I’ve been hard at work for a good while now creating articles for BassBuzz and today - yes, this very day - marks the first publication of the first Gio Benedetti article into the BassBuzz universe.
It’s alllllll about chords on the bass!
Do you like chords as much as I do?
Did it show you some things you didn’t know?
Were the pieces from actual songs playable?
Are you sad now because you only want to play chords from now on (like me)??
Thank you Gio, in my case I was a guitar player 30 years ago who thought it would be just like riding a bike. It was not. Want to play some MBV bass lines and Debbie Goog goes a bit nuts in some of their songs with chords.
This was really awesome, thank you @Gio. Love that you included some Pachelbel. You really condensed or re-constructed a few things that I was struggling with, in other sources, in a way that clicked for me.
(edit… and just started watching the video… holy hell, that’s amazing! Gonna have to really sit and watch this later)
This is great stuff - awesome!! Only saw that just now, but better late than never!
That “dominant 7 from A string” shape works also as tritone substitution for the “dominant 7 from E string” shape. So, for example, instead of E-D-G#, you can play A#-D(C##)-G# (i.e., in the same position). It’s easier on my fingers, in any case
In the tabs for Carousel in the minor 3rds section (last example in section 4), there are no chords indicated that I see - am I missing the point of that example?
In the triads with the major/minor 10th, is that an inversion since the 3rd is the highest note?
Will have to spend more time with the article to really digest it…
There are chords indicated, but he doesn’t play them at exactly the same time.
When he’s playing each of those bars, he’s starting with either a major or minor third, or a power chord, and playing through the chord shape so fast, that you hear the chord (especially in the last example where he’s using the open D string in the first bar), without it being played at the same time.
The notes of the chord ring together instead of being played together, if that makes sense?
The chords are written above the music: D major (third shape), A major (third shape), B minor (third shape), and G (power chord shape).
Such a good question.
And I love it because it emphasizes the importance of us bassists.
It’s only an inversion if the lowest note is a different note in the chord.
If you change the notes above the root note, you’re changing the voicing of the chord.
So, as long as the root note is the lowest note, it’s a root position triad - not an inversion.
You can put the root on top, the fifth on top, or the third on top and the chord is still a root position triad.
If you put the 3rd or the 5th in the bass or as the lowest voice, then you have an inversion.
Hope this makes sense!
Holler with any more questions.
Yes!
(Sorry for the long delay! I had a lovely winter family vacation nestled in those missing days!)
If the lowest note is the root, the top note can be either the 1, 3, or 5 of the triad and the inversion will still be root position.
You can mix and match and move the upper voices all you want (as long as they’re only the 1, 3, and 5) and so long as your lowest note is still the root, it will still be a root position triad.
For inversions, it’s the same idea.
If the lowest note is the 3rd of the chord, it’s a first inversion triad.
You can mix and match and move the 1, 3, and 5 above the third of the chord to get different melodies on top of the first inversion triad, but so long as the bass note is the third of the chord, it’s still a 1st inversion triad.
You really condensed or re-constructed a few things that I was struggling with, in other sources, in a way that clicked for me.
Well done!
