night stand…
Great stuff!
Wow, solfeggio that bass players could understand :D :D
I am a drummer. I truly believe that everybody should practice with a click i.e. metronome. At least work some scales/rudiments for 10 or 15 minutes at a time along with a click. I promise you it will ingrain into your synapses and the 1 will be like breathing.
I am not a bass player but I am a major enthusiast (I mean heck, I’m watching this video) but I am looking forward to learning to play....play well. 👍
Hi, thanks for your videos - time and effort put in much appreciated 👍 thanks!
I'm a 6 string guitarist rythum and lead, a bit of both, love drums and bass! and the groove!!
Aww mannnn! !!
THAT in any song worth listening to had that groove,
It is always the catchy noticible part that drew me in, so naturally I'm feeling the songs I love the most have this going on now I think of it after seeing your vid more enlightened and confirmed so thanks again, amazing how one vid can do so much on a closer look at one area of music lovit it ❤️
First thing I was taught or learned more probably lol at secondary school music class or anything about music theory full stop-....
was ear training or something I can't remember what the lesson was it was back in 93'
but
distinctively in my mind its still fresh, the important lesson learned was to try isolate each instrument in the mix- the song the teacher put on was a "GREASE" Song summer loving or something under the board walk or both
long time ago!
and that was difficult unless you honed in on the groove, and when i tried this at home with the RHCP or Pink Floyd, The Verve, Cast etc even rave, i had saved up for a half decent set of decks, nothingfsncy justbelt drive not the technics-1210' s direct drive beasts!
Anyway , all other instruments (outside of drums and bass-the groove) were either going with in unison one wayor the other on smack in the middleon time, , playing 1/4 notes or chords or full chord progressions,
The lesson included finding the relationships between the instruments, volume changes, chord changes, what happens when crossing over to chorus from verse etc, any subtle changes my younger ears would have picked up like a dog, compared to the old goat I now am(has its benefits) , pitch/key changes and pink floyd was the hardest to seperate and isilate the keyboard synth from bass sometimes and Gilmour would often roll with the drummer at the faster parts just at the change between end/start of each if his solo oarts, then verse to wherever, and repeat with another barrage of his amazing collection of licks and riffs, and definitely uses the drummer or syncs up with the drummer more than some guitarists will in my humble opinion,
It's probably just done to try piss Rogers Waters off!
but it worked and i believe any group's relationship dynamics play a huge part of how well the band are, pinkfloyd and RHCP both have big character leading alot- bassists and thats probably a factor of why they're so good, healthy competition promotes individuals to create parts initially to outshine and fulfill the ambition,
Back to the isoating eaxh instrument in the song and also identify the timing differences, notes or chords cant remember,
was the challenging part for me, but it gave me a much more focused perspective and responsibility. found it was that way for me. We were taught the same day, timing, tempo, and rhythm... it's all coming back back to me now 🎶 lol couldn't resist 😆, anyway I started on rythum guitar then only this past 2 years been focusing on lead and solo, wow am I so glad I learned rythum first! Chord tones etc, and now have more of an understanding of the symmetry and synchronisation of music because I recelearned the difference between Any maj or min chord or triad is a major 3rd to a flat 3rd, so simple I literally just leard that on paper last week,knew it via muscle memory, but only when i delved into triads and chord tones and after learning that did i have a much clearer picture of the simomer chords, and the navigation part was easier after that too, knowing R 3rd 5th and thats all you need to make ine chord sound like a different chord but itsthe same notes and add more colour to the music.
Rambling on more so...
Beauty of it all is music theory and how it's all mapped out already for us, awaiting discovery! Everything you need to know about music is already there.
Memorise and find ways to connect lines, but never without a groove!
If you read to here all the way through, I would like to thank you, for if you did, your patience and understanding
Cheers! Great video 7 years hence. Although, as far as I know we say Bar on this side of the atlantic as well. I've never said "12 measure blues...." It actually only sounds right in a thick Glaswegian accent.... I think the terms are interchangeable every where.
At 20:40 he says smth really interesting: Percussion! Every musician should play some percussion, because it helps the rythm sense. And because it's fun. I do percussion every day. Bass guitar as often as I can. Buy yourself a Darbouka (cheaper than a good shirt), it has both bass sound when you hit towards the middle, and high pitch/ slap at the edge of the head. And a couple of shaker eggs is a must. Rythm is the reason we all play, isn't it?
I watched this on SBL academy and I immediately recommended the concept to a few drummer friends. It is real rich.
That shameful moment when you realize that you could be playing a lot better 3 years ago ...hahahahahaha. Thanks Scott!!! Another mind blowing lesson....
For a short I was a bass drumer in an orchestar,didn`t give it no credit till now.. after that a I find my self druming on my knees during practice..Realized it helped me playing the bass but I didn`know why and how.... And now,thanks for showing me why :)
I saw a guy play 16 notes per beat and his name is George Benson ! He was my bass guitar teacher as well as my guitar teacher in Hawaii.
