The Ultimate Guide To Bass Harmonics Create chords, melodies and solo bass pieces using harmonics
Ho To Use This Guide Welcome to this Ultimate Guide! It s great to have you on board. First things first, if you haven t already seen the first lessons on the site, go ahead and do that no. You can find all of them right here. In lesson 1, you ll learn exactly hat harmonics are, and the technique that you can use to get these beautiful sounds out of your bass. Click Here To Watch Lesson 1 In lesson 2, you ll the things you can do to instantly get a beautiful, shimmering, singing sounds out of your harmonics. Click Here To Watch Lesson 2
In lesson, you ll learn about the sequence of notes that you can get out of all of your strings hen you use harmonics. Click Here To Watch Lesson These lessons ill give you a solid foundation for hat you ll learn in this guide. The guide itself is split up into to parts. First, you ll get bass harmonic charts that sho you here to find all of your harmonics and hat notes they produce. Then, you ll learn a hole lot of chords that you can make that are built using harmonics plus here you can use them. Of course, you ll learn a fe melodies that you can play that are made of harmonics, and you ll learn ho players like Victor Wooten and Jaco Pastorius make their on aeinspiring solo pieces. You can go through this guide in order, or you can jump to the parts that interest you right aay. There s no right or rong ay to use all of this material.
Bass Harmonics Chart: -string Bass Notice a fe things here. The letters are the names of the notes of the harmonics not the fretted notes. They may seem a little bit random, but that s just the harmonic series. Also, notice that each string is folloing the same pattern. For example, the note at the th fret harmonic is the same as the open string of all strings. This is the same for the 8 th and 12 th fret too. The rd and 7 th fret harmonics both produce a note that is a th above the open string. The relationship beteen the notes of the harmonics and notes of the open string are exactly the same! Next, notice that on the 6 th and 10 th fret harmonics, the blue circles are just a fraction closer to the nut of the bass. This is because your finger needs to be ever-so-slightly behind the fret in order for the note to come out cleanly. Check out the All Of Your Notes lesson above to get the full picture. Finally, notice that there are 10 unique notes you can get out of the harmonics on a standard -string bass. The 2 notes e can t get using our natural harmonics are Bb/A# and Eb/D#. Everything else though is available to us.
Bass Harmonics Chart: -string Bass Adding an extra string means that e no have access to that string s harmonic series! This means that no have 11 of the 12 notes that make up music because the D#/Eb note has appeared on the B-string at the th and 9 th fret harmonic. Just like the -string version of the chart, each string is folloing the same pattern. The relationship beteen the open strings and the harmonics on those strings is exactly the same.
Bass Harmonics Chart: 6-string Bass Finally, ith the 6-string bass, e add the final note the Bb/A#, hich you can find on the 6 th and 10 th fret harmonic on the C-sstring.
Secret Harmonics No these bass harmonics charts are accurate, but they don t tell the full picture. There are actually quite a fe more harmonics that you can use specifically around the 2 nd and rd frets. There are 2 extra harmonics in beteen the 2 nd and rd fret harmonics. They take a very light touch in order for them to come out cleanly, but you have these extra harmonics at your disposal. There s also an harmonic beteen the 1 st and 2 nd fret as ell, but once again, you need a very light touch. Just like the rest of the harmonic charts, the pattern is exactly the same for all of the strings it doesn t change no matter hich string you use.
Secret Harmonics -String Basses
Secret Harmonics 6-String Basses
Bass Harmonics Chords Bass harmonic chords can sound amazing. With the chord grounded in a regular fretted note and the harmonics singing above it, it s a beautiful, rich sound. For these chords, the harmonics ill be in blue and the regular fretted notes ill be in red. The numbers in the diagrams represent the suggested fingerings for each chord. Also, pay close attention to here each of the notes are. The red fretted notes are naturally in beteen frets. This is here you ll be playing them. Hoever, the harmonics are right over the fret-ire. Be careful to keep the harmonics over the frets and the regular notes just behind them. E(add9) E(add9) You could use this chord over either an E major or minor sound. The harmonics are an F# and a B, so this chord doesn t have a third in it. Also notice the open E- string. This chord has the same notes, but is voiced slightly differently. Rather than using the open E, this uses the E on the A-string and harmonics at the 9 th fret. Again use this over E major or minor chords.
Em7 This chord is played using ONLY harmonics no regular fretted notes. You could also use any other finger to graze the strings. Em7 Again, this is the exact same Em7 chord, but played ith the th fret harmonics rather than the 12 th fret harmonics. This means it sounds a lot higher. EbMaj7(#11) This is a very specific type of chord, and it sounds very bright. Eb7(#9) This is a Jaco Pastorius chord. You can hear it in Portrait of Tracy at the 0:0 mark.
