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How to Play Chords on Bass Guitar Video Lecture - Guitar Become a Pro (English)
Text Transcript from Video
there are a lot of things out there that
are just wrong and unnatural like eating
pizza with a fork and every offshoot
flavor of Mountain Dew ever created some
people will also argue that playing
chords on a bass is wrong and unnatural
but I wanted to kind of talk about that
today and maybe kind of go over a few
ways that we can start incorporating
cores into your bass playing all right
for today's example I'm going to be
using a Rickenbacker 4003 and a dark
glass of micro tubes b7k ultra so we're
gonna have a couple different examples
of how you can incorporate and play
chords on a bass and I'm also gonna link
it to a backing track at the end if you
want to practice for we're talking about
it and really the definition of a chord
is multiple notes play it at the same
time now there's a lot of iconic bass
riffs played with chords for example
kind of stuff like that usually it
happens in the higher register of a bass
and the reason that is if you try to
play a chord like like maybe guitar
player would play a chord it just sounds
really muddy and there's a lot of low
frequencies competing for each other and
it just doesn't sound good so definitely
use that technique if you really just
want to like destroy your guitar player
and I get him upset at you but we're
gonna talk about some practical ways you
can start using chords and like I said
the definition of a chord is when you
play three different notes at one time
now those would be called triads those
are kind of hard to pass off on a bass
guitar but we're gonna kind of imply
some of this stuff and use two note
chords to start off with alright so
basically we're gonna do this in the key
of G alright that means our notes are
gonna be u g a b c d e F sharp and G and
the first thing we're gonna do is talk
about power chords the power chord is a
root note and it's v one two three four
five so this would be three E and five
yeah and now you can kind of get get
away with playing these together
it is kind of low I kind of has like a
again like we said a muddy sound is
still a lot of frequency is competing
with each other but we can kind of get
away with it I think it makes a little
more sense doing this an octave higher
so what I mean by that is taking the
next highest you get which is always
gonna be down two frets higher two
strings higher so there's the next gene
right there on the fifth fret of the D
string and then again there's that power
chord now it sounds a little more
manageable depending on if you use a
pick if you use your nails if use your
fingers a lot of different kind of get
away but playing a higher register power
chord is one way you can get away with
playing chords on a bass now that can go
over any major or minor chord a 1 and a
5 are gonna be the same whether it's
major minor chord
alright now to start incorporating the
major Nisour mine ernest of it we need
to add the third ok so like we said in
this G Major scale one two three and the
third of a genius is a B yeah so now if
we combine these two notes even though
we only have two notes playing together
we're implying like a G major chord
kinda like that tool riff at the
beginning or you want right there that
guy right there
that's kind of like implying a major
chord and that you even though by itself
it doesn't sound very like happy or
major if we think of that as a root note
and its major third having one finger on
an any string on a 4-string bass guitar
going at a string higher and a fret back
will always and yield a Reuben and its
major third okay now the difference
between major and minor is having what's
called a flat 3 so again if we just kind
of stick in the same spot right here if
we wanted to make this root note
whatever this is it technically it's a
b-flat a sharp whatever we can move this
here to make a 2 fret space now this all
of a sudden becomes an
minor for all right now we can kind of
do this in the lower register again it
sounds pretty muddy so I personally just
kind of think they sound better up up
here okay now again you can start mixing
and matching so let's say if you have
like a progression that goes G major to
B minor instead of playing a couple of
ways you can do that you can just follow
the route notes like a jeah to a B and
follow a G major to a B minor or you can
start incorporating chords and maybe
finding a higher G like this tenth fret
on the a string and then maybe find the
higher B in fact be is the major third
of G then we can move that shape up here
G major I find these especially useful
and kind of switching up maybe a
different part of a song it might be a
little low-key where you want to like
back off like the low Thunder Ness of a
bass and maybe just kind of play like a
partner passage with higher voiced
chords and then when maybe like a more
energetic part of a song kicks and then
you hit him back with the good low
Thunder stuff right so now aside from
just using maybe dyads to note kind of
power chord things that we've been doing
we can actually imply it instead of
implying all the notes in a major minor
chord we can use what's called an
arpeggio to play along with the chord
and this is where our first backing
track is gonna kind of come in handy so
like I said this is gonna be over a G
major so here's the third fret of the
low E string that's a G now the notes in
a G major chord if we're gonna play
