Bass Runs For Bar Chords On I-vi-IV-V Progression

This final part of the series of bass run licks for bar chord rhythm guitar shows you a lick and scale positions to play over I-vi-IV-V chord progressions. At the end of this lesson you'll also find instructions to download the printable PDF version of the whole series.

Bass Run Example

This bass run is in the key of C major and it's a little different from previous examples. It uses more single notes and only a few chord strums. This kind of playing creates more space and gives your rhythm playing a more melodic sound. Even though the chords are strummed just once per bar this is enough to firmly establish their sound.

You'll also notice some runs using sixteenth notes in the first two bars. This might seem like a lot of notes, but they are not as hard as they might first appear. Remember to play slowly at first and get the note placement right before speeding up.

Hand Placement Tips

Here are a few tips on how to place your hands and fingers to play the example. On the 4th beat of the first bar slide down your ring finger to play the note on the 6th string, 8th fret. Then slide it down again to the 7th fret. This will get you within easy reach of the Am chord.

At the end of the run on the Am chord in bar two, whip your index finger up from the 5th fret of the 6th string to the 8th fret to play the C note. Again, this will bring your hand into easy reach of the F chord that follows.

In the final two bars slide your ring finger between the 10th and 12th frets to keep your hand in position to reach all of the notes and chords. On the final beat of bar four, slide your ring finger down to play the G note at the 10th fret of the 5th string so you can follow up easily with the C chord again.

Scale Positions

The bass runs use notes from the major scale and are played using two patterns on the 5th and 6th strings, shown below.

You can easily slide up and down between these positions with the pivot around the 8th fret.

Conclusion

That brings the series of bass runs for bar chords to an end. If you have any questions please use the comments below to ask.

Free PDF Download

All the parts of this series are available as a PDF file so you can print them out conveniently. To download the file just click on this link.

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Special Offer On Marty Schwartz Guitar Videos

Anybody who follows this site regularly will have seen guitar lesson videos I've shared from Marty Schwartz before. I really like Marty's style of presenting things clearly, simply and with his off-beat humour.

That's why I thought you might be interested in a special offer on some of Marty's jam tracks and video lessons that I heard of.

As well as the many You Tube videos Marty produces he also offers lots of guitar tuition in on-line and DVD format via his GuitarJamz web site. This site gives you all the best ingredients of Marty's You Tube videos but you can follow the videos in a logical order. You can also order them on DVD & TV rather than your computer.

So, anyway, what I wanted to share with you was this one-week special offer I received. Until Friday 29th October 2010 you can purchase a 5 CD Jam Tracks Super Set at half price. The 5 CDs give you jam tracks for blues, rock, acoustic and jazz for the special price of US $59.97.

Even better, if you take up the offer you'll also get some great bonus DVDs included into the bargain:

• Guitar Soloing 4 DVD Set - Marty's lessons in the new Guitar Solo 4 DVD Set starts off covering the bedrock of all guitar scales the minor pentatonic series of shapes. It also shows you how to use modes to solo.
• Best of the Best Guitar Soloing lesson DVD - This DVD is a collection of Marty's highest rated and most compelling lessons detailing how to really solo on the guitar.

The Guitar Soloing 4 DVD Set is currently selling for $64.99 on Marty's site. So that adds up to well over a US$100 saving for you if you take advantage of this offer.

To benefit from the special offer price all you have to do is visit Marty's site via this special link and purchase by Friday, 29th October 2010.

Update: This special offer is now over, but you can still choose from a great selection of video guitar lessons at the regular site page by following this link to GuitarJamz.

Note that if you purchase lessons through the above link I may receive a small commission.

Bass Runs For Bar Chords On ii-V-I

Today we continue our series of guitar bass runs for bar chords over a ii-V-I progression. The progression is over a simple four bar pattern in the key of A, shown in the first figure below.

We're going to look at two examples over this progression. The first uses notes from the major scale, while the second shows a pattern based on the minor pentatonic scale. The two scale positions are shown in the diagram below.

Now you've got the progression and the scale positions, let's move on the see the first example.

