How to Play Blues Bass Guitar by Ear

Playing the blues can be a fun and energizing experience for any bassist. One of the best ways to learn to play blues bass guitar is to listen to the legendary players and play along with your favorite CDs. By learning to play blues bass guitar by ear, you are not only learning the notes on the neck, but are developing a blues feel, which is essential when playing in this style.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Bass guitar CD player Blues CD

How to Play Blues Bass Guitar by Ear

1. 

   Learn the blues scale starting on the 4th string. E is a good key to start with as it uses several open strings, and is a common key in blues music.

2. 

   Learn the E blues scale starting on the 3rd string. Once these two scales are learned in the key of E, move them around the neck to different keys. The first note of each scale will dictate the key. For example, if the first note of the scale is on the 3rd fret of the 4th string, the scale is in the key of G.

3. 

   Learn to play the 12-bar blues chord progression. Learn the root of each chord first until the progression is memorized. This will allow you to hear each chord change without making things too complicated.

4. 

   Learn a 12-bar blues bass "riff." A "riff" is a commonly used bass pattern that is built out of the blues scale. Riffs like these are the basis of countless traditional and modern blues songs.

5. Insert the CD into the CD player and cue up any blues song. If you are familiar with the song, it will be easier to learn that song by ear.

6. Listen to the first bar of the song, paying close attention to the bass guitar and the notes it is playing.

7. Turn off the CD and find the notes from the first bar of the song on the bass. In most cases, the first note being heard will be the key of the song. So if the first note is E, you know that the song is in the key of E. This will help you find the rest of the notes being used, because they will most likely come from the E blues scale.

8. Turn the CD back on and play along with the first bar of the song. This will tell you if the notes you chose were right, or if you need to go back and relearn any or all of them.

9. Once the notes you have figured out match all of the notes in the first bar of the song, move on to the second bar, then the third, and so on.

Tips & Warnings

• Listening to blues CDs will help you get the form and feel of the blues in your ears, making it easier to learning to play blues bass guitar. If learning by ear is proving too difficult, try taking one or two private lessons with a bass-guitar teacher to get a head start. Using a program like Transcribe, which slows down music, can make it easier to learn harder passages by ear. Many blues songs use similar bass "riffs"; therefore, each new song will be easier to learn as you develop your "dictionary" of riffs.

Resources

• Transcribe Software Program
• How to Buy a Bass
• Constructing Bass Lines