Hey world. I’ve done countless of rhythm exercises – especially reading through exercises for snare drum etc. It’s great to be able to read rhythm well – but we don’t spend time doing that as bass players. We play the rhythm with notes. So for me the key to really make these exercises work on bass, is to orchestrate them on the instrument.
Here is my process going from rhythm to bass-line. I’ve composed this rhythm tackling some nice 16th note groupings and exploring triplets within them.
Rhythm A:
Bass Line A:
I set myself limitations – use the Eb major scale – and try to be melodic and simple with the ideas.
Try to compose your own bass line using Rhythm A – and see if you can play the one i composed.
Rhythm B:
Bass Line B:
In this bass line I’ve tried to be funky. I’m exploring playing the same notes with different rhythms – and a cool diminished trick in the end.
Try to compose your own bass line using Rhythm B – and see if you can play the one i composed.