Music Theory For BASSISTS - What You MUST Know

Get all the tabs and backing tracks here: / charlesberthoud
FREE rhythm guide for beginners: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/apazml...
Here's all the most essential music theory you need as a bassist, to save you hours of searching randomly through KZread! Enjoy!
Special thanks to AhLun, Sugabeat, Timothy Gabrielson, Jason Hedlund, Colter Fike, Cpt. Marley, Sid Stenersen, Turpid, Janniken Kløvstad, DebisU, David Geschke, Dario Cimmino, Edward Quinn, Divine Atah, Wanderley Moura, Griffin Lesher, James Oldfield, Cody Pecot, Marc Forand, Mortal Konbat, Björn Lindner, Abel Nelms, Brandon Dickey, Sebastián Labbé, Martin Andersson-Næset, Rossables, Phillip Scuderi, Zachary Amsden, Soho Phil, Pyroluem, James Ansell, Mark Roberts, Rob Nack, Eric Jordan, Shirl Walker, Risvan Vlad Rusu, Tony Jacobs, Michael Forrester, 949 Designs, slatibartfast24, Cpt. Marley, Nil N, Kelly Henderson, 游鎰駿, Zachary Gidwitz, Vladi Mun, Joe Norsworthy, Štěpán Emmer, Michele Marletta and all my other Patrons and members!

Пікірлер: 181

  • @CharlesBerthoud
    @CharlesBerthoud7 ай бұрын

    Keep it up man, this channel has potential! 👏🏻

  • @M2Mil7er

    @M2Mil7er

    7 ай бұрын

    _Spider-Man pointing meme_

  • @bradyung798

    @bradyung798

    7 ай бұрын

    one day he might be a better bass player than charles!

  • @alessiopizzignach3878

    @alessiopizzignach3878

    7 ай бұрын

    Collab?

  • @DoingDoneDid

    @DoingDoneDid

    7 ай бұрын

    ​@@alessiopizzignach3878agreed

  • @pontiff1428

    @pontiff1428

    7 ай бұрын

    Schizophrenia becomes stronger every day

  • @pumpichank
    @pumpichank7 ай бұрын

    Love your channel and your advice! Being an active semi-pro bass player for 40+ years and still playing all the time, mostly in the rock genre, in long time bands, subbing, studio, and jams my advice for getting and keeping the gig is 1) learn to lock with the drummer from the first downbeat; 2) be a good hang - you spend a lot of time NOT playing and no one wants to spend that time with an a**hole; 3) use your ears and make everyone else sound great; 4) be on time to the gig! 5) and most importantly HAVE FUN and bring joy to your fellow musicians and the audience.

  • @bassboy8910
    @bassboy89105 ай бұрын

    You are beyond brilliant. Great advice to all players- at 73 y/o I still have musicians show up late, not knowing their music, not having the basics you just mentioned- and wonder why they can’t get work. You are a master bassist and pro we can all learn from regardless of age. Thank you sharing your knowledge! ❤

  • @j.c1574
    @j.c15745 ай бұрын

    Im pretty good at finding out songs by ear and can play with bands, but i know absolutely nothing about music theory

  • @user-yr4yh2sx7g

    @user-yr4yh2sx7g

    22 күн бұрын

    Thats awesome. Did that come easy or is that just a skill you developed through lots of jamming?

  • @JustThatGuyCaleb
    @JustThatGuyCaleb7 ай бұрын

    Even as someone who doesnt play bass this stuff is entertaining as hell

  • @cerbi2720
    @cerbi27207 ай бұрын

    As a fellow bassist, I think the knowledge of chords are usually skipped so I think you should make a more detailed video about chords

  • @mayablack6010
    @mayablack60105 ай бұрын

    Just got my first bass today, I think I’ll stick to messing about and seeing what sounds cool cuz this seems like effort👌

  • @laraa7386

    @laraa7386

    4 ай бұрын

    You can play around for a few months, learning songs you like. But after those few months you will hit a wall- and then youll be back here

  • @linkstudios5626

    @linkstudios5626

    4 ай бұрын

    @@laraa7386I got my first bass fir Christmas and I feel like I already hit a wall so here I am but this video is very intimidating to me 😭

