simple answer to long winded question???

chrism2sych · #1 02-25-2009, 08:53 AM

when playing a chord on the bass, or say a major triad the 3rd and 5th are on the same string with out appregiating (not sure thats a word) how do you do it. Do you drop the 5th completely or would it be more correct to drop the third and and play the octave of the third. What do the guitards do? what do you do? as far as I know most chords start w/ some variation of 1st 3rd 5th and as far as I've been able to figure over the last 10 years or so I've found it impossible to sound two notes on the same string at the same time. HELP?........

chrism2sych · #2 02-25-2009, 09:13 AM

hello....... bueler............bueler........ anyone is my thinking on completely whacked or..........

Joel S. · #3 02-25-2009, 09:23 AM

The third is what usually defines the tonality of the chord, so I usually just leave out the 5th if I have to.

chrism2sych · #4 02-25-2009, 09:29 AM

confirming my suspisions all along thank you Joel S.

JTE · #5 02-25-2009, 09:30 AM

Depends on what you want to sound like. Just play the root and fifth for power chord stuff. It tells everyone in the area that it's an A chord of some sort. We just don't know if it's A minor or an A major. If that's critical to the song (that the bass chord tell the minor or major tonality), then drop the fifth mostly.

Or strum three strings. If you play a B on the first string, a G on the second string, and a D on the third string, you've got your G chord. Or how about the open D string, the F# at the 11th fret of the G string, and the A at the 12th fret of the A string? That's a great voicing of a D chord, and moving the F# back to F makes it minor. Or play 10ths (octave and a third) by playing the root on the fourth string and the third on the first string.

Really learning chords in the sense that you know what notes are in them, and not just what shapes they are will allow you to figure this stuff out for yourself.

jte

Mushroo · #6 02-25-2009, 09:44 AM

"How guitards think" is that the 5th is the first note to omit. Believe it or not, they often leave out the root as well, since the root is usually played by the bass.

The exception as mentioned above is any kind of "power chord" riff, which by definition is root and 5th (and sometimes octave).

Personally, I really like playing a 2-note chord with the root on the E string and the 3rd (or 10th actually) on the G string.

Orangeclawhamme · #7 02-25-2009, 11:10 AM

This might be a bit off topic, but why is it that when I play a root, fifth, octive "power chord" on my keyboard that it sounds like something medieval? I like the effect, but it's nothing like a power chord on a g****r.

mambo4 · #8 02-25-2009, 02:17 PM

Maybe your keyboard is set to "harpsichord"...

Calebmundy · #9 02-25-2009, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JTE

If you play a B on the first string, a G on the second string, and a D on the third string, you've got your G chord.

Is this possible? I sure don't have the hands to stretch across 2 strings and 5 frets.

Calebmundy · #10 02-25-2009, 02:25 PM

I guess I could probably do it above the 12th fret.

Richard Lindsey · #11 02-25-2009, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calebmundy

I guess I could probably do it above the 12th fret.

I think you may have misunderstood. It sounds as if you're counting the low E string as the first string. In fact, the first string is the G string. The B is on the 4th fret of that string, and the G and D are on the 5th fret of the D string and the A string, respectively. So it's not nearly as much of a stretch as you feared!

JTE · #12 02-25-2009, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calebmundy

Is this possible? I sure don't have the hands to stretch across 2 strings and 5 frets.

Why do that? The D is on the third string at the fifth fret. The G is on the second string also at the fifth fret. The B is on the first string at the fourth fret. That's three strings and two frets. And that voicing is moveable. I could tell you that whatever note is on the second string is the root, but if you figure that out for yourself instead of just trusting me, you'll LEARN the instrument instead of just memorizing things.

But it's also moveable across string groups- try the same pattern on the three lower strings of a 4-string, and even on a five.

Of grab the G at the 3rd fret of the 4th string, the B at the fourth fret of the 1st string, the D at the fifth fret of the third string and you have another useful and more open voicing. The root and fifth are down on the bottom giving you the fundemental support, with the third as the highets note of the chord.

