Can someone explain how the bass player reharmonises?

[Quinn Roberts]

Thank you for the help though guys. What I’m getting at is it could potentially ruin the whole fluidity of the piece and make a note seem ‘wrong’?

Oh come on guys, don't scare someone out of trying to learn something so wonderfully useful and fun!

Use it as much as you want!.... You're playing music not the "bass guitar".... Go do something cool and new if you want, or stick to roots. Either will work just about the same, and that's however you wish it to.

Since Jaco seems to be the go to example on this site... Was he ever discreet?

 

[mambo4]

What I’m getting at is it could potentially ruin the whole fluidity of the piece and make a note seem ‘wrong’?

The important point is that context matters more than theory when it comes to determining what sounds right.
There are styles and situations where reharmonization or inverting the chord is just fine. There are other styles where the outlining of root position chords is a convention that defines the style.

 

[DrayMiles]

Hmm...
IMHO, I believe that you should come to the music with love and humility... and MORE humility...

and then trust your ears after awhile. To play music is a blessing (possibly a curse), but if all you want to do is play a note with sincerity and honesty, then you should trust yourself. Do the absolute best you can and play what you feel. I love theory, and when I was younger I tried to make stuff fit. Every gig was an opportunity to try that darn lydian augmented scale or whatever. My first wife told me, "I loved your playing more when you didn't know what you were doing." Now, I understand what she meant... I thought musical veterans telling me that I had good time, wasn't good enough. Now, I think that's more important than the twiddly stuff. You edit yourself as you get older I think...
Taste, touch, technique... I think those things are important, but I'm working on technique in order to play what I feel more. To tell my story, and communicate that to the best of my ability. I suspect that knowing the melody is paramount for reharmonization. If you play off the melody in your inner ear, you can think about that other stuff later. Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, et. al... They were primarily going from the melody. I staunchly believe that unless you know the melody, you're doomed to fail regarding connection to the audience. Learn the theoretical stuff as an aside IMO and learn the melody. You've got to hear it and feel it, then you recognize things in the moment. That's better than trying to make stuff fit that has no relation to the melody... I mean, horns and pianists are primarily stating the melody for the most part, and they are the leaders of improvisation generally. There's a reason for that... I think...
But, hey... Do what you feel... and good luck...

D.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Like how does the chord change, and what are good note choices in a scenario?

In the latest Bass Player's issue, there is a transcription of the bass line from "Young Love" - Teena Marie.
The bass player, Allen McGrier explained that he re-harmonized Teena's song from I - IV - V to I - bVII - IVm - I, and "Teena loved it".
Instead of Dmaj7 - Gmaj7 - A7, it became Dmaj7 - Cmaj7 - Gm9 - Dmaj7.

Just two things.

1. The main melody notes with Dmaj7 are - F#, A, F#, A B. And with the Cmaj7 we have the same (D) F#, A, B notes in the melody that almost do not match the Cmaj7 chord (with one exception of B).

2. The bass line with the new (re-harmonized) Gm9 chord plays B natural(?).

Go figure...

 

[Quinn Roberts]

This is a wonderful post, and a quite interesting look into the songwriting process.

C̶o̶n̶s̶i̶d̶e̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶o̶r̶i̶g̶i̶n̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶e̶n̶d̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶C̶m̶a̶j̶,̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶o̶r̶t̶a̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶a̶n̶g̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶e̶l̶o̶d̶y̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶e̶s̶ ̶r̶e̶v̶o̶l̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶r̶o̶u̶n̶d̶ ̶D̶m̶a̶j̶.̶ ̶M̶a̶y̶b̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶r̶e̶w̶o̶r̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶e̶l̶o̶d̶y̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶a̶ ̶w̶h̶o̶l̶e̶-̶s̶t̶e̶p̶ ̶a̶f̶t̶e̶r̶w̶a̶r̶d̶s̶?̶
I'm apt to think that B natural is a clever, harmonic lead into the Dmaj7 chord; considering B is the sixth of the tonic key and it's resolving to a major 7th. I'll certainly have to try that move out for myself in the future!

Edit: Not sure why I thought it was originally conceived in C! Whoops!

 

[Whousedtoplay]

I'm apt to think that B natural is a clever, harmonic lead into the Dmaj7 chord; considering B is the sixth of the tonic key and it's resolving to a major 7th.

To be more precise, in most of the Gm9 cases/measures from that song, Beat 4 is "pronounced" on the keys as (ascending) G - A - (omit 3rd) - E as the A7 (omit 3rd) chord, but in few cases, one could hear in the keys/strings the harmonic interval G - Bb clearly on Beat 3 and 4.