  • @mayablack6010

    @mayablack6010

    4 ай бұрын

    @@laraa7386 Yeah, you’re probably right but I got all the time in the world so I’m not really in any hurry

  • @mayablack6010

    @mayablack6010

    4 ай бұрын

    @@linkstudios5626 broooo I got my bass as an early Christmas present, I haven’t really hit a wall yet, still havin fun playing about

  • @kingkraken9878

    @kingkraken9878

    4 ай бұрын

    ive been playing bass for years and never learned any music theory or anything.. @@laraa7386

  • @ca6460
    @ca64606 ай бұрын

    I'm a little surprised you didn't mention intervals - the musician's alphabet. Having a good grasp of intervals and their shapes on the fretboard makes everything else a little easier to pick up on. Guessing that will be its own lesson soon enough. Good work, as usual.

  • @Gray137
    @Gray1377 ай бұрын

    I won't lie, explaining music theory, to me at least, kind of goes over my head a bit. Something that's been helping me with bass and bass VI is finger placement and shape/patterns, makes a world of a difference for me and helps give me something to not only practices everyday but somewhere to start and move forward. I was curious as to wether or not you might have a lesson for something like that to help us not so musically inclined people

  • @shawnariss1354
    @shawnariss13546 ай бұрын

    I'm glad you put up a channel mang! Been amazed with yer work for some time now. Thankyou.

  • @krispendleton4662
    @krispendleton46625 ай бұрын

    Solid Charles! Thanks for the tips and practice sheets. More videos on the foundational practices please

  • @slappinwithswollace
    @slappinwithswollace4 ай бұрын

    You do a fantastic job at explaining things!

  • @rocketcello5354
    @rocketcello53547 ай бұрын

    dude i have grade 6 music theory, and this still helped. just keeping it simple makes it a lot easier to understand, and i'll probably come back to this video as a refresher in the future.

  • @alwilson1972
    @alwilson19727 ай бұрын

    Thank you for making your lessons straight forward and practical. I’m loving your style.

  • @markperry7655
    @markperry76556 ай бұрын

    I strongly feel (in terms of learning the fingerboard) that it’s best to learn where the natural notes are first, so the C Major scale and A minor scale, and then learn about how to name the other notes while learning the circle of fifths.

  • @EvilAsh_AuDHDer
    @EvilAsh_AuDHDer24 күн бұрын

    Thank you for being So enthusiastic about teaching us

  • @KeithCopeland778
    @KeithCopeland7787 ай бұрын

    This is one of the best, most understandable, and most practical music theory videos that I've seen so far! Thank you!

  • @annastuhlmiller2657
    @annastuhlmiller26577 ай бұрын

    Thanks Charles!! You are one of the best music instructors. I am excited to learn bass.

  • @Dyas777
    @Dyas7777 ай бұрын

    Awesome advices. I will reconfigure my practice routines based on this lesson. Thank you!

  • @beautifulinstrumentals2866
    @beautifulinstrumentals28667 ай бұрын

    Thank you, Charles. This is great stuff and immediately very helpful. Sharing your knowledge and skill via this free platform is remarkable and I know there are many who greatly appreciate your time and effort.

  • @user-ir2bj3re1z
    @user-ir2bj3re1z7 ай бұрын

    👏👏👏 Thanks Charles. I've been playing for years bass and guitar and every time I check out one of your teachings I always take something from it. Love what your doing brother 👊

  • @michaeldebecker1472
    @michaeldebecker14727 ай бұрын

    Everytime I watch one your videos I hear the call of the bass and I want to go and practise... Thanks a lot for all your precious and inspiring advices! 👍

  • @TheRip72
    @TheRip725 ай бұрын

    Excellent lesson. Straight & to the point.

  • @OlavSchneider
    @OlavSchneider7 ай бұрын

    Thank you, just what I needed as a beginner to be able to understand the full scope of what it takes to become a great bass-ist. Thumbs up.

  • @ShadowT23
    @ShadowT236 ай бұрын

    I've been a guitar player for 15 years now but I'm about 3 years into taking bass seriously and not just seeing it as a guitarist playing a bass. Man, something about bass just gets me, I fucking love the instrument. And last year I invested in a high quality Ibanez 5 string and it was a great purchase.