Of course, if you're really interested in playing chords, you should be able to voice major and minor triads, and even 7th chords with any chord tone as the highest note. Just learn basic harmony chordal theory and find the notes on the bass.

One word of caution- I got fired from a band once and one of the reasons was "Bass players aren't supposed to play chords". My flippant response was "Well, I figured SOMEONE should play the right chord once in a while". I've improved my interpersonal skills since then

jtr

JTE · #13 02-25-2009, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orangeclawhamme

This might be a bit off topic, but why is it that when I play a root, fifth, octive "power chord" on my keyboard that it sounds like something medieval? I like the effect, but it's nothing like a power chord on a g****r.

Maybe because it doesn't know what an "octive" is?

Sorry... I suspect because an electronic keyboard doesn't get the same modulation that you get with three strings vibrating together. The guitar has overtones that are differnt from a keyboard patch, and I'd suspect that the keyboard is precisely in tune (within tempered tuning) so the overtones don't have the same character together as it does on guitar. The reason that root/fifth/octave power chord is used with crunchy guitar is that the 3rd with massive distortion makes it sound out of tune. Eliminate the 3rd, and you get that sound.

jte

ceedj · #14 02-26-2009, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JTE

Why do that? The D is on the third string at the fifth fret. The G is on the second string also at the fifth fret. The B is on the first string at the fourth fret. That's three strings and two frets. And that voicing is moveable.

Just MODO, but giving someone kind of new to chords a 2nd inversion of a G is kind of evil.

E2daGGurl · #15 02-26-2009, 10:35 PM

I think it's funny that this thread is proceeding (somehow) despite lack of agreement on which is the first string on the bass.

David1234 · #16 02-26-2009, 10:39 PM

(chuckle)

I usually don't play thirds or fifths unless 'm playing fairly high.

Thirds sound better (to my ear) when I move the third up an octave and play it as a 'tenth.'

The fifth can be safely ditched - it's a waste of amp watts!

A cool practice exercise is to play a G major scale from fret 3 to fret 15 on the E string, harmonised a 10th above (fret 4 to 16 on the G string). Your ear should soon tell you whether to play minor 10ths or major 10ths til you know the pattern well. Try it!!

cowsgomoo · #17 02-27-2009, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrism2sych

when playing a chord on the bass, or say a major triad the 3rd and 5th are on the same string with out appregiating (not sure thats a word) how do you do it. Do you drop the 5th completely or would it be more correct to drop the third and and play the octave of the third. What do the guitards do? what do you do? as far as I know most chords start w/ some variation of 1st 3rd 5th and as far as I've been able to figure over the last 10 years or so I've found it impossible to sound two notes on the same string at the same time. HELP?........

chord voicings on the guitar tend not to stack intervals of 3rds in succession like you're describing... you need to get clear in your head the distinction between chords and chord voicings

**john turner** · #18 02-27-2009, 08:55 AM

you can do root-3rd-5th on 3 strings - pinkie on root, ring on 3rd(1 string higher, and one fret lower), index on 5th (one string higher, two frets lower).

that's not that uncommon, and not really that tough, either, at least not around the 5th fret and higher. when i used to give lessons oh so long ago, that was an exercise i'd give my students, for finger independence as well as interval training.

edit(jt): changed "octave" to "5th" - typo

.

megadan · #19 02-27-2009, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john turner

you can do root-3rd-5th on 3 strings - pinkie on root, ring on 3rd(1 string higher, and one fret lower), index on 5th (one string higher, two frets lower).

that's not that uncommon, and not really that tough, either, at least not around the 5th fret and higher. when i used to give lessons oh so long ago, that was an exercise i'd give my students, for finger independence as well as interval training.

Forgive me, I don't have a bass in front of me... wouldn't that 5th be an octave higher than the one you'd get in a standard "power chord" shape? Just curious.

cowsgomoo · #20 02-27-2009, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by megadan

Forgive me, I don't have a bass in front of me... wouldn't that 5th be an octave higher than the one you'd get in a standard "power chord" shape? Just curious.

no, it'd be the same note, just on one string higher up