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Bass Chords?

#21
Roadkill said:
Think you left a "not" out of there? Anyways my point is that in rock the word "chord" is a bit more loosely defined and on bass you would more commonly play a "power chord" for fullness than a traditional chord - especially if you are using a non-clean "tube" sound. As someone who also did a bit of study in classical music I 100% agree with you that rock tends to pervert the meanings of musical terms and I hate to not correct folks - but then again I try to adapt and speak their language when dealing with "rock heads" ;) .
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yes, I did leave an important "not" out. Thanks for catching it
 
#25
Try this ..

On an 8 string bass tune the octave D and G string to a 5th instead of the octave.

(try the 5th below the octave and not above. the latter might break your strings)

Or on a 12 string bass tune one of the octave strings to the 5th and leave one as an octave.
 
#28
lunarpollen said:
And I don't know what they call them "power chords", they sound really weak compared to any actual chord.
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You obviously have never tried to strum a full 6 string "acoustic" chord through an overdrive/fuzz - sounds really bad. The article I linked to a few posts back explains all that :) . Unless you plan on never playing rock you'll need to understand what and why rock guitarists play what they do ...
 
#32
LOL three posts saying basically the same thing three different ways!

To OP- bassist can play chords. In the bass world a two-note "chord" (some will say this is not really a chord, as noted above) is also called a double-stop. For some reason even if one of the notes is on an open string (and thus not stopped...).

Try droning an open D string and playing suitable chord tones on the G string- start with the 2nd fret A, then the B (6th), then a C (dominant 7th), D (7th fret, an octave) and then continue on up- E (9th fret), F# (11th fret on G string), G (12th fret), and even higher.

Other pleasant sounds can be had by inverting a chord with the 3rd on the bottom and the root on the top- which is technically a minor 6th interval- but after droning the D and getting the tonal center set, then try playing F# on the D string (4th fret) and a higher D up on the G string (7th fret), which will give you most of the harmonic content of a Dmajor chord. I'd say use chords sparingly to maximize their effect and minimize the clutter, like most things bass, less is often better than more.
 
#36
There are some good resources for Bass chords out there. However, they should just be called chords.

On another note Mike Dimin is a well-thought of player and instructor. He has put together chord resources for the bass that I recommend.

I am probably going to receive a message from a moderator for doing their job, but if you do not know that the chord spelled out in an earlier post is a Bb Maj 7 then read the new rule stickied (is that a word) at the top of this forum.
 
#38
Mike Dimin said:
Well I am a theorist ... in my learned opinion, power chords, due to the fact that they do impart a quality to the chord, cannot be considered a chord. Without the quality of the chord, it's function within a progression or tune cannot be clearly defined. The main purpose of "power chords" is to emphasize the root motion and to add fullness to the sound - definitely an important thing in some styles of music, but not really a chord...
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Or give the lead singer something to strum along with-while singing to the crowd...
 
#39
ii-v said:
There are some good resources for Bass chords out there. However, they should just be called chords.

On another note Mike Dimin is a well-thought of player and instructor. He has put together chord resources for the bass that I recommend.

I am probably going to receive a message from a moderator for doing their job, but if you do not know that the chord spelled out in an earlier post is a Bb Maj 7 then read the new rule stickied (is that a word) at the top of this forum.
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+1 on this very important point.

I will add to this that bass sounds one octave lower then written so those examples are written in concert and should be played one octave higher on bass.
 
#40
Roadkill said:
You obviously have never tried to strum a full 6 string "acoustic" chord through an overdrive/fuzz - sounds really bad. The article I linked to a few posts back explains all that :) . Unless you plan on never playing rock you'll need to understand what and why rock guitarists play what they do ...
Click to expand...

There are several other kinds of chords besides full 6-string chords and two string "power chords"... I play rock all the time with overdriven guitar and have no issues with the 6-string chords I use. And sometimes I play 1 string at a time, sometimes 2, sometimes 3, 4 or 5. I play what the song calls for, and what sounds good. Just because some 6 string-chords sound like crap through heavy distortion doesn't make 2-string chords sound any less weak in comparison to a fuller chord in general. It doesn't mean that 2-string chords aren't useful. Sometimes they are the best thing to play for a particular piece of music. Sometimes they sound great when the right balance of harmonics are there. But the term "power chord" is still silly.
 

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