  • @scottwatelet5769
    @scottwatelet57695 ай бұрын

    Thanks for a great tutorial! My Signature bass should be here soon!

  • @Kittenquest
    @Kittenquest6 ай бұрын

    I just picked up bass not even 4 days ago as my very first instrument. This video is so helpful! Thank you so much! I cant wait to learn all this music theroy and actually get good at understanding music down to it roots as a bass player! Thank you so much!

  • @nootypenguino
    @nootypenguino4 ай бұрын

    Thank you for the help. Gonna look at this in more detail

  • @COD8player4life
    @COD8player4life7 ай бұрын

    These videos really help! Thanks for the effort, keep it up ❤

  • @jmd76family
    @jmd76family5 ай бұрын

    Great stuff. When I started out learning notes on fretboard I'd draw out the neck with frets on paper and fill in the notes. Doing from memory helped me learn when I picked up the actual bass

  • @Johny9405
    @Johny94053 ай бұрын

    I used to play bass guitar and guitar in high school. Your videos are inspiring me to to pick up my old bass again. Thank you!

  • @sine_0
    @sine_07 ай бұрын

    Thanks for putting up the chart with the keys on they bass. I've been playing music for over a decade and never learned proper theory, and this videos makes me want to at least memories the keys/ popular chords.

  • @gaguol
    @gaguol7 ай бұрын

    Epic lesson, thanks Charles ❤

  • @BassCampOfficial

    @BassCampOfficial

    7 ай бұрын

    👏🏻🥉

  • @dalewier9735
    @dalewier97355 ай бұрын

    Very good advice for the beginner and excellent reminders for all others.

  • @sfksmiley
    @sfksmiley3 ай бұрын

    I learned the notes really fast by looking at the strings starting at 0 and i realized that it goes in alphabetical order but the sharp always comes after the actual letter and the flat always comes before the actual letter

  • @blackcatjazzin
    @blackcatjazzin7 ай бұрын

    Excellent advice. I’m already doing this. I am a flutist/saxophonist and just started playing the bass, it’s a lot harder than my regular instruments But, I’m loving it. You are a fantastic teacher…….

  • @handsomenotch5544
    @handsomenotch55447 ай бұрын

    Thank you so much Charles❤

  • @arctico1714
    @arctico17147 ай бұрын

    And in Metal play nothing because no one can hear you anyway, idk why but that is so funny to me

  • @teartamother1892
    @teartamother18925 ай бұрын

    Im so happy you're doing this channel, awesome.this video is exactly where I'm at so it was like you were talking directly to me lol nice one Charles you are awesome

  • @LxE9799
    @LxE97997 ай бұрын

    Gonna send this video to all my guitar and bass students in the future, thanks a lot Charles! You're doing god's work

  • @erickaphin8861
    @erickaphin88615 ай бұрын

    This is so awesome

  • @InyaYT
    @InyaYT4 ай бұрын

    I loved this. Thank you

  • @karko00s
    @karko00s7 ай бұрын

    1:14 I am so thankful for this, Charles

  • @leonardo41477
    @leonardo414775 ай бұрын

    OK...the negative harmony reference was genius and hilarious!!

  • @crystalkillmon5138
    @crystalkillmon51383 ай бұрын

    Thank you!

  • @FollowEman
    @FollowEman5 ай бұрын

    This is a great video!

  • @EvandroMeneguella
    @EvandroMeneguella7 ай бұрын

    Loved the subtle message about metal 😅😅😅

  • @estarling8766
    @estarling87666 ай бұрын

    Glad to see you in the teachers' league . It's a sound, plain strategy for every bass beginner to start up with.

  • @10petitsCaptains
    @10petitsCaptains2 ай бұрын

    Thx for the video.

  • @tobyfisher9517
    @tobyfisher95175 ай бұрын

    perfect advice for me, im a wanna be punk preformer and right now im only in jazz bands. (I want to form a punk band so baddd) i am a singer/song writer and its very helpful to have this video to always come back too. THANK UUU

  • @robdiepenbroek338
    @robdiepenbroek3385 күн бұрын

    Nice reference of And 'Justice' for All (except maybe the Mr Newatead)

  • @Practicalmusicministryskil4906
    @Practicalmusicministryskil49067 ай бұрын

    Thank you for the video! I just started sharing videos on my KZread channel in the hopes of making music literacy accessible to all!

