In this weeks lesson I’m covering the basics of the octave pattern and providing a few exercises to help you get it under your fingers.

What Is An Octave?

An Octave is a musical distance from any note to the next repetition of that note:


In the scale above, the A notes are an octave apart. There are lots of ways we can play an octave interval:

Basic Octave Patterns

For this exercise, we will be playing two C notes one octave apart. Use your index and pinky fingers to create the box shape needed to play an octave:

This exercise familiarises your ear with the sound of an octave. This is equally important as learning the fretboard pattern. To apply intervals, we need to understand how they sound:

Next we can use the same shape on a root note of G:

Disco Octaves!

This classic disco line can help with moving the pattern around the fretboard. All we are doing is moving from a D to a B and then making our way back up one fret at a time.

Begin slowly before ramping up the speed. This will help you get faster quicker. 

The octave plays an essential role in lots of bass riffs. Try to pick out and learn songs that use octaves to help you get better at recognising when and how to apply them in your own music.


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