As with most deep and thoughtful questions, the answer to this one is, \u201cIt all depends.\u201d It really depends on what you want to do with music. Where do you want to end up on your music journey? If you pay attention to what most musicians will say about this topic, one thing becomes crystal clear. While some people debate exactly how much music theory for the bass player is actually necessary, almost everyone agrees that more musical knowledge is never a bad thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
This article isn\u2019t going to be a tutorial on music theory for bass. What it is, however, is some suggestions for beginners that might clarify some concepts and help in deciding where to start. Sometimes just knowing where to start is the most important piece of the puzzle. Each step leads into the next one depending on your situation. Some people will need more theory to make life easier and more enjoyable, while only the very basics will be just fine for others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s take a look at some scenarios and what level of study might be appropriate for getting what you need. And most importantly, where you should begin. One thing to note, you can always pay attention to the walls you start to hit musically. If something becomes difficult from a conceptual standpoint, you probably need to dig a bit deeper into music theory. Until then, just have fun playing and creating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re looking to just play a bit at home or with friends, you probably won\u2019t need much music theory, to be honest. You\u2019ll most likely do just fine learning to read bass tablature, or tabs, and following YouTube tutorials to learn baselines to songs that you want to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This can be a really good first step on a longer music journey as well. Learning where to put your fingers and how to do it takes a good while when you first start. And playing something that you really love to listen to as soon as possible is really powerful. If you can find some tutorials for a few of your favorite songs and just play to your heart\u2019s content, eventually you\u2019ll know if you want to go deeper into the rabbit hole. Check out songsterr<\/a> for a huge range of bass tabs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this stage, definitely learn the notes on the neck and learn how to read tablature. Those two steps will open up a world of opportunity for you in terms of songs you can learn. Keep reading for suggestions on studying the notes on the bass guitar fretboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your goal is to be able to create and play your own music either by yourself or with other musicians, you\u2019ll definitely want to learn some basic music theory. Knowing how keys work and how chord progressions fit together is a huge benefit when you\u2019re trying to make music. When you understand how people create songs, you\u2019re able to put together song structures and chord progressions on your own with much less guesswork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, the time that you\u2019ll put in learning some basic music theory will come back to you many times over as you\u2019ll be able to write songs a lot more quickly, at least in relative terms. Songwriting is not a \u201cquick\u201d process for most people. However, when you\u2019re aware of common chord progressions and which ones you really love, you can access them much faster than if you just guess at it over and over until you find what you\u2019re looking for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah, this sounds kinda strange to some people. There are musicians who are looking at the bass more and more as an instrument for composition, similar to the piano. Mike Watt<\/a>, for instance, said the following in an interview with Jedd Beaudoin of KMUW<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe bass is a composition tool. It can outline the starts and the stops and the dynamics. Rhythms. Tempos. Harmonically, it leaves a lot out. It\u2019s kind of a launch pad. The people I\u2019m playing with will add more to it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n However, if you\u2019re writing and recording music as a small producer, there’s a good chance that you\u2019re also playing piano or keyboards as well.\u00a0So, it is helpful to consider not only what kind of music you’ll be creating and where you’ll be creating it but also how. Your need for music theory can often be informed by what instruments you’ll be using to write your music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The great thing is that the concepts of any of this basic music theory translate perfectly to both bass guitar and piano. You just have to get your brain and your fingers to do something different for each instrument. Again, easy, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you know that you want to do this for a living, commit to learning as much about music theory as you can. If you get to a point where you\u2019ve reached your goal, and you\u2019re playing gigs and getting jobs as much as you\u2019d like, you\u2019ll certainly be able to assess whether you need more theory past that point or not. However, making a plan to learn everything that you can about your instrument and about music, in general, will set you up for success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll want to have deep knowledge of the circle of fifths and how it translates to live performance. Knowing how notes and keys are related to each other with a \u201cmuscle memory\u201d type of confidence will make you super valuable in the studio. It will also help you to pick up new music a lot quicker than if you had no knowledge of it at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Combining everything, mastery of the bass fretboard, bass guitar scales and patterns, the circle of fifths, along with some other more esoteric aspects of theory that you\u2019ll encounter further along the way, will give you the skills to create bass lines on the fly and improvise in almost any situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simply knowing about the circle of fifths and how it translates to the fretboard can be mind blowing for some bass players. I know it was for me. The key to learning it without going crazy is to take it in small chunks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Like the saying goes, \u201cthe easiest way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.\u201d Find a good bass tutorial or learning system and stick with it. Learn how to find root notes on the bass. And learn how to find fourths, fifths, and octaves from those root notes. If you do just<\/em> that, it will make an enormous difference to your bass playing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, if you don\u2019t know the fretboard well, knowing root notes, fourths, fifths, and octaves will be pointless. So, start there. Do this before anything else. Learn the names of every note on the bass fretboard. Start with all of the notes between the first and fifth frets. Include the open notes as well, obviously.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you know these notes well, move on to the rest of the neck up to the twelfth fret. You can divide up the rest of the neck how you\u2019d like, but make it manageable for yourself. Since the twelfth fret is the octave and notes just repeat again, everything above that you will already know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be honest, once you\u2019ve got the first five frets down really well, you\u2019re ready to start learning a few important bass guitar scales and arpeggios. Learn the basic major scale pattern, and then learn the minor scale pattern. Some people like to learn the note names and the basic scale patterns at the same time. This is up to you.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re brand new with the bass, here’s a pretty decent video to get you started thinking about the note names.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMusic theory for the home music producer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Taking out the guesswork<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Writing music on a bass guitar though?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Music theory for the gigging pro bass player<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How to structure your music theory learning on bass guitar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Learn the bass guitar notes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n