  • @billybaru82
    @billybaru825 ай бұрын

    This is great 👍

  • @Coleknox67
    @Coleknox675 ай бұрын

    THIS GUY HAS POTENTIAL TO BE A GREAT ONLINE BASS GUITAR TEACHER! He just jumped a lot of parts. IT WAS LIKE TELLING ME THE PLAY FOR A BASKETBALL TEAM BUT NOT TEACHING HOW TO DRIBBLE, PASS, OR SHOOT THE BALL. I KNOW HE IS EXPERIMENTING WITH THIS KZread THING; BUT, IT IS TIME FIR HIM TO FINE TUNE THE CHANNEL SO HE CAN BUILD HIS TOP SELLING ONLINE COURSES!

  • @sethrose1632
    @sethrose16327 ай бұрын

    Thanks for the lesson! I have been playing for a couple years using tabs but have wanted to learn more about theory. Excited to learn more!

  • @sebbassbloodysebbass
    @sebbassbloodysebbass7 ай бұрын

    Thank you to help all the amateur bass players!!

  • @ktwoa
    @ktwoa7 ай бұрын

    Terrific!!

  • @idiocracy587
    @idiocracy5877 ай бұрын

    Charles is the true teacher

  • @leviathan7477
    @leviathan74777 ай бұрын

    Hey Charles, do you have a favorite ear training app that you would recommend? Thanks for the video!

  • @Coleknox67
    @Coleknox675 ай бұрын

    YA GOT TO GIVE THEM SOMETHING FREE. A free in-depth e-book showing where the notes are on the fretboard and where the notes are for each key in a scale for all seven scales will boost your channel. THIS HELPS A LOT VERSUS JUST SHOWING VIDEO DEMONSTRATIONS WITH TAB. IT CAN CONFUSE PEOPLE.

  • @getsideways7257
    @getsideways72576 ай бұрын

    Ok, you got me with that reverse psychology trick, I'm off to research negative harmony now :)

  • @Al69BfR
    @Al69BfR7 ай бұрын

    3:22 I always imagine chords as stacks of thirds. From there I can change some of the thirds to seconds or fourth to create chord variations like sus4 or 6th chords.

  • @matthewdebono862
    @matthewdebono8627 ай бұрын

    Sorry if you've covered this before in another video, but any ear training apps you'd recommend?

  • @endo-poptart
    @endo-poptart4 ай бұрын

    Great lesson 🤘🏼 No bass on AJFA 😭😭😭

  • @justine_machine
    @justine_machine3 ай бұрын

    Hi, love your channel! I just started learning bass as a new hobby and I was wondering what ear training app you recommend?

  • @Coleknox67
    @Coleknox675 ай бұрын

    I think some more in-depth music theory is needed with a part 2 video where you explain how to learn your fretboard notes more easily. Also A PDF FILE SHOWING WHERE THE ACTUAL NOTES ARE FOR EACH KEY SCALE HELPS STUDENTS SEE WHERE THEY SHOULD FOCUS!

  • @Tekkerue
    @Tekkerue7 ай бұрын

    Awesome lesson as always! My only suggestion is regarding the background music, my preference would be no background music at all during the explanations but if you really want to have music, then keep it very simplistic and soft. Having busy background music competing for attention makes it harder focus and absorb what you are saying. Especially since these lessons (so far) have been geared more towards beginners who might be hearing this info for the first time. When using audio examples for demonstration purposes, maybe cut the background music entirely in between examples so people can keep the previous example in their head when going into the next example for comparison, like when you did the swing vs straight beats. You could insert a small video clip of slap/tap/shredding at the intro (and outro?) for those who find this channel before your main channel, to demonstrate that you really know your stuff. Anyways, just my two cents. 😉

  • @jasonamundsen8190

    @jasonamundsen8190

    6 ай бұрын

    Agreed... Great content. The background music was / is a distraction. I'm hard of hearing and a little older :) so no background music would be appreciated.

