If you play bass in any of these genres:
- Rock,
- pop,
- soul,
- reggae
- country
- blues
then you need to be aware that there are a relatively small number of chord progressions that are used in songs.? If you know most of these chord progressions and understand how to put together bass lines to these progressions – and understand how to adapt bass lines that guys like James Jamerson, John Paul Jones, Paul McCartney, Chuck Rainey, Jack Bruce, Carl Radle and so on used when they played through these progressions….it will make you a much better bass player.
And you’ll be much better prepared for playing out there in the real world than bass players who’ve not isolated and practiced these common chord progressions.
If you’re not convinced about this, think about the hundreds upon hundreds of songs that have been written in the blues idiom.
Or for pop and rock…check out this 5 minute video and you’ll start to get an understanding of what I’m talking about:
