Beginner Bass Base: Note Names – Part 1 (Ascending Groove)

MASTER BASS EDUCATOR PATRICK PFEIFFER HELPS BUILD EVERY ELEMENT OF YOUR PLAYING WITH HIS BEGINNER BASS BASE COLUMN

By Patrick Pfeiffer

ORIGINALLY POSTED IN BASS MAGAZINE, JUNE 2019

Imagine you’re stretched out on your little rowboat, a gentle breeze playing with your hair, waves lazily lapping against the wooden hull and you’re just enjoying the moment…and then, suddenly it hits you! While you’ve been letting your mind drift, your little boat has done some drifting of its own, and now you’re out on a vast ocean with no land in sight and no idea in which direction to venture. The only thing that looks vaguely familiar is the grey fin that keeps patiently circling.

This is the feeling you get when you’re playing your favorite song, really losing yourself in the music, and then, after a particularly brazen move, you realize you have no idea where you are on the bass neck. You’re utterly lost, with no note name in sight…and you have that vision of the circling fin.

Which brings us to this month’s column: Finding your way among the notes on your bass neck. Bassists enjoy a certain mobility, since the same note appears in several different places on the neck. For example, on a regular four-string bass, the G of the open G string can also be played on the 5th fret of the D string, the 10th fret of the A string and the 15th fret of the E string. That’s quite a selection (I almost said “Gee, that’s quite a selection,” but stopped myself just in time…well…).

The deciding factor regarding which G to play depends on which notes are to follow. You wouldn’t want to play a G triad starting with the root on the 15th fret of the E string, followed by the B (the 3rd of the triad) way down the neck on the 4th fret of the G string and finish off by playing the D (the 5th of the triad) back up on the 12th fret of the D string (although this would make for some very compelling footage for a music video shoot). The far more sensible way to execute this same triad is to play the G on the 5th fret of the D string, followed by the B on the 4th fret of the G string and finally the D on the 7th fret of the G string. All the notes are in close proximity and you don’t even have to shift your hand.

When it comes to playing a groove, you want to group your notes close together, as well. You group your notes so as to reach all of them with ease and with a minimum of motion. So…if you compose your groove in such a cluster, doesn’t this mean all you have to worry about is where to place the root of the groove, since all your other notes are nearby? Yes indeed! Then, in order to practice finding the names of the notes on the neck, wouldn’t it be more interesting and efficient to use a groove for the task? Absolutely!

Fig. 1 serves as your master sheet for identifying all the notes (pitches) on basses that have four, five or six strings and up to 24 frets. The twelve notes (C is repeated at the end of the row) are, in chromatic order:

C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B C

To speed up your learning process for finding all the different notes on the neck, let me give you a few tricks:

Finding the same note (an octave higher) in close proximity

Two strings + two frets

If you’re playing a note on a low string, you can find its octave two strings above and two frets higher up on the neck. For example, when you play the C on the 3rd fret of the A string, your closest C is two strings higher (on the G string) and two frets higher (on the 5th fret). Try placing your index finger on the 3rd fret of the A string; your ring finger will reach the 5th fret on the G string. Both notes are C, but an octave apart. You can do this anywhere on the neck as long as you have two strings and two frets above your starting note.

Finding the same note (an octave lower) in close proximity

Two strings + two frets

If you’re playing a note on a high string, then your octave is two strings below and two frets down the neck from that note. For example, play C on the 10th fret of the D string. Your closest C is two strings lower (on the E string) and two frets lower (on the 8th fret). Try placing your pinky on the 10th fret of the D string; your middle finger reaches the 8th fret on the E string. Both notes are C, an octave apart. You can do this anywhere on the neck, as long as you have two strings and two frets below your starting note.

Finding the same note (an octave higher) on a higher adjacent string

Two hand spans

Place your index finger on a note and line up your other fingers, one per fret, along the same string. Now shift your hand so that your index finger lands one fret above where your pinky had been, and line up all your fingers again. Then, cross over to the next highest string. Your pinky is now on the same note you started on, but an octave higher.

For example, play C on the 3rd fret of the A string with your index finger, and place the middle and ring fingers, and the pinky on the frets along the same string. The index finger is on the 3rd fret, the middle finger on the 4th, the ring finger on the 5th and the pinky on is the 6th fret. Next, shift your hand up the string and place your index finger on the 7th fret, one fret above where your pinky had been. Line up all your fingers again: index finger on the 7th fret, middle finger on the 8th, ring finger on the 9th and pinky on the 10th. Then cross your pinky to the next highest string, the D string, and you end up with your pinky on C (it’s the 10th fret of the D string).

