Playing a 6 over 4 in blues progression

[schmig]

Quick and possibly stupid question here.

Was watching a blues gig played by a jazz bassist the other night, I noticed that in most tunes she would play a harmony of a major third over the last few 4s of a a typical blues 1-4-5 progression, e.g. in G major, while the guitarist was playing a C7, should would be hammering on a E.

Sounded good - I liked the tension in the note a lot.

While I appreciate that she's probably playing it for that reason alone, anyone have some comments on e.g. harmonic suggestions?

[MalcolmAmos]

Originally Posted by schmig

Quick and possibly stupid question here.

Was watching a blues gig played by a jazz bassist the other night, I noticed that in most tunes she would play a harmony of a major third over the last few 4s of a a typical blues 1-4-5 progression, e.g. in G major, while the guitarist was playing a C7, should would be hammering on a E.

Sounded good - I liked the tension in the note a lot.

While I appreciate that she's probably playing it for that reason alone, anyone have some comments on e.g. harmonic suggestions?

Yes E is the 6th of the G scale. The 6 is a free "sound good note" over major stuff. R-3-5-6 is one of my favorite major chord bass lines.

E is the 3rd of the C chord (C-E-G). It's a chord tone so it fits. Progression is major so the E calls attention to that. While we are taught to do roots on 1 we do not have to do roots on 1. Any of the chord tones can be first.

I'm sure there are more reason, those just came to mind.

[joroched]

I have been working with playing into the natural minor, which is the 6th degree of the major scale. If you notice, when playing a major pentatonic say in G, you land on E, then play a minor pentatonic from there, the notes are all the same in a different order.

[Fergie Fulton]

From a basic blues approach it is just using the 3rd of the chord (Maj and Dom 7) as it passes through the change. Certain Blues songs will have the 5-6-4 option over the bars 9 and 10 ( 12 bar format ) before a turnaround as rather than a 5-4-1. Of course in G maj the 6th is the reletive minor root note of E Minor.

If you play Hey Joe by Hendrix, it can be used as a useful
tension to play the C# in place of the A.
So it would be C-G-D-C#-E as opposed to C-G-D-A-E.
Use it sparingly is the secret....plus knowing when to and of course when not to