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Practice Track – D7

Here is a practice track for practicing your myxolidian mode. Seventh chords occur as the chord built on the 5th degree of the major scale, and usually resolve to the Tonic chord, or the 1 chord of the major key. However in the blues and modal tunes, their may be no such resolution. There may be a change to another 7th chord. Or as in this track, there is just one chord the whole way. Notice how interest is built by having a melodic rhythm backing that varies.

The track is built on the D7 chord. So use the myxolidian mode of the G major scale. Or in other words, a D major scale with a flattened 7th. And listen to the next bass track as well, if you want to hear my ideas for soloing!

 

Here is the track without a bass line for the bass players. Listen to the other track too, with my Bass line, and see if you can copy aspects of it!

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G minor Practice Track

Here is a practice track for guitar players in the key of G minor. Its a G minor groove built around a Gm7 chord. Perfect for jamming away on a G minor pentatonic scale. For a different flavour, try a G dorian (Dorian mode of F major) or a G natural minor.

 

Here is the same track minus the bass line, and with a lead guitar part, especially for Bass players to jam away on. Try coming up with your own bass lines. Also see if you can hear my bass line from the track above, and reproduce it. The chromatically desending organ line that comes around periodically sounds extra good if you double that on the bass.

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Practice track for Bass Players – C major

Here is a practice track for Bass Players in C major. The Chords are

||:C            |               |F            |               :||

Try playing a bass line with just the root notes first, and when you can hear the chord changes well, try putting in some runs with the C major scale. You can also try working off your chord tones… the 1,3 and 5 of each chord. It sounds good adding a 6th or a 2nd to the chord tones as well. Experiment and have some fun!

If you would like to hear my bass line for this track, I have released it as a single called “Cat Cuddle Cafe” by Rob Reeves. Access it on Apple Music or Spotify from this link….

You can also purchase from iTunes or Amazon if you want the 1’s and 0’s on your device!

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Another One for the Bass Players – E Blues

Here is another practice track for the bass players. It is an E 12 Bar blues. The rhythm part is played with all dominant 7th chords, while the lead guitar plays with the E minor pentatonic scale. Here are the chords:-

|E7               |                 |                  |                |

|A7               |                 |E7             |                |

|B7               |A7            |E7              |E7           |

Try constructing bass lines from your dominant 7th chord arpeggios. Add in the 6th for a classic blues bass line. For your runs, try the the myxolydian mode from the root of each chord.

 

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G major II-V-I practice track

This practice track is intended for bass players who are getting to grips with there II-V-I progressions. The key is G major, with a basic jazz feel, the backing track contains guitar playing the chords and drums doing a slow tempo swing. The chords are

||: Am7      |D7                 |Gmaj7         |                : ||

You can try some of the following exercises:

(1) Play the root note of each chord on beat one of each bar. Find as many different root notes as you can in different regions of the neck.

(2) Modify exercise 1 by playing up or down the scale from the root note when you land on the chord Gmaj7. Play one neat per beat.

(3) Repeat exercise 2, but playing up or down from the root note of the other chords.

(4) Try playing up or down from the root notes of each chord in the progression.

(5) Once the first four exercises are going comfortably, try exercise 1 again, but this time land on the 3rd of each chord. Repeat exercise 3 and 4, but playing up or down from the 3rd.

(6) Repeat exercise (5), but landing on the 5th, and again landing on the 7th.

Repeat all exercises using all 5 moveable major scale fingerings, and the open fingering.

Gmajor 2-5-1 Jazz progression without bass

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Bass Practice Track – E Minor Pentatonic

I thought it would be cool for my bass students to play along with a track that I am working on for an album by “The Robert Bloodwood Experience”, which is the name of my blues and groove band. So I have taken out the bass and the vocals, leaving just the drums and guitars.

It is predominantly an E minor groove, occasionally changing to G and then to A. See if you can figure out where by listening. Play along using the E minor Pentatonic scale. Remember that simple with a good feel is often the best option for bass.

practicetrackversionNoBassNoVocals

 

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Practice Track: Groove Bass

Here is a practice track for bass players. It is in the key of G minor, at a medium tempo. There is only one chord – a G minor played throughout, but interest is created by interspersing rhythm accompaniments and lead tracks using various guitar sounds and organ styles. This track is ideal for sharpening up the G minor pentatonic chops. The minor pentatonic scale is great for all kinds of groove based music, and is also useful for rock and blues as well. There is no bass line recorded on this track, so see if you can play along, and create some bass lines using the G minor Pentatonic scale. A good rule of thumb to start with is to play the root note on beat one of each bar. Have fun exploring!

Bass_Gm_Grrove

If you are not familiar with the G minor pentatonic scale, here is a fret board diagram. It shows two scale shapes that you can play with just fingers 1 and 3, which is easiest for less experienced players. In each case, start with your third finger on a G, and use your first finger to slide between fret one and fret 3 on the A string, or fret 8 and 10 on the D string.

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Practice Track for Bassists: D Dorian.

This is a practice track for beginning and intermediate bassists. It is a simple slow rock rhythm track, with drums and two rhythm guitars. The chords are D minor and G:

||: Dm       |           |G           |             : ||

Start by using the root notes of each chord, and play on beat one of each bar. See if you can add to the groove with where you put your notes – listen in particular to the bass drum, and see if you can synchronize with it.

When you are comfortable with this, add the fifths of each chord (A for the D minor, and D for the G).

Then see if you can incorporate the thirds of each chord ( F for D minor and B for G).

For walking bass lines and riffs, experiment with the D minor pentatonic scale, and the Dorian mode of the C major scale.

Dm_G_slow_rock

Enjoy!

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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