what notes of a major scale work best apart from the root?

[mpop101]

Ive only been playing the bass a year or so and i keep finding myself playing the root notes of the chords as the guitarist initally plays them. For example can you use a 3rd or a 5th note of say an e major chord for the whole time the guitarist is using an e mayor chord? Sorry if this sounds a little simple.

[JLW]

Yes.

In fact you can play any note that you want. but certain ones will sound better than others.

But for the most part the ones in the major scale, when your guitarist is playing an E major chord, will sound good.

a 5th will usually sound the best.

[ducknturtle]

There are lots of successful bassists out ther who hardly ever deviate from the root. It's part of the role of bass to nail down that note. This will always sound good to the audience and is often what's appropriate for the song. While you can play any note you want, be carefull to make it work. Don't forget that you can make your lines interesting with rythmic variety as well as harmonic. Your playing must always serve the song, not the other way around.

[JeffSki]

The chord progression can also help you in your choices for using different notes within the scale for your basslines.

Example:
In the outro of one of my band's songs, the chord progression is E D C. I start off by playing an octave above the low e-string and going down. Then I'll switch to the low E and play F# and then C. F# being the 3rd of D major.

I also tried playing G (5th) over the C chord to have a nice climb from E > F# > G, but it didn't sound as good as playing C.

[JeffSki]

Originally Posted by ducknturtle

Your playing must always serve the song, not the other way around.

This should be the #1 rule for all musicians

[Deacon_Blues]

What sounds good is usually depending on the chord progression. Take a look at this example:

| D,  D7 | G , Gm  | D, Asus | D   |     |

Then change it like this instead:

| D,   D/C | G/B,  Gm/Bb | D/A, Asus | D   |     |

(root, 7th, maj3rd, min3rd, 5th, root  root)

It sure depends on the song if things like these work, though.

Listen also to the song "you raise me up" by Josh Groban. It's a good example where other than root notes are used frequently. (I know many people hates this song, but I think it's a good example on this subject)

EDIT: Read the example above from bottom to top too. It seems more common that people go that way instead

[Mark Perry]

1, 3 and 5 are the basic building blocks of every chord, so they're the safest choices. You could also use notes a semitone/wholetone or a fifth away from the root note (or even other chord tones) of the next chord. As passing tones.

[Cristo]

It's hard to go wrong with a line based off of root, fifth, and octave. Many great bass lines have done just that.

[BillMason]

Remember that the root is the anchor of every chord, and it needs something heavy to pull it down, like a bass. If you're playing nothing but the 3rd and leave it to the guitar or piano to play the roots, things will sound kinda sideways and confusing. Try to emphasize the root on the first beat of every chord/bar, and if you have more beat for the same chord, emphasize the 5th on the 3rd beat. In between you can fill in with whatever you want so long as it is in the chord, but usually the 3rd or 7th are used and whatever passing tones might fall in between, like the 2nd, 4th or 6th (9th, 11th or 13th).

Think of the "stereotypical" blues or ol' rock n' roll bass line:

1-3-5-6-b7-6-5-3-1-etc.

or

1-3-5-3-1-3-5-3-etc.

You can have a lot of fun with either of these lines. Also there's the dum-da-dumm line that is often used in rock ballads but also a lot of samba, which is a dotted quarter note-eighth note-half note or dotted quarter-eighth-dotted quarter-eighth, where the root is played on the dotted quarter and the eighth, and the fifth is played on the half note.

[DocBop]

Any note can work if you articulate it right. Okay that's out of the way.

The thing to understand is strong and weak beats. In 4/4 the 1 and 3 are the strong beats with 1 being stronger than 3. In general you want to hit a chord tone (1, 3, or 5) on strong beats. On beats 2 and 4 you can play just about anything. Gary Willis' book has a great example of this, but you can try it on your own.

Now there are what many call Avoid notes in scales or may be better to say notes you don't want to play against certain chords. So in the case of a major scale or major chord the 4th is considered an Avoid note. BUT the 4th would be fine on a weak beat.

So in general
bass player play roots on one of the measure. Or should say many expect bass players to play roots on one.

Good idea to play a chord tone (1, 3, or 5) on three.

On the weak beats (2 and 4) you can play basically anything.

There are notes to Avoid when playing certain scales against certain chords. For a major chord and scale the 4th is the Avoid note.

Now all this are guidelines not rules as I started saying any note can work if you articulate it right. To learn all this grab your bass, a metronome, something to record yourself with and start experimenting. Try playing ANY note on 2 and 4. This is the process of learning what the ear will accept. Discovering everyones ear musician and non-musician have expectations. You learn how to use those expectations to your advantage.