Finding the same note (same octave) on a higher adjacent string

Hand span + two frets

Place your pinky on a note high on the string (it has to be on the 8th fret or higher) and line up all your other fingers, one per fret, along the same string. Shift your hand so that your index finger lands two frets below where it had been. Cross over to the next higher string. Your index finger is now on the same note that you started on.

For example, play C on the 10th fret of the D string with your pinky, and place the ring finger, middle finger and the index finger on the frets along the same string below the pinky. You now have the pinky on the 10th fret, the ring finger on the 9th, the middle finger on the 8th and the index finger on the 7th fret. Next, shift your hand down the string by two frets and place your index finger on the 5th fret. Cross your index finger to the next highest string, the G string, and you end up with the index finger on the C (it’s the 5th fret of the G string).

Finding the same note (an octave higher) on the same string

Octave marker and open string

One last note-finding aid is the method that uses the octave marker on your bass. At the 12th fret you can see double dots (or perhaps another sort of special marker) that identifies the octave of each open string. Starting at this point, the sequence of notes along each string repeats itself. For example, if you play the C on the 3rd fret of the A string, then you can find the octave C on the 3rd fret above the octave marker on the same string, the 15th fret.

Naturally all of these devices also work in reverse.

Wow, this is a lot to remember, but don’t fret it (ouch, did I just let loose yet another really bad pun?). The best way to learn all the notes on your neck is to take a cool, useful groove and move it through all the possibilities. Use Fig. 1 as a reference until you get used to the notes. It shows you all the locations of the different notes on a 24-fret neck (even though most basses end on the 20th fret, but just in case…) and for four-, five- and six strings.

This is Part 1 of a two-part column, and the groove here is ascending; the root is on the bottom of the groove and you build the other notes on top (and you can take a wild guess what next month’s Part 2 of this column is about). Fig. 2 shows you the groove starting with the root on the 3rd fret of the A string, and Fig. 3 is the same groove starting on the 8th fret of the E string. Both positions use the same notes, even in the same octave.

Fig. 4 shows the groove an octave higher, starting on the 15th fret of the A string, while Fig. 5 has the same groove starting on the 20th fret of the E string (which may be a bit high for most basses). All these grooves start on C and use the same notes. You need a range of three strings and two frets in order to complete them. That means you can only start the groove on the E- or A string of a four-string bass, the B-, E- or A string of a five-string bass or the B-, E-, A- or D string of a six-string bass.

Once you have a good handle on the groove, it’s time to put this into an effective practice routine. Here’s how you go about finding all the notes on your neck. Fig. 6 gives you the starting points for each note of this ascending groove. Remember, you need three strings to play it, therefore you can’t start on the top two strings. Play the first groove beginning on the 3rd fret of the A string. Without interrupting the groove, look for another C to move your groove to (hang on the first groove for as long as it takes to find that new C). You can see there is a C on the 8th fret of the E string. Shift your hand as seamlessly as possible to this new C and continue playing the groove without interruption.

The importance of playing continuously while you’re finding new starting points for your groove simulates a real-life situation. When you’re on the bandstand and you’re getting ready to move to a new note, you can’t just stop to figure out where you’re going. Now you’re playing your groove with the root located on the 8th fret of the E string. While playing, scan for another C to move this groove to. You find one on the 15th fret of the A string. Seamlessly shift your groove to this new position and keep playing. Now, while continuing to play, search for another C. There is one on the 20th fret of the E string, which may be a little too high for most basses. Remember, you need a range of two frets for this groove and most basses end on the 20th or 21st fret, so you may not be able to complete this particular groove.

Once you’ve explored all the available starting pitches beginning on C, move on to F. You can start on the 1st fret of the E string, move to the 8th fret of the A string, and then back to the E string to the 13th fret, all while happily grooving. What a way to exercise! After F, follow up with A#/Bb and just keep on going through the notes until you end at G. You now have played the groove in all twelve keys and in all available positions…congratulations!

This is a truly serious workout. You may want to spread it over the course of several days or even a week (at two pitches per day it takes six days to play all twelve keys). I promise you, the results are truly amazing, and a whole new world of possibilities will allow your bass playing to reach an entirely new level of mastery.

Next month’s column is all about the other direction of the groove, the descending line…so try to control your excitement, I know this is a real (bass) clef-hanger.

Until then, love, light and low frequencies to you!