I'm looking for help in building a bassline from the following music sheet. I've been practicing by myself for a few years and recently got together with my local Church. The pic is what they provided me. My goal is to build the most simple bassline first and then add on from there. I've completed Studybass.com so my theory knowledge is present but basic. Please help with the following questions:
1) I'm aware the core of basslines build around the root note. Can I just go through this music sheet playing the root note from each scale as the music progresses (i.e. playing D to A on the first "Holy"?
2) If I play the root notes, what do I do with a A/C# (i.e. the first "Holy"? Do i play the A or the C#?
On slash chords you play the slash, so you play the C# the guitar guys/gals play the A chord. Your question on playing roots -- you have a bunch of quick chord changes happening so I would just play roots. Now if you have room, sure, try and get some other chord tones into the music, but, with Praise music the chords normally come quickly and just roots work.
2) If I play the root notes, will it still sound alright if the melody begins with an F on "Holy" and I'm playing D?
3) Or...should I just play the melody on my bass and forget the root notes?
I leave the melody notes to the keyboard and play notes of the chord. I assume you are talking about the first "Holy" and as this lyric word has the D chord active with it, I assume the songwriter chose that D chord to harmonize that part of the melody - so that is what I would play, i.e. D, D, for two beats then catch that C#.
Notice - normally we have one melody note per lyric syllable. That pretty well guides me; one beat per lyric syllable and yes that normally is pounding out roots till the next chord change word comes active. I'm not playing a groove, or relying on a pentatonic bass line. We have a drummer in our band and I leave the beat to him and I take care of calling attention to the chord change. I of course lock in with his kick drum, but, he takes care of the beat and I do other things. With Praise bass I rely upon root on one. Paying attention to the chord changes and nailing those changes - not ahead of time, or after the fact - dead on.
Something else I do with Praise music. Because there are so many chord changes and a lot of the time you will use 6 of the 7 chords (That piece of sheet music used all seven) I take the chord names to Nashville numbers. For example:
Key signature is D (two sharps) so I write the D major scale in the top margin of the sheet music like this:
D, E, F#, G, A, B, C# and then match the Nashville numbers....
1, 2, 3,...4, 5, 6, ..7 So over the chords on the sheet music I write the following:
2........3....4..5..5..1.....7.....6.............5
Em D/F#, G, A, A, D, A/C#, Bm, F#m/A
Notice how quickly the chord changes come!
And then use my major scale box. Nashville numbers and major scale box scale degree numbers are the same so I rely upon my ole standby major scale box pattern to help me play the bass line.
Code:
Major Scale Box.
Code:
G|---2---|-------|---3---|---4---| 1st string
D|---6---|-------|---7---|---8---|
A|---3---|---4---|-------|---5---|
E|-------|---R---|-------|---2---|4th string
So instead of looking for the Em chord I'm looking for the 2 chord,
and I know the 2 is always, relative to the root, same string up two frets.
The 3 is up a string and back one fret. The 4 is right over the root.
The 5 is up a string and over two, etc. Notice that chord progression
is a nice walk up and then walk down. Make the 1 an 8 and the walk
would be a little smoother. The 8 is the 1 in the next octave.
I then use the lyric words to keep me playing with the rest of the band. Here is some examples of Nashville numbers;
With out the lyric words I get lost, but, singing the lyrics under my breath I'm able to keep my place with what is going on. As I mentioned above, I'm not relying upon a generic groove or pentatonic scale for my bass line, but, root on one and hitting the chord changes dead on.
Just what I do. It may be a paradigm shift for you. Use as much as you like.
Good luck.
P.S. Because I'm not interested in the treble clef, if I had time, I'd probably re-type that sheet music into fake chord format and place my Nashville numbers over the lyric syllable. Would clean up the sheet music by listing only what I'm interested in. Lot of slash chords cluttering up the sheet music. I'm only interested in the slash.
