easy way to play chords on bass!

[Fretloos]

I was going to ask a question about adding the fifth on my way of playing chords, but I already figured out that I should just mess around with different voicings of the chord and practice my finger dexterity (especially on my fretless), but I'll post what I wrote, maybe that some of you find it usefull?


Hey,
I'm getting really into chords recently and thought of my own system of playing them. Its basicly playing the root with my pointinh finger on the E (or B) string, playing the 7th on the the D (or A) string and playing the 3th on the G (or D) string.
it would go a little something like this on "The Girl From Ipanema"

...Fmaj7....%...G7b5....%....Gm7...Gb7
[G]-14---|-14--|-16---|-16-|-15--|-15-|
[D]-14---|-14--|-15---|-15-|-15--|-14-|
[A]------|-----|------|----|-----|----| etc...
[E]-13---|-14--|-15---|-15-|-15--|-14-|
[b]------|-----|------|----|-----|----|

[beyondhairy]

i think you just explained a power chord

[Fretloos]

Isn't a power chord just root and fifth?
But anyway, I had just gone through all the trouble making that diagram and then discovered my question was irrelevant. I just hoped someone would have use of my method

[IanStephenson]

You can combine those really nicely with the following voicings:

Amaj7 A7 Am7
[G]-13---|-12--|-12---|
[D]-11---|-11--|-10---|
[A]-12---|-12--|-12---|
[E]-------|------|------|


The ones you have so far have the root on the E, while these complement them by having the root on the A, Being a 4th apart you've can get I, ii and iii on the E voicings and IV, V and vi on the A voicing.

Ian

[Bassist4Life]

Originally Posted by Fretloos

I'm getting really into chords recently and thought of my own system of playing them.

It's really cool that you discovered a way to make these chords work for you on bass. Have you checked out Mike Dimin's book "The Chordal Approach"?
http://www.michaeldimin.com

It's a great book on how to play chords on the bass. Mike does some really great chordal arrangements.

Another guy to see about chords on bass is Todd Johnson. He is in our Ask A Pro forum.

If you're interested, you can check out the link to my website and listen to my arrangement of Autumn Leaves.

Joe

[Bassplayer92]

Hey I'll try it, but do you strum those like a guitar player, or would you use three fingers on your right and play them all at once to make the chord?

[Fretloos]

Thanks IanStephenson, thats really a good alternative for doing these chords on my B string, because those don't really sound as good as the higher chords. If I could just find a flatwound C- string somewhere...

That chordal aproach book seems interesting, is there an ISBN or something so I can order it?

I play thes chords bossa style (because I only played bossa yet with these chords). So I pluck the root with my thumb, followed by sorta popping the upper two strings, and with a little variation it sounds really nice (though probably out of tune, but thats my fretless' fault )

[Bassist4Life]

Mike's Chordal Approach book is available through his website. You can also contact Mike directly. He's a really nice guy. If you're interested in chords on the bass, he's the guy you should know.

Check out this video of Mike: http://www.michaeldimin.com/rainbow_1.wmv

Mike also has a column is Bassics magazine where he is teaching the readers how to do chordal arrangements of tunes. http://www.bassics.com

Here's an interview you can check out: http://www.instituteofbass.com/archi...michael_dimin/

You're gonna LOVE this! This is Mike's arrangement of Autumn Leaves from his website. I believe there is even a link to the audio. There are other arrangements available on his website, but this one is my favorite. http://www.michaeldimin.com/autumn.htm

Joe

[Alec W. Conway]

Powerchord = Root + 5th + octave (8th)

in standard tuning, on bass and guitar, a powerchord will look like that, the X's being the other frets, which you arent using...

|-x-x-x-7-x-x-x-
|-x-x-x-7-x-x-x-
|-x-5-x-x-x-x-x-

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Mike Dimin's book is great.

Here's a few pages of chord fingering charts I've made for those who would like them:
http://bryanrtylermusic.com/chordfingeringcharts.html