Example #1 Major Scale

In this first example the chords are linked with runs based on the major scale. At the end of the first bar move your ring finger up from the note at the 7th fret to the 9th to put your hand into position for the Bm chord.

In the second and third bars, again use your ring finger for the notes on the 9th fret and 11th frets. Slide it up for the 11th fret, then back down to the 9th to get into position for the chords.

Example #2 Minor Scale

This second example shows that you can do a lot with a simple pattern. You don't have to use every note on the fretboard in every song.

The pattern repeats the same notes from the minor pentatonic scale at each chord change. Playing this gives same sound throughout the progression that gives it cohesion.

Conclusion

Practice these bass runs over ii-V-I progressions in different keys by moving them up or down the fretboard. Try to make up some new runs of your own too, using the scale positions shown. Experiment with the second example to find some patterns that sound good over the whole progression.

Later this week I'll be posting the final part of this series. You'll then be able to get all the parts in a print-friendly PDF format. Be sure to sign up for free to be reminded delivered by email or RSS reader.

More From This Series

Part 1 4 Bass Runs For Bar Chord Progressions
Part 2 Bass Runs For Guitar Bar Chords Part 2
Part 3 Guitar Bass Runs For Bar Chords Part 3
Part 4 Learn Guitar - Better Bar Chords Video

Learn Guitar - Better Bar Chords Video

Right now I'm running a series of posts on enriching barre chord rhythm guitar playing with some bass run patterns to link up the chords. This series is aimed at players who are already reasonably comfortable with barre chords and can play through a chord progression with them.

But if you have tackled bar chords yet, or if you're still struggling with them, the video I'm sharing today should give you some good tips to help you out.

As luck would have it I just learned of this lesson from two of the Internet's most popular guitar teacher's, Griff Hamlin and Marty Schwartz. They've made a video that you should see below, where they share their tips to improve your bar chords.



Keep in mind that all important tip from Marty, "You're never going to get better at bar chords unless you actually practice the bar chord" (03:31).

It might come as a disappointment to you if you're hoping for a quick solution. But to get better sounding bar chords you've got to spend time to play lots of bar chords that suck (I know I played a lot of those those :-)

Take heart though, there are plenty of other good tips about getting your fingers into place.

I hope you enjoyed the video and find it useful. You can learn more about guitar video lessons with Marty or Griff at the links below.

• Griff's Blues Guitar Unleashed web site


• Marty's GuitarJamz web site

More About The Bass Runs Series...

• 4 Bass Runs For Bar Chord Progressions


• Bass Runs For Guitar Bar Chords Part 2


• Guitar Bass Runs For Bar Chords Part 3

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How Should You Keep Your Wrist: Straight or Bent?

Today's post is written by Willem de Boer.

I've had several people come to me the past month asking me how they should keep the wrist of their fretting hand while playing: should it be as straight as possible, or should it be bent; and if so, which way, and by how much?

I often wondered about this myself many moons ago, when I was just starting out on the guitar. After several years of on-and-off experimentation, I settled on keeping the wrist as straight as possible -- but with some exceptions.

The general guitar playing and teaching community agrees on keeping your wrist straight. Here's my own argument for keeping a straight wrist, to help convince you.

A Little Experiment

I am going to assume you are right-handed. If you are left-handed, then you should read `right' wherever I write `left'.

Straighten your left wrist, and keep your fingers as relaxed as possible. Notice how your fingers are naturally curled. Now, slowly bend your wrist back, and note how your fingers curl even more as you bend your wrist. Now, bend your wrist forwards, and your fingers will extend.

Now imagine playing the guitar using each of the three wrist positions in turn: with the wrist bent all the way back, with the wrist bent all the way forward, and with a straight wrist. You will notice that each position uses a different part of your fingertips to fret the strings.

The ideal position is to play with a straight wrist, as this produces the best curl of your fingers to fret the strings. With your wrist bent back, your fingers are too flat against the strings; and with your wrist bent forwards, your nails get in the way. Either way, you are forced to compensate the natural curl of your fingers in order to fret correctly.

