Walking Basslines, How to build them and how to experiment with them
Chromatics and other diatonic notes can be added to add interest but the principle idea is to outline the intervallic relationship of each chord leading to the next in the progression.
For this entire lesson, we will be looking at and using the following Chord Progression to base all of our exercises on. The Chord Progression is A7, Dmaj7, Gmaj7 and Cmaj or Cmaj7.
I’ve put two options for the last chord in the progression because the Chord Progression featured in the notation and tab below is a straight C major chord but you could change this to Cmaj7 if you wished.
I understand that some of you might not be comfortable with the language I’ve used and these lessons are meant to help musicians/bass players from beginner to advanced skill level. So I will outline the notes of these chords and where they can be found on the neck before we begin with the proper exercises.
Dominant 7 Chords
A7 or A dominant 7 uses the notes A C# E G and creates a dominant sound by the use of major and minor intervals. The clash between the major third (from our root - A) C# and minor seventh G is which we call it a dominant 7 chord. This interval C# to G is also known as a tri-tone again adding to the signature sound of these types of chords.
Chord Spelling – 1, 3, 5, b7
Numbers without b signs means they are major and numbers with b signs means they are minor (flattened/flat).
Major 7 Chords
Dmaj7, G maj7 and Cmaj7 (if you choose to alter it) have the same chord spelling but different notes. The chord spelling for major 7 chords is 1, 3, 5, 7. As you can see the seventh is no longer a minor interval (flat/flattened, as it doesn’t use the b sign).
Dmaj7 uses the notes D, F#, A, C#
Gmaj7 uses the notes G, B, D, F#
Cmaj7 uses the notes C, E, G, B
All of these create a signature sound due to their interval make-up. It is true that they will sound different to each other due to the notes but the overall sound and feeling behind the chords follow a similar pattern.
Once again numbers without b signs means they are major and numbers with b signs means they are minor (flattened/flat).