I'm trying to teach my girlfriends bass that way i can get a little more guitar playing of my own in the mean time but
I'm running into the problem of explaining bass chords i have been able to find out what they look like got a nifty little
chart for that and from what ive learned from net post and youtube you usually play them one note after another instead
of strumming cause they turn out to muddy in most cases. So the problem that needs a solution is on the chart each chord has
more then 4 notes sometimes 6 so playing in 4/4 time id start with the root note and just pick 3 others to hit for each beat to equal
4 quarter notes?

i know somebodies gotta play bass too out there what do you think or know? 

Hello again civic...i'd be curious to see the chart you're talking about. Is there a way to post a link or such? I might be able to help but you're right, there are bass players around here...

GuitarZen

ill scan it asap

I know that you _can_ play chords on a bass, but I rarely play more than one note at a time with a bass, sometimes 2, but that's still rare. Because they sound muddy, as you say.

Scales are more important for bass.

Bobo still around ? he plays bass

this is some of the chords. tell me if this doesn't work
I'm not good at posting this kinda stuff
file:///C:/Documents and Settings/John/Desktop/James/Bass Chords.jpg

Civ,

That wont work, thats simply the location of the file on your computor.

We need the link to the web site where you found the info.

Go to the site, find the part that contains the info, move your mouse pointer into the address bar up top and right click once, select "copy" in the pull down window.  Go back to chordbook and start a reply to this msg.  Place the cursor inside the msg box, right click once and select "paste" from the pull down window. The link should appear.  Then you can explain what it is, or what ever,  but leave the link on a line by itself.
If "paste" does not appear in the pull down window, mouse up to the tool bar and click on "edit", "paste" should be there.

Jim

yeah i kinda figured that out after the fact. I'm going to make a photobucket account as we speak to rectify this

ok here goes nothing im goin to try a direct link and to see if i can post it so it pops up on screen

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab14 … Chords.jpg

<a href="http://s858.photobucket.com/albums/ab142/civicstar98/?action=view&current=BassChords.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab142/civicstar98/BassChords.jpg" border="0" alt="bass chords"></a>

...those "chords" are actually the arpeggio notes of the chord(s).

...for instance, the C major "chord" shown (bass to treble, left to right) show the notes:

G on bass, then C, then E, then G, and last C, which are the scale notes: 5, R, 3, 5, R

...and, as shown, cannot be simultaneously played, so they are NOT really illustrating a chord.

...they're arpeggiated chords...that is, chord notes played in a sequence rather than simultaneously.

...sequence = arpeggio; simultaneous = chord.

that is the part that getting me i understand where it says to play the notes on the bass. but if the guitar is
in 4/4 time and there are strumming the C major chord 4 times 1234 then the bass would hit the notes
C, E, G then what would be the forth note. i sure that is basic music theory but that i also lack.

and the arpeggios from the chord chart show 5 to 6 notes would i just decide which 4 i wanted the bass to
play starting with the root note C for example.

...yes, any of triad chord notes (C, E, G) can be played, which ONEs are up to the player; however, the most commonly "hit" notes are the ROOT and FIFTHS (C and G in key-of-C).

...a couple example "walking" bass runs in key-of-C would be:

"boogie beat" C, E, G, A, Bb...then same notes descending.

"bluesy beat" C, E, C, F, C, G...then same notes descending. Notice the repeated bass "C" note, called a "pedal"

Typically Bass is just one note....the root or 5th of whatever Chord is being played on guitar to act as a bass for the lead of the guitart and vocals.

Basically if you look at it from a classical stand point well baroque really  if you listen to any bach at all listen to the low parts its wahts call ed a continuo  and even tho the higher parts are playing melodies and full scales ans what not the "bass" part is like C C C C C C C C A A A A A A A A B B B B B B B G G G G G G G  and then it repeats....the simpler the bass line the more drive a song has....the bass part should sounds like a pulse ...at least thats my school of thought as I sometimes play bass myself

If the Guitar part is Am G F Em all 1 measure per chord than a very typical bassline would be single note A A A A G G G G F F F F E E F G (I usally walk back to the I chord on the last one) dont worry about the chord tones and all that unless your playing jazz..

xaviersky wrote:

If the Guitar part is Am G F Em all 1 measure per chord than a very typical bassline would be single note A A A A G G G G F F F F E E F G (I usally walk back to the I chord on the last one) dont worry about the chord tones and all that unless your playing jazz..

i like the walking part at the end i think you have a great way of looking at it and ill try
to incorporate that kinda stuff into my new material.
I've been trying to liven up the bass parts by incorporation of scales like in one song
i added in part of the diminished minor scale so instead of just hammering
out C# 8 times the B 8 times the bass plays. C# 4 times D# 2 times and E 2 times
then B 4 times then C# 2 times and D 2 times.