Bass Emporium Newsletter - November 2008
Ed Friedland's
Bass Emporium Lesson #4: Fingerboard Discovery
by Ed Friedland
In the last lesson, we looked at the Major Diatonic seventh chord arpeggios (in the key of C). As I instructed, the goal is to eventually memorize this material in all keys. That will take quite a while, but this information is a critical part of total musicianship, and... you've got plenty of time.
There are so many ways to grasp this information, that it can be a bit mind blowing at times. So, let me add another aspect to this process that will certainly cut into your television time. While each of the Diatonic arpeggios function together in a key center, it is also important to know them thoroughly as individual entities. For example, a CMaj7 chord is pretty common in many styles of music, and you will undoubtedly find yourself needing to play one sometime. While the last lesson showed you one way to play this arpeggio, you need to know every way to play it on your fingerboard.
Example 1 shows you 15 ways to play CMaj7 from the lowest C on a 4 string bass. Seven of them start from the 3rd fret C on the A string, and eight of them from the 8th fret of the E string. Obviously, some of these are more convenient to play than others, but that's not the point. The point is: If you can play any musical idea in all possible locations, you own the neck. The freedom of movement that you gain from this knowledge is very powerful. It also comes in handy if you break a string. If you play 5-string bass, figure out the fingerings from the 13th fret of the B string as well.
For my friends in the "TAB sucks" camp, I'd like to point out that this is just one example of how TAB can be used for good and not evil. Sure, I could have made you find these all by yourself, but let's face it - 80% of the readers out there wouldn't have even tried (not you of course...). With a little taste of TAB (mother's little helper), you can easily see how this idea works. Now, the percentage of folks that will take the next step and do some of the work on their own has increased greatly. I'm just sayin'...
Example 2 shows you a few "whack" approaches to CMaj7. The notes are purposely all over the place. You probably wouldn't use these, but it's sure cool to know that they can be done. There are many more of these "off the beaten path" fingerings for this chord, and I encourage you to explore and find them.
Now for the good news: You need to do this with every chord type in the Major Diatonic sequence, iim7. Iiim7, IVMaj7, V7, vim7, and viim7b5 - in all keys! Even more good news: There are plenty more arpeggios in use that are not in the Major Diatonic realm, but we'll get to those later. Don't settle for having one or two ways to play a lick, a pattern, a scale, or arpeggio— search your fingerboard and find them all.
Until next month...
Stay in the pocket.
Ed Friedland is a renowned Bassist, Educator and Author. He has authored over 15 books and DVDs and has played with the likes of Joe Beck, Larry Coryell, Robben Ford, Paul Horn, Clay Jenkins, Mike Metheny, Bud Shank, Lew Tabackin & Michal Urbaniak to name just a few. Ed is also currently teaching at Bass Emporium in Austin, Texas. Check out the Ed Friedland website for full information about him at http://www.edfriedland.com/.
