Recently got a 6 string bass and was wondering where I could learn about playing chords on it? Books, websites, whatever.
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Where can I learn about playing chords on a 6 string?
- Thread starter Just Wrong
- Start date
Here's a good place to start . . .
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL69DWE622-ynNGf9241WQRUgX7WoRscu4
Here's an example of what's offered . . .
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL69DWE622-ynNGf9241WQRUgX7WoRscu4
Here's an example of what's offered . . .
I will also highly recommend Chordal Harmony 1 and 2 by Janek Gwizdala. It's not for the six string specifically, but as he plays with a high C string, the concepts carry over extremely well (though they can be played on four strings as well, as he demonstrates). Comes with a book and video material. It's my personal bible regarding chords on bass.
I am writing a thesaurus of chords for the 6 string. it's a big amount of work. not completed yet.
The thing you really need to know with a 5 or 6 string is where not to play chords. There is a guideline called lowest interval limits - the lowest place on the grand staff where a given interval is "musical":
Low Interval Limits - Robin Hoffmann
If you play a fifth interval lower than that chart suggests, it's gonna sound like poo. The closer the interval, the higher you need to play it for it to sound OK. What that means is that a LOT of your fretboard is off limits to close intervals, which means it's off limits to chords. When you get high enough to where you can play a full chord, you're kinda playing guitar, not bass.
The video posted earlier, the guy is leaving out a couple strings on most chords -the lowest note he's playing I(which isn't all that low) is not close to any of the other notes spectrally - the notes that are bunched together in his chords are up high on the fretboard, and on the highest strings.
Keep in mind, when looking at that, that music for the bass guitar is written an octave higher on the staff than it is played - you need to go an octave higher than it would appear from sight reading notes to play an interval that doesn't sound like mud on your bass.
Low Interval Limits - Robin Hoffmann
If you play a fifth interval lower than that chart suggests, it's gonna sound like poo. The closer the interval, the higher you need to play it for it to sound OK. What that means is that a LOT of your fretboard is off limits to close intervals, which means it's off limits to chords. When you get high enough to where you can play a full chord, you're kinda playing guitar, not bass.
The video posted earlier, the guy is leaving out a couple strings on most chords -the lowest note he's playing I(which isn't all that low) is not close to any of the other notes spectrally - the notes that are bunched together in his chords are up high on the fretboard, and on the highest strings.
Keep in mind, when looking at that, that music for the bass guitar is written an octave higher on the staff than it is played - you need to go an octave higher than it would appear from sight reading notes to play an interval that doesn't sound like mud on your bass.
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A lot of very good things to keep in mind, and knowing the explicit limits is an absolute barrier of entry for bass chords.. that being said there is plenty of usable real estate to play [particular] diads and triads, and there is even a lovely albeit limited palette of more complex voicings that work within a particular range.
Certainly there is a wide selection of musical traditions where voicing chords on bass is either superfluous and/or abdicating a role; fortunately these are aesthetic and not prescriptive decisions, and it’s not hard to find a wide variety of players who use bass chords to great effect, and I don’t just mean jazz guys..
Chords on a bass have a unique and distinct quality, and can be a pretty powerful musical effect when used wisely.. the sound IS so distinct, and the range and voicings are much more limited than a more traditional chord instrument, so the sound can become a little one-note, if not outright cliché at times, and I would be foolish not to acknowledge that we need to be careful to use bass chords wisely, and with discerning taste, and you probably don’t have much use for them if your goal is to play in a coverband and back your favorite local singer songwriter…
I use them daily, and while I’m certainly much more free to use them during an improvised set with a bunch of jazz guys, that’s not the only usage they get from me.
One of my calling cards that *gets* me gigs, instead of losing them, is to elevate key moments by playing a big spread chord.. since guitars are already playing chords, having a different voice with a different weight to the tones can really be a massive and impressive effect. You just can’t overuse it if you’re in a backing bassist role in a band with a singer, but theres a much, much larger musical world than that available to us as creators.
I would recommend checking out Todd Johnson on YouTube and hook up with him for a lesson or two .
here is a sample . He has a great methods for learning chords and can plays his @ss off.
here is a sample . He has a great methods for learning chords and can plays his @ss off.
Keeping an eye on this thread. I have a 6-string coming from Elrick later this year. Chords and melody are a big part of my plan. It's gonna be fun! Good luck to you, OP. 
Janek Gwizdala is a great guy to look into for that.. he has a pretty well-polished approach to chords on the bass, with a lot of yt videos. He has a LOT of instruction / exercise books, and I’m certain that at least a couple of them would be chord-focused.
That being said, do some exploring, in the meantime… as mentioned above, though pretty usable there IS a fairly limited pallet to work from as far as good sounding chord voicings on bass. With a low root and a 10th (3rd up an octave) you’ve got a lot of bang for your buck, and adding a second color tone to that skeleton will keep you busy for awhile.. try 6ths, 7ths, 9th (2nd but higher) etc with the 3rd.
as Micguy mentioned, you’ll struggle finding good sounds the lower and tighter things go. When I have some time later, I will look through this thread and see what has been posted already, and depending on how much has been shared, maybe I’ll sketch out a starter pack of my favorite voicings that work really well
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Learn chord spelling, then use a site like Free Online Guitar Charts Editor – Guitar Scientist and practice creating voicings yourself. You will learn a LOT more.
I used that to work through what Oteil was talking about here and learned some things that even impacted my playing!
I used that to work through what Oteil was talking about here and learned some things that even impacted my playing!
Giving a man a fish or teaching him how to fish, right? I think you are right - a basic harmony text and a few hours with a pencil and paper will go a lot further. I remember feeling cheated by those books where 4 pages of genuine 'meat' are sandwiched between 10 pages of preamble and blowing smoke up the author's fundament and a 30 page 'compendium' of the same stuff repeated in all different keys.
That is not to say 'topic' books are not useful, but I find things embed deeper and stick a lot better when worked through from first principles.
YMMV
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Three-note Voicings and Beyond is an excellent book that translates well to the bass.
All meat, no filler.
All meat, no filler.
I would say that, if you know your chord voicings...and/or are willing to learn them...you can come up with your own chordal positions on your 6-string. If you adhere to a video, book or other source of information for the actual positioning on your instrument, you are just learning from someone's else's ideas of fingerings and not your own. If you work them out yourself, you are guaranteed to understand them better than if you memorize someone else's ideas of fingerings for those respective chords.
