You can play two sequential chromatic notes in a row that aren't in the harmonic minor scale.
But regardless of the tonality, in my opinion it would be weird not to end the run on a scale note.
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Why did nobody tell me this sooner? It would have spared me a lot of heartache
- Thread starter themickster
- Start date
But regardless of the tonality, in my opinion it would be weird not to end the run on a scale note.
OK, for the theory enthusiasts among us, I will put for the following situation:
Playing fretless, I have a full step transition I want to make, but I don't what to do it in two half steps - the rhythm calls for 3 steps. In this situation, I use....third steps.
So, From A to B is not A, A sharp, B, it's A, A kinda sharp, B kinda flat, B.
I call it a good/somewhat creative way of making good music. What say you?
Playing fretless, I have a full step transition I want to make, but I don't what to do it in two half steps - the rhythm calls for 3 steps. In this situation, I use....third steps.
So, From A to B is not A, A sharp, B, it's A, A kinda sharp, B kinda flat, B.
I call it a good/somewhat creative way of making good music. What say you?
Be careful. There are often exceptions to rules! Old VW's come to mind.
Oof. That's some mighty arrogance right there. Walking the bass is a life time endeavor.
Absolutely - I do exactly that here...
Submission - Feel Like Makin' Love
Score extract in post #2, and corresponding sound clip in post #5
You should work and reinforce the basics over your whole playing career. Also there is no "best" line, hence why we should always be striving for progress and reinvention, increasing our ability to do different things when the musical moment calls for it.
But, if you are talking about the augmented 2nd between 6th and 7th degrees of the harmonic minor scale, the in-between notes are also diatonic in the minor key. So whist it might be a chromatic sequence insofar as it is a series of semitones, it is at the same time all diatonic. In fact, in the minor key there are only 2 chromatics - the Major 3rd and Augmented 4th/Diminished 5th.
Cool. I'll try it.
That's 1 7 1 2 4 2 1 7# then walk over the 7 two bars, right?
The progression is over B and A a la "Killer Joe"?
If so, that would work, though FYI, the #7 wouldn't be a chromatic passing tone unless you include it over the A chord.
Besides, note choice is just the starter for 10. Far more influential on the outcome is the articulation, and that is where regular and continual practice, both in expanding the repertoire and maintaining the hands in playing condition, is essential. It is all well and good knowing what to do but you also have to remain capable of doing it. Athletes don't win this year's race by watching last year's race on the telly!
That's interesting. Something I told my daughter when she was taking guitar lessons was "It's hard the first hundred times you play it."
The clear implication being that it often takes more than 100 tries to get it right.
Fortunately that's not true of everything, but I find that it's true more often than I would like. I need to keep reminding myself to go through more repetitions on passages that challenge me. It's easy to give up too soon.
I’ll put it this way- if you were in E major and asked for a “chromatic approach note leading up to A,” nobody is going to assume they’re asking for a G-natural
Don't get locked into thinking about chromaticism as just scalar. Hearing it within the harmonic movement of an ensemble is important. What sounds cool practicing at home may sound bad against what others are playing in a band.
Voicing two note inversions on your bass playing only the 3rds and 7ths of Dom 7th chords through the cycle of 4ths is a good way to start hearing how chromaticism works in a harmonic context. Do it alternating between the 3rd and the 7th being in the bottom. So starting on C7 the two notes you'd play together would be E (3rd) and Bb (7th). Moving up the cycle to F7 with the 7th now on the bottom the notes are Eb and A. Repeating this pattern through the cycle you hear descending chromatic movement using only notes contained within the chords of the progression.
Now do the same thing through the cycle but hit the root of the chord for a beat then the play the 3rd and 7th together for a beat. Adding the root gives the context of the chord progression. Compare that sound to playing root position dom7 arpeggios through the cycle. Now combine any two or three of the four dom7 chord tones (1-III-V-VII) to see what other kinds of chromatic movement you can find. Try progressions other than just the cycle of 4ths like a 12 bar blues. Try it with the chords of an easy jazz standard. Lots to explore.
Chromaticism is largely about clear intent and when moving outside the diatonic about salesmanship. Hearing the harmonic implications of linear chromaticism is necessary to consistently pulling it off.
Voicing two note inversions on your bass playing only the 3rds and 7ths of Dom 7th chords through the cycle of 4ths is a good way to start hearing how chromaticism works in a harmonic context. Do it alternating between the 3rd and the 7th being in the bottom. So starting on C7 the two notes you'd play together would be E (3rd) and Bb (7th). Moving up the cycle to F7 with the 7th now on the bottom the notes are Eb and A. Repeating this pattern through the cycle you hear descending chromatic movement using only notes contained within the chords of the progression.
Now do the same thing through the cycle but hit the root of the chord for a beat then the play the 3rd and 7th together for a beat. Adding the root gives the context of the chord progression. Compare that sound to playing root position dom7 arpeggios through the cycle. Now combine any two or three of the four dom7 chord tones (1-III-V-VII) to see what other kinds of chromatic movement you can find. Try progressions other than just the cycle of 4ths like a 12 bar blues. Try it with the chords of an easy jazz standard. Lots to explore.
Chromaticism is largely about clear intent and when moving outside the diatonic about salesmanship. Hearing the harmonic implications of linear chromaticism is necessary to consistently pulling it off.
When I first began playing bass, my father paid for me to have 1:1 music lessons weekly with a jazz guitarist, Dave Testolin.
Once Dave had got me to move from playing scales to finding in-scale notes in different places, and how to intuit what chords belong in any given key, plus the defining notes in an arpeggio of any chord, we made an easy transition (pun intended) to what he called passing tones.
As I recall it (my words; not Dave's), passing tones are in-key notes that connect or bridge between one chord and another. Knowledge of the notes in the current chord and of the notes in the next chord, together with the convenience of moving finger locations on the neck, make it easy to connect two chords in fluid transition.
A bassist for now 39 years, I remain grateful to my late father and to Dave that I learned that 38.5 years ago. themickster: welcome to the club.
Once Dave had got me to move from playing scales to finding in-scale notes in different places, and how to intuit what chords belong in any given key, plus the defining notes in an arpeggio of any chord, we made an easy transition (pun intended) to what he called passing tones.
As I recall it (my words; not Dave's), passing tones are in-key notes that connect or bridge between one chord and another. Knowledge of the notes in the current chord and of the notes in the next chord, together with the convenience of moving finger locations on the neck, make it easy to connect two chords in fluid transition.
A bassist for now 39 years, I remain grateful to my late father and to Dave that I learned that 38.5 years ago. themickster: welcome to the club.
It'd also be the first time in my 50 plus years of playing that anyone brought up the term.
Yeah, pretty much one of those things you’re only gonna see freshman year in music school; it’s also one of those things that if you need it explained, then it just might now work out for you
I couldn't agree more. The first time I did that exercise was rather mind blowing.