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Bass often doesn't play the chord tones #50998 12/20/09 07:40 PM Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
Joined: Jun 2003 Posts: 716 Scotland alan S. OP Journeyman
OP alan S. Journeyman Joined: Jun 2003 Posts: 716 Scotland	Why is it that when you have a chord such as 13b9 or 13b9#11, the bass line in many of the modern jazz styles is playing only the b7th at best and often only a bland major scale pattern? Surely that can't be right. I don't know any modern bass player who'd be accompanying in this way over a chord like that. Even the bebop styles manage some chromatic movement so you'd expect even more 'harmonic awareness' from the bass in later 60's or 70's styles not less. I hadn't noticed before because the piano comping is usually outlining the chord but what if youre playing with just bass and drums? I'm having to put all sorts of chords in there to get the bass to do what it should in this situation. So.. better bass playing over extended dominants please!! Regards Alan Last edited by alan S.; 12/20/09 07:41 PM.

Re: Bass often doesn't play the chord tones alan S. #50999 12/21/09 07:38 PM Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
Joined: May 2000 Posts: 38,502 Chesapeake, Virginia USA M Mac Veteran
Mac Veteran M Joined: May 2000 Posts: 38,502 Chesapeake, Virginia USA	RealBass or MIDI bass, Alan? And it would be a great help if you could name some styles that do that... --Mac PGmusic FAQs, Tutorials and Updates! click here You must be Audiominds. www.audiominds.com

Re: Bass often doesn't play the chord tones Mac #51000 12/23/09 06:43 PM Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
Joined: Jun 2003 Posts: 716 Scotland alan S. OP Journeyman
OP alan S. Journeyman Joined: Jun 2003 Posts: 716 Scotland	Mac Tried all 96 of them in the modern folder, and apart from Freejazz1, none of them recognized the b9th ...and only a few of the earlier bop styles showed anything other than major, mixolydian or root and 5th movement. Maybe thats the way they think it should be but it doesnt sound good when you're playing modally over a chord like that over two measures or more without the piano. Of course there are tricks you can pull, but you need to have your thinking cap on all the time to get round it. By the time I'm through with the workarounds the notion has worn off, hehe!

Re: Bass often doesn't play the chord tones alan S. #51001 12/25/09 10:09 AM Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
Joined: May 2005 Posts: 2,610 Sterling, Va raymb1 Veteran
raymb1 Veteran Joined: May 2005 Posts: 2,610 Sterling, Va	Maybe it's as simple as checking "jazzing up the chords" under edit. My Real Bass does play b9s and b5s. I use the "evans trio" for many songs. Later, Ray Asus Q500A i7 Win 10 64 bit 8GB ram 750 HD 15.5" touch screen, BIAB 2017, Casio PX 5s, Xw P1, Center Point Stereo SS V3 and EWI 4000s.

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