In this video course we’re going to take a look at a musical device that’s hugely important to us as bass players – the octave. Octaves have been briefly mentioned and used in previous exercises, but in this course, we’re going to break down exactly what they’re all about.
Don't forget to hit the Download Resources button above to receive the PDF worksheet and backing tracks that accompany these lessons! This course contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:
In this video we’ll be looking at the concept of octaves and examining how they fall under the fingers on the bass.
This bassline illustrates a very common way to use octaves: as a continuous, pumping bassline. This kind of line works really well in funk and disco music.
This is a slow rock riff that uses octaves. You’ll hear that they also work well in rock basslines.
In this line, octaves are used as part of a repeated bass motif.
This exercise is a funk line that makes use of octaves.
This is a rock bassline that makes use of octaves.