Chords on bass.. anyone?

[BlueStatic]

Well, a couple days ago I was watching my guitarist friend constantly play power chords (root, perfect 5, octave of root), and it made me think of solid fingering that would work for a chords on any root.

Some basic background info..

I guess this is for anyone new to music theory and applying it to bass or anyone that is amazing at music theory and is looking for my mistakes...

ok so lets say we're working in C major
The root is obviously C, and lets just use 3rd fret on the A.

Someone already mentioned this, so just to let you know, when i say move 'down,' you have to physically move your your hand or fingers down. I am not talking about it in terms of pitch.

• Perfect Fourth- Ok to find the [i]perfect fourth[i] you go down one string, but stay on the same fret as the root. So in this case it is F on the D string.
• Perfect Fifth- Two locations:
  1. First find the perfect fourth and then move your finger down two frets. In this case it is G (fifth fret) on the d string.
  2. Go up one string from your root but stay on the same fret.
  In this case it is G (third fret) on the E string
• Major third- Find the perfect fourth and then move your finger up one fret. In this case it would be E (second fret) on the d string
• Minor Third- Find the perfect fourth and then move your finger up two frets. In this case it would be E flat (first fret)
• Octave of root- There are two easy ways to get this:
  1. find the perfect 5th and then move one string down.
  2. Move two strings down and then move your finger down two frets. So the octave would be fifth fret on the G string.
• Major seventh- First get the octave and then move your finger up one fret. In this case it is B (fourth fret) on the G
• Minor seventh- Get the octave and then move your finger up two frets. In this case it is B flat.

alright we got the background info out of the way. THere are obviously more intervals in the scale, but those that i listed are important to my topic. Now I'll show some fingerings or examples in C major.

Some basic Chords...

Still in c major

Just to let you know, for the seventh chords, I am playing only the root, third, and seventh. If you want to use the perfect fifth then play root, perfect fifth, and seventh. OR, if you are really confident, you can play perfect 5th, root, 3rd, 7th. So you would be using four fingers..

• Major Chord- C E GRoot, Major Third, Perfect fifth G is 3rd on the E, C is 3rd on the A, and E is 2nd on D
• Major seventh chord- C E B Root, Maj 3rd, Mj 7th C is 3rd on A, E is 2nd on D, B is 4th on G
• Minor chord- C E flat G Root, Min 3rd Perfect 5thC is 3rd on A, E flat is 2nd on D, G is 5th on D
• Minor 7th chord-C E flat B flatRoot, Min3rd, Min7th C in 3rd on A, E flat is 1 on D, B flat is 3rd on G
• Dominant seventh chord- C E B flat Root, Maj3rd, Min7th C is 3rd on A, E is 2nd on D, Bflat is 3rd on G

So as long as you know what your chord is made up of (maj or min 3rd etc) and you know where it is in relation to the root, then you can play the chord.
Ok lets put this to use in our favorite chord progression..

2-5-1 chord progression
( in c major)

So this chord progression is D minor 7th, G dominant 7th, and C major 7th.

• D minor 7th- D F CRoot, Min3rd, Min 7th
  D is 17 on A, F is 15 on the D, C is 17 on the G
• G dominant 7th- G B FRoot Maj 3rd, Min 7th
  G is 10 on A, B is 9 on D, F is 10 on G
• C major 7th- C E B Root, Maj 3rd, Maj 7th
  C is 15 on A, E is 14 on the D, B is 16 on the G

If going to frets that high scared you then thats fine! You can form those chords on other places of the fret board. As long as you know where the root is, you're fine.

as long as you know what your chord is made up of (maj or min 3rd etc) and you know where it is in relation to the root, then you can play the chord. yeah I repeated that..

Wow this is a long post, or atleast typing it.
So does anyone use something similar to this? I have a four string bass so the fingerings or relation between root and interval are limited, but it would be cool to hear from someone with a 6 string or higher.

And if I taught you something, glad to help

[Febs]

There are quite a few mistakes in your post, mostly stemming from your incorrect usage of "up" and "down" with respect to strings and frets. When one refers to a string as being "higher" or "up" from another string, one does so by reference to the string's pitch, not by whether the string is closer to the ground. Thus, for example, the D string is one string up from the A string, not down. Similarly, the fifth fret is two frets up from the third fret, not down.

[bass player 48]

Originally Posted by Febs

There are quite a few mistakes in your post, mostly stemming from your incorrect usage of "up" and "down" with respect to strings and frets.

^^^^^That.

And from what I can understand, I think you do have a good understanding... but some rather interesting chord voicings or inversions... Have you actually played these chords you are talking about, and are you happy with how they sound?

your example:
Major Chord- C E GRoot, Major Third, Perfect fifth G is 3rd on the E, C is 3rd on the A, and E is 2nd on D

So that would look like this:
-------
--2-----
--3-----
--3-----



Does that sound like a C maj to you? With the low G as the 5th played below the root?

I'm asking, I don't have a bass in my hands, but I worry it's going to sound like a messed up G chord.

Why not play a C maj as:


--0-------
--2-------
--3-------
--x-------

However, fwiw, I believe that taking all of this good chord theory and applying it to arpegios will be about 1000% more usefull than finding good chord fingerings. YMMV

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Originally Posted by BlueStatic

So does anyone use something similar to this? I have a four string bass so the fingerings or relation between root and interval are limited, but it would be cool to hear from someone with a 6 string or higher.

The good thing about bass is that it's tuned in fourths, so all of your positions for chords are movable, so string count doesn't much matter unless you're playing a chord over five strings (which is rare). Here are some chord fingering sheets I've made that show the most feasible fingerings for good number of chord types:
http://www.bryanrtylermusic.com/chor...ingcharts.html

[BlueStatic]

Originally Posted by Febs

There are quite a few mistakes in your post, mostly stemming from your incorrect usage of "up" and "down" with respect to strings and frets. When one refers to a string as being "higher" or "up" from another string, one does so by reference to the string's pitch, not by whether the string is closer to the ground. Thus, for example, the D string is one string up from the A string, not down. Similarly, the fifth fret is two frets up from the third fret, not down.

Well I wasn't talking in terms of pitch, I was talking in terms of actually moving your hand, but I understand your point.

@bassplayer48, a c major chord is C E G. All I did is just invert it so that g is on the bottom. so- G C E.
It is the same chord but it will have a different 'feel' than in regular root position. Its just another way to voice the chord.

[Minotauros]

Originally Posted by bass player 48

So that would look like this:
-------
--2-----
--3-----
--3-----



Does that sound like a C maj to you? With the low G as the 5th played below the root?

Yep, it's the 2nd inversion of Cmaj. The G is now in the bass. It's not unlike a C/G on 6-string, without the high C (high B string, 1st fret). That is then the 2nd inversion.

G C E
E G C
C E G
R 1 2 = inversions.

[Minotauros]

Originally Posted by BlueStatic

@bassplayer48, a c major chord is C E G. All I did is just invert it so that g is on the bottom. so- G C E.
It is the same chord but it will have a different 'feel' than in regular root position. Its just another way to voice the chord.

Aw, ya beat me to it.

[Danny Fox]

i always wondered what the chord victor plays at the beginning of "Can't hold no Groove" was, I got it as a Gdim 1st Inversion? anyone agree?

[Danny Fox]

Originally Posted by Danny Fox

i always wondered what the chord victor plays at the beginning of "Can't hold no Groove" was, I got it as a Gdim 1st Inversion? anyone agree?

.......G7 1st inv, duh, thats what i get for trying to think without my bass