Preventing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

For those of you who are not convinced by this argument -- there are physiological reasons for keeping your wrist straight. Your wrist is the narrowest part of your body, and there is an important nerve (the median nerve) that has to pass through it, that allows you to feel with your fingers. In addition to that, there are several tendons that must go through it, and then there are the bones.

When you bend your wrist, you are effectively squeezing the median nerve. If you bend it for too long, you can lose the sensation in your fingers. The net result is something called Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (see here). You don't want this to happen, because it means you can't play the guitar as much, until you sort out the underlying cause.

So, a straight wrist it is!

Wait, there is an exception!

Having a straight wrist is a no-brainer when it comes to playing melodies, solos, phrases, etc. However, the picture is not as clear cut when you play chords.

When you play a barre chord, your index finger needs to be extended in order to fret the strings properly. As per the experiment that we just performed, the position of the wrist that best accommodates this with maximal relaxation and economy is a wrist that is (slightly) bent forwards.

When you play a Jimi Hendrix-style barre chord, or any chord that requires
you to hook your thumb over the fretboard (see my post "What Jimi Hendrix can Teach you about Rhythm Guitar"), you bend your wrist backwards. This is simply the most natural way to play this kind of chord. Again, we are going for maximal relaxation and economy.

And there you have it. The best position to hold your wrist is straight, with the exception of barre chords and thumb-hook chords. Now go and play that guitar, and repeat after me: it is good to be straight, but not always! (sorry, couldn't resist)

About The Author

Willem is a keen amateur guitar player who has been playing the guitar for the past 15 years. He enjoys playing many styles of music: from jazz, to blues, to hard rock to pop, either on his own or with other musicians. Willem has made it his life-long mission to always keep on improving as a guitar player. Along the journey he’s picked up several lessons, insights and pieces of advice that he writes about on his blog The Lone Guitarist.

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Photo by notvalid.

Guitar Bass Runs For Bar Chords Part 3

In the previous parts of this series of guitar lessons on bass runs for bar chords you learned some short bass runs to play over I-IV-V chord progressions. In this lesson I'm going to show you some ways to adapt those to songs at faster tempos.

When things get fast it gets harder to fit in the short one or two beat runs shown in previous posts. And when the runs are played very fast they also don't stand out as much.

So what can you do to make the runs more playable and stand out more when the tempo picks up? The answer is simple, just slow down the runs. So now, without further ado let's take a look at some examples of this.

Example Bass Run #1

The first example bass run, below, uses the same bass runs as the first part of the series, 4 Bass Runs For Bar Chord Progressions. But this time, the bass run rhythm has been changed to give the notes time to be played, and heard.

Example Bass Run #2

This second example shows another way to play a run at higher speed, but keeping with the one or two beats of previous lessons. Again, quarter notes are used for the bass notes.

This run uses G minor pentatonic notes almost exclusively. Only the 2nd on beat three of bar four and the 6th on beat three of bar eight are taken from the G major pentatonic.

Conclusion

Once again a very simple rhythm pattern is proposed in both these examples so you can focus on learning to play the bass runs. But don't forget to try out more rhythm patterns of your own once you feel comfortable fingering the bass runs.

Have fun playing these examples. Next week we'll extend these lessons to some new chord progressions and see more examples that use mixed scales and some harmonized bass runs.

Sign up to be reminded of next week's lessons by email or in your RSS feed reader and the follow-up free PDF report to download with all the lessons and more examples in easy to print format.

Read part 1 4 Bass Runs For Bar Chord Progressions and part 2 Bass Runs For Guitar Bar Chords Part 2.

Bass Runs For Guitar Bar Chords Part 2

The other day in my lesson 4 Bass Runs For Bar Chords I promised I'd show some more ways to create bass runs like those. So I guess I'd better do it. In today's lesson I'll show you some more example runs created from major and minor pentatonic scales.

A I-IV-V Progression

The bass runs in this lesson use the same I-IV-V chord progression as part 1, but this time we're in the key of D and the progression starts on an A form bar chord with its root on the 5th string.

Here is the basic eight bar progression we're starting from. Such a progression might be used as the verse of a song, for example.