[cowsgomoo]

Originally Posted by mpop101

Ive only been playing the bass a year or so and i keep finding myself playing the root notes of the chords as the guitarist initally plays them. For example can you use a 3rd or a 5th note of say an e major chord for the whole time the guitarist is using an e mayor chord? Sorry if this sounds a little simple.

yes you can... they're called 'chord inversions'... in popular music there are many many instances of what you describe... if you look at chord charts, you'll often see things like

E/B

which means an E major chord with a B in the bass... exactly like you mention above.. instead of playing the root note throughout the chord, you're playing the 5th

if you see E/G#, that means an E major chord with you playing the 3rd, the G# in the bass

E/G# is known as the '1st Inversion' of E major
E/B is known as the '2nd Inversion' of E major


you will often also see bass notes that aren't related to the chord... often these are when the bass stays on the same note (known as a 'pedal') while the chords above change...

there should generally be a sound musical 'reason' for using a chord inversion... first of all, you could end up trampling all over the melody, and secondly, people use the bass note as an indication of what the chord movement is.. too many inversions and people sometimes just don't 'get it'...

great places to use inversions are when you want to instill a melodic flow to your lines... the most common inversion bar none in popular music is found here:

C.... Em/B.... Am... G....

in other words, you're using the 2nd inversion of the Em chord to create a descending scalar bass line... very Beatley

[PaulMacCnj]

+1 on using the flatted 7th (a whole step below the root, not the major that is a half step below the root. I believe this is called the Dominant 7th. (Could someone better versed in music theory please verify that?) It adds an interesting bit of tension that is resolved by going right back to the root. An easy line to play as an example is:

R - R - b7 - R

Play the b7 below the root -or- you can even use the b7 above it.

[cowsgomoo]

Originally Posted by PaulMacCnj

+1 on using the flatted 7th (a whole step below the root, not the major that is a half step below the root. I believe this is called the Dominant 7th. (Could someone better versed in music theory please verify that?) It adds an interesting bit of tension that is resolved by going right back to the root. An easy line to play as an example is:

R - R - b7 - R

Play the b7 below the root -or- you can even use the b7 above it.

call it a flattened 7th... 'dominant 7th' usually refers to a chord, not an interval

[Lobster11]

My teacher gave me an interesting task the other day: While he strummed a simple two-chord progression on guitar, he asked me to try to play a bass line over it without using any roots. Yikes! Not something one would want to do very often while playing a song, but a great exercise to force you to think about how to use other tones, particular 3rds and 5ths. Also good for jamming situations where the same progression is being played over and over and you need to mix things up to keep it your line interesting.

A simple example we played around with was a two-chord, Em-to-F progression. One idea he showed me was to walk up from E (root) to F (root) to G (3rd of Em) to A (3rd of F) to B (5th of Em) to C (5th of F), then back to the E and F. This sounds great if you play a number of measures emphasizing the roots, and then throw in this little walkup every so often. It's just a very simple little idea, but it opened my mind up to a world of possibilities I hadn't thought about before.

[KayCee]

When playing bass in a bass function, your primary job (harmonically) is to play roots and to connect roots in ways appropriate to the style of music you are playing.

Playing other chord tones in the bass (on strong beats) will create the sound of an inversion, and these are often used to smooth the voice leading in the bass from one chord to another.

Playing non-chord tones in the bass will usually change the actual chord quality to the listener's ear. So, if you play a D in the bass of a C major chord, it will sound like a D11 chord, not a C major with a ninth added.

[KayCee]

Originally Posted by cowsgomoo

call it a flattened 7th... 'dominant 7th' usually refers to a chord, not an interval

The interval would be a "minor 7th interval"

[PaulMacCnj]

Originally Posted by KayCee

The interval would be a "minor 7th interval"

Thank you! It's always best if we're all talking the same language.

[All_¥our_Bass]

Originally Posted by Lobster11

My teacher gave me an interesting task the other day: While he strummed a simple two-chord progression on guitar, he asked me to try to play a bass line over it without using any roots. Yikes! Not something one would want to do very often while playing a song, but a great exercise to force you to think about how to use other tones, particular 3rds and 5ths. Also good for jamming situations where the same progression is being played over and over and you need to mix things up to keep it your line interesting.

A simple example we played around with was a two-chord, Em-to-F progression. One idea he showed me was to walk up from E (root) to F (root) to G (3rd of Em) to A (3rd of F) to B (5th of Em) to C (5th of F), then back to the E and F. This sounds great if you play a number of measures emphasizing the roots, and then throw in this little walkup every so often. It's just a very simple little idea, but it opened my mind up to a world of possibilities I hadn't thought about before.

LOL. I don't totally avoid playing roots, but I perfer to play my lines in a way that I fall back on the root(s) as little as possible.

[Audiophage]

Originally Posted by ducknturtle

Your playing must always serve the song, not the other way around.

What if you write a song to serve yourself, ie Giant Steps?

[steve66]

If you are playing a over a Major chord ie: C Major, you can use the notes of a the C Major Pentatonic. its the 12356. All these notes sound good and tons of bass lines were written using them.