Great video -- but i'm really wanting to have that conversation about what the kick drum is doing.....after many many years on guitar i honestly never paid much attention to the kick drum until i decided to learn how to really play the bass, as opposed to just being a guitarist who messes with the bass. That has been a big gap in my music career -- basically leaving the kick for someone else to worry about.I Now I'm obsessed with all things KICK....thanks.
Something free from SBL lasting longer than 10 mins and being useful? That's new... Too bad you didn't credited - or at least i didn't saw - Anthony Wellington.
Hi Scott, my name is Scott (no kidding). Thanks for the lesson, very good breakdown of groove. What I really got from this was a great definition of groove that I can use to explain to folks in my bands when we have fallen out of the pocket and I want to get them back on track into something that grooves. (if that makes sense). What I am currently working on is simplicity. When I play with my classic rock band I will be playing some really funky and fast say in the style of The Doobie Brothers, lots of grace notes and percussive dead notes and whatnot. But then I will play something in my country band like "Strawberry Wine" or "Midnight in Montgomery", which requires me to hold long notes and essentially "unfunkify" my bass and get some good sustain and tone and get rid of some of those unfortunate accidentals (strings that I touch that ring out when I was trying to strike another string that are quickly muted but still stick out because there are no successive notes to cover them up).. I know i made up some words there and rambled.. but thats what I am working on. Thanks so much for the lessons! I am a fan!
Why doesn't music sheets show sub division so we could learn to play on time perfectly?
Where can you just hear Scott playing----just solo for more than 1 minute--no lesson --just playing?
Another way to look at groove & coming from some1 who writes songs + records >> much of what we feel as groove is >> minute alterations to the exact placement of the notes. This is obvious when you record and look at the precise placement of the notes. It's also obvious when adding other parts to the song and trying to get them to fit together. It's not sufficient to quantize everything to the grid. When thou quantizes, the groove is gone. Groove is special.
Ableton even has something called the "Groove Pool" . It's a thing where you can store these "off placements" . Once stored, you can apply a Groove to anything u want. You can extract the groove from something and then apply that groove to something else.
What I mention is not detracting from Scotts lesson. It's just a more technical study. Something for later on the journey to music mastery.
Scott...Your videos are excellent and I really appreciate this one. I have a question I believe you can articulate better than I can. What can a player do, bass or otherwise, to move away from the mechanical (counting/using subdivisions to find where to play each note) and begin to feel the timing/groove, that internal clock that no longer requires any mechanical breakdown but relies simply on what one hears?
Why they not told me this 35 years ago ? Then i not stopped play 20 years ago because i was struggle on that basgitaar and not making progression , and give it away to buy a panfluit. ( SORRY i,m dutch )
Thanks for the new inspiration . I go try again because i love the sound of bass .
Robert Tru-he-yo.....two ll is a y sound. One l is an l in Spanish. I'm from New Mexico. Thanks for the goodies here!
awesome! this is not new to me - but I had never thought to break it down this way for my bass playing. thanks Scott for a new perspective on
1-e-&-a-2-e-&-a...
I wondered why ppl learn the wrong things? Maybe we work on what we know and neglect what we don't know? I tend to use a small box to tap rhythms with my righthand fingers. Then it's already there when I'm on the bass. If I add one lefthand finger, there are real 16-note triplets. That's kinda my goal regarding speed, 16-note triplets. Thanks a ton for this full lesson.
Today I learned that Scott ends notes with a lil slapp. A mini slapp. That syncopation adds more to a the groove. Since realizing this I see him doing this quite often. hmmm. secret sauce.
Something I'm working on right now is, exercises that help stretch the fingers. (he asked what we were working on)
This is a selfish way of explaining how bassists should groove.only so many ways to explain the invention of the wheel, so to speak. while this could be enlightening for some beginner bassists, it's wayy way to verbose. This could be explained better in 1/4 the time. and because it's so verbose, you have left out the most important lesson of 'the groove grid' as you call it. That is the fact that you use your ears to create the groove based on notes and nuances of the drums. This approach will work in a generic way, but you must learn to listen and lock in to make a real groove, as if you're sharing a brain with the drummer. not hating on your work- just a little constructive criticism. your approach may work if you're a songwriter composing every instruments harmony, rhythm and melody. In that case you could start with anything. But traditionally - and in live jam settings - drums should be the foundation of the groove. next, bass locks in with some harmony, and so on.
of course there's no 'right way' set in stone. but from a teaching standpoint, this is a good way to get started.
this got me thinking "wipeout" and the emphasis placement,
(been doing that since forever ! ) your insight breaks it down
into logic,,or applied common sense,,😎👍
This was the best info I’ve come across!!!! You made it so easy to understand and the way you broke it down…. Like for reals I’m mind blown because I could understand it. Now to teach this to my hubby.
I'm sorry if you've already made a video on the sound you get, but could someone direct me to a video explaining your technique? Especially for the muffled sound and the slaps and all that. Thanks.