Bass Lesson 17 - Octaves

After you have mastered the slap bass technique, you can safely move ahead to learn about octaves and how to use them in general bass playing. Octaves are most utilized when playing slap bass. This article will focus on how to use octaves when playing slap bass.

In traditional GLI fashion, we shall talk about the octave and its definition first. The octave is an interval much like the 5th or major 3rd intervals. The unique thing about the octave is that the low note and the high note are the same notes but different pitches. If you play the open E string and the A string on the 7th fret, you will have an octave interval. It is called an octave because there are 8 notes in a major scale. C major is C D E F G A B C, which is one octave, or 8 notes. The Cmaj scale starts on C and ends on C. If you play the beginning C and the ending C at the same time, you will be playing an octave. You can also think of an octave as 12 semitones, or the first and last notes of a chromatic scale.

Now for a little physics: the reason notes have different pitches is because of the audible wavelengths emitted from the speakers. As you may or may not know, tuners are set to A = 440hz. This means the wavelength of the note, A, repeats its pattern 440 times per second! If we play the octave above that A, the frequency is double, thus 880hz. Since 880 is divisible by 440, we have constructive interference, so the notes are “the same.” When your guitar is out of tune, the A note may be tuned to 441 or 442, which creates deconstruction interference when played with an A that is in tune. Deconstructive interference may also be referred to as “out of tune” or “sounding horrible” in the musical world. Now, back to that musical world.

To play an octave, you play two notes that are the same but oftentimes on different strings and frets. Let’s look at an example on the fretboard.

 

This is in the key of F#m and has three different shapes that are all octaves. The octave shape is very simple, and once you learn it you can move it all around the fretboard like this picture shows. Just play your “root” note (lowest), and the next note will be two frets higher and two strings toward the ground. If you are familiar with guitar chords, it's like a power chord but without the middle note. You can also figure out what the shape is like by playing the first and last notes of the major (or minor – they will both be the same) scale at the same time. If that doesn't work for you, feel free to watch the video...

Let’s look at another example.

Notice that this example, although there are more black dots, follows the same progression as the first one. Remember that lesson about chord progressions that you studied for hours? This example is a little longer and has a different rhythm. The “x” means to slap the string but don't fret it; all you will hear is the string hitting the high frets. The rhythm is a little difficult; you may have an easier time learning it by watching the video rather than trying to read the music. If you have any questions from the article look over the video and then ask questions in the forums. Enjoy!