Chromatic scales – three ways to approach them

We’re continuing our beginner bass series this week with chromatic scales.

So far, we’ve covered one octave major scales, minor scales, and major arpeggios. We’ve created a downloadable PDF guide for all of these, and we’ve got a PDF with these chromatic scale exercises for you here as well.

Chromatic Scales are Deceptively Challenging

I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with chromatic scales.

In so ways, they are the most important scale to practice.

They also happen to be one of the most frustrating things for beginners to practice, however.

Chromatic scales don’t map neatly onto the bass fingerboard. They can you into unfamiliar positions and, it can be hard to understand how to play them in tune at first.

Even referring to them as “scales” (plural) is misleading since, in reality, there’s just one gigantic chromatic scale from the lowest to highest register for every instrument.

When approached intelligently, however, mastering chromatic scales will level up your bass game tremendously, and there are several good entry points that I recommend for beginning and intermediate bassists.

Here are my three favorite ways to approach chromatic scales, arranged in order of complexity. All three will teach you to look at the bass fingerboard in a new way, and I continue to practice all three approaches on a regular basis. Remember, you can also download all these examples as a PDF if you like.

Approach #1 – Half and First position Chromatic Scale

I think of this is a “training wheels” chromatic scale.

It also happens to be a great exercise for developing two of the most fundamental “fingering rules” on the bass:

• when ascending, shift 1-1
• when descending, shift 4-4

Whenever possible, we want to lead with a lower numbered finger when ascending the bass and lead with a higher numbered finger when descending the bass.

I often tell students that they want to have some fingers to use when they get to the new position.

Like all “fingering rules,” these are really guidelines more than rules, and in professional playing situations, I find myself breaking them all the time. After all, music does not tend to fall into neat and tidy fingering boxes, especially on the bass!

This fingering is a great place to start because it incorporates the open strings and it follows the exact same pattern on each string.

Learning How to Play These Scales in Tune

Practicing a chromatic scale with a drone pitch is tough since there are so many dissonances.

I’ve had a lot of students practice with a visual tuner for each note, not moving on until the note is exactly in tune on the tuner display.

While there is some value to that for sure, I’m most interested in being able to find all of the notes I am playing by referencing either an open string or a natural harmonic.

Luckily, three of the four closed notes on each string can be checked in this fashion:

I like to have students practice this pattern until it feel automatic and each note is reliably in tune.

Approach #2 – Chromatic Scales on One String

If played on just one string, chromatic scales actually do fit neatly into a fingering pattern.

I think that I first discovered this fingering back in high school practicing through Rufus Reid’s monumental book The Evolving Bassist. It has stuck with me ever since, and it’s a great way to develop your chromatic scale game.

Just remember what note your first finger will be landing on: Ab, B, D, and F, which happens to be a fully diminished 7th chord.

Also, keep in mind that there are a whole bunch of notes that you can check when playing this scale.

Of course, you can (and should!) also practice this on the other three strings.

After you get comfortable with this pattern, you can extend it into the second octave of the fingerboard, with the same three note grouping.

You’ll land with the first finger on the same exact notes as in the lower positions. Pretty cool, huh?

Approach #3 – Six Notes Per String

I first picked this exercise up from National Symphony bassist and Peabody Conservatory faculty member Ira Gold. I think that he learned it from working with Albert Laszlo at the Aspen Music Festival.

There’s a beauty to this pattern due to its symmetry. After playing the initial open E string, each string gets six notes played on it.

Like the one string chromatic scale. The first finger is outlining a fully diminished 7th chord. I also like to remember the F-B-F-B pattern for the initial notes on each string.

I love this approach to chromatic scales for two major reasons:

1. As bass players, we spend the majority of our time playing in the exact range that this exercise covers. Therefore, it’s a great warm-up exercises for just about any playing situation.
2. It’s a highly symmetrical pattern, making it excellent for playing slurred exercises. Try slurring 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and even 12 notes together and you’ll see what I mean!

Final Thoughts

While there are countless ways to practice these deceptively tricky scales, I find that getting proficient with these three approaches will take you a long way toward building a solid foundation on the bass.

Grab these PDF exercises and put in regular work on this If you’re patient and work on these consistently, you’ll be amazed at the progress you make.

If you’re starting out with these chromatic scales, you may also be new to the bass bow. Check out my post on how I like to approach the bow, and let me know any other topics you’d like me to dig into!