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Question on note choices pertaining to 7 chords.
- Thread starter cassanova
- Start date
I think I understand your question but before I type a huge wall of text: Can you please be a little more specific which notes you are playing?
What is the exact note (or notes) you are playing on the Am7 chord? And the Dm7 chord? And the Em7 chord?
Also can you answer please, are you just practicing bass by yourself? Or are you playing along with a recording, backing track, or with other musicians?
Final question, what song is this? (Or is it your own original composition?)
What is the exact note (or notes) you are playing on the Am7 chord? And the Dm7 chord? And the Em7 chord?
Also can you answer please, are you just practicing bass by yourself? Or are you playing along with a recording, backing track, or with other musicians?
Final question, what song is this? (Or is it your own original composition?)
Was practicing with a bassless backing track that contained guitar, piano, sax, and drums. The notes I was playing were I believe G, D, and C. For whatever reason, they didn't sound so great when I played them against the roots the other instruments were playing. They did however work out quite well when I used them as passing tones.
The short answer is, when a bass player plays random notes in a bassline as though they were root notes, it changes the harmony of the tune which is why it doesn't sound right.
You need to establish the harmony of the tune within the structure of the tune before you go wandering off in different directions.
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Only my opinion, of course, but like @Spin Doctor said, you're changing the chords to G, D and C. I assume you're playing G on the E string third fret, C and D on the third and fifth frets of the A string, right?
Try playing the same G on the 12th fret of the G string and so on. It'll sound better, but you're not the bassist anymore, in that case. You're soloing or playing a melody.
Sting:
"Bass players often dig that your bass is the only instrument defining what the chord is, as is the case with the opening single, “I Can’t Stop Thinking About You.”
I always say, It’s not a C chord until I play a C. You can change harmony very subtly but very effectively as a bass player. That’s one of the great privileges of our role and why I love playing bass.
I enjoy the sound of it, I enjoy its harmonic power, and it’s a sort of subtle heroism; it’s not the lead guitar part playing lots of hemidemisemiquavers [64th-notes] to the bar. It’s basically solid workman-like effort."
Sting: The secrets of steering a band from the low end | Guitar World
Try playing the same G on the 12th fret of the G string and so on. It'll sound better, but you're not the bassist anymore, in that case. You're soloing or playing a melody.
Sting:
"Bass players often dig that your bass is the only instrument defining what the chord is, as is the case with the opening single, “I Can’t Stop Thinking About You.”
I always say, It’s not a C chord until I play a C. You can change harmony very subtly but very effectively as a bass player. That’s one of the great privileges of our role and why I love playing bass.
I enjoy the sound of it, I enjoy its harmonic power, and it’s a sort of subtle heroism; it’s not the lead guitar part playing lots of hemidemisemiquavers [64th-notes] to the bar. It’s basically solid workman-like effort."
Sting: The secrets of steering a band from the low end | Guitar World
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It's interesting that when I made my post, I was thinking about this very quote from Sting.
So if I understand correctly (sorry for being so dense) you played G for the Am7, D for the Dm7, and C for the Em7?
I'm surprised D didn't sound good for the Dm7, but I can see why C would sound dissonant for Em7: It's a half-step away from B, the 5th of the Em7 chord. Generally speaking, notes a half-step away from chord tones are often the most "dissonant" note choices.
As to the G under the Am7, it is a chord tone, so shouldn't sound too dissonant, but it's the weakest chord tone. You were creating a "third inversion" Am7 chord, or Am7/G. I think that's fine to play third inversion chords every once in a while, but I wouldn't do it for the i chord in a i-iv-v progression. The listener wants to hear the A strongly in the bass, so they know the progression has come "home" to the tonic chord.
Generally speaking, inversions sound best when the bass is moving melodically by step. For example if the bass line was moving A G F E or something like that, then the Am7/G would sound more "earned."
Hope that makes at least a little bit of sense?
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No he's not. He wrote he is playing the 7ths, which are G, C and D in the order of the chords he listed (Am7, Dm7, Em7). I assume it's a jazz playalong, since it has guitar, piano, sax, and drums. He appears to be just trying each of the chord tones and hearing how it sounds.
One thing I would not do is play the 7ths of each chord back to back. I might use the 7ths in a different way, such as Mushroo's suggestion for A G (both under the Am7) F (under the Dm7) E. A few other possibilities of chord tones under those chords, each creating a different harmonic effect:
A C D
C D E
A A G
A A E
Now if he were to play the thirds under those m7 chords it could be heard as maj6 chords, C, D and G.
Groove Master
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Register and also they are not the roots. Trying to replace the roots by other notes is not a good idea usually because it is our primary function and it can work if you know what you're doing.
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Nothing is as consonant as the root.
A bass line generally uses chord tones (an other notes) on its way to the next root,
not instead of the current root.
The more important the down beat is to the start or end of a phrase , the more reliably you ought to play the root. Deliberately choosing other tones in place of the root requires some consideration.
Generally speaking, context matters, YMMV, etc.
A bass line generally uses chord tones (an other notes) on its way to the next root,
not instead of the current root.
The more important the down beat is to the start or end of a phrase , the more reliably you ought to play the root. Deliberately choosing other tones in place of the root requires some consideration.
Generally speaking, context matters, YMMV, etc.
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Exactly this. It's been a long time since I've tried doing that, and needed to get reacquainted with it so to speak.
Why clash? Because you changed Am7, Dm7 and Em7 to Am/G (or C6/G), Dm/C (F6/C) and Em/D (G6/D), respectively.
