94 Part II: The Bass-ics of Playing
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Chapter 5: Understanding Major and Minor Structures
Seventh chords: Filling out the triad
The 7th chord has one more note than the triad: You guessed it, the 7. The sound of the 7th chord is a little more complex than the sound of a triad, though.
Contemporary music makes extensive use of the 7, and you frequently play the 7th chord in your accompaniments. As with triads, the 7th chord is based on a scale (usually the major or minor scale). You find the notes of any 7th chord by playing the scale and skipping every other note: You play the root, you skip the 2nd note, you play the 3rd note, you skip the 4th note, you play the 5th note, you skip the 6th note, and you play the 7th note. The notes in any chord are called chord tones.
The four most commonly used 7th chords are the major, minor, dominant, and half-diminished chords. Table 5-1 gives you the structures of these four main 7th chords.
In contemporary popular music, the term dominant refers to the tonality of the chord and not just to the function of that chord. A dominant chord is simply a major triad and a flatted 7.
Table 5-1 The Main 7th Chord Structures
Chord Name Chord Tones
Major Root - 3 - 5 - 7
Dominant Root - 3 - 5 - %7
Minor Root - %3 - 5 - %7
Half-Diminished Root - %3 - %5 - %7
As Table 5-1 shows, the root, 3, and 5 follow either the basic major or basic minor structure. The flatted 7 is what differentiates the dominant chord from the major chord. The flatted 5 is what differentiates the half-diminished chord from the minor chord. Figure 5-9 shows the chords with their related scales.
Listen to Track 18 to hear what each chord with its appropriate scale sounds like. The notes of each chord overlap with the notes of the proper scale, as you see in Figure 5-9.
The word scale is interchangeable with the word mode; they both mean exactly the same thing.
96 Part II: The Bass-ics of Playing
Figure 5-9:
Scales of the major, minor, dominant, and half- diminished
chords.
Major
Mode
Chord Dominant
Mode Chord
Minor
Mode
Chord Chord Mode
3 6
R 4 7
2 5 R
Ionian
3 R
7
5 R
Major 7
3 6
R 4 ı7
2 5 R
Mixolydian
3
R ı7
5 R
Dominant 7
R 4 ı7
2 5 R
ı3
ı3 ı6
Aeolian
R ı7
5 R
Minor 7
ı5 R 4 ı7 ı2
R ı3ı6
Locrian
R ı7
ı5
R ı3 Half-Diminished
Half-Diminished
Chord tones: Root (R), 3, 5, 7 Scale tones: Root (R), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
TRACK 18, 0:00 TRACK 18, 0:12 TRACK 18, 0:24 TRACK 18, 0:35
Getting your kicks with boogie licks
So many notes, so little time. What do all these 7th chords and scales (modes) mean to you? A lot! In this section, I show you a boogie bass line that’s a great demonstration of how you can combine the chords and scales to create memorable sounds. This little ditty ought to be very familiar to you.
Just listen to a tune like “In the Mood” and you hear it right away.
The bass plays the 7th chord, but in addition to the basic chord, you add one note, the 6th of the scale. The bass line is root-3-5-6-7-6-5-3 in a dominant forma- tion. (Look for the “Dominant” chord/mode combination in Figure 5-9.) You see? Just one little added note from the mode and your plain-old 7th chord is transformed into one of the most recognized bass lines on the planet.
Figure 5-10 gives you the structure of the bass line. You can get this boogie sound anywhere on your fingerboard without changing the structure (or the fingering).
Get your boogie boots on for Track 19; you get to work out with a real honest- to-goodness boogie song. Start the pattern on the root that corresponds to the chart in Figure 5-10. First listen closely to Track 19, and, when you’re ready, simply play along with the recording. Eventually, you’ll be ready to pan the bass out of the mix and be the soul provider . . . of the bass line that is.
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Chapter 5: Understanding Major and Minor Structures
Figure 5-10:
Boogie bass line pattern and boogie chart.
