Practice track for bassists

Here is a practice track for bassists interested in playing jazz. One of the fundamental building blocks of jazz is the ii-V-I progression, and practicing the ii-V-I progression in every key should be a must for every aspiring jazz musician! So here is a start for bass players, a slow (90 bpm) ii-V-I in the key of Eb, comprising a basic drum track with some rhythm guitar. Practice your walking bass lines, and then let loose with your solo ideas. First you will need to have the Eb major scale under your fingers. In the following fretboard diagram, the squares represent the tonic, or the Eb. Start with the open position scale pattern, and once you know this very well, add the 3rd position scale pattern. Once that one is known, add the next, until you have a command of all the scale patterns. If you have got that far, there is an additional scale pattern corresponding to the open position up an octave I have left you to work out for yourself! These fingerings and scale patterns are for electric bass. If you are learning double bass, use your double bass fingering patterns which are a bit different.

Once you have one (or more) of the scale patterns above under your fingers, use the practice track to explore the progression.  I would suggest identifying the root note of each chord first, and then the third, fifth and seventh of each chord. Have fun!

Eb flat ii-V-I practice track