I've used a very simple rhythm pattern to make it easier for you to focus on the bass runs. As you gain more confidence be sure to try out these bass runs along with a variety of more complex rhythm patterns.

Adding Bass Runs

Now let's add some bass runs to this progression, in the last beat or two before each chord change.

In the second bar a hybrid D scale is used to walk down the b7, 6 and 5 of D. The b7 comes from the minor pentatonic scale, the 6 from the major pentatonic, and the 5 is common to both (this could also be known as the D mixolydian mode).

What's interesting about these notes is that they are also the 4th, maj 3rd and 2nd of the G chord that they lead into in a nice descending line. By the way, if you find the stretch to the note on the eighth fret is too difficult you can skip it and play the 7th and 5th frets only on beat four.

At the end of the fourth bar a two-five movement from the D major scale leads back to the root note of the D.

At the end of the fifth bar the D major pentatonic is used again. The 2nd note of this scale is also the 5th note of the A chord that follows. Finally, in bar eight a bluesy sounding run based on D minor pentatonic takes us back to the starting point.

Over To You

So, now it's over to you to practice these runs. Take things at a reasonably slow tempo. Not only is it easier to play, but the bass runs will stand out best at a slower tempo. At higher speeds the bass runs become harder to play and also have less impact.

Take time too to experiment with some different runs by adding, removing or changing notes in the examples above.

Scales Used

In the next part of the series I'll show you how to play similar bass runs on faster songs. Remember, you will be able to get a free PDF report containing all these lessons and their examples in printer friendly format. Sign-up for free notification by email or to your RSS reader to follow along and get the report when it is available.

The next lesson in the series will be out at the end of the week. In the meantime, you can always go back and revise (or discover) part one - 4 Bass Runs For Bar Chords.

4 Bass Runs For Bar Chord Progressions

If you can play simple chord progressions with 6th and 5th string root bar chords this lesson shows you how to embellish them by linking the chords with some bass runs. Adding runs like these gives your rhythm guitar playing extra class and sounds great, especially if you're playing by yourself with no bass player.

In this lesson we'll take a simple 8 bar I-IV-V chord progression and add some bass runs to each chord change. Let's start by taking a look at the chord progression in the key of G major, shown below.

I've deliberately shown a very simple rhythm pattern of one strum per beat to make things easy when the bass runs are added. Of course, you can try things out with more sophisticated rhythms if you wish.

Adding Bass Runs

In the second version of the progression shown below bass runs are added to each chord change.

On the changes from G to C, and from C back to G, I've added a run of notes from the G minor pentatonic scale. The run at the end of bar 2 targets the G note at the 5th fret 4th string. This note is also the 5th of the C chord and leads nicely into the root C note with a V-I movement.

In the fourth bar play the slide down from 3rd to 1st fret with your forefinger. Move this finger up to the 6th string for the b7 at the 1st fret and then move the same finger up to the 3rd fret ready to play the G chord again.

In the sixth bar the G major pentatonic scale is used to create the bass run up to the V chord. Play the slide on the 6th string with your third finger, this will move your hand up to the 5th fret ready for the rest of the run and the D chord.

Follow the descending run in bar eight with the root G note on the first beat of the next bar as you repeat the pattern.

Scales Used

Here are the G minor pentatonic and G major pentatonic scales on the bass strings that are used for these runs.

You can use different combinations of these notes to create more runs of your own. In the coming days I'll be showing you some more options to create bass runs with these, and other, scales. At the end of the series I'll gather up all the examples and lessons into a free PDF report you can download and print. If you don't want to miss it be sure to sign up to get updates delivered free by email or to your RSS reader.

Update: Bass Runs For Guitar Bar Chord Progressions Part 2 is now available.

Essential Double Stop Sixths For Guitar

This guitar lesson for intermediate players introduces easy pattern you can use to play double-stop sixths licks. Double stop sixths can be used either as part of a solo or as a rhythm guitar technique to create some moving lines in the backing part. Either way they sound great in blues, soul, R&B and rock styles.

Sixths Intervals

Double stop sixths are created by stacking sixths intervals on each note of the major scale. Because of the major scale's pattern of whole and half steps sixths built on the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degrees are major. Sixths on the other scale degrees are minor.

