BASICS

While it can seem a little tedious learning the notes on the fretboard, it can help massively when you want to jam with other people.  When someone says 'it's in G' it helps to know where G is! 

That's just the start.  Scales and arpeggios rely on a little fretboard knowledge for you to understand what you're actually playing.  In fact most things played on the bass need some knowledge of the notes to enable you to be in tune with other musicians. 

This diagram shows the basic notes for the first octave, from open to the 12th fret.  The gaps between the notes can be either sharp - # or flat - b  - A# and Bb for example being the same note. 

The best way to learn the entire fretboard is to learn the open strings and then one string at a time.  Start with the E string.

It will soon become obvious that in music the notes are A B C D E F G and then they repeat.  Easy.  The next thing that you should notice is that there is a one fret gap between them except between B and C and also E and F where there are next to each other.  Notes that are next to each other on the fretboard like B and C are a 'semitone' apart.  Notes with a one fret gap like F and G are a 'tone' apart.

Another thing you'll soon notice is that each string is five frets lower than the next one.  This is a very good thing to remember when trying to tune up without a tuner. 

AN INTRODUCTION TO TAB

EXCERCISE - STRETCH

One of the main problems that novice bassists face is that playing for any length of time can be uncomfortable or even painful until they have properly developed their hand muscles.  The following exercise can really help in the development of those muscles and help any bassist to be able to play for longer lengths of time.  The chromatic exercise (chromatic meaning using every note) also helps improve the player's stretch.

The exercise is presented in TAB form.  TAB is a method of representing music without the need to know how to read standard music tablature.  The numbers on the lines represent the fret number played and the numbers beneath the lines represent the finger used.  The bottom line represents the low (thick) E string and the top line the high (thin) G string.

SCALES, CHORDS & ARPEGGIOS

Scales are shown as in this example of the Pentatonic Blues scale and similar to the diagram of the notes on the fretboard shown above.  Each scale is shown as a position that can be moved around the fretboard to different root notes and therefore be played in different keys. 

The root notes are represented by the purple ring and black dot while the rest of the notes are shown as the filled in purple dot.  The number in each dot represents the finger to be used to play the note.  To play the scales start at one of the root notes on the e strings and work your way through. When you finish one way play it back through the other way.

For example to play B Pentatonic Blues Scale the root note should be played on the 7th fret then the 10th fret on the same string then move to the 7th fret of the A string and then the 9th fret of the same string and so on. For more about scales go to the scales section.

Arpeggios are shown in the same way. For more about arpeggios gog go to the arpeggio section.

Chords are shown in a similar way but with only one note per string.  For more about chords go the chords section.