Are you serious about wanting to improve you bass guitar playing? If you are, then one of the most productive things you can do is work on your scales. It has even been said that the level of your scale playing pretty much determines the level of your bass playing overall! I have designed these exercises to help you to develop a more accurate sense of rhythm and to improve the speed and agility of your bass guitar scales.

You may wish to concentrate on bass scales or perhaps you just want to help the drums anchor the sound. It may sound like a tough choice if you are unaware of what style you want to learn but it may help you in the long run. If you want to become an excellent bass guitarist then you should always strive to learn new and interesting skills on your instrument.

There is little that proves more daunting for young bass players than realizing just how physically demanding it is to play bass. As novices watching our favorite bassists on video we think, “That doesn’t look so hard! I can do that!”

Advanced players must have some command of scale, chord and arpeggio patterns, to be advanced, yet often they get real fast and efficient with enough patterns to impress others and get by, but they realize how extremely limited they still are, and how they are not really as advanced as they would like to be because of their insufficient scope and grasp of a complete mastery of the fretboard with the current patterns that they already know, as well as the theoretical aspect behind the patterns and their use.

The goal is to be able to play all the exercises at 100 beats per minute. When you are able to do that, it will be fairly easy to further increase the tempo. Here is a suggestion for advanced practice: Try to play all the way through all three exercises without stopping in between. When you do this, the last note of the eighth note exercise will become the first note of the triplet exercise.

Hand Positioning: When playing the slap bass technique you must first make sure your hand is in the proper position or else it will be hard and awkward to play this style well. First, bend your arm at the elbow so it allows you to rest your thumb on the low E string.

Use your left thumb as a pivot, keeping your elbow out from your body so that it can swing back and forth freely. Curve the fingers of your left hand out over the neck to reach notes on the thicker strings; as your thumb pivots. Play the notes on the thinner strings with your fingers flattened more against the neck, your elbow pulled back, and your left thumb standing almost out straight from the neck.

With all this is in mind, now you should start for taking your lessons. It don’t matter if you hire a private teacher, learn by yourself or get some online lessons, whatever works for you will be the right path to take if you’re just beginning.