remember the first time you picked up your Bas you gazed deeply at the neck and you instantly knew exactly where to place your fingers to make amazing music that would change the world yeah me either cuz when you first look at this thing it's just like come on there's all these notes how are you supposed to come up with a baseline or find the notes to a song looking at every single note on the neck all at once like that is like looking at a mountain of random Lego bricks and trying to build this good luck but if you limit yourself to specific bricks that work perfectly together like in a pre-made Lego kit it's way easier to build something cool without your brain exploding and that's exactly what scales do in music so instead of an overwhelming mountain of every note ever a scale gives you a kit a group of notes that are guaranteed to work together so you can play cool stuff without any notes that sound wrong every song you've ever heard uses scales to keep its notes organized Master of Puppets uses the minor scale to sound dark Pride and Joy uses the mixian scale to sound bluesy Sunshine of Your Love uses the blues scale to sound also bluesy so different scales give different Vibes and eventually you need to know them all to be a well-rounded musician but where do you start and how the hell do you actually use them there's one scale that every beginner should learn first a scale that's used in every musical style that forms the foundation of all the music theory you'll ever need to learn that your mommy sang to you before bed that's right we're starting with the major scale the most used scale in music and it sounds like well that's what you can do with the scale once you master it but for a scale to help you navigate the neck and build better baselines you need to nail the five scale steps I couldn't think of a better name and I can't just tell you hey the notes of a C major scale are CDE EF G AB BC go be a virtuoso trying to rock a scale with that little direction is like opening a huge Lego kit and not reading the instructions not that anyone's ever done that cuz the instruction manual is what tells you exactly how to put the pieces of the Lego kit together and as if there is no end to the Perfection of this analogy that's what a scale shape does for your scales shows you exactly how to put the notes together on the neck once you can nail a shape by heart you can use it to build anything from baselines to killer fills to beautiful solos and I'll show you exactly how to do that in steps four and five but it all starts with step one the center shape a shape so powerful that every Bas student has had to learn it since Leo Fender gave birth to the universe but there's one common mistake that has beginners make this shape harder for themselves than it needs to be cuz any human person should be able to learn this in like a day but make this mistake and you'll struggle for weeks see if you can spot what it is and watch my fretting hand as we fret this middle pinky index middle pinky index ring pinky then same thing back down pinky ring index pinky middle index pinky middle so where do you think people go wrong with this it's not using micros shifting micros shifting is the key to playing baselines and scales smoothly no matter how big your hands are or how developed your stretch is but when you show most people this shape they think they have to hold their hand all the way across all four of the Frets but almost nobody can hold that stretch when they first start playing not even weirdos with giant hands like me and that's where micros shifting saves the day so using the same fingering I showed earlier which is all written out for you in the free pdf in the description you just let your hand move within the position position for comfort and all of a sudden you can play the same fingering as a giant handed Pro just with a little more wiggling around and your stretch skills will come naturally with time what won't come naturally is actually making music with the scale shape which is why you need to work through all five steps cuz at this point you've got shape that's great but it won't be that useful if you can only play it in this one spot that's why you need step two playing the shape on any starting note anywhere on the neck so far you've learned to play the shape starting on the third fret of the a string which is a C if you don't know that's a c then for God's sake watch my money notes video and we call that a C major scale C is the starting note and major is the type of scale but different songs have different starting notes if someone calls Brown Eyed Girl in G at a jam you need to reference that major scale shape from G not see otherwise you're going to be playing the wrong notes like [Music] this so for Browne girl you need a G Major scale that means you need to find a g like on the third fret of the E string and just move your shape over to start on that note like this and voila you have a G Major scale a major scale starting on G and you can successfully impress your friends with browney girl hey dude let's play St it up in a major okay so find your starting note on the E or the a string so you have enough strings to finish the shape Let's do an A on the fifth fret of the E string play your same scale shape same [Music] fingering and of course you still have to learn the actual Baseline now but the scale will help you learn it faster and remember it more [Music] easily you can use this shape almost anywhere but there are two hidden notes where students think they can't use it so they miss out on the full potential of the shape why are