Chord Substitutions/Alternate Bass Notes

[brianh]

I'm trying to expand my options for chord substitutions or changing the bass note. I'm looking to apply this to lots of genres, but especially gospel. I know jazz thoery pretty well but am more so looking for a bunch of practical ways to change up a groove harmonically.

Maybe people can make some suggestions?

Thanks!

[Charling]

yeah sure, you can have loads of fun with it!

add tension to the good old II-V-I by playing the b5 of the V chord, so in C major - what was

Dmin - G7 - Cmaj

becomes

Dmin - G7/Db - Cmaj

ie, the b5 of the V chord is the note in between the II and the I

if you do this without telling th others it is quite off the wall, as the 1 and 5 of the chord they are playing (G7) becomes a b5 and a b9. so you are turning it into an altered chord. the 3 and b7 of their chord becomes the b7 and the 3 of the chord you are making, so it still ticks all the boxes harmonically.

this tension can sound great, but for a less jazzy sound you can ask the others to play a Db7, so you are all going down chromatically Dmin-Db7-Cmaj

that has a similar feel but less tension, this is tritone substitution.

you can stay on the V for two measures, then to I, turning the II chord they are playing to a sus (if they are playing a minor 7 rather than straight minor on the II)

you can play allot with the sounds by inverting their chords, ie root the chord with the 5th or 3rd, this can give the harmony a floaty quality, but should be used fairly sparingly. a good example of this is the opening section of waltz for debby by bill evans on the village vanguard cd. he uses a bit of tritone substitution too! there are so many variations you can play here that its best to experiment.

with jazz theory under your belt the possibilites are endless, record a few basic chords into something and experiment!

[DocBop]

The standard subs for major are..

I - III - VI
II - IV
V - VII

Those chords can sub for each other.

Another simple sub is make minor chords dominant chords.

Then the Tritone sub for the V chord that Charling described. But if done carefully it can be used on more than the V chord. When not on the V chord you don't sub just one chord you sub a series of chords. For example a III VI II V I so Emi7, Ami7, Dmi7, G7, Cma7.

Could be made Bb7, Ebmi7, Abmi7, G7, Cma7
See I stopped the tritone subs at Abmi7 for a nice half-step bass movement down to G7 from original chords.

Now remember for simple chord subsitutions you can drop those in usually without a problem, but as your sub's get out there you need the band to go with you or you will be creating a train wreck.

Also a lot of people like to start throwing sub's behind a soloist, that can be dangerous ground even if they were sub's the soloist was using. You may end up with a front man who says get a different bass player next time. What the problem is the soloist is trying to get outside and play some cool stuff, but by you playing the sub's his outside stuff just became inside stuff. Ya dig?

So like everything use your ears and keep you eyes open to see the reaction from others on the bandstand.

[brianh]

guys,

all good stuff, thanks for the input.

im actually fairly fluent using chord subs in jazz. im more so looking for some common substitutions in gospel...or some records to check out with guys doing a lot of this kind of thing (I'm a jazz bass player learning gospel music...).

[JohnBarr]

For the I chord
• iii Secondary minor
• vi Relative minor
For he IV chord
• ii Relative minor
• vi Secondary minor

These are fairly common in pop and country and might have a place in gospel.

There's always the flat 5 substitution for the 5th


For some other ideas check this site. It's mostly jazz oriented so you're proabably familar with some of it.
http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneych...titutions.html