Playing Bass Chords

[brawdylucas]

Playing bass is one of my passions at such a young age but one thing i havent learned yet is bass chords and i was wondering if anyone had a list of bass chords and the technique used to play them

 

[chuck3]

To be honest, I have never seen any such thing - you can experiment and come up with ones you like. The 1/5 chord is easy, just play the root and the fifth at the same time. Another that sounds cool is root/octave/3rd-above-octave. So for example, play C on both the E and the D strings, and play E on the G string. You can move that up and down the neck and easily change from major to minor as well.

 

[vin*tone]

Start with 10th chords This gives you the root and a 3rd an octave up. For a Maj 10th, play the root on the E and the 10th a fret up on the G. For a Min 10th play the same fret on E and G strings.

 

[bThumper38]

Mel Bay has a book on Arpeggio's, this would definately help you out.

 

[ubermiguel]

Any basic guitar chord charts will help (example linked below). Just eliminate the high strings.

I stick with barre chords for bass, open notes are harder to control on bass. Truly barring a bass (fretting all the strings with one finger) is tough. Luckily I have 4 fingers and my bass has 4 strings, so most chords are doable without true barring.

Like chuck3 says, the basic power chord is a great start (root + 5th, e.g.: E/B, G/D, A/E, F#/Db).

We're already talking basic theory here (root, 5th, 3rd, flat 3rd, 8th, 7th, etc), so researching some basic chord and scale (major v. minor) theory can't hurt.

Regarding technique, I rarely play all the notes in a chord at the same time, but will fret the chord and play each not individually as part of a bass line. Finger position is open to whatever works for you. Finger position is often dependant on what notes you are moving to and from, so the same chord could be played in a few different fretboard spots with a few differrent fingerings, and all are fine if it sounds good.

And be patient, it takes time to build up the hand strength for good chording.

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=...d+chart&um=1&hl=en&gbv=2&tbm=isch&um=1&itbs=1)

 

[chuck3]

Start with 10th chords This gives you the root and a 3rd an octave up. For a Maj 10th, play the root on the E and the 10th a fret up on the G. For a Min 10th play the same fret on E and G strings.

^^^
that's what I was trying to say with my second example, better said by vin. Although I use an additional note, the octave.

 

[ubermiguel]

Here's a good power chord lesson: http://www.guitarchordsmagic.com/guitar-chord-charts/guitar-chord-chart-bar.html

 

[chuck3]

I do "The Weight" in an acoustic band where the intro/turnaround needs to be filled out more to sound good (in my opinion), so I use chords as follows. Each is a quarter note except the last C is eighth-dotted eighth:

G (G on E, open D, open G)
Bm (B on A, F# on D)
C (C on A, E on D, open G)
G (same as first one)
C (same as third one)

 

[anonymous111813]

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f22/good-sounding-chords-voicings-bass-893403/

 

[flashboom]

I recently bought Chord Basics by Jonas Hellborg http://www.amazon.com/Chord-Basics-JONAS-HELLBORG/dp/071190717X/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342163514&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=chord+basics+jonas++helberb

It's pretty easy to follow and I'm enjoying messing with it.

 

[Atoz]

I recently bought Chord Basics by Jonas Hellborg http://www.amazon.com/Chord-Basics-JONAS-HELLBORG/dp/071190717X/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342163514&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=chord+basics+jonas++helberb

It's pretty easy to follow and I'm enjoying messing with it.

+1. I own this book too. You can probably pick it up at your local GC.