E7 This is a great chord to play ith harmonics! It has notes and you can play all of them ith this shape. The stretch can be a challenge, but it s nothing you can t overcome. FMaj7 You can play around ith the fingering on this one. Using the index on the E and pinky on the D and G is just a suggestion. F# This is another one that ill ork over both F#/Gb major AND minor chords. G This chord is yet another one that you can use for either a G major chord or a G minor. Once again, there is no third, so it ill ork ith both.
G Major Perfect for using as a beginning or ending chord for a song in G major. GMaj7 A slightly more colorful version of the plain old G major chord. GMaj7(#11) Perfect for using as a beginning or ending chord for a song in G major. Abm7/G#m7 Another chord that only uses harmonics. Again, you can use any finger that you ant to to get this chord out, although the index finger is probably the strongest bet.
AbMaj7(#11) Yet another #11 chord, and again, the suggested fingering is just that a suggestion. Feel free to figure out hat orks for you. A This is yet another harmonically ambiguous chord. It could be used over an A major OR an A minor chord as it has no third in it. A Major Unlike the A, this chord does have a major third in it, and should only really be used over A major chords. A Major (add9) This is a very pretty version of the regular A major chord. Adding the th fret harmonic on the G-string really brings this chord to life and gives it a ton of color.
Bb6 This is another very pretty chord that you can use over Bb major chords and if you re feeling adventurous, you could also use it over G minor chords. BbMaj7 Another major 7 chord, and just like a fe of the others, you can fiddle ith hich fingers you use for this one. B Once again, e ve got another chord here that can be usedin different places. You can play this one over a regular B major chord or a B minor chord. B(add9) This is the kind of chord you could use over a B major or a B minor. The difference beteen it and the B is that this chord has a C# in it the 9 th a very pretty sound
Bm7 This chord could be played ith all harmonics, the ay it is shon here, or you could actually play the 7 th fret on the E-string and make it a hybrid. Bm9 This is a tricky one to get all the notes at the same time. I usually do the notes one at a time. This is one of my favorite bass harmonics chords. C(add9) Yet another chord that can be used in more than one place firstly over C major chords, and also over C minor chords. CMaj7(#11) You can use this chord over CMaj7#11 chords, but if you re feeling adventurous, you could try playing them over regular C major chords. Be careful ith them though.
D This is the final chord that you can use in multiple places in this case, over D major as ell as D minor. D Major This is very similar the A major chord, just using other strings and of course, use this chord over D major chords. DMaj7 Another all-harmonics chord, and it s another here you ll have to play the notes indivdually.
Bass Harmonics Bonus Lessons Along ith this Ultimate Guide, there are bonus video lessons that ill sho you exactly ho you can use all of these harmonics to make some pretty amazing music. In lesson one, you ll learn about artificial harmonics and ho you can use them to play absolutely any note you ant in harmonics. You might have noticed in the charts, you don t have immediate access to all of the notes that music is made up of, but using artificial harmonics, you can pretty easily play all of the riffs, licks, melodies and bass lines that you already kno, but play them in harmonics. Click Here To Watch The Artificial Harmonics Lesson In the 2 nd bonus lesson, you ll learn yet another advanced technique using harmonics. Tapped harmonics are incredibly percussive ay of getting these harmonics and it involves using your right hand tapping the string on the fretire. Be careful to not follo through ith the strike though. You ant to be like a cobra striking quickly, then ithdraing. Click Here To Watch The Tapped Harmonics Lesson
In the next harmonics lesson, you ll learn all about the chords you can form using bass harmonics. The one thing you have to be fairly careful of ith these is that your fretting hand arches up and over D, G and even A-strings so that the harmonics you play there ring through nicely. Click Here To Watch The Bass Harmonics Chord Lesson In the final bonus lesson, it s all about taking all of the knoledge that you no have and creating music ith it. That means playing melodies in harmonics! Melodies sound great in harmonics the singing sound makes the bass sound much more like a voice. That s hy harmonics are such a great device to use they can really help you connect ith your audience. In this lesson, you ll obviously learn ho to play a fe melodies, but you ll also learn ho to start making your on solo pieces that use harmonics. It s not as hard as you think. In fact, getting started is as simple as playing a melody in harmonics and just picking some simple bass notes to put underneath that melody. From there, you can let your creativity take over. This is the exact same process that players like Victor Wooten and Jaco Pastorius use to create their on ae-inspiring solo pieces. Click Here To Watch The Melodies And Solo Pieces Lesson
