Bassology Lesson #1

Paradiddles

A Paradiddle is a basic building block used in drumming, often referred to as a rudiment. The most
basic paradiddle is often displayed as; R= Right Hand, L= Left Hand RRLR LLRL.

For the bass guitar player the paradiddle becomes an exercise in rhythm patterns consisting of
thumps, plucks, slaps and finger flicks up or down. These patterns are often done over dead muted
strings but sometimes notes are sounded in the rhythms to add a distinctive sound or quality much
like playing on different drums. Paradiddles for bass have their roots in Funk; a rhythmic & percussive
style of playing. Larry Graham started this style of playing and Victor Wooten, has taken it to an all
new level. Paradiddles allow the bass player to condense the Funk style into simple patterns that will
form the foundation for more complicated grooves. The best reason for practicing paradiddles is to
help develop a good time feel so always practice them with a metronome.

To play the paradiddles on this page you need to become familiar with the notation used. Also
remember to try to sound all the techniques with the same volume and overall sound. (I will be
posting recorded examples of each of the paradiddles soon, so keep checking back for that update. )

T = Thump

Thumps are done with the thumb. Strike the string with your thumb, thump across the face of the
string, striking the neck, catching some of the wood sound, and stop on the adjacent string. For
instance thump the E string and then end resting on the A string.

P = Pluck

Plucks are done with the pointer and or the index finger by curling the finger and pulling up on the
strings from underneath and letting the sting fly back. Use more wrist action than finger movement
for the best technique. The index finger is labeled P1 and the middle finger is labeled P2. You may
sometimes see P1 P2 . This indicates that the double pluck is needed. A double pluck is executed by
positioning the middle finger directly behind the index finger with a definite distance maintained
between them to allow for a time delay when plucking or raking both fingers on the same string in a
rapid rhythmic pluck pluck. Again remember to use the wrist with stiffer fingers for the best results.
Plucks are most often done with the outermost or highest string although other strings can be used.

SL = Slap

This sounds easy but is actually difficult to execute properly. The slap is just that, you slap the strings
with your fretting hand, for right-handed players this would be your left hand. The slap can be done
with all four fingers, thumb behind the neck. Open the hand and quickly close it resting on the strings
to keep them from ringing. A sharp woody thud is best. It is often hard to get volume when slapping.
The idea is to produce a sound that is as close to thumps and plucks as possible. Another technique is
to use only three fingers of the left hand leaving the pointer finger resting across all four strings to
deaden them.
Fd = Flick down

To flick down keep the fingers more straight and bend them using the knuckle closest to the palm
and the knuckle in the middle of the finger to create a flicking action. Flick the string with the back of
the fingernail with a grazing or almost strumming action. The flick down is almost always followed by
a flick up.

Fu = Flick up

This is almost like a pluck but the starting position is different. Pull back on the string by closing the
right hand across the string, not from underneath, using the very tip of your finger NOT the finger
nail. It is almost the opposite of a flick down. Try doing the flick down first and the flick up to get the
correct technique.

Playing paradiddles: After you get the feel of each pattern play them in a continuous loop and don't
be afraid to experiment; come up with your own paradiddles. Remember to always use a metronome
when you practice!

The “Bassic” Paradiddle: This is a four event pattern; four events occur before the pattern repeats.
This four event pattern can correspond to 16th notes, 8th notes, quarter notes or triplets. Most of the
time I practice these patterns with each separate 'event' corresponding to a 16th note.

T SL P SL [ Thump slap Pluck slap ]

Now repeat this phrase continuously:

T SL P SL T SL P SL T SL P SL T SL P SL T SL P SL T SL P SL T SL P SL, etc.

To make the comparison to drums more complete notice that the T SL P SL alternates between the
right and left hand technique.

T SL P SL

Right Left Right Left

Expanded Paradiddles:The following paradiddles are 6 event patterns.

T SL T SL P SL

T SL P1 SL P2 SL

This is a 12 event pattern which is a combination of the two 6 patterns above.

T SL T SL P SL T SL P1 SL P2 SL
Bassology Lesson #2

More Paradiddles

These are more paradiddles utilizing some different concepts. I will be posting recorded examples
of each of these paradiddles very soon, so keep checking back for that update.

These paradiddles are very similar to the first ones, but instead of starting with the right hand, they
start with the left hand. You'll find that once you start these patterns with the left hand, the
sequence is identical to the patterns that start with the right hand. The difference being the left hand
is now on the strong beats and the right hand is now on the weak beats of the 16th note sequence,
therefore making the groove different. I personally find that the patterns that start with the left hand
'groove' a little more, but they're a little harder to do with the metronome.

SL T SL P
SL P SL T
SL T SL T SL P
SL T SL P1 SL P2
SL T SL T SL P SL T SL P1 SL P2

This paradiddle utilized a 'triplet' in the beginning in the space of the first two 16th notes.

{T SL T} P SL T SL P1 SL P2 SL T SL P SL T SL

This next paradiddle has a Latin flavor. It's actually a conga part with the thumped open 'A' string
simulating the 'high' conga and the thumped open 'E' string simulating the 'low' conga. This pattern
also doesn't follow the alternating left/right sequence. I like to practice this pattern to a Latin drum
beat on my drum machine. Where you see the letter 'A' and the letter 'E', that means thump the
corresponding open strings.

