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- AboutScott Devine… Scott Devine is one of the most versatile and in demand bass players on the UK scene today. He has performed, recorded, shared taxis, vans, planes and boats with players such as, Adrian Ingram, Martin Simpson, Gary Boyle, Neil Brocklebank, The Drifters, The Four Tops, The Nolans, Marisa Turner (Prince, Chaka Kahn), Peter Grant (top 5 jazz artist), Spyro Gyra, Ogie Alcasid, Vina Morales, The Jeff Andrews band (Mike Stern) and has performed at venues such as Ronnie Scotts, Pizza Express (London Soho), The 606 Club, The Vortex, Dubai International Jazz festival and Montreal grand prix. Currently Scott is Musical Director for platinum selling Polish artist Tatiana Okupnik. Alongside side teaching at several Universities within the UK, Scott is writing a set of Bass guitar method books covering a wide range of topics due for release in 2011. He is also busy recording his debut album, which is due for release in 2011.
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Here are my latest bass lessons. You can also check out the Lessons Map!
The “Richard Bona Lick”
A few of my students asked me to show them the ‘lick’ the great bass player Richard Bona plays in many of his solos. I figured there’d be lots more bass players out there that would be interested too so here it is… Downloadable Transcription
Chord Tones / Only One Position Exercise
This new bass lesson is about soloing using only “chord tones”. What are chord tones? Thanks for asking, Thomas G.! You’re giving me the opportunity to add this piece of info up here in addition to my response in the comments area ;). A chord tone is just a note that exists within a certain chord. So, for instance, the …
How to Use a Tonal Key Centre While Soloing
This is a clip from one of my correspondence bass lessons. I was demonstrating how to use one tonal key centre over an entire set of chord changes (Autumn Leaves)… but altering the dominant chords within the piece. I also used a fair amount of chromaticism to spice things up a little. You may also be interested in the Chord …
How to Practice Bass Scales
In this new bass lesson, I’m showing you how to learn & use your bass scales, by applying my ‘Linear Harmony Concept’. And, most importantly… how to apply them to create music! Do you know your major scales? This is a question i was asked by one of my past tutors. I obviously said yes… and I really believed I …
How to Practice Arpeggios on the Bass
This important lesson shows you how to learn and use arpeggios on the bass, by applying my ‘linear harmony concept’ and, most importantly, shows how this concept can actually be applied to other areas of music! Ok, we’ve all been told it’s imperative for us to practice our arpeggios and scales on the bass, but what you might not have …
How to Solo over Static Dominant Chords
Here’s a series of lessons on bass soloing over static dominant chords, which is something I had problems with when I first started soloing –a long time ago! At the time, I was not aware of or really comfortable with the various substitutions I could use. Therefore, I was kinda ‘stuck’ playing arpeggios, which is better than playing random notes …
How to Solo over Static Minor Chords & Grooves
With the following bass lessons, I hope to give you some melodic tools that will help you improvise within static chordal grooves and modal tunes like ‘So What’ and ‘Impressions’. There are many ways to approach static chords/modal harmony on the bass. The techniques I have chosen to discuss within the following tutorials have really helped my students break away …
How to solo over a I-VI-II-V Chord Progression
‘HOW TO SOLO OVER A I-VI-II-V CHORD PROGRESSION’ BASS TUTORIAL SHOWS YOU HOW TO APPROACH SOLOING AND IMPROVISATION OVER THIS COMMON CHORD SEQUENCE ON THE BASS GUITAR. The I-VI-II-V turnaround is one of the most common chord sequences found in music. In jazz standards specifically they’re ALL over the place! There’s many different ways of approaching soloing and improvising over …
How to Solo over a Minor II-V-I Chord Progression
‘HOW TO SOLO OVER MINOR A II V I CHORD PROGRESSION’ BASS LESSON SHOWS YOU HOW TO APPROACH SOLOING AND IMPROVISATION OVER THIS COMMON TURNAROUND ON THE BASS GUITAR. Unlike major II V I’s minor II V I’s were a real mystery for me. I had trouble playing over them so I always reverted to a certain set of licks …
How to Solo over a II-V-I Chord Progression
‘HOW TO SOLO OVER A II V I CHORD PROGRESSION’ BASS TUTORIAL SHOWS YOU HOW TO APPROACH SOLOING AND IMPROVISATION OVER THIS COMMON TURNAROUND ON THE BASS GUITAR. Coming up with new and interesting ways to play over II V I’s on the bass can be a great way to spend an afternoon… or a lifetime! This chord progression is …
Octave String Skipping – Right Hand Exercise
In this lesson, I’m showing you another good exercise for your plucking hand that complements the lesson on right hand –or plucking hand technique that deals with alternate plucking and raking and also the one on string muting. If you haven’t watched these lessons, please do so before you watch this one: it’s mandatory that your plucking/raking/muting be good enough …
Ghost Notes on Bass (Part 2)
In the first part of this lesson on ghost notes on bass, I showed you three different ways to mute the strings. If you haven’t seen this lesson, please watch it before this one, unless you feel you’re already a professional string muter ;). In this lesson, I’m showing you a little groove in Bb to put that into practice. …
Ghost Notes on Bass (Part 1)
Playing “ghost notes” or “dead notes” used to drive me absolutely crazy when I was younger and trying to play them while keeping fluidity within my playing. I had heard players like Gary Willis and Jaco, who make extensive use of them and I loved the way they sounded! So, in this lesson, I’m going to give you a couple …
Right Hand Muting (Floating Thumb & More!)
In this lesson, I’m talking about “right hand muting”. There are various ways to mute the strings with your plucking hand on the bass, and it’s important that you know and use at least one of them. If you’re not convinced, the first example I give in the video, in which I play a scale without muting any strings should …
Right Hand Technique for Bass
Right hand — or “plucking hand” technique should I say, in order not to isolate the lefties ;), is too often forgotten about, because many players are so bothered about what they’re playing with the other hand… But right hand technique on the bass is really key for a lot of techniques and for speed, so it’s very important that …
