Good sounding Chords voicings on bass

[Johannes Oehl]

http://johannes-oehl.jimdo.com/e-bas...cings-on-bass/

Lots of chord voicings do not work on the bass.

Some work but lack of a balanced and full sound.

If you want to play some music that is based on less complicated chords (i.e. Pop music), you can use these voicings:

--11------6------7------4--------------
--12------7------9------5--------------
-----------------------------------------
--10------5------7------3--------------

Dmaj Amaj Bmin Gmaj

They contain the root, octave and third, which is all you need to play songs like "Waka Waka".

[phillybass101]

Not really a chord but rather a dyad , used a lot in Funk would be a 10th. For example playing a G on the E string and playing the B on the G string. Alphosno Johnson has a song called Scapegoat and towards the end he does a nice progression/run up the fingerboard using 10ths or what we call double stops.

[Mark Wilson]

My favourite bass chord right now is this Dmaj

------14-------
------12-------
------12-------
------14-------

Also, An Em9

-----12-----
-----16-----
-----14-----
-----12-----

[jeffbonny]

A lot of chords played on the bass either "work" or don't due to context more than anything else. I've been applying chords to jazz standards like Nardis and Someday My Prince Will Come starting with root position triads and then working through inversions, extensions and substitutions that facilitate voice leading through the changes. Some voicings taken out of context don't sound especially pleasing. Conversely some that sound great by themselves are too dense or don't lead as nicely.

On the advice of guitarist Bill Coon who I've been taking the occasional lesson with I'm also working on voicing two note inversions that often do not include the root. Mostly these don't sound like much taken out of context but as a voice led series can be very musical and uncluttered. It's a lot more difficult to suggest a harmonic musical idea with fewer notes than it is to explicitly spell out the whole chord. The idea that "I would have written you a short letter but I didn't have the time" has been attributed to Cicero and Blaise Pascal and the concept of learning to play chords on the bass that "work" seems quite similar in practice: The more effort you put in the better able you are to say more with less.

[Dogbertday]

When xhording standards I like to play the bud powel r37 or r73 voicings. So the root is always on the E or A strings and the upper notes are on the D and G strings.

[Johannes Oehl]

Dobertday, that is a good approach that I also explain on my website. I have also written out examples of how to apply theses voicings to Jazz standards here:

http://johannes-oehl.jimdo.com/walking-bass-lernen/

[Russell L]

Bass chords sound best when they have enough space between the notes, or unless they are much higher notes. I love an open A with the third on the D-string, 11th fret and another root on the G-string, 14th fret. (I know, it's a dyad). Here's another:

Open E
m3 on G-string, 10th fret
P4 (11) on D-string, 7th fret
m7 on G-string, 7th fret

Call it Em11, or Em9 add2 (or 11). Heh, or whatever. No 5th, though. It's a cool piano right hand chord, b3-P4-b7. The b3 and 4 sound good together side-by-side.

[spz8]

Oh yes, those are sweet. This is my absolute favorite chord on strings ADG or DGC of a sixer...

------11-------
-------9-------
------10-------

This is another favorite...

------9-------
------7-------
------9-------

Originally Posted by Mark Wilson

My favourite bass chord right now is this Dmaj

------14-------
------12-------
------12-------
------14-------

Also, An Em9

-----12-----
-----16-----
-----14-----
-----12-----

[FretlessMainly]

Attached are several voicings I've come up with. Most are three-note voicings and they are notated on the A D and G strings. You can, of course, use them on E A and D, but I think they sound cleaner up higher. And no, not every chord needs a root; your ear takes care of that in many cases. For example, there's a Maj7 voicing in there with no root and it sounds great coming from a close-position ii V. Very little finger movement with a nice result.

[oniman7]

Major 7 triads (no 5) sound amazing on bass, as do their minor variant. Dominant can also in the right context.
I also particularly like doing a full minor chord (root, 5, octave, minor 10). C# is cool.

A triad that sounds really cool would be a sus 2 with the 2 moved up an octave (sus 9?)
It's just a power chord on top of a power chord.

I also love minor add 9 chords, much like the one shown above.

[oniman7]

Originally Posted by Mark Wilson

My favourite bass chord right now is this Dmaj

------14-------
------12-------
------12-------
------14-------

Also, An Em9

-----12-----
-----16-----
-----14-----
-----12-----

Second inversion of the Dmaj?

[Phil Smith]

A six string or a five string with a high C, I think are a lot more flexible for chords.

[Johannes Oehl]

It certainly helps to have a high c-string. Being a guitar player, I chose to stick with standard E-A-D-G-B tuning, the c-string is kind of weird if you are used to guitar.

[FretlessMainly]

Originally Posted by oniman7

Second inversion of the Dmaj?

First inversion.

[oniman7]

Originally Posted by FretlessMainly

First inversion.

Oh, you're right. It starts on the third. I had it backwards

[petergp]

Some chord voincing that i use

Dominant G

-----16-----
-----15-----
------------
-----15-----

C Diminished Seventh

-----14-----
-----16-----
-----15-----
------------

G Half Diminished

-----15-----
------------
-----16-----
-----15-----


Wonder if having that high C allows you to play 4 notes?
I have a 5 stringer, and im thinking about replacing the low B with a high C, is this sacrilege?

[Johannes Oehl]

A high c is fairly common, just try it out.

I like your voicing suggestions, here is another idea for the Gm7b5:

--10------------------
--11-----------------
--10------------------
----------------------

R-b5-7

[hleach]

Make your own. Good place to start with the root in the bass.

1. If it sounds muddy, raise the next note up from the root up one octave (or drop it all together).
2. You don't need all the notes in the chord. It's common to drop the 5th.
3. What everyone else said.

[bassandbeyond]

I posted a couple of lessons on this topic on my site a while back, including fingering diagrams:

Chord voicings for bass 1

Chord voicings for bass 2

[joebar]

Originally Posted by spz8

Oh yes, those are sweet. This is my absolute favorite chord on strings ADG or DGC of a sixer...

------11-------
-------9-------
------10-------

This is another favorite...

------9-------
------7-------
------9-------

yeah,this
these sound great along with
------9-------
------8-------
------9------- (dominant -5th)