Practice Track: Reggae

February 21, 2011May 15, 2011

Practice Track: Reggae

Here is a basic practice track for beginning to intermediate bass players in a simple Reggae feel. It is to help you practice your reggae bass lines. The chords are A and D:One way to get a reggae feel happening in the bass is to be sure to hit the root note of the chord on beat one of the bar, or at the change of chord. Use octaves and fifths as the main notes of your line. Avoid thirds and sevenths, and use sixths and seconds for runs – as in the following fingering chart (root notes in boxes):

Slide from the lower position with finger 3 on the 7th fret, up two frets so that finger 3 falls on the 9th fret, where the 2nd and 6th can easily be played. Don’t forget to leave plenty of space!

Here is the track:

A_D_Reggae

Have fun!

February 19, 2011December 8, 2011

Practice Track: Indie Rock

Here is a practice track which I have done in an Indie Rock style, to show that simple things can be very effective. It is suitable for guitarists and bass players of beginning to intermediate level. The chord progression is a very common one in lots of songs, involving the chords C, G, Am and F:To solo over the progression, first recognize that the progression is in the key of C major. So use the notes from the C major scale. One concept that you can use is to hit the first beat of every two bar group with a sustained note from the chord. That way you accentuate the harmony and sound “in control” of the progression. C chord: C, E, or G. G chord: G, B, or D. Am chord: A, C, or E. F chord: F, A, or C. To add interest, follow the strong note with some linking scale tones that lead to the next strong chordal note at the change of chord. Add interest by hitting the chordal note more than once, in different rhythms, to more strongly emphasize it. Interest and emphasis can also be added by first hitting the tone above or below the chord note, and quickly moving to the chord note. Another idea is to follow the first chord tone by another chord tone, thus doubly emphasizing the harmony.All these ideas can be heard in the following track including my solo (try to play along with me):

C_G_Am_F_lead

To practice your own solo, here is the track without the lead guitar:

C_G_Am_F

Have fun!

January 27, 2011May 24, 2012

Practice Track: Am7&E7

This practice track is suitable for beginning and intermediate guitar and bass players, in a funk – rock style. Here is the chord chart:There are many ways to tackle playing over the progression, here are a few suggestions for Guitarists.

Am blues scale
A natural minor over Am, and A harmonic minor over E7
A natural minor over Am, and E Myxolydian (A major) over E7
Am pentatonic or blues scale over Am, and Bm pentatonic over E7

For bass players:

Use tonics and octaves for each chord
Use 1 and flat 7 for each chord (G&A for Am7), (D&E for E7)
Use 1, flat 7 and 5 for each chord (A,G,E for Am7), (B,D,E for E7)
Am pentatonic scale
Am pentatonic for Am7; Bm Pentatonic for E7
Am7 arpeggio for Am7; E7 arpeggio for E7
As 3, but add passing notes from A natural minor (Am7) or A harmonic minor (E7)

You can play the track from the following link:

[audio:http://www.robsguitarschool.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/AmE7.mp3|titles=AmE7]

Have fun!

January 25, 2011May 15, 2011

Practice Track: Em Pentatonic on First Two Strings

This tune is great fun to play, and sounds good played in many different ways, from fast to slow. Most of my beginning students will spend some time on this tune, as it is a great introduction to jammimg and improvisation using the pentatonic scale, the foundation of much rock and roll, blues and jazz playing. There are only four notes in the tune, so it is perfect to learn for those in the first stages of learning. Listen to my track with the recorded melody, and try to play along as you read the music. Then try to play the melody using the track without the melody recorded. Then practice making up your own tunes, using the same four notes, or adding other notes from the E minor pentatonic scale.

Em Pentatonic on First Two Strings – with Melody

Em Pentatonic on First Two Strings – just chords

January 25, 2011May 15, 2011

Practice track for beginning players – G major.

Here is a practice play along track for beginning guitar and bass players. The chords are G & D7. Download the MP3 from the link below:

G&D7

To practice your improvisation, use the G major scale. There are only two chords, as per the chart below! Listen carefully to see which notes sound best against each chord.Here is a simple first bass line for the bass players! Start with the line written below, but then experiment with different rhythms! Have fun!