SL T P SL T SL A A SL P SL E E SL A A

Using Flicks (there is a description of how to do the 'Flick down' and the 'Flick up' in Lesson # 1).
Remember to extend your hand and your fingers all the way when you are flicking down like you're
flicking a 'booger' off the end of your finger (hee hee!). Even though I do the motion with all the
fingers of my hand, I only make contact with the tip of my middle finger nail on the 'Fd' and the tip of
my middle finger on the 'Fu'.

T SL P1 P2 SL Fd Fu SL Fd SL P1 P2 SL Fd Fu SL

I've come up with hundreds of these. I will post some, most of them I won't post. I'd rather for
people to take these simple concepts and expand on them on their own instead of following a pre-
existing example.
Bassology Lesson #3

7th Chord Arpeggios Within Mode Shapes

One of my objectives with this lesson is for a bassist to see patterns inside mode shapes. In this case,
the particular pattern is the 7th chord arpeggio. Doing arpeggios in mode shapes allows multiple
arpeggios in one hand position. Plus it allows you to see different shapes for the same kind of
arpeggiated chords. Since we are dealing with a particular mode shape in this instance, the Ionian,
we will be playing the 4 diatonic chords in the Ionian mode. The 4 diatonic 7th chords are Major 7th,
Minor 7th, Dominant 7th and half diminished. I’m only showing this exercise for the Ionian mode but
you should learn this exercise for all 7 diatonic modes and the modes of the harmonic minor and
melodic minor scales also.

I also have posted shapes and fingerings of all 7 diatonic modes as Lesson #4. So after you learn this
exercise for the Ionian mode, you can go to that chart and apply this exercise to the rest of the
modes. The objective here is to do these arpeggios in one hand position and not shift your hand. I
don’t want to share all of the objectives I have in teaching this lesson to my students, because I’m
very much into people finding their own objectives and concepts when it comes to learning and
playing the bass.

I also want to add that this is NOT a study of modes and this is NOT a study of arpeggios. If it were, I
would go into more detail into the construction of modes and arpeggios. This is just an exercise on
how to play arpeggios in a particular modal shape. It’s a very useful skill especially for bass players
since they tend to rely heavily on pentatonic scales when soloing and expressing themselves - and
that’s great! The pentatonic scale is a great sounding and very popular scale, but, it’s not very
melodic sounding. One of the ways to add ‘melodicism’ (I think I just made up a word) to your soloing
is to arpeggiate chords. When I’m soloing and I notice myself playing a lot of pentatonics or ‘block’
patterns, that’s when I like to add in modes and arpeggios. If you really think about it,… notes,
intervals, chords (arpeggios), pentatonics and modes are five different ways of expressing the same
information. At least, that’s how I look at it.

OK,…here’s the Ionian mode and a suggested fingering. I intentionally didn’t give a starting note
because whatever note you choose to start this pattern on, the pattern will be the same. Just be sure
to start it on your lowest string.
The previous page concludes the sequences for the 4 string bass.
The previous page concludes the sequences for the 5 string bass.

The previous page concludes the sequences for the 6 string bass.

In the layout shown above, I have given you just one of the ways that I suggest you practice this
exercise. I’m going to give you some more, but I suggest that you use these as a ‘springboard’ to
explore the endless possibilities inherent in these types of studies. Above, we did the individual
diatonic chords ascending numerically. For example, I Maj 7, ii min 7, iii min 7, IV Maj 7,
V Dom 7, vi min 7, and vii half diminished. We also did the individual arpeggios in ascending order.
For example, root, 3rd, 5th, 7th of each chord. This was the first one:

1. Chord order ascending ------------------------------------------- arpeggios ascending

Now, try these others:

2. Chord order ascending ------------------------------------------- arpeggios descending

( I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii)------------------------------------------------------- (7th, 5th, 3rd, root)

3. Chord order ascending-------------------------------------------- arpeggios alternating

ascending/descending
( same as above)---------------------------------------------------------(root, 3rd, 5th, 7th – first chord) (7th,
5th, 3rd, root – second chord) etc.

4. Chord order ascending ------------------------------------------- arpeggios alternating

descending/ascending
( same as above)---------------------------------------------------------(7th, 5th, 3rd, root – first chord) (root,
3rd, 5th, 7th – second chord) etc.

5. Chord order descending------------------------------------------ arpeggios ascending

( vii, vi, V, IV, iii, ii, I)------------------------------------------------------- (root, 3rd, 5th, 7th)

6. Chord order descending------------------------------------------ arpeggios descending

(same as above)--------------------------------------------------------- (7th, 5th, 3rd, root)

7. Chord order descending ----------------------------------------- arpeggios alternating

ascending/descending
(same as above)--------------------------------------------------------- (root, 3rd, 5th, 7th - first chord) (7th, 5th,
3rd, root - second chord) etc.

8. Chord order descending------------------------------------------ arpeggios alternating

descending/ascending
(same as above)--------------------------------------------------------- (7th, 5th, 3rd, root - first chord) (root,
3rd, 5th, 7th - second chord) etc.

Try to come up with your own exercises. One of the things you can do is to mix up the chord order.
The combinations are endless. Of course you should practice these with a metronome. Better yet, if
you have an accompaniment machine, like the Boss Jam Station you can play these over all styles of
music in different keys at various tempos. You’ll find that these lines will start showing up in your
playing on an unconscious level.
Bassology Lesson #4

Modes of the Major Scale

Here are the shapes for the 7 diatonic modes for 4, 5 and 6 string bass.