Which is why for years
Which is why I've said that the bassist is the stealth bandleader.
Which is why I've said that the bassist is the stealth bandleader.
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Can someone explain how the bass player reharmonises?
- Thread starter TheIndieKid
- Start date
Yes, it does. I get to slash my way through tunes most every weekend. Its kind of like cheating, except you're being told to do it. Some of the best notes I get to play are the slashes - they're the most noticeable a lot of times, and help the music move.
How it works is you play a note not in the original chord, so it becomes another chord. Play an A underneath a C major chord and it becomes an Am7 chord.
Good note choices are ones that move the bass line in a way pleasing to the ear...experiment.
Take this progression:
C C G7 G7
You play (just the one note!):
C A D G
and now the progression sounds like:
C Am7 Dm6 G7
Take this progression (12 bar blues):
C C C C F F C C G7 F C G7
You play (just the one note except the last two bars):
C C E E F F# C A D G C/A D/G
and now the progression sounds like (a jazz blues progression):
C C Em Em F F#dim C Am7 Dm7 G9 C/Am7 Dm7/G9
drumvsbass
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The real question here is WHY? The answer, to add color and tension to a repeated progression that would otherwise leave the listener bored.
Take this chord progression
B---|A---|E---|E---|B---|A---|E---|E---|B---|A---|E---|E---|
using reharmonization to create new tension in the second pass could look like....
B---|A---|E---|E---|B---|A---|G#---|C#-F#-|B---|A---|E---|E---|
Take this chord progression
B---|A---|E---|E---|B---|A---|E---|E---|B---|A---|E---|E---|
using reharmonization to create new tension in the second pass could look like....
B---|A---|E---|E---|B---|A---|G#---|C#-F#-|B---|A---|E---|E---|
Listen to Phil Lesh ('70s era especially) and learn how to do it...his playing has had the most influence on me for improvisation...Jack Bruce and Jack Casady come to mind as well, and believe it or not, Paul McCartney did some pretty amazing things on bass too...listen....
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I agree - you are correct.
But putting the third in the bass wakes em up in the back row, so its a cool trick to know. So is holding the tonic note in the bass as the chord progression goes forward (which I guess is reharmonizing).
Polite requests are made to tone deaf guitarists to please not play the 5th on the bottom of their hootenanny strumming.
My four letter word to certain pianists is "COMP!". Stay out of my yard.
I think it can be a bit ambiguous at times especially if your dealing with a chord with lots of altered extensions. Probably depends upon which extension you put in the bass and how the original chord is functioning. There times when I find it hard to tell how a chord is functioning and it could easily pivot to function in different keys by thinking of a different note as the root. Also, I find sometimes the root needed to analyze the chord as functional is not always spelled out in the chord...for example there can be implied dominant relationships with certain chord shapes such as dim7.
Surprised no one has mentioned tritone subs yet.
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While reading this thread, I said to myself... Phil Lesh.... then I read your post.
D
Deleted member 165050
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Interesting how so many guitarists can only ever play all the strings at once...
IMO...
You don’t play around with harmony. You either know what you’re doing or not. Or at a certain point, you hear it or not. If you don’t hear it, don’t play it...
but
If a happy accident leads you somewhere interesting, remember it and try to understand it... If it’s good that is...
You don’t play around with harmony. You either know what you’re doing or not. Or at a certain point, you hear it or not. If you don’t hear it, don’t play it...
but
If a happy accident leads you somewhere interesting, remember it and try to understand it... If it’s good that is...
After playing bass for close to 40yrs I have come to the realization that if you want to disorient a rhythm section , play a note other than the tonic. Reharmonization works if you are doing songs by "Yes" or other art , or classical rock bands but as I noted the band will freak and the audience will think you don't know how to play. Thats the price of being part of the battery of a ryhthm section. There are exceptions to the rule but your everyday working band will more than appreciate a tight groove.
If you want to go down the avenue of harmony start with basic music theory then harmony. Just cause you play bass there is no excuse not to know chord structure and modern progressions. Basic piano will also get you where you want to go. Thats all I got.
If you want to go down the avenue of harmony start with basic music theory then harmony. Just cause you play bass there is no excuse not to know chord structure and modern progressions. Basic piano will also get you where you want to go. Thats all I got.
Agreed. As a beginner I thought my playing would improve only by finding "new notes" to play.
Over time, I have found it much more musical to find new ways to play the "old notes".
I find it handy to sometimes think of 7th chords as triads starting on the third with a slash note bass.
So Dmaj7 becomes F#m/D.
E-7b5 is Gm/E
It looks more complicated than it is because you can create a system where maj7 are always a minor triad, half diminished are minor triads, min7 are a major triad...etc.
It might not seem as significant learning on the bass but if you play arond with on piano it really makes sense. The application is you can start seeing how seemingly unrelated chords are the same thing.
It doesn't have to be limited to triads starting on the third either. I really like a major triad with a bass note on the two. So C/D...what this really works out to is a C7sus4 with a 9' D C E G (R 7 9 4). You do it enough and you find ones where you just know the sound of. Way simpler on piano than typed out. Try it!
So Dmaj7 becomes F#m/D.
E-7b5 is Gm/E
It looks more complicated than it is because you can create a system where maj7 are always a minor triad, half diminished are minor triads, min7 are a major triad...etc.
It might not seem as significant learning on the bass but if you play arond with on piano it really makes sense. The application is you can start seeing how seemingly unrelated chords are the same thing.
It doesn't have to be limited to triads starting on the third either. I really like a major triad with a bass note on the two. So C/D...what this really works out to is a C7sus4 with a 9' D C E G (R 7 9 4). You do it enough and you find ones where you just know the sound of. Way simpler on piano than typed out. Try it!
This is a powerful tool that completely destroys when wielded by the wrong hands. Ever try playing thirds over AC/DC's Back in Black?or Paranoid by Black Sabbath?
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A chord is a harmony made of different specific notes, add an additional note to a specific chord and the harmony change character making it a different chord.
Which chords works will depend on the specific context of which they are played.
The notes of the original chord won't change just because you play an additional note on the bass but the harmony of it will, making it different chord.
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Well, yes. Use it discretely, and make sure the others are listening. With the right tone it can sound great, and make boring chord changes more interesting.
