Originally published June 9, 2013, lightly edited for clarity.
Most bass players spend years running scales without ever connecting that work to the music they actually play on stage. I was one of them for a long time. I remember the seemingly endless hours of running scales on my bass and thinking to myself “Why am I doing this?” “I never hear anybody do this on stage!!” I did know that it was beneficial for getting my hands in shape for playing on the fingerboard, but I could never make the connection with the way I was practicing scales to the way I would actually use them when I played music. I finally figured it out — the following video walks through a practical way to look at and practice scales that really works. Scale practice is one of the fundamentals I teach. For hands-on help applying scales in your own playing, online bass lessons via Zoom are available.
