working on a bass line over a minor blues Am7-D9-E9 (think stormy monday but a lot less cool). I’ve come up with a line where I’m hitting that minor triad with the blues box (just realized thats the minor pentatonic…wheres the face palm button) and and then slipped and missed it and I can’t say it took away from the line as it was back into the standard blues box. Over the 9s I’m playing more of an arpeggio and i’m not unhappy with it but over the Am7 I don’t know if adding that flat 3rd is helping me out or just adding a note for the sake of adding the note. So when playing over a minor blues do you feel the need to hit that minor 3rd?
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Guess no one but me plays over minor chords…LOL
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I play over minor chords all the time, but don’t have an answer to your question. Sorry
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its all good, I was talking last night to a friend from back home and he’s been playing bass for 45yrs his response was “I think you might be reading too much into it establish the groove and maintain the groove”. The 1-5-7-8 doesn’t define major or minor and its a great utility tool, adding the major 3rd over a major chord gives it that walk I was just curious if some of the more experienced bass players took the same approach to playing over minors by slipping in that flat 3rd. My friend suggested adding it in on occasion to and it might keep the line from sounding so generic but only if it doesn’t upset the groove. I’ll work it out, like he said I’m probably reading too much into it.
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I missed this when you originally posted it.
What did you finally decide to do?
We can always tag Josh and Gio for the voice of experience.
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I went with my friends advice and threw it in on occasion to remind peoples ears that it was a minor blues…I also pushed the rhythm guitar more into the background to help the line establish the groove. This was the result…
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