along with a guitar in a second are a G
a B and a D so 3 e to a 5 alright now it
could be a more useful or more fun way
to play a G B D is taking a GE I'm
Freddie string hitting the a the fifth
fret on the e-string and sliding into
the major third G a B and then going
back to the five which is the D at the
fifth fret of the a string
G a B and then grabbing and the next
highest octave use this for absolutely
anything anytime you see a G major chord
in a song you can play its arpeggio in
any order you want you don't have to
always go 1 2 3 5 8 which should be the
notes of the major scale you kind of
skip around I'm just using those notes
from this arpeggio and any order that I
want and a cool thing to do also is to
take this all the way in the active and
then repeat that exact same shape so
when I say shape I'm starting with the
root note go ahead your frets higher
going to your frets higher down and
stringing back to friends down a string
is the next root so I do the same thing
so yeah gyah your frets higher a step
higher down back g vampire step higher
down a back GU absolutely any major
chord you can use any of those notes for
if it's in a CA major chord the 5th
round the E string again AV C sharp B BC
sure you have to think of the names of
the individual notes it can help but
it's really just kind of like a form and
arpeggio form else you get around the
neck alright now so what we're gonna do
now is play along with just those notes
over just a G major
acoustic guitar track and kind of think
of different things you can do within
our Pesce oh and then maybe kind of work
like a two note diet chord or power
chord in there too
[Music]
[Music]
so now that we know what that sounds
like we might want to try to add to
change the chord so we're gonna add one
more chord and that's gonna be C major
to major chords back to back so here's a
ga read on the three-year C is just 1/4
of G 1 2 3 4 so I just go down a string
I can do everything edited on the GA I'm
third fret of the a string now if I
wanted to do that kind of double and do
octave arpeggio form starting on a SIA I
can go find the C on the low E string
which is a through C D G C D E G you can
kind of go back and forth between G up
into a C in any other way so now this is
what it would sound like over a G to a
see progression
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
now I also want to do an arpeggio for
minor chords su and again like we said
before the only difference between major
and minor is minor chords have a flat
3rd when we're talking about chords so a
minor is a chord that's in the key of G
it's a second note right so that's 5th
fret on the low E string is an A now if
we were if we did that 5 7 9 1 2 3 5
that would be a major so if we flattened
the 3 we would just take it down here a
b c e 1 2 flat 3 5 and then we could
repeat the same thing here and again now
this you can actually run these into
that chord form that minor 3rd that we
did right there see how I combined those
two in the atman however you want to do
it so I've got an a b c e and to the
octave a and it's minor 3rd and then I
can actually play the chord like that so
we're kind of you know stretching the
definition of what playing a chord is on
a bass guitar and to me I think you know
I always thinking chords and as far as
like how you approach any kind of
instrument you think of the notes that
are in a chord because every song is
chords even if you don't hear a bunch of
stuff happening it wants there are those
notes combined to make like a tonal
atmosphere that can be represented by a
chord so whether you're playing it one
note at a time or finding a way to kind
of it you know and harp harmonized and a
single note with the core it's kind of
the same thing and it's the same you
know thoughtfulness that goes into it
the way we're talking about right so
this last one which I'm also gonna link
you to as a standalone backing track
this is gonna be four chords and they're
gonna be mixed up with major and minor
chords it's gonna have a G major chord
which we can again use any of these
either single notes like that or
different types of cores
and then the next score is gonna be B
minor so you could go to like the
seventh fret on the e-string it and kind
of do that octave don't block the
professional or you can kind of find the
active play some of the chords again I'm
just gonna do it over an example but
really this is just about you being
creative and finding how you like to
play it that's why I suggest you trying
it with the backing track the next chord
is gonna be a D major so you could
either start on the fifth fret of the a
string there's a D and you can use that
arpeggio starting there five eight seven
eight nine eight seventy to be active or
you could find maybe the D which is the
octave the twelfth fret on the D string
and make that major and a chord there
and then the fourth chord of the
progression is give you a minor so just
like we talked about before the fifth
track on a low E string alright so this
is just gonna be one example of what you
can do over just a quick one over a four
chord progression but again find a
backing track doesn't have to be the one
I'm linking you to it can be anyone
there's a million backing tracks on
YouTube and just kind of think of chords
for bass playing or even any other
instrument and then just kind of have
fun and experiment and find the forms or
the positions that you like best and
rock it out
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