Bass Harmonics Melodies These are the melodies from the final bonus lesson There are 2 staves for these melodies. The first is the tablature that tells you exactly hich frets to play the harmonics at. The bracketed mean that the note is a harmonic. For example if you sa this (7) on your G-string, you d play the 7 th fret harmonic on that string. The regular fretted notes are not bracketed. The notation staff shos you hich notes ill sound hen you play these harmonics. It can be a bit confusing at first. I recommend starting ith the tablature it ill probably be the most useful in this case! Bugle Call - Reveille? 7 7 7 7 7 Ó œ J œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ? 7 7 7 7 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Bugle Call Call To Post? 7 7 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ? 7 7 7 7 7 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
Bugle Call Charge? 7 œ œ œ œ œ 2 12 12 12 12 7 7 12 7 7 12 7 7 7 7 7 7? œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ?# # # 7? œ œ œ œ œ?# Ó œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Bass Line Billie Jean (in E) Melody Amazing Grace??# œ œ œ œ # # Melody Ode To Joy /Beethoven s Symphony #9?#?# # œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ J 2 2 F B G A œ œ œ œ œ?# # œ?# œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ j œ J
Solo Piece Ode To Joy /Beethoven s Symphony #9 ith bass note accompaniment?# # œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ j?# # œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ j In this example, I ve put the harmonic melody up an octave in the notation part so you can see the bass notes a little more clearly. It can be challenging to play both the bass notes and the harmonic melody sometimes your left hand ill end up in a bit of a eird position. Solo Piece Ode To Joy /Beethoven s Symphony #9 ith different bass note accompaniment 2 2?# B œ œ œ œ F œ œ œ œ G œ œ œ œ A œ œ j?# 2 B œ œ œ œ 2 F œ œ œ œ G A B œ œ œ œ œ 7 œ j Notice ho the melody is exactly the same nothing has changed there. The only difference is in the fretted notes. They change the harmony and the ay the melody feels.
The chords that these bass notes imply have also been ritten in beteen the tabs and notes. You don t need to orry about playing these chords they are implied in the bass notes. You can also add in different rhythms to create a groove something that ill get people tapping their feet. The only limit here is your imagination. If there is a note in the melody you re trying to play that just isn t anyhere to be found, you can alays turn to using artificial or tapped harmonics to get the melody out. Be sure to check out the th bonus lesson to get the full picture. Experimentation is the key ith the harmonics. It s one thing to understand ho they ork on an intellectual level, but it s an entirely different game hen you start trying to use them to create solo pieces. You ll learn so much by trying things out, making mistakes and figuring out ho to get the sounds that you ant. Melody Birdland (Weather Report)?# Ó 1 19 1 19 1 19 1 19 1 19 12 17 1 19 12 17 12 17 12 17 1 19 1 19 1 19 bœ J Bend Bend Bend œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ 1 19 1 19 12 17 12 17 1 19 1 19 12 17?# <b> œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ Bend bœ J 1 19 1 19 1 19 1 19 12 17 12 17 1 19 1 19 1 19 12 17 12 17 1 19 Bend?# <b> œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ Bend 1 19 1 19 12 17 1 19 12 17?# <b> œ œ œ œ œ nœ 1 19 Ó
This is a melody that uses artificial harmonics. It as originally played by Jaco Pastorius hen he as in Weather Report, but there have been countless other bass players since ho have played this melody. Notice ho the artificial harmonics are ritten. The unbracketed number is the note that s actually being fretted. For example, the very first note is being fretted at the 1 th fret. The number in the brackets immediately after the regular number is here the artificial harmonic is being played. For example, 1(19) ould mean that you fret at the 1 th fret, and then pluck your artificial harmonic at the 19 th fret frets above your original note. This is going to give you the same note as the 1 th fret, but 2 octaves above. Also, some of the notes you need to bend up half a step. It s alays the 1 th fret bending up to be the same note as the 1 th fret. This is quite difficult to imagine ithout hearing the recording, but you can check that out here: Click Here To Listen To The Original Recording The melody starts at the 0:18 mark. Jaco actually starts by playing the harmonic 12 frets above the fretted notes. The second time around, (0:0 mark) it s only frets above hich takes the melody up an octave.
Next Steps I strongly encourage you to go through these lessons and this guide as many times as you need to let everything sink in. I d love to hear it hat you ve done ith all of the material in these these lessons. Whether you ve come up ith a riff, melody, like or even an entire song that uses harmonics, I d love to hear it! I d be so grateful if you could send me a link to a video or a recording at: becomeabassist@gmail.com I may even be able to feature your song on the site. Also, if you have any questions about anything you see here or in the lessons, feel free to reach me at the same email. I d be happy to help out hoever I can. Good luck ith all the harmonics lessons and happy playing! Talk soon,