How this course works

This course teaches music theory as it applies to the electric bass. If you already own a bass and want to understand what you are playing, you are in the right place.

The subjects are the ones a bassist uses every day: notes, rhythm, reading music, intervals, scales, chords, harmony and bass lines. Two things are deliberately left out: gear and playing technique. You will not find advice on basses, strings or amps here, and no lessons on how to pluck or mute. Technique comes up only when the theory needs it, such as the numbers used for your fingers.

Modules and lessons

The course is organised in modules, and each module is made of lessons. The lessons form one path: each one builds on the ones before it and lists them as its prerequisites, at the top of the page.

Here is the whole path. Every title is a link.

What every lesson contains

Every lesson page has the same parts, in the same order:

• one clear objective, written under the title, so you know what you should be able to do at the end;
• an explanation with diagrams of the bass neck, drawn for this site;
• a “Try it” exercise to do on your bass;
• the new terms the lesson introduces, each linked to the glossary.

How much you practise, and how often, is up to you. The course tells you what to learn and in which order. It does not tell you how long to spend on each step.

The three tools

Three interactive pages are available at any time, and the lessons link to them where they help:

• Bass Map: arpeggios, the circle of fifths, natural harmonics, modes and scales, and every note on the neck;
• Chords for Bass: every chord type from every root;
• Key Chords: the chords of any key.

You do not need to understand them yet. They will make more sense with every module.

Two languages, two ways of naming notes

The site exists in English and in Italian. The English pages name the notes with letters: C D E F G A B. The Italian pages use the solfège names Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si, and they also teach the letters, because chord charts, tabs and music software use letters everywhere in the world. You can switch language at any time with the EN / IT buttons at the top of the page.

Four or five strings

The course works for both 4-string and 5-string basses. The theory is the same on both. The diagrams show 4 strings unless a lesson says otherwise.