  • @samuelmaylor6634

    @samuelmaylor6634

    4 ай бұрын

    I didn’t hear the music until I read your comment. I just listened to what he said about the Bassssss.

  • @FromTheMosh
    @FromTheMosh7 ай бұрын

    Can you recommend a particular ear training app? Thanks so much for this video 💚

  • @seanehle8323
    @seanehle83235 ай бұрын

    That feeling when you thought you wanted to be a car mechanic, then studied aerodynamics and learned that what you really want to be is an Aerospace Engineer. Priceless.

  • @michiban6
    @michiban6Ай бұрын

    Man, there are so many complaints in the comments. Some people are just ungrateful, I guess. 😔 Anyway, thank you for the video, Charles. This is good information that will help musicians who are serious about learning their instruments. 🙂

  • @rykerblade_snb
    @rykerblade_snb7 ай бұрын

    Ha! Bass-ic setup today

  • @artemisnite
    @artemisnite7 ай бұрын

    When Charles Berthoud has a new KZread channel, I have a new channel to subscribe to. Simple as that.

  • @mattcorey2784
    @mattcorey27845 ай бұрын

    LOL @ metal jab. love it Jason got screwed.

  • @BryanQ95
    @BryanQ955 ай бұрын

    excellent stuff! any recommendations for ear training apps?

  • @cygnus8982
    @cygnus89827 ай бұрын

    Excellent video for the much avoided and usually dreaded lesson.

  • @arjenvelkers6804
    @arjenvelkers68047 ай бұрын

    Thanks for the video. Do you have recommendations for an ear-training app? Really unsure how to get into ear-training.

  • @Egonzal316
    @Egonzal3167 ай бұрын

    3:14 I think you meant Let It Be. Love your vids btw

  • @r_pro_
    @r_pro_7 ай бұрын

    Hey Charles, I saw the video you dropped on here about tapping, and it was really just basics. I'm wondering does your patreon have more advanced stuff? I want to get better at tapping, but a lot of stuff on yt is just for complete beginners.

  • @CharlesBerthoud

    @CharlesBerthoud

    7 ай бұрын

    Yes, if you sign up you'll get access to my full beginner tapping course which actually gets fairly challenging towards the end, as well as an intermediate lesson and practice videos for all my songs which obviously includes some crazy tapping!!

  • @r_pro_

    @r_pro_

    7 ай бұрын

    @@CharlesBerthoud 🙏🙏

  • @bassporn
    @bassporn7 ай бұрын

    Gold…

  • @MauriceBoone-jm2xu
    @MauriceBoone-jm2xu5 ай бұрын

    Every time i see a video like this i know i will never be any good its like listening to someone speak in another language. So many great bassists on youtube so i know its me.

  • @spockhozzer7207

    @spockhozzer7207

    5 ай бұрын

    Don't let the jargon discourage you. Nobody in any good bands actually talks about keys or major/minor or any of that stuff. A painter knows what color of paint they want to use next and where, even if it doesn't look great until it's done. They don't have to name the ratio to the nearest color or the RGB value or any of the technical stuff. That's for the audience to map out if they so choose. Same with music. If someone else wants to analyze why I went from this note to that note, have fun. I'm playing what I think sounds good and I don't give a damn if it's "incorrect"

  • @davidhiggen3029
    @davidhiggen302916 күн бұрын

    Frankly I wouldn't get too hung up on learning the note names. The relative pitch positions are far more important. You need to know how to play a root, 5th or 3rd from the key note. And some standard riff patterns. Once you have those patterns under your fingers you can easily adjust to a different key, rather than laboriously thinking for each note "oh, that was a C in that key so now it must be a D in the new one"....

  • @fwilao89
    @fwilao896 ай бұрын

    🙏

  • @fredflea4038
    @fredflea40387 ай бұрын

    Hey Basscamp, can you make a vid on how to become as good as Charles Berthoud? Thanks!

  • @ambushbugz
    @ambushbugz5 ай бұрын

    No way its Charles !!!!!!

  • @trebm
    @trebm6 ай бұрын

    In this video you show the C major triads, is there an equivalent explanation for the C minor triads?