It's more like Beat 1 and 2 - Gm9, Beat 3 and 4 some "derivative" of A7.

But of course, it's easy to say, B natural is just a non-harmonic/neighboring/passing/chromatic note, but...
To me it sounds more like, "Hey, somebody has forgotten to inform the bass player about the Gmin substitution instead of the original G major chord", and nobody has even noticed that major/minor discrepancy".

P.S. I've listened to two acoustic Teena's versions of that song where Teena Marie plays Gm(9) for all four beats.

About that parallel Imaj7 - bVIImaj7 movement. It was kind of prevalent that time - in the (around) 70's.
I was never concerned why it was OK - I've just played it (and similar ones) as some trivial chord progression cliche.
Now, I can speculate that it was/is a borrowed chord - C major.

As one could see, the melody notes of D - F# - A and B have not been an issue to play the Cmaj7 chord.

P.S.2 I am trying to work on that B natural leading to Dmaj7.

 

[Quinn Roberts]

About that parallel Imaj7 - bVIImaj7 movement. It was kind of prevalent that time - in the (around) 70's.
I was never concerned why it was OK - I've just played it (and similar ones) as some trivial chord progression cliche.
Now, I can speculate that it was/is a borrowed chord - C major.

As one could see, the melody notes of D - F# - A and B have not been an issue to play the Cmaj7 chord.

P.S.2 I am trying to work on that B natural leading to Dmaj7.

In hindsight, the melody would just give off a lydian (augmented 4th) sound played over the Cmaj7. Quite a popular choice over the regular major scale for some.

As for the progression, I just always assumed chords moving by strictly halves or whole steps (Dmaj7-Cmaj7) were just harmonically sound and safe options for movement.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

In hindsight, the melody would just give off a lydian (augmented 4th) sound played over the Cmaj7. Quite a popular choice over the regular major scale for some.

Yes, indeed.
Also (from the same box of harmonic cliches), it would have been a similar effect result if we had an ascending "parallel" chord movement - Dmaj7 / Emaj7.

As for the progression, I just always assumed chords moving by strictly halves or whole steps (Dmaj7-Cmaj7) were just harmonically sound and safe options for movement.

I remember playing quite a few similar "paralleled" chord movement cliches like Dmaj7/Emaj7, Dmin7/Emin7, etc... before rehearsals as some band's warm-up. "Officially", those parallel 5th (la Quinta) movements were not recommended by Classical Harmony. And the "diatonic" interpretation of those two parallel chords was more like "modulation" - you play all those notes (including the chromatic ones) of the D major scale, and after that you move "all your stuff" to E major.

 

[Jeff Bonny]

So I know that the bass player can change the whole harmony of a chord by choosing another low note, but can someone explain how it works?

The bass player learns to play the piano.

 

[joebar]

At the end of the day, it always comes down to taste once you know the tools and how to use them.

 

[joebar]

In the latest Bass Player's issue, there is a transcription of the bass line from "Young Love" - Teena Marie.
The bass player, Allen McGrier explained that he re-harmonized Teena's song from I - IV - V to I - bVII - IVm - I, and "Teena loved it".
Instead of Dmaj7 - Gmaj7 - A7, it became Dmaj7 - Cmaj7 - Gm9 - Dmaj7.

Just two things.

1. The main melody notes with Dmaj7 are - F#, A, F#, A B. And with the Cmaj7 we have the same (D) F#, A, B notes in the melody that almost do not match the Cmaj7 chord (with one exception of B).

2. The bass line with the new (re-harmonized) Gm9 chord plays B natural(?).

View attachment 3146452

Go figure...

As I was studying this song, a few things popped out to me-
The B is towards the end of the measure of the Gmin9 chord. In my mind, I see it more as becoming the natural 6 of D more than anything else- as a pickup/approach note.
There is so much tension in those min4 type substitutions, that just about any dissonance will do because a huge resolve on the tonic chord is coming up.
The theory in a progression like this is quite involved but is very interesting.

 

[JRA]

...with some knowledge/experience and/or ears + some 'cleverness' + some restraint. various amounts of each depending on the situation and genre. on some jazz gigs it could be fun to reharmonize on the fly and those can be great moments. for some arranging (
Whousedtoplay 's example) you may want to give it some thought. on some pop/rock gigs: spontaneous reharmonization by the bass player could be a buzz killer. IME. YMMV. all i got.


OP: good luck!