these two notes hidden to build artificial suspense but seriously check it out here's the shape starting on the third fret scoot it to the second fret easy don't forget to microshift if you need to scoot it again to the first fret oh wait a second what do you do with your index finger so the index finger notes ended up on the open strings and this is still the same shape as the dots prove beyond a shadow of a whisper of it doubt but it changes your fingering since you don't need to fret an open string although if you dummy fret it a couple times with the index on the open strings you can help convince yourself it really is the same shape but now you can play B flat major as well as F major starting on the first fret of the E string and so you can flawlessly play bass virtuoso joap pistorius's version of the chicken in B flat starting on the first fret okay you may also need to practice for a while but let's be honest the scill shape only has eight notes and there's only so much music you can get out of that Tiny Box I mean imagine a Lego kit with only eight bricks just sucks but unlike Legos there's a simple way to make the bricks of your scale shape multiply a trick that'll get you some basic beginner level UPS on the shape plus some more notes to make music with in steps four and five all you need is the copy paste technique so what the hell does that mean well the shape you now know and love is made of three chunks the first string the second string and the third string and because shapes are easily movable on base you can copy paste any of those scale chunks this can be a lifesaver cuz imagine you're playing a song in D Major meaning you're using your major scale shape starting on a d that limits you from playing any of those really beefy low notes down at the bottom of the base which is a bummer if you want to kick things into heavy gear but check it out let's play the scale from Top to bottom so starting on the high D and landing on the low D now you can literally copy paste these top two chunks and get more scale notes down low so you're playing the same scale shape just starting on the low D instead of the high D and now you have the ammo to get Uber heavy with low notes when the song calls for it so why don't beginners figure this out on their own on day one or even day 100 because there will usually be missing chunks in this case you can't copy paste the final chunk B because you're out of strings but it doesn't matter it's the same notes same relationships same comparison to Legos somehow or say you're jamming an a major it's time for one of your classic bass fills but your classic bass fill is just getting lost and embarrassed fear not those days are over cuz you can copy paste the shape upwards to get some tasty notes outside of your usual base zone so we start this scale from the bottom and now those first two chunks started on the low a you can copy paste to start on the high a which gives you these extra notes and again you can't finish the scale cuz you're out of strings but it's enough coverage to let you rip something cool but how do you actually come up with musical ideas using those extra notes people often learn scales up to this step and still don't really get what the point is but they're all making the same rookie scale mistake that you're about to not make what's the mistake they didn't learn how to steal feel like a basist so you know that famous expression good artists copy great artist steal which has been credited to like 20 different people who all stole it from each other for us this means learning to shamelessly copy and play existing Melodies and baselines that use the major scale this is the most powerful way to make the scale yours and understand it with musical depth not just as a pattern you learned from a video cuz here's the thing you already know the major scale deep in your bones you've heard Infinity songs that use it even when you're a wee little pre- basist you were hearing this everywhere in children's songs holiday music Pub sing alongs I don't know why you in a pub as a child but I'm not here to judge you want to siple wine that's really good news cuz it means if you can connect what you just learned with your fingers to what you already have deep in your ear you can actually use the scale to make music so here's the four step steal like a basist process step one pick a Melody that's deep in your bones and ears already will use When the Saints Go Marching In which is a great tune to know for jazz and New Orleans style gigs and the PDF in the description has a mega list of simple Melodies that most people already have memorized and could sing step two pick any starting note and play the scale shape starting on that note to get your ear oriented I'm going to use B flat but it doesn't matter step three play the root note again and sing it to yourself out loud bad singing is encouraged and then sing the melody starting on that note oh and the Saints finally step four you want to find those notes on the base inside the scale shape so you know to start on the root note for o cuz we gave that away so now you want o when so we're going to find something that sounds like like that oh when no not quite oh when I went too far oh when oh when the saints oh when hey there we go the first note to the third note okay so now I want o and the O when thee yeah that sounded pretty close saints that sounds close too o when the saints Tada there you have it you've linked your innate sense of the sound and musicality of the major scale to where your fingers wiggle but there's one thing that might throw you when you try