you
[Music]
are just wrong and unnatural like eating
pizza with a fork and every offshoot
flavor of Mountain Dew ever created some
people will also argue that playing
chords on a bass is wrong and unnatural
but I wanted to kind of talk about that
today and maybe kind of go over a few
ways that we can start incorporating
cores into your bass playing all right
for today's example I'm going to be
using a Rickenbacker 4003 and a dark
glass of micro tubes b7k ultra so we're
gonna have a couple different examples
of how you can incorporate and play
chords on a bass and I'm also gonna link
it to a backing track at the end if you
want to practice for we're talking about
it and really the definition of a chord
is multiple notes play it at the same
time now there's a lot of iconic bass
riffs played with chords for example
kind of stuff like that usually it
happens in the higher register of a bass
and the reason that is if you try to
play a chord like like maybe guitar
player would play a chord it just sounds
really muddy and there's a lot of low
frequencies competing for each other and
it just doesn't sound good so definitely
use that technique if you really just
want to like destroy your guitar player
and I get him upset at you but we're
gonna talk about some practical ways you
can start using chords and like I said
the definition of a chord is when you
play three different notes at one time
now those would be called triads those
are kind of hard to pass off on a bass
guitar but we're gonna kind of imply
some of this stuff and use two note
chords to start off with alright so
basically we're gonna do this in the key
of G alright that means our notes are
gonna be u g a b c d e F sharp and G and
the first thing we're gonna do is talk
about power chords the power chord is a
root note and it's v one two three four
five so this would be three E and five
yeah and now you can kind of get get
away with playing these together
it is kind of low I kind of has like a
again like we said a muddy sound is
still a lot of frequency is competing
with each other but we can kind of get
away with it I think it makes a little
more sense doing this an octave higher
so what I mean by that is taking the
next highest you get which is always
gonna be down two frets higher two
strings higher so there's the next gene
right there on the fifth fret of the D
string and then again there's that power
chord now it sounds a little more
manageable depending on if you use a
pick if you use your nails if use your
fingers a lot of different kind of get
away but playing a higher register power
chord is one way you can get away with
playing chords on a bass now that can go
over any major or minor chord a 1 and a
5 are gonna be the same whether it's
major minor chord
alright now to start incorporating the
major Nisour mine ernest of it we need
to add the third ok so like we said in
this G Major scale one two three and the
third of a genius is a B yeah so now if
we combine these two notes even though
we only have two notes playing together
we're implying like a G major chord
kinda like that tool riff at the
beginning or you want right there that
guy right there
that's kind of like implying a major
chord and that you even though by itself
it doesn't sound very like happy or
major if we think of that as a root note
and its major third having one finger on
an any string on a 4-string bass guitar
going at a string higher and a fret back
will always and yield a Reuben and its
major third okay now the difference
between major and minor is having what's
called a flat 3 so again if we just kind
of stick in the same spot right here if
we wanted to make this root note
whatever this is it technically it's a
b-flat a sharp whatever we can move this
here to make a 2 fret space now this all
of a sudden becomes an
minor for all right now we can kind of
do this in the lower register again it
sounds pretty muddy so I personally just
kind of think they sound better up up
here okay now again you can start mixing
and matching so let's say if you have
like a progression that goes G major to
B minor instead of playing a couple of
ways you can do that you can just follow
the route notes like a jeah to a B and
follow a G major to a B minor or you can
start incorporating chords and maybe
finding a higher G like this tenth fret
on the a string and then maybe find the
higher B in fact be is the major third
of G then we can move that shape up here
G major I find these especially useful
and kind of switching up maybe a
different part of a song it might be a
little low-key where you want to like
back off like the low Thunder Ness of a
bass and maybe just kind of play like a
partner passage with higher voiced
chords and then when maybe like a more
energetic part of a song kicks and then
you hit him back with the good low
Thunder stuff right so now aside from
just using maybe dyads to note kind of
power chord things that we've been doing
we can actually imply it instead of
implying all the notes in a major minor
chord we can use what's called an
arpeggio to play along with the chord
and this is where our first backing
track is gonna kind of come in handy so
like I said this is gonna be over a G
major so here's the third fret of the
low E string that's a G now the notes in
a G major chord if we're gonna play
along with a guitar in a second are a G
a B and a D so 3 e to a 5 alright now it
could be a more useful or more fun way
to play a G B D is taking a GE I'm
