Five elements that generate great bass lines

1. Play the root of the chord

2. Play the root followed by the notes of the chord

3. Play the root followed by the notes of the scale

4. Use a pentatonic scale for each chord

5. Walking bass lines

What about guitar playing? well I,m sure this is gonna be very helpful

Understanding how a bass line functions is crucial if you want to transcribe the chords of a song.

The bass line will help you calculate the chord progression.

The chord progression is used to determine the key of the song.

Then you can extend the chords within the key and use the Major scale for your guitar solo.

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4. Use a pentatonic scale for each chord

If it is a minor type chord the chord name will look like this: -

Am7 or Bm9 or F#m7/11 etc

Then we will use a Minor Pentatonic scale.

The notes of A Minor Pentatonic (A C D E G) are contained in each

of the 3 keys that Am7 appears in (G Major, F Major & C Major)

That makes it safe to use in support for any minor 7.

If it is a major type chord the name will look like this: -

C, A7 or Bmaj9 or F#7/11 etc

(basically anything that is not a minor chord)

We will use a Major Pentatonic scale.

The notes of A Major Pentatonic (A B C# E F#) appear in each of

the keys that A appears in (A Major, D Major & E Major ).

That makes it safe to use in support for any major chord.

If your chord progression looked like this:

||Bm7 / / / | A7 / / / | G / / / | F# / / / ||

The pentatonics choices would be:

|| B min pent | A major pent | G major pent | F# major pent ||

Here's the classic "My Girl" bassline.

Great choice of G major Pentatonic for a G chord.

However

If the chord is a 7 type chord, there are 2 choices of pentatonic scale.

A bluesy or rock type feel can be created by using a Minor Pentatonic

example: for A7 use A Minor Pentatonic, for C7 use C Minor Pentatonic

you could also use the Major Pentataonic as well.

for A7 you could use:

* A Major Pentatonic

* A Minor Pentatonic

* A Major and A Minor Pentatonic

Chord Progression of the Month #4 "Purple Rain" by Prince

CHORD PROGRESSION OF THE MONTH

This month it's Huey Lewis and The News "The Power of Love"

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