Bob Marley - Theory Question

[Wasnex]

I just transcribed Hallelujah Time (from the album, Burnin'). Family Man's bass lines on that song are great, of course. Some phenomenal melodic phrasing that moves through the changes quite beautifully.

I looked at some published sheet music to help identify the chords being played throughout the song. Assuming the sheet music is accurate, the bass is often not landing on the root when the chord changes, but instead plays a tastefully selected chord tone followed by other tastefully selected chord and scale tones.

Is this what's actually happening in this tune? My ear's not trained enough to be able to identify the correct chords from the recording.

For example, in the first line, "Hear the children crying" the chords are written as C D G (and the vocal melody I think follows those notes). However, the bass goes from C down to A (when the chord changes to a D), back to C before passing through a D and ending on a G.

In my mind I'm thinking that second chord would be an A minor, with the D being a nice scale wise leading tone to get to the G. So, I guess the chords that are written aren't what I'd expect based on the bass line, and I'm wanting to better understand how the harmony and bass melody work together.

Your thoughts???

When you develop a bit more of an ear it will be obvious to you the bass is not playing the root on the down beat. But this is typical for the style of music.

The bass lines do hit a lot of chord tones, and also a lot of diatonic tones. The bass also hits' the root a lot, but not necessarily on 1. In order to understand why it works, you need to study the music's harmony and see how bass lines fit in. As @Whousedtoplay to mentioned, pay attention to how rhythm, accents, and displacement are used. After you study several songs you, will begin to recognize elements that define the style.

 

[BaileyMan]

When you develop a bit more of an ear it will be obvious to you the bass is not playing the root on the down beat. But this is typical for the style of music.

The bass lines do hit a lot of chord tones, and also a lot of diatonic tones. The bass also hits' the root a lot, but not necessarily on 1. In order to understand why it works, you need to study the music's harmony and see how bass lines fit in. As @Whousedtoplay to mentioned, pay attention to how rhythm, accents, and displacement are used. After you study several songs you, will begin to recognize elements that define the style.

Great! I've listened to reggae for years, but never really dove into it in this deeper way. I've learned some bass lines here and there, but never really studied it in the overall harmonic context. I'm really appreciating the subtle complexities!