  • @LeFingal
    @LeFingal7 ай бұрын

    What if music comes kinda natural to you, do you still HAVE to learn the music theory? I suck at studying :(

  • @AndyPanda9
    @AndyPanda95 ай бұрын

    2:00 I'm not finding any link to the practice backing track. Hope someone can point me to the backing track.

  • @-melis-1746
    @-melis-17467 ай бұрын

    Listen to a virtuoso talk about basics is just great! We must learn to crawl before we can walk. :-)

  • @monkeyeffer
    @monkeyeffer5 ай бұрын

    Which ear training app would you recommend? Thank you

  • @JJr6445
    @JJr64455 ай бұрын

    Ive been playing bass for 10+ yrs and this still confuses me i just learn the songs i like and go all by ear

  • @alwilson1972
    @alwilson19727 ай бұрын

    You suggested that we get an ear-training app. Is there one that you would recommend above other, especially for beginners? Thank you.

  • @alwilson1972

    @alwilson1972

    7 ай бұрын

    Hey Charles, I would still love me to know the best ear-training app that you would recommend. Perhaps I’m not looking in the right places. Help. Thank you.

  • @joshmak3122
    @joshmak31227 ай бұрын

    Name of track that starts at 2:16?

  • @venepskeuten9206
    @venepskeuten92067 ай бұрын

    Thanks, my smooth brain still struggles with music theory at the moment tho.

  • @emmanuelgutierrez6306
    @emmanuelgutierrez63067 ай бұрын

    Okay what about the bass in Mexican regional music? What kind of style is that? Please do a review on that and on Luis Miguel bass player. Thanks

  • @MrMack2024
    @MrMack20245 ай бұрын

    it would be nice if people rotate the bass 180° and display the image, this puts the E string at the bottom so when you look at the image, you can look "down" at your bass and look up at the sheet, making it a lot easier to read and play. instead of making you transpose the image in your head. no one every does it. "this is what i know" ya, we know that you can play lol.

  • @GargesFriend
    @GargesFriend7 ай бұрын

    3:14 Hey Jude definitely doesn't use this progression (I, V, VI-, IV). It's, instead: I, V, V7, I, which, in the key of C, is: C, G, G7, C. The song key is actually F and its first four chords are F, C, C7, F. Right?

  • @Coleknox67
    @Coleknox675 ай бұрын

    A BASS ACADEMY TO ME WOULD FOCUS THE BEGINNER BY: Doing a video on the different parts that make up the bass guitar; Doing another video on how to properly hold the bass guitar, sitting and standing; My third video would be on how to proper posture for the bass guitar to eliminate injury; My fourth video would be on how on proper right and left hand technique that includes little technique pointers to eliminate strain, tension, and injury. My fifth video would be on learning in-depth (with a free pdf👈🏿) the notes on the bass guitar and how to learn them efficiently; My sixth video would be focused on learning the music intervals on the bass guitar and where they are vertically and horizontally on a scale example; My seventh video would be on what a scale is what notes make up a scale, what are the note degrees are in a scale (shown in a free pdf👈🏿) and what a scale key is; My eight video would be on WHAT A MODE IS AND WHERE THE MODES ARE ON THE BASS GUITAR FOR a certain scale as an example; My ninth video would focused on what triads are (a free pdf showing the triads with different scale fingerings👈🏿) with the different fingerings and where they are in each degree of a scale; I WOULD THEN SHOW A VIDEO ON HOW TO PLAY THE SCALES HORIZONTALLY, DIAGONALLY, AND VERTICALLY (WITH A FREE PDF OF ONE SCALE EXAMPLE👈🏿) ACROSS THE FRETBOARD OF THE BASS GUITAR.

  • @gregpepper6053
    @gregpepper60536 ай бұрын

    Do you find your self playing more roots and fifths to outline the chords? Or are you trying to highlight the major/minor 3 and/or 7ths to bring out the tonality of those chords?

  • @jasonwatkins5481
    @jasonwatkins54816 ай бұрын

    What ear training apps do y’all recommend?

  • @Cream.cheese
    @Cream.cheese5 ай бұрын

    I almost shat my pants when you said music theory