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Double Bass Writing tunes out in different keys?

Kindofblue

Kindofblue

Oct 13, 2008
198
8
Canada
#1
So my bass teacher and I went over "east of the sun" and I wrote out a walking bassline for it in the key of G. Now we talked a bit about learning stuff and applying it to more then one key so for this week he said learn it in a new key and see what your other ideas in the previous key were and see how the applied to the new one.

In saying that im having a little trouble writing out the song in a new key.

C maj | F7 #11 ? | E min7 | ?
D min7| D min7 |

etc if any help could be contributed thatd be great
 
#3
G M7 | C7 #11 | B m7 | E7
A m7 | Am7 | Cm7 | F7
A m7 | D7 | F#m7 B+7 | Em7
E m7 A7 | Em7 A7 | A m7 | D7 D7b9
G M7 | C7 #11 | B m7 | E7
A m7| A m7 | C m7 | F7
A m7 Am7/G | F#m7 B7 | Em7| A7
A m7 | F7 | Bm7 | Bbm7 Eb7
A m7 | D7 | G 6/9

Thats in the key of g,im trying to transpose this into C
 
#4
Kindofblue,

You are taking the tune up a 4th. I'm probably not great at explaining this but here goes. Try to study and understand the tune in the original key; G, I think. Begin to envision each chord as a step in the G Major Scale. I , II, III, IV, V ect. Now study the chord relationships in terms of the steps previously mentioned. Where does the progression go in terms of these step?

This is what is meant when someone says, oftentimes me, "II goes to V and V goes to I. It's all about resolutions. Once you really understand and hear the progression in the original key, it will become much clearer and far easier to transpose to any key!

I know we have some great teachers out there and I'm not one of them so if I've made it more confusing or misspoke, I'm sure someone will come along and hopefully clear it up for you.:ninja:
 
#8
Learning the progressions would be good...Treyzer is saying do that so you can hear it in whatever key you are trying it in. There are ways to write the roman numerals for borrowed chords and such but I wouldn't worry with that at this stage.

Just think of every chord w/o extensions (9s, 11s, etc.) and accidentals to start with. Just count up in a scalar pattern (E-F#-G#-A). In this case, you are taking it up a Perfect 4th so thinking Maj or min won't matter. That would change if you were going up a 3rd, 6th, or 7th.

To use Treyzer's method (w/o hearing the changes) you can think of the intervals between each chord. So, G M7 goes to C7-That's a perfect 4th so, if you get the first chord, you know where the next one is. Or, A7 to F7 is a minor 6th so, in the transposition, it would be D7--(D-E-F-G-A-) to Bb.

Hope that helps.
 
#9
Kindofblue said:
I know about the roman numerals but not all of these chords are diatonic,some of them are borrowed and what not thats what it is messing me up.
Click to expand...

Think of the targets.
Looking at bars 3 and 4, those are not diatonic to G major. But if you realize that bar 5 is Ami7 and is a major target point, you can think of those measures as part of a larger unit. So 3+4 are a ii-V progression targeted towards the second 4 bar phrase...which DOES start on a diatonic chord, incidentally.

People I know who struggle with this sort of thing are always thinking too much chord-to-chord and not seeing the larger picture. Or trying to cram things into the wrong picture... like trying to think of why there is an E7 in Gmajor. An answer to that would be to not even think of the E7. Think of the first 4 bars as starting on I(MA7) and the second 4 bars as starting on ii(mi7). Then you insert the ii-V for whatever key you are in., So if you're transposing to E, you know that your second line will start on F#mi7. Bars 3 and 4 ought to be a ii-V that will land you into that.


Look for major cadential points in tunes and think of everything else in relation to that. I knew a guy who said that when people call standards he thinks of two things: What scale degree it starts on, and where the bridge goes. Of course there is a lot more information, but it all falls into place when you do this enough (like a 20 year career of it...so don't rush yourself! :) ).

Reducing the song to it's most basic harmonic information, and thinking of things the way I described above...eventually you're reducing a whole tune to just knowing where to land on bars 1 and 17.
 
#11
A lot of times when transposing tunes you might find thinking in terms of diatonic function and roman numerals kind of useless. When dealing with tunes with complex harmony, substitutions, borrowed chords, reharmonizations, modulations, etc etc etc I sometimes find it easier just to take it one chord at a time and think in intervals.
 
#12
yo,
learn to hum the roots in the original key. hum it away from your instrument for a while. when your with your bass pick a starting pitch, sing the rest of the progression while finding the roots on your bass. sometimes its good to use a keyboard to help your singing. all this is easier than its seems, most of us have stronger relative pitch than we sometimes realize.
 
#14
C M7 | F 7 #11 | E m7 | A7
D m7 | Dm7 | Fm7 | Bb7
D m7 | G7 | Bm7 E+7 | Am7
A m7 D7 | Am7 D7 | D m7 | G7 G7b9
C M7 | F7 #11 | E m7 | A7
D m7| D m7 | F m7 | Bb7
D m7 Dm7/C | Bm7 E7 | Am7| D7
D m7 | Bb7 | Em7 | Ebm7 Eb7
D m7 | G7 | C 6/9
 

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