Chord tones on the 1 and 3 - hard fast rule?

[tocoadog]

For example, I made up a funk groove this morning in Am, with the root A played an 1/8 note at the beginning of the measure, high E played a 1/4 note, an 1/8 note rest, a 1/4 note rest, and c and d both 1/8 notes. D here is a passing tone to the minor third c.

Thoughts? Does it always have to fit? Looking for insight. Maybe I should ask when does this have to fit? Rock? Thanks.

[steveb98]

No such thing as hard fast rules. Yes in general you want to put chord tone on the strong beats. Next choice would be the chord extentions. After that you better know a lot about articulation to make the line work.

[Bassist4Life]

Don't worry about the rules. It's okay to have a "wrong" note on a strong beat as long as it's resolving to a "right" note.

Have you ever tried transcribing bass lines? My suggestion would be to find some bass lines that you like and figure them out. Find out which notes you're playing and why they work/sound good.

In the past I tried to create lines following "rules" and the result was something that sounded a little too academic.

Another suggestion is to hum/sing a bass line and transcribe that.

Best of luck,
Joe

[Blake Bass]

Check out Fingerboard Harmony by Gary Willis. It's a great book; he covers chord tones and the strong beat weak beat concept in depth.

[Bassist4Life]

Originally Posted by Blake Bass

Check out Fingerboard Harmony by Gary Willis. It's a great book; he covers chord tones and the strong beat weak beat concept in depth.

I like that book too. Good suggestion. Gary's book hurts my head a little bit. It gets into the deep end pretty quick (IMO).

Joe