groovin through chord changes

[dalconthenovice]

so i need help, either a book, or a great online article about something that i've been having problem with

i need to really learn how to groove through chord changes, whether that means walkin through them, playing appregios, whatever, but i need to learn the art of doing so and so far i have found absolutely no discussion, book, or online article touching that subject to the extent i feel it needs to be discussed, everytime i try to find that all i get is a book of bass chords, but not a practical way to use them or how to deal with chord changes, thoughts?

[fearceol]

Have a browse through Carol Kaye's playing tips on her site.

No better person IMO to tell you all you need to know about chords, and how, when, and where to use them.

www.carolkaye.com

[JTE]

Well, it's both easy and hard. That's because it's a cumulative process to learn what you need to know. You gotta know the progression (what chords are there AND how they relate to each other), the individual chords (what notes are in them AND where those notes are on the neck), the melody (unless you're just vamping on the progression, the melody guides the bass line) and how to make it happen both harmonically and rhythmically. That's a lot to digest.

So, take a simple progression. Let's use a standard |ii|V|I| in C so that's a measure of Dmin7 to G7 to C major.

A. What are the chords (OK, I gave you those, but you gotta know how they relate, which is a bit more than just knowing THAT they're ii V and I, but what that really means. So, you gotta know the harmonized scale. Learn that, don't just memorize that I and IV are major, ii, ii, and vi are minor, V is dominant7 and vii is minor 7 b5. You gotta understand exactly WHY that happens.

B. Then you gotta be able to figure out (again, don't memorize this crap- you have to OWN it which means you need to be able to think in your head without any instrument what notes are in the chords) what notes are in those chords. That means you need to be able to determine for yourself that the notes here are D F A C, G B D F, and C E G.

C. Then you gotta be able to find those notes all over the neck, not always starting on the root. That means you need to be able to FIND for yourself (again, not using any charts or diagrams) where every D F A C, G B D F, and C E G is. That means if you're using a standard tuned 4 string, you can start on the low F and play the Dmin7 arpeggio from there up to the highest note of the chord on your bass, and back down. Then start on the F again, and play the G7 arpeggio up and down, crossing strings, finding every permutation and the same for the C chord.

D. Then at a slow tempo start playing the arpeggio of the Dmin7 for four beats. At whatever note those four beats end at, go to the closest note of the G7 (not necessarily the root) of the G7, play through that for four beats, then move to the C, then back to the Dmin7, etc. That gets your fingers and ears working together with your brain to know where the notes are and you'll see the connections. At this point it won't sound much like music, but it's teaching you where the notes are.

E. Now, put your bass down and don't touch it. Listen to a recording of the progression (or play it on a guitar or keyboard if you can) and SING a bass line that sounds good to you. Record what you sang, then learn it EXACTLY like you sang it. Don't try to "fix" it so it sounds better, or so it's easier to play. You want to avoid that because you want to get to what your ear tells you sounds good, not what your fingers tell you should sound right.

Repeat over and over again with all sorts of different progressions.

John

[Chris K]

IMO it is highly important to make a distinction between the fundamentals of a bass line and what you might call ornaments.

I don't know what kind of groove you have in mind, but in every bass line there are inevitable cornerstones. Quite often these occur at the end of musical phrases, which, again quite often, take 2 or 4 bars. Try to land on the root of the chord every once in a while.

First: develop a very basic line through the chord progression with a very basic rhythmic structure, leaving gaps for ornamental stuff to be added later.
Try to groove on this very basic line. Groove is not about complexity, it's about intensity and timing.

Once you get the fundamentals down, try to add some extra's, like arpeggio's, ghost notes, sycopated notes, the lot. But be modest. to much flutter will kill your groove.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by dalconthenovice

...but i need to learn the art of doing so and so far i have found absolutely no discussion, book, or online article touching that subject...

I'm not surprised. Goin' with Victor Wooten on this: There seems to be a lotta emphasis on "Notes"...& not enough on the other things that make something "groove" (RHYTHM, Note Duration, Crossing the Barline, displacement, attack, tone, etc).

Books? My favourites include:
SITSOM with all those classic Jamerson lines.
Funkmasters...James Brown grooves.
Funkifying The Clave for Bass & Drums- Lincoln Goines & Robbie Ammeen's great book/cd/DVD on Latin-esque rhythms.

I would suggest internalizing "time"...think about subdivisons: 1/8th note grooves, 1/16th note grooves, Swing, Reggae, Tripletted grooves, etc. on & on.
Each idiom usually has "something" that makes it unique.
You can experiment with something familar (12-bar Blues or the changes to "Giant Steps")...see if you can "hear the internal drummer inside of you" while playing a groove (something you know) over the changes. Play "with the internal drummer"..."play against the internal drummer".
Take something you know & see if you can displace it (move it around within the bar).

BTW-
You may end up playing with a drummer who bends the time...know where you are, do not depend on him. Internalize time!

[funkybass]

There is a book called bass blueprints that shows how to create basslines from chord charts.

[Double Agent]

To put it as simply as possible...you should "lead" the band from one chord to the next. There are no rules on how to do this. No two people do it exactly the same way, and you need to learn as many different ways as possible to really get a hold of what works for you and why.

Now, to get complicated (only a little). Let's take a simple G to C transition, in the key of G major. You could play the G and go straight to the C, but that is uninteresting and most likely has little feel or "groove" to it. You could play the G and "walk" up to the C, using A & B as your passing tones. You could bounce off the 5th tone (a D) and "walk" chromatically down to the C (D-C#-C). There are literally THOUSANDS of ways just to handle this simple transition between two chords and the changes happen dozens of times in any particular song.

The best way to learn this on your own is to find songs that are good examples of the type of groove that appeals to you and learn them, whether following a transcription or learning by ear. Take a lot of the things you learn and use them in your own way. It definitely can't hurt to learn some theory, chord shapes, scales, etc. and use that information as well. But that information doesn't teach you HOW to use different notes within the context of a song. I like to listen to guys like James Jamerson, Nate Watts, Tony Levin, and Stuart Zender. But, there are lots of "greats" to learn from. Find the ones you like, learn what they do and why it works, and apply those lessons to your own playing.

[mambo4]

to me the best way to learn how to groove over changes is a 4 step process:

1.) pick a recording whose bass line does the trick for you
2.) learn the bass line
3.) break down the chords of the song into those I-IV-V's
4.) examine each chord and phrase, look for the chord tones and passing tones, understand how the bassist is supporting the harmony while keeping the groove.

SITSOM is excellent for this.

the name of the game is connecting the roots (and sometimes other chord tones) in a way that serves the rhythm.
analyze the groove of the players you admire, learn their tools, and add them to your tool box.