The Secret To Unlocking The Bass Fretboard (it’s really obvious!)

In this video I'm going to teach you the secret to unlocking the bass fretboard. And guess what? It's really obvious.
Many bass players want to learn how to play fluently all around the bass guitar fretboard. This usually mean working outside of the common one octave fretboard patterns we all learn when getting started. So today we'll look at a few exercises that should help with playing lines over the entire fretboard. You'll improve your position shifting, your technique and your knowledge of keys.

This exercise is taken from the new TalkingBass book The Cyborg Bassist Volume 1: Scale Mastery For Electric Bass which you can find here:

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:48 What is 'unlocking the fretboard'
2:29 The 'secret' to playing horizontally
3:26 The G Major Scale
4:15 Positions
4:47 G Major Exercise
11:38 Tips
12:16 Variation
13:21 C Major Exercise
16:26 Position Application
17:56 The Cyborg Bassist

#talkingbass #scales #basslessons

[ThePlaySpace-CurtainCall]

Lol. I'm sure beginners hate you. But, as a bass teacher, I really appreciated this. No BS. No rambling. No dumbing it down. No taking it slow. Just facts.

[kane]

I must say as a converted bassist it’s so much easier to fretboard without having to worry about that pesky high B String on the guitar. The think I love is patterns are the same on bass you don’t have to worry because it’s all tuned in fourths 🤩

[vincentwright]

Ultimately for me, you’ve confirmed the conclusion that I had already come to about the fretboard. My biggest challenge has been making a way to practice regularly, because I work on the road for 2 months at a stretch. Fret not (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun)! I now have a cheap, under $200 Harley Benton “travel” base that goes wherever I go! Now I can master that fretboard, even if it’s only 15 minutes every day! And I’m also much happier having access to a bass I can grab every day (don’t tell my wife and make her jealous of Harley) ;-) 😊

[WDXash]

Playing keyboard helps me to appreciate the ease of ‘patterns’ on a fretboard compared to having remember intervals on a keyboard. That said, knowing musical intervals does help to work out fretboard shapes and learn the notes at the same time. Great tutorial 👍

[andre.bouchard]

As an ex bass player who started again 3 months ago, after 15 years, this video is precisely scratching that itch like no other video did. Ive watched hundreds of video in the last months.
This is great stuff.

[nicacrush]

Just bought the book. This is exactly what I needed. It gives me something to focus on which is difficult with all of the material out there. Keep up the great work Mark. You're an excellent teacher!

[morenobordin]

Thank you Mark for this valuable lesson. This is exactly what I need in order to improve "horizontally" on my playing!

[jimbolia]

Always top notch advice on this channel, thanks Mark for continuing to inspire and help create more great bass players in the world.

[martinmix]

Thanks for this video! Now that I'm (finally) taking the time to learn theory (beyond a few scales), this kind of things makes so much more sense to me. I can almost feel it all coming into clarity. Really appreciate all you do to add joy to my, and so many others', playing!

[jamesmathew]

This is a very informative lesson, Mark! Thanks for sharing!

[ElaadBo]

One of the best practice on bass and you teach it AMAZING!

[dreamdemolitionfactory]

Wow!..Excellent lesson...Breaking the stock positions is melodically and tonally liberating..Big Thanks Mark

[NotThatOneThisOne]

Two things I like to practice along these lines are....
- playing scales/arpeggios on only 2 strings
- learning the positions for the major scales starting with my first finger on increasing notes on the scales ( so c major notes starting on D, E, F etc, effectively learning the modes but you don't need their names). Has the benefit of showing the connection between major and the couple of minor scales.

[samshrek]

Yea Mark! You’re a legend, this vid has helped a lot. Keep up the good work!

[lioness-kushlumumba]

Great teaching here Mark! I am just exploring this as I so want to free myself to travel over the bass neck like a pro!

[timjones]

I'm not even a bass player but your tutorials always make me think I should try it. Graet demonstration and informative.

[Joey]

Hi Mark, I look forward to your book coming out. Thanks again for this very informative and beneficial video.

[JNeedels]

First time I saw your video, wow impressive, excellent teaching technique, thanks, subscribing now 😊

[dalewatts]

Thank you for another excellent lesson. You hsve a wonderful relaxed teaching style---packed with information yet very easy to understand. Your own skill is also a great asset; It is very motivating to see where the techniques lead to when mastered and come easily.

[NickThunnda]

I also rely on the dots, bridging the whole fretboard with octaves, having only 4 strings all tuned in 4ths, and enjoying the awesome effect of chromatic runs, drones, and sheer grunty bass power 😁 Thanks man🙏