My #1 Phrasing

Exercise...Ever
 Scott Devine

My #1 Phrasing Exercise...Ever (#111)

Jazz Blues progression
Alternate between 4 bars of walking, then soloing

C7 F7 C7 G‹7 C7
? ™™
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Alternate

F7 F©º C7 E‹7 A7
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Alternate

D‹7 G7 C7 A7 D‹7 G7
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ™™

Start time 10:18

Ex.1 alternating between soloing and walking

qaa z=[qp ]e
° ? œ~~~ C7 œ œ ¿ #œ nF7
œ œ œ #œ
C7
œ nœ #œj œ
G‹7 C7
œ œ b œ nœ œ
œ œ
2 5 X 4 3 2 3 4 5 3 1 2
¢ ¤ 15 ~~~
3 3
0
1 2 3
0

F7 F©º C7 E‹7 A7
œ œ bœ
°? b œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ b œ œ b œ
3
œ œ#œ œ b œ
œ œ œ
œ b œ b œ nœ 3 3

2 5 2 5 4 3 7 4 3 6
5 3 4 4 5 1 5 5
¢ ¤ 1 6 4 5
3 6 3 3 7 6

Copyright © 2014 Scott's Bass Lessons

 D‹7 G7 C7 A7 D‹7 G7
° ? œ #œ œ ¿ nœ bœj nœ œ œ 3
œ bœ œ bœ œ bœ œ bœ œ
œ œ
Etc
5 6 7 X 5 3 4
5 3
¢ ¤ 5
3
4 3
6 5
6 5
4 3
5

13:05

Ex.2 arriving early at the change from walking to soloing

° ? C7 b œ ¿ nœ F7
œ œ œ #œ
C7
œ #œj œ œ b œC7
œœ
G‹7
œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ

2 3 0
0 1 X 2 3 2 3 4 5 1 2 0 3 2
¢ ¤ 3 0 3 0 2 1 3

F7 C7 F©º E‹7 . A7
œ
œ œ bœ œ œ 3 œœ
° ? bœ 3
b œ# œ œ œ œ b œ œ Œ Œ œ œ#œ œ œb œ
œœ œ œ œJ nœ œ
œ œ #œ œ 3 3 3 3 3
2 5 4 3 7 4 3
1 1 4 1 4 5 2 2 5 5
¢ ¤ 3 0
1 2
0 3 3 3 4 2 3 7 6

D‹7 G7 C7 A7 D‹7 G7
° ?bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œb œ œ
œ œ œb œnœ œ œ œ#œ #œ œ œ œ bœ ˙ Ó
œ œ 3

6 5 2 2 5 4 1
3 0 5 7 3 3
¢ ¤ 3
0
0 1 2
0
2 3 4 6 0 5 4 3

Copyright © 2014 Scott's Bass Lessons

 15:11 Ex.3 alternating between soloing and walking
C7 F7 C7 G‹7 C7
°? j œ ¿#œ nœ œ œ ¿#œ œ ¿#œ œ œb œ ¿ 3
‰¿œ œ œ œ œb œ œ œb œ œ #œ œ
œ 3

3 X
2 5 X 4 3 2 3 X 4 5 X 1 2 2 5
¢ ¤ X 2 3 3
0
2 1
3
1 3 4

F7 F©º C7 E‹7 A7
° ? #œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ ¿ œ b œ œ œ œ 3 œ œ b œb œ
œ œ J œ œ#œ œ
œb œ œ œ Œ ‰ ‰
3 3 3

1 2 5 2 5 X 4 3 7 4 3 6
3 0 4 0 5 2 5 5
¢ ¤ 3 1
3
3 7 6

D‹7 G7 C7 A7 D‹7 G7
œ œ œ œ j œ
° ? œ #œ œ nœ #œj œ œ œ œ œ œb œ œ b œ œ œj nœ œ #œ œ œœœ
œ œ #œ
3 3 3

5 6 7 5 3 4 7 6 5 10 9 7 7
0 5 3 5 8 7 9 7 10 8 9 9
¢ ¤ 5 8 6 7 10 8

Copyright © 2014 Scott's Bass Lessons

My #1 Phrasing Exercise...Ever (#111)

Your Action Plan

I'm going to keep this short and sweet.
This exercise moved the needle for me in a BIG way. It’s
simply one of the coolest exercises I’ve ever been shown,
and got me playing the bass in a much more musical way
than I’d ever done before.

But...

It didn't happen straight away. It's a really tough exercise,

and took me at least a month to start making some
progress with it. I'm telling you this as I expect you're
about to go through the same pain and frustration as I did
- hee hee (evil laugh!). So fear not... it happened to me
too... but it was worth it!

If you feel frustrated or this exercise is too much for you

right now, simply put it on the back burner and come back
to it in a month or so... it'll be waiting for you ;)

Here are your action steps.

• Familiarise yourself with the chord progression that I

use within this lesson. Use your arpeggio/chord tone
exercises with the progression, moving up and down
the neck in various positions so you can visualise it
clearly over the fingerboard.

• Tackle the lesson. Work through this slowly and

methodically. Play at slower speeds if that feels more
comfortable.

Copyright © 2014 Scott’s Bass Lessons

 • Now start to implement this exercise on other songs. I
recommend using common jazz standards as the
chords usually change every measure, and many times
even two chords per measure. It'll keep you on your
toes ;)

As always, see you in the shed...

Scott :)

Copyright © 2014 Scott’s Bass Lessons