to do this on your own when the saints was kind of easy cuz it started on the first note of the scale so you had a guaranteed win for finding that first note but not all melodies start on the first note of the scale and that's why in the PDF in the description I've given you the starting note in the scale for each Melody eventually you can figure this out on your own but it's a huge stumbling block for beginners so you're welcome what's that you want to subscribe to Bass Buzz to show your appreciation I mean I guess if you want to but you go through the same four steps let me show you with the sound of music the hills are alive it's like the most classic major scale film in cinema history so step one you picked Melody done step two pick a starting note I'll use e and play the scale shape to get yourself oriented now step three you want to play whatever the first note of the melody is which the chart says should be the fifth note so find that Note 1 2 3 4 5 and try singing The Melody the hills are alive great now step four same as before you're going to start on that same note and try to find the Melody from there the hills the hills the too far the hills the hills great the hills are alive hey we found it it's almost like I've played this [Music] before listen I get it you don't want to play corny Melodies you want to play very cool music for grown-ups who are subscribed to Bass buzz and that's why most people don't take the time to do this but not only will stealing like a basist help you get ahead of those stupid most people with linking your ear and fingers it's also a killer cheat code for creating more malotic baselines and solos check it out the band's rocking the band leader just told you to take a solo you're panicking but all you do is find your scale shape find The Melodies you know oh when the saints the hills are alive and then you can just doodle around [Music] those no this is not just a dorky YouTube bass teacher trick this is how real world class musicians think here's jocka Pistorius again the hills are alive here's the rest wait for it wait for it [Music] that happened in real life but what if you're still struggling to make up your own stuff just copying existing Melodies maybe that feeling is creeping in again of looking at a huge pile of Legos and someone saying build me something amazing right now and that's why step five is a simple trick that makes it easy to pull your own music from the scale whether you need to improvise an amazing Solo or just Jam simple baselines with a band and it's called the Bingo method the Bingo method is embedded in all kinds of music from Bach to Bob Marley to Beach Boys did you catch the trick these seemingly amazing feats of musical Fusion are based on the Bingo method which just means making simple number patterns from scale notes here's what I mean when you learned your scale shape oh so many minutes ago you learn the notes in order 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 which is great for practicing scales not so great for making music but it's so easy to make it into music just make up a different pattern of numbers here's an example 1 2 3 1 so I'm just playing the first second third and then back to the first notes of the scale and I imagine so far you're unimpressed because that just sounds like fla and I promised you cool grown-up music but here's the trick you take that one tiny little idea and move it through the scale by adding one to each number so start with 1 2 3 1 then you go 2 3 4 2 3 4 53 you get the idea and if I chain all that together and play it fast to impress you it sounds cool right and hey our old friend jao Pastorius visits the video a third and final time he played a very similar 1 two 3 4 pattern at the end of his solo version of America the Beautiful not only does this give you a pathway to Infinity musical ideas it's a totally different technical workout than playing the scale in order you can use the same basic fingering approach but the string Crossing and the pl are going to be super different and patterns like this make amazing speed workouts you could pick a pattern for the week set a metronome goal and put in 5 to 10 minutes a day for massive technique gains but hey maybe you're not trying to shred like Joo the Bingo method is still super useful for connective tissue type baselines that we play in real life let's make up another pattern completely spontaneously and unplanned how about uh 8765 and let's use it to link two chords together which is what we do most of the time as bass players in songs let's link a b and an e e together which are the one and four chord in the key of B major so without this pattern you might just play 1 2 3 4 1 and then go to the next chord which would be boring but if you flow from the first chord to the second chord with the pattern 8 7 6 5 to the four chord you could get something like [Music] this still think you're not creative enough to come up with these you can literally play bingo with a random number generator and come up with some patterns let's try this okay 5 1 2 two let's see what happens find those notes 51 2 2 play with rhythms add one to the numbers so instead of 5122 6 233 the secret to really nailing scales is repetition beyond what you can get from a single video or practice session and that's why my beginner to badass course gives you a metric ton of reinforcement on how the major and minor scales are used in songs and how you can use them to create your own baselines and Melodies click on this very subtly placed link to learn more about that I'm going to go finish building that Lego guitar