Chordal Movement / Chord Inversions

[SpaceCadetVibe]

Hi Tony, I am so glad this came up on TalkBass you are by far my favorite bass player and have listened to you for years. I was wondering about soloing. When I get into a good practice loop and just have a few chords it can get a little bland after a while. What is a good way to throw in some more interesting changes or possibly some specific chord inversions you like to use to add some color? You do it very well along with being extremely tasteful. Also, I plan on joining the academy very soon. Thanks you for any help. Elevation is a great listen, very different from past CD's and what a line-up!

 

[tony grey]

Hello thanks for your words. I'm trying to keep it different with each CD. I got lucky with this line up
When I'm playing lines I like to color chords by approaching the Chord Tones from different directions. You can create some really cool patterns. Also the use of Diatonic passing tones in between Chord tones within your lines is a great exercise. I have tones of this kind of material in the Academy.
Also Try inverting your chords with a 3rd at the bottom a nice sounding one on the bass for example for a Dmaj7 is playing the F# on the bottom 14th fret of the E String, the D
12th fret of the D String and the A 14th fret of the G String. You can move the F# to an F to play a D Minor. I experiment a lot with the different chord Tone combinations. You can find nice progressions by just playing around.

Hope this helped you. all the best, Tony

 

[SpaceCadetVibe]

Thank you, Tony for your quick reply and sharing of knowledge, I look forward to learning a lot at your bass academy. Now you just need to come to Denver, Co so I can experience your playing first hand. Do you have any plans of touring for this new CD?
Thanks Again.

 

[tony grey]

Ahh thank you. You are welcome. I'm hoping to be on the road with this CD. I'm just finishing up some work with other artists and working on my Academy this year but hopefully next year. I love Denver