These major and minor intervals have a different shape on the fretboard.

Double Stop Sixths Shapes On The Guitar

Double stop sixths can be played all over the fretboard, but in this lesson we're going to start with three shapes that are easy to learn and experiment with.

The tab below shows three double stop sixths on the 1st and 3rd string. They are built respectively on the 3rd, 4th and 5th degrees of the E major scale going up the third string.

Double Stop 6ths Shapes

Notice that both notes occur at the same frets for the major 6ths on the 4th and 5th degrees at the 2nd and 4th frets. For the minor double stop on the 3rd degree at the 1st fret, the note on the first string is one fret lower.

You might notice too how these shapes relate to the open E major chord. They can be moved up the neck to start on the third degree of any E form bar chord with its root on the 6th string. For example, to play double stop sixths licks in A play the first shape at the 6th fret 3rd string and the 5th fret 1st string.

Making Sixths Licks With These Shapes

You can make up sixths licks by playing any combination of the three double stops. You can slide in and out, up and down, and play chromatically around the shapes in any way you want.

Here are a couple of example licks to give you some ideas.

6ths Lick #1

6ths Lick #2

6ths Lick #3

Move With The Chords

One important thing to know when you use double stop sixths is that you should move them with the chords. For example, if you're playing a I-IV-V progression in E major you should play the above sixth shapes over the E chord. Over the A chord move the pattern up to the 5th fret and over the B chord move it up to the 7th fret.

Going Further

To get the most out of this double stop sixths pattern here are a couple of tips.

1. Experiment with hammer-ons and pull-offs, for example the half step hammer-on from the minor to the major third on the 3rd string sounds especially sweet in blues.

2. When you've mastered playing the three basic shapes create new sounds by playing pairs of notes from adjacent shapes. For example, with the E shapes above play the F# note on the 2nd fret of the first string with the B note on the 4th fret of the third string.

Conclusion

Now you know three easy shapes to play double stop sixths. These shapes are great for adding interest to both solos and rhythm guitar. They sound great in all styles of music, so have fun playing around with them and add them to your bag of guitar tricks.

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Guitar Soloing - Is It Worth Learning Modes?

Do you use modes when you play guitar solos? I don't... yet... but I'm wondering if it's really worth investing time to learn more about them. Maybe your experience can help me understand the benefits of modes and how to approach them...

Soloing With Modes

In the past I've looked over a few tutorials on modes but these always left me with two impressions:

1. Playing the same notes as the root scale in a different order doesn't really make such a huge change.

2. Playing modes means learning lots of new scale fingerings.

So I decided to leave modes alone.

But recently though I came across two new tutorials that gave me new insights into modes.

Mode Tutorials

A lesson, How To Use Modes For Improvising, on the Classical Guitar Blog showed a simple system to play different modes using only the basic major scale fingerings that I'd already learned.

Around the same time Total Guitar magazine's August issue provided a special pull-out lesson poster on modes. Everything is laid out clearly but learning all those new scale positions looms in the background.

So, the question I'm left with is...

What Are Modes Really Good For?

Or to be more exact, what benefits of modes make them worth all the effort of learning and becoming proficient with the new positions they call for?

I'd love to hear your opinion in the comments. Did you learn modes? Do you use them? Would you do anything differently if you had to learn them again? Or maybe you didn't find them that useful...

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What Are Your Guitar Questions?

Today I'd like to turn things over to you, the readers of the Not Playing Guitar blog. It's your opportunity to shape the future of the blog by letting me know what you'd like to see more of on the site.

I'm working on plans for the next few months of content and I'd really love to hear about the topics you'd most like to read about. So I'd really appreciate it if you would take a minute or two to leave a comment.

Tell me about the questions you have, the problems you encounter and the challenges you're struggling with as you learn to play guitar. Or simply tell me the kind of articles or topics you enjoy most and would like to see more of.

I'll try to address as many of your questions and problems as I can in my plans for the future of the blog. I look forward to hearing from you and I hope I can do something to help you solve your guitar challenges.

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