TRACK 50
TRACK 19
1 1
2 2
4
G7
G7
C7 G7
D7 G7
3 2 5 2 3 2 5 2 3 2 5 2 3 2 5 2
3 2 5 2 3 2 5 2
3 2 5 2 3 2 5 2
5 4 7 4 5 4 7 4
3 2 5 2 3 2 5 2
3 2 5 2 3 2 5 2 3 2 5 2 3 2 5 2
3 2 5 2 3 2 5 2
3 2 5 2 3 2 5 2
5 4 7 4 5 4 7 4
3 2 5 2 3 2 5 2
Spicing Up Your Sound: The Seven Main Modes (Scales)
Seven more scales?! Don’t panic. Four of them are from the previous section — the major, dominant, minor, and half-diminished scales — so playing three
98 Part II: The Bass-ics of Playing
more is a piece of apple pie with ice cream. These new scales are closely related to the previous ones, and with all these scales at your fingertips, you get more choices in terms of flavor, or color (it’s like different shades of blue, for example). Think of starting with the same basic cooking recipe but adding different flavors (different sounds) to change it slightly.
In almost every song, one mode (scale) predominates. Mode is simply a fancy word for scale. When you play with other musicians, the first song may be primarily dominant, the next minor, and the next major. Know the mode you’re in, and you’re well on your way to providing great bass lines for any song.
Figure 5-11 shows the seven main modes and how they relate to the four main chords (major, minor, dominant, and half-diminished).
On Track 20 you can hear all seven main scales in Figure 5-11 and the chord they relate to. Notice how the major and the minor chord each have more than one possible matching scale.
You can see how the modes are related when you compare them to either the major or minor scale. Take a look at Table 5-2 to see how to adjust the major or minor scale to create each of the modes on the fingerboard.
Table 5-2 The Mode Families
Mode Relation to Major or Minor Scale
Ionian (major) Major scale
Lydian Major scale with sharp 4th
Mixolydian (dominant) Major scale with flat 7th
Aeolian (natural minor) Minor scale
Dorian Minor scale with regular 6th
Phrygian Minor scale with flat 2nd
Locrian (half-diminished) Minor scale with flat 2nd and flat 5th
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Chapter 5: Understanding Major and Minor Structures
Figure 5-11:
The scale/
chord com- binations.
Mode Chord
Major 7
4 4
3 2
1
Major
Lydian
3 4 3 2
1 1
4 4 Ionian
1 2
1 2
3 4 4 4
? c œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ# œ œ œ œ
2 4 5 2 3 5
3 5 3 5 2 4 5 2 4 5
Ionian Lydian
? œ œ œ œ œ Œ
4 5 2 5 3
Major 7
Dominant
Chord
Dominant 7
4 1
2 2
4
Mode
Mixolydian
4 2
1 1
4 2 2
4
? œ œ œ œ œ œ œb œ
2 3 5
2 3 5
3 5
Mixolydian
? œ œ œ œb œ Œ
3 5
2 5
3
Dominant 7
1 = index finger 2 = middle finger 3 = ring finger 4 = pinkie TRACK 20, 0:00
TRACK 20, 0:25 TRACK 20, 0:33
TRACK 20, 0:09 TRACK 20, 0:16
100 Part II: The Bass-ics of Playing
Figure 5-11:
(continued)
Minor
Aeolian
1 1
3 4 4
3 1
3
Dorian
Mode
3 4
2 1
1
4 1
3
Phrygian
3 3
2 1 1
4 4 1
Minor 7
Chord
4 3 1
3 1
? œ œb œ œb œ Œ
3 5
3 6 5
Minor 7
? œ œ œb œ œ œb œb œ
3 5 6 3 5 3 5 6
œ œ œb œ œ œ œb œ
2 3 5 3 5 6 3 5
œ œb œb œ œ œb œb œ
3 5 6 3 5 3 4 6
Aeolian Dorian Phrygian
Half-Diminished
Locrian
Mode
1
4 1 2
4 4 2 1
Half-Diminished
Chord
4 3 2
1 1
? œ œb œb œ œb œb œb œ
3 5
3 4 6
3 4 6
Locrian
? œ œb œb œb œ
3 5
3 6 4
Half-Diminished
1 = index finger 2 = middle finger 3 = ring finger 4 = pinkie TRACK 20, 0:41
TRACK 20, 1:13 TRACK 20, 1:21
TRACK 20, 0:50 TRACK 20, 0:58 TRACK 20, 1:06