Adding Chords to Your Bass Grooves - Bass Riff of The Week #13 (L#137)
Using 10th style chords within my grooves and bass lines is something I've been playing around with lately and it's been great fun! So, I wanted to share it with you and get you using them within your bass lines too.
Before we delve into this weeks riff, I also wanted to share my composition process with you as I get a constant flow of emails asking how I come up with a new riff every week... and, how I'm going to keep coming up with new and original ones every week for the next year (I've vowed to create 52 Bass Riff Of The Week episodes over the next year).
The truth is, I don't just sit and wait for inspiration, that would take too much time... instead, I give myself rules, or at least a set of guide lines. By doing this it gives me the ability to get laser focused on a few different elements and makes the composition process a lot easier.
For instance, a simple set of rules for writing a song could be;
- It must only contain 3 chords.
- The melody line has to be very rhythmical.
- The melody line should include large interval jumps.
By doing this, it would give the writer something to focus on and narrow down the possible routes they could take. This is a common compositional technique used by many song writers.
My guide lines for this riff were;
- The riff cannot start on the root of the chord or main key centre.
- The riff must contain 10ths.
- The riff must be over a funk type groove.
As always, see you in the shed...
Scott :)
PS. You can download the play-along track, TAB & notation directly under the video. If you're an SBL Academy member you can also download the full video file so you can watch these lessons offline plus the audio only version too. Not an Academy member yet... check it out here!
