Chords for Dorian Scales for Bass (plus Funk Jam)

Bonjour, mes amis!
[C] Hello, my friends!
[Bbm] Hello, my friends!
_ [C] _ [Bbm] _ _ _ [C] _ _ [Bbm] _
_ _ [F] _ [Cm] _ [Bbm] _ [N] Aujourd'hui, I'm wearing a sweatshirt.
And that's the whole reason I was just doing that French thing.
Alright, let's get serious.
_ _ So, normally I film these in the morning, but today it's the evening.
I was on a really cool hike today, and I got home and I was just like,
something's missing.
Wait!
They don't know how to play a Dorian scale yet!
So, I'm going to show you how to play a Dorian scale in a couple different ways today.
First of all, you need to know what a Dorian scale is.
It's one of the modes.
If you don't know what that is, you can Google it, or I'll talk about it in another video,
but I'm not going to fill your head with theoretical abstractions right now.
We're just going to learn how to play something really useful.
Okay?
So, we'll do this in the key of D, but once you learn the shape,
you can actually do it in any key, because the instrument is tuned symmetrically.
So, once you learn the shape, you can just play it anywhere.
It's really cool.
So, basically all the information you need here will be in the tablature,
including the left-hand fingerings I use, but I'll talk you through it also.
This is what the scale sounds like.
[D] _ [E] _ [F] _ [G] _ [A] _
[Bm] _ [D] _ [C] _ [B] _ [A] _ [G] _ [F] _ _
[D] _ _ _ Ha [Em] ha ha!
So, the Dorian scale is a type of minor [F] scale, so it's got that [Dm] _ _
minor-y [D] kind of sound.
Oh, so melancholy!
The left [G]-hand fingerings are 2, 4, 1, 2, [A] 4, [Bm] [Cm] 1, [D] 2, 4.
[F] 2, 1, 14, 1, [D] 4, 2.
[G] Up, and then in reverse, exactly.
So, let's play it together a few times,
and then I'll show you the other shape I use to play this scale sometimes,
and then we'll do some fun stuff with it.
All right, here we go slow.
_ 1, and 2, and 3, and 4, and 1.
_ 1, 2, _ _ and 4, and [A] _ _ [Bm]
2, [Cm] and 3, [D] and 4, [Cm] and 1, and [B] 2, [A] and 3, [G] and 4, and 1, and 2, and 3, and 4, and_
Cool, let's pick up the tempo significantly. _
1, 2, 3, [D] 4.
_ [E] _ [F] _
[G] _ _ [A] _ [Bm] _ _ [Cm] _ [D] _ _
[C] _ [Bm] _ _ [A] _ _ [G] _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ Rock and roll.
Again, faster, faster, gentlemen and ladies.
1, 2, 3, 4.
[E] _ [F] _ [A] _ [B] _ [D] _ _
[Cm] _ [B] _ [A] _ [F] _ [E] _ [D] _ _
Good, and one time as eighth notes, so it'll be almost double as fast.
1, 2, 3, 4.
[E] _ [F] _ [A] _
[Bm] _ [D] _ _ [A] _ [G] _ [E] _ [D] _ _
[F] _ [G] _ [Bm] _ [D] _ _ [A] _ [F] _ [E] _
[D] _ _ _ [N] Very good.
Bravo! _ _
_ _ Okay, so here's the other shape I use to play this scale.
Again, you can see everything in the tablature here, but I'm going to say it anyway.
So this time I'm starting on my first finger instead of my second finger,
and I'm going 1, 3, 4, 1, [B] 2, [Cm] 4, [Dm] 1, 2, [Cm] [Bm] 1, 4, [A] 2, [G] 1, [F] [E] 4, 3, [D] 1.
I think I said all those numbers right.
So let's play through it again.
This time we'll start a little faster than we did last time.
1, and 2, and 3, and 4, _ [E] [F] and_
[G] _ [B] _ [C] _ [D] _ [C] _ [A] _ [G] _ _
[E] _ [D] Again.
[E] _ [F] _ [A] _ [B] _ [Cm] _
[Cm] _ [B] _ [A] _ [G] _ [E] _ [D] _ Good, now let's pick it up.
1, 2, 3, [F] 4.
[A] _ [D] _
_ [A] _ [E] _ [D] _ [E] _ [B] _ [D] _ _
[A] _ [E] _ [D] _ _ _ Great!
So this is the scale you want to use when there's a minor 7 chord in a song.
It sounds [Am] like this.
_ _ [Gbm] _ _ [Dbm] Minor 7 chord.
It's a root, a flat 7th, and a flat 3rd.
So if a guitar player or a piano player or somebody is playing a minor 7 chord,
you as a bass player want to be using a Dorian scale underneath it.
Okay, so here's the fun part.
I want to give you guys a little funk groove to play with _
_ that really incorporates the sound of the scale.
One of my favorite things about this scale [F] is that it's got an F natural [Bm] and a D [Db] natural in it,
so there's that gnarly tritone in it.
[D] _ [F] _ [N] _ So here's the bass line I'm going to play.
We'll get the drum machine going.
_ _ _ _ Here's what it'll sound like.
_ _ _ _ [G] _ [B] _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
[Bm] _ _ _ [F] _ _ [G] _ [Bm] _ _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ [G] _ [Bm] _ _
_ [G] So that bass line is pretty sparse, so you can also mess with creating your own fills using the scale if you're more advanced.
I'll give you a little example of what I mean.
Also just an excuse to noodle around a little bit. _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _
_ [F] _ [G] _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ [Gb] _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
[Bm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ [G] _ _ [B] So _ [F] _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [D] _
there's a Dorian scale.
This was all in the key of D,
but you can actually play it in any key if you just start on a different fret.
So [N] for example, I could take the same shape, move it up a half step.
Now it's in E flat instead of in D.
Ta-da!
It's magical!
And I think you'll find that this scale is in a lot of different bass lines.
You can use it for walking bass, you can use it for funk bass, you can use it all over the place.
It's a fantastic scale.
Forget about it!
Alright guys, thank you for watching.
Go rock some Dorian scales.
Rock!
_ [Ab] And I'll see you next week.
[Gm] _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ [Gm] _ _ _ [Eb] _ [G] _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ [Am] _ [Eb] _ [A] _ _