Dressing up chord progression for Christmas service

progrmr · #1 12-09-2009, 05:50 AM

I'm learning a song for my worship band - Christmas tune called "It must be Christmas tonight" by "1 By 1".

The verse chord progression is pretty simple: G A D D C G

I need to dress this up and come up with a pattern or good sounding line.

Problem is I haven't been playing long and I haven't focused on actually writing stuff from scratch. Been learning songs for the last year. So I am not familiar with techniques to "walk" between chords.

I'm more of a "less is more" kind of bass player but hitting roots on this song just doesn't cut it. Any tips on where to start?

MalcolmAmos · #2 12-09-2009, 06:12 AM

Knowing the chord progression (G Am D D C G) is a start. Now hearing the chord changes and moving your riffs to the new chord is the next step.

Listen to the song, what bassline is needed? Root nothing will always work, but does not accomplish what you want. Try one of these:

A repetitive Root - 5 and change with the chord changes.
Perhaps R-R-5 or R-3-5-3. My ole standby is the Major pentatonic R-2-3-5-6. Listen for the rhythm of the song that may end up being R-R-2-2-3-3-5-6 whatever. Three or four generic riffs will get you through Christmas.

The key to all this is be able to recognize (hear) the chord changes and move with them.

You said; "Been learning songs for the last year. So I am not familiar with techniques to "walk" between chords". I think you've been playing songs from tab, IMHO not a lot of fun. Grab a few generic riffs and jamm along with the chord progression. Walking between chord changes is nice but not really necessary between now and Christmas. New Year's resolution perhaps.....

Listen to his riffs in this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhJcC...eature=related
Three or four of your own will get you going.

Good luck.

Clark Dark · #3 12-09-2009, 06:36 AM

I think it was written by Robbie Robertson and the Band from that progression. Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_sOG1hdk-8

ericw · #4 12-09-2009, 06:38 AM

If you dont have a recording, just the chord sheet - I usually record the song with my acoustic or electric guitar + my crappy rendition of the lead vocals and then play over top of that to figure out a bass line.

Walking basslines don't always sound appropriate in which case you could experiment with riffs like malcolm suggested.

Walking has been covered here so you can search but to get you started (assuming 4/4 time): Walking from G to Am you could play G (root of G), A (second of G), B (third of G), C (fourth of your G chord and the third in your Am chord). Then playing over Am, transitioning to D: A(root), F#(6 in your minor chord), G(7 in your minor chord, A(root of minor chord and fifth of your D chord). I have no idea how that sounds as I'm at work, it's just an idea. For simplicity, beat 1 can be the root(or some other note that supports the chord), 2 can be some passing note that you think sounds good, 3 can be a note that supports the current chord (the third or fifth or 7 of that chord) and beat 4 can be a transition note (something that leads to the next chord(r 3 5 7 of the next chord)).

progrmr · #5 12-09-2009, 06:57 AM

See, I knew I was going to have to learn all the notes that make up chords! lol!

thanks for the advice, I have something to go on - I can tell though that I'm embarking on a larger and important topic. I'll discuss w/ my bass instructor tomorrow night.

progrmr · #6 12-09-2009, 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MalcolmAmos

Knowing the chord progression (G Am D D C G) is a start. Now hearing the chord changes and moving your riffs to the new chord is the next step.

Listen to the song, what bassline is needed? Root nothing will always work, but does not accomplish what you want. Try one of these:

A repetitive Root - 5 and change with the chord changes.
Perhaps R-R-5 or R-3-5-3. My ole standby is the Major pentatonic R-2-3-5-6. Listen for the rhythm of the song that may end up being R-R-2-2-3-3-5-6 whatever. Three or four generic riffs will get you through Christmas.

The key to all this is be able to recognize (hear) the chord changes and move with them.

You said; "Been learning songs for the last year. So I am not familiar with techniques to "walk" between chords". I think you've been playing songs from tab, IMHO not a lot of fun. Grab a few generic riffs and jamm along with the chord progression. Walking between chord changes is nice but not really necessary between now and Christmas. New Year's resolution perhaps.....

Listen to his riffs in this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhJcC...eature=related
Three or four of your own will get you going.

Good luck.

Awesome - thx!

MalcolmAmos · #7 12-09-2009, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by progrmr

See, I knew I was going to have to learn all the notes that make up chords! lol!

Well eventually that should be your goal, but, between now and Christmas here is a pattern that will automatically place the correct notes under your finger tips. Understand when we say "root" that is the same as "number 1", i.e. root note of the scale aka first note of the scale.

Major scale pattern Root on the 4th string.
G|---2---|-------|---3---|---4---| 1st string
D|---6---|-------|---7---|---1---|
A|---3---|---4---|-------|---5---|
E|-------|---1---|-------|---2---|4th string

Major scale pattern Root on the 3rd string.
G|---6---|-------|---7---|---1---| 1st string
D|---3---|---4---|-------|---5---|
A|-------|---1----|------|---2---|
E|-------|---5----|------|---6---|4th string

G chord - you can play your G major scale pattern using root on the 4th string or root on the 3rd string - up to you. I like to use the root on the third string. Why? Where is the 1 (root) where is the 4? Where is the 5? If the song is using a I IV V progression is this convenient or what?

Let's look at the R-3-5-3 riff. Where is the G root. 4th string 3rd fret or 3rd string 10th fret. Where is the 5 (D)? Up a string and over two. Yep always. All over the fretboard 5's are always up a string and over two. Where is the 3 (B)? Up a string and back one. Trust your patterns they will place the correct notes under your finger tips every time.

Major pentatonic R-2-3-5-6. Where is the 2? Same string as the root just over two. Where is the 6? Over the 3 or up two string and back one. Get your favorite generic riffs into muscle memory.

Case you need it here is a fretboard chart:
http://www.celticguitarmusic.com/basschart.htm
Have fun.