Freddie string hitting the a the fifth
fret on the e-string and sliding into
the major third G a B and then going
back to the five which is the D at the
fifth fret of the a string
G a B and then grabbing and the next
highest octave use this for absolutely
anything anytime you see a G major chord
in a song you can play its arpeggio in
any order you want you don't have to
always go 1 2 3 5 8 which should be the
notes of the major scale you kind of
skip around I'm just using those notes
from this arpeggio and any order that I
want and a cool thing to do also is to
take this all the way in the active and
then repeat that exact same shape so
when I say shape I'm starting with the
root note go ahead your frets higher
going to your frets higher down and
stringing back to friends down a string
is the next root so I do the same thing
so yeah gyah your frets higher a step
higher down back g vampire step higher
down a back GU absolutely any major
chord you can use any of those notes for
if it's in a CA major chord the 5th
round the E string again AV C sharp B BC
sure you have to think of the names of
the individual notes it can help but
it's really just kind of like a form and
arpeggio form else you get around the
neck alright now so what we're gonna do
now is play along with just those notes
over just a G major
acoustic guitar track and kind of think
of different things you can do within
our Pesce oh and then maybe kind of work
like a two note diet chord or power
chord in there too
[Music]
[Music]
so now that we know what that sounds
like we might want to try to add to
change the chord so we're gonna add one
more chord and that's gonna be C major
to major chords back to back so here's a
ga read on the three-year C is just 1/4
of G 1 2 3 4 so I just go down a string
I can do everything edited on the GA I'm
third fret of the a string now if I
wanted to do that kind of double and do
octave arpeggio form starting on a SIA I
can go find the C on the low E string
which is a through C D G C D E G you can
kind of go back and forth between G up
into a C in any other way so now this is
what it would sound like over a G to a
see progression
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
now I also want to do an arpeggio for
minor chords su and again like we said
before the only difference between major
and minor is minor chords have a flat
3rd when we're talking about chords so a
minor is a chord that's in the key of G
it's a second note right so that's 5th
fret on the low E string is an A now if
we were if we did that 5 7 9 1 2 3 5
that would be a major so if we flattened
the 3 we would just take it down here a
b c e 1 2 flat 3 5 and then we could
repeat the same thing here and again now
this you can actually run these into
that chord form that minor 3rd that we
did right there see how I combined those
two in the atman however you want to do
it so I've got an a b c e and to the
octave a and it's minor 3rd and then I
can actually play the chord like that so
we're kind of you know stretching the
definition of what playing a chord is on
a bass guitar and to me I think you know
I always thinking chords and as far as
like how you approach any kind of
instrument you think of the notes that
are in a chord because every song is
chords even if you don't hear a bunch of
stuff happening it wants there are those
notes combined to make like a tonal
atmosphere that can be represented by a
chord so whether you're playing it one
note at a time or finding a way to kind
of it you know and harp harmonized and a
single note with the core it's kind of
the same thing and it's the same you
know thoughtfulness that goes into it
the way we're talking about right so
this last one which I'm also gonna link
you to as a standalone backing track
this is gonna be four chords and they're
gonna be mixed up with major and minor
chords it's gonna have a G major chord
which we can again use any of these
either single notes like that or
different types of cores
and then the next score is gonna be B
minor so you could go to like the
seventh fret on the e-string it and kind
of do that octave don't block the
professional or you can kind of find the
active play some of the chords again I'm
just gonna do it over an example but
really this is just about you being
creative and finding how you like to
play it that's why I suggest you trying
it with the backing track the next chord
is gonna be a D major so you could
either start on the fifth fret of the a
string there's a D and you can use that
arpeggio starting there five eight seven
eight nine eight seventy to be active or
you could find maybe the D which is the
octave the twelfth fret on the D string
and make that major and a chord there
and then the fourth chord of the
progression is give you a minor so just
like we talked about before the fifth
track on a low E string alright so this
is just gonna be one example of what you
can do over just a quick one over a four
chord progression but again find a
backing track doesn't have to be the one
I'm linking you to it can be anyone
there's a million backing tracks on
YouTube and just kind of think of chords
for bass playing or even any other
instrument and then just kind of have
fun and experiment and find the forms or
the positions that you like best and
rock it out
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
you
[Music]
About this Video
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Apr 21, 2026 Last updated
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