interesting chords for basses with high c?

[Spin Doctor]

Looking for some new inspiration of chord voicings. I am stuck in the rut of minor 7th chords and 7 chords, and looking for some resources with fingerings (and tab ideally) with some chordal exercises and ideas. Anyone have any suggestions?

Dunno if you are looking for free stuff, but this guy is a beast. I don't study his chord lessons, but I transcribe his solos, etc.

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[J.Wolf]

Okay, so it sounds like you're not really looking for fingering charts or even bass-specific techniques; you're looking for some advanced music theory to allow you to understand chord substitutions, upper-structure triads, tensions/alterations, and other ways to access a richer harmonic vocabulary.

I've found that the best resources for that sort of info are definitely not bass-centric. You can learn vastly more about harmony if you study harmony away from the instrument -- or at least away from the bass; having a piano nearby has often been a godsend for me -- and then once you've gotten your head wrapped around the concept then go and figure out how to apply it to the bass. Which at that point you shouldn't need a book or a video for (so long as you know your way around the fingerboard and understand the fundamentals of intervals & chord construction).

Andy Jaffe wrote some excellent instructional books on advanced jazz harmony. Don Sebesky's arranging treatise is also a goldmine of chord voicings (though it's more geared towards writing for a multi-instrument ensemble than about harmonic theory per se). If you want to take a decidedly non-jazz approach to harmony, Paul Hindemuth's "A Concentrated Course In Traditional Harmony", Arnold Schoenberg's "Theory of Harmony (Harmonielehre)", Joseph Strauss' "Introduction To Post-Tonal Theory" and John Rahn's "Basic Atonal Theory" will give you a vast vocabulary of harmonic ideas & techniques to consider the next time you want to find an alternativee to a tired three-note F7.

THIS. thank you

 

[J.Wolf]

Dunno if you are looking for free stuff, but this guy is a beast. I don't study his chord lessons, but I transcribe his solos, etc.

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I referenced a snippet of this video earlier in this thread, thanks for posting the whole video, will have to check it out!

 

[Spin Doctor]

I referenced a snippet of this video earlier in this thread, thanks for posting the whole video, will have to check it out!

lol I completely missed that. duh. Unfortunately it's not the whole vid. just another snippet. But the guy can play, plus he has a Masters degree and teaches at a University, so I would think he has that teaching thing down.

I was looking at the Hadrien Feraud improvisation course, but that's prolly like taking flying lessons from Superman. I'm prolly not gonna get it...

 

[J.Wolf]

lol I completely missed that. duh. Unfortunately it's not the whole vid. just another snippet. But the guy can play, plus he has a Masters degree and teaches at a University, so I would think he has that teaching thing down.

I was looking at the Hadrien Feraud improvisation course, but that's prolly like taking flying lessons from Superman. I'm prolly not gonna get it...

I would love to learn a little about chording from Hadrien, as some of what he does sounds REALLY hip to my ears, he plays his ass off though, thats for sure. A buddy of mine here hired him for some gigs that were super technical, all written out parts that are way complex rhythmically and tonally, and he showed up with no charts and played everything note for note. And later I learned he doesnt even really read. Thats some crazy innate talent. This says nothing about how he'd be as a teacher, but I sure dig his playing.

Looks like you can buy/rent all of the 2 or 3 in that series of Ben Sheppard videos. need to spend some time with that!

 

[hsp-sandiego]

Going to buy that Masterclass. Like the OP, looking for comping and solo bass ideas for 6 string. Good stuff.

 

[BassChuck]

The thing that makes chords 'interesting' is not the chord but what comes before and after.
The other thing to take note of is: chords are just several melody notes happening at the same time. So the voicing of the chord is connected to what comes before and after. Always thing of music as the flow of energy.

 

[77stingray]

If fingerings are what you are after
You could always google image search "5 string bass guitar chord chart"

EDIT:
<deleted image because It was not for 5 string bass - see post # 15 below>

But it's like being handed a dictionary and asked to compose poetry.

Better to work backwards:
find a song or chord progression you like
identify the chord tones
figure out how to play them on your bass

I am currently working on Autumn leaves by the working backward from this video:


There are some nice sounding inversions here. I don't know the fretboard up quite that high, so I am working on that at the same time. Since you have a high C, 6 string charts are best. On a few of these chords I think he has the root as the highest note, and it works really nicely. Thanks for posting, I am going to check out the Janek book.

 

[77stingray]

Adam Nitti education may also be a good resource.