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Can a note fit anywhere in the progression?
- Thread starter ElectroVibe
- Start date
There’s a lot of good advice here, I would only add that you can play any note at all, diatonic or not, but where you are coming from and where you are taking it will determine if it sounds good. The thing to consider is motion, and all chord progressions really boil down to pulling toward the I or to the V and the V wants to resolve to the I. You may want to suspend that motion (sus chords) to add an uncomfortable feel or tense feel, you may want downward motion or upward, there is even a thing, and the proper name escapes me at the moment, called the musical barber pole, which is a set of notes/chords that sounds like it is constantly rising. I’m not gonna say there are no rules, because there are. They are there to inform our choices, so sit down at the piano or on your bass and play around with intervals and chords, see what sounds good to you, see how different intervals make you feel, then deploy them as you see fit, or as is stylistically correct. You aren’t gonna be droppin’ flat 9s and flat 13s on a bluegrass jam, but at jazz jam no one would bat an eye as long as you resolve it correctly.
As many have pointed out above, the context and the way notes are played, in terms of rhythmic placement, duration, articulation, intensity, or range (high vs low), will be of decisive importance in determining what notes sound good or not.
This being said, in order to make these choices successfully, it is useful to have a good understanding of the respective role of all notes in a given harmonic context. For some of us, it will be through learning the "theory"; for others, this will come intuitively from their aural experience.
This being said, in order to make these choices successfully, it is useful to have a good understanding of the respective role of all notes in a given harmonic context. For some of us, it will be through learning the "theory"; for others, this will come intuitively from their aural experience.
You can play any note in the key of C major at an time. The note will be diatonic, but that does not mean it is a chord tone. There is no rule that says every note you play must be a chord tone. In fact must advanced bass players will tell you that skillfully using non-chord tones is necessary to make a great bass line.
C is easy to play over C Maj and F Maj because it is a chord tone. C is a harder sell over a G Major or G7 chord especially because it's the chord 11th which translates to a 4th (See explanation near bottom of page). Care must be taken when playing a 3rd and 4th against each other because these are highly dissonant intervals.
If you were playing a walking bass line for example, it is said the harmonic emphasis is on 1 and 3 and the rhythmic emphasis is on 2 and 4. So normally you will want to play strong consonant sounds on 1 and 3. If you want to play the 4th, you could use it as a passing tone on beat 4. For example you might walk back up to the 1 chord like this: |G A B C| D / / / | Note you have strong consonant chord tones on 1 and 3 and passing (non-chord) tones on 2 and 4. If you wanted to add a bit more flavor you could play a C#, which is called a chromatic approach. The C# is neither a chord tone nor diatonic.
To learn about the chromatic approach, see page 31 in the viewer for this online book (pg 30 of the text)
[Bob magnusson] the_art_of_walking_bass_a_method_(book_za.org)
Bookmark this reference and consider studying the chromatic surround when you are ready. Viewer page 34.
Explanation of 11th. If you keep stacking the intervals in thirds you get the the upper extensions 1,3,5,7,9,11,13 (9th=2nd),(11th=4th),(13th=6th) AFAIK there is no reason to take it any further. Of course you also should know (10th=3rd),(12th=5th).
The notation rules get a bit tricky. If you see a chord with just a higher extension consider it an extended dominant chord. For example G9, G11, G13 = GDom9, GDom11, GDom13...but there is no Reason to right "Dom"
Once you get to the 11th you have to start dealing with the avoid notes. I believe you usually drop the 3rd in the 11th and the 11th in the 13th...but this strict avoid rule is more specific to the harmonic instruments like guitar and piano (AFAIK). So, you may get away with playing an avoid note in the melody or bass, but you need to use skill and judgement.
This is not a question that can be properly answered in a paragraph or two. It's a theory question. Either thoroughly learn theory by some method, or pick it up piecemeal over many years.
Smooth_bass88
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Seeing all the elaborations on why it can or can not, I am assuming your question is incomplete.
If you're using just the scale as the base of a bassline rather then the scale chords being played over a given progression in that scale/key it is easy to get lost.
When thinking chords rather than scales you will start to emphasise the chord tones (roots, 3rds, 5ths, 7ths etc.) and run the scale notes (or even chromatics if that works) in between those using mostly major and minor 3rd chord finger positioning (ie root notes from the index- or middle finger depending or major or minor shape) because you know the scale chords that are being played. You will also see and recognise the patterns after a while which will give you more freedom to move around.
So think chords instead of scales and everything will fit nicely.
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OP, after reading through the replies, I think the best way to make the most sense of this simply is to tell you to learn the style you want to play. A “style” or “genre” is really nothing more than a set of rules that everyone agrees on that makes that style, based on the tendencies of those that perform that style. Studying the style you want to play will inform you what note choices are appropriate. For instance, In metal you will see a lot of dissonance, m9’s and such. In that context it’s appropriate. Pop music will generally be much much simpler and more consonant. The m9’s that are correct for metal would be very out of place in Pop. Blues is gonna have a lot of b5’s , etc etc. Making broad generalizations here, but I just wanna try and distill all the information here to help you digest it, that your note choices are largely decided by the style you’re playing in, and even then where you’re coming from and where you are going will help inform your choices further. Hope that helps.
One of the things that he has said that I really like is that you are only one fret away from the correct note, or something to that effect.
A quick look at how non-chord tones work would open your eyes to a lot of possibilities. Passing tones, neighbor tones, appogiaturas, suspensions etc. The concept of species counterpoint (by Johann Fux and others) lays out the basic ideas behind this.
An inventive walking bass part by someone like Ron Carter uses many pitches other than the actual chord tones to embellish the current chord and lead into the next.
An inventive walking bass part by someone like Ron Carter uses many pitches other than the actual chord tones to embellish the current chord and lead into the next.
It's really NOT a basic question at all. It may be, as the replies indicate, a really oversimplified question. In my opinion, to answer this question, you've got to learn music theory (which means understanding functional harmony, not just knowing how many sharps are in what keys and such) and ear training in tandem. What do different scale and chord tones sound like in different contexts? Hell, what do they SMELL like. Whatever brings your subjective experience to the IV-ness of IV. Learn to sing solfege syllables and hum banal melodies to yourself using them in the car (until you can figure out more complex ones). You can also analyze written melodies or transcribed solos, or transcribe the bass lines, melodies, or solos that appeal most to you, and get a feel for how scale degrees and chord tones are used in the things that sound like what you think you might want to sound like.
I guess that's why "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven has never really worked.
You can use any note anywhere, but just make sure that the mood it sets is what you're aiming for! Just don't use the ones that don't do that.
Yes. Often understated when a theory question pops up.
Support the harmony in a stylistically appropriate rhythm.
Support the harmony = play the root, probably the 5th, maybe other chord tones. Comes from the theory.
After that it's all about the stylistically appropriate rhythm*. Comes from repertoire and analysis.
*I use rhythm here in a compound sense: groups of certain notes with certain beats, phrases if you will.
I've already mentioned "Ode To Joy". But this really seems to contradict what a lot of people have been saying, unless I'm just not understanding.
Dizzy Gillespie said that you can play any note against any chord... if you play it fast enough.
If it sounds really bad, just remember you're a half-step from happiness. If glaringly dissonant, repeat same when it comes around again...it will appear intentional. If you get the evil eye from the BL, point to the keyboard player and shrug.
Riis
