Chord Construction on the Bass

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Once the construction of the major scale is thoroughly understood, building chords is easy. But, the question might come up, What is point of a bass player learning to play chords? There are several reasons to understand how chords are constructed and how the relate to one another even if the bass player has no intention of ever playing a chord on the bass. The bass player's role in an ensemble (band) could be described as bridging the gap between time feel and harmonic content of the music. In other words, the bass player should enhance the groove as well as thicken up the sound of the band. But, a bass guitar is not a bass drum. The bass plays notes that carry the same function as the note of the other instruments. Understanding how chords work will help the bass player to build lines that enhance the chord function making the band sound better and more focused as a whole.

A major chord is simply the 1st, 3rd, 5th and occasionally the 7th notes of the major scale played together. Let’s look at the C major scale. Following the whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step pattern, The C major scale is made up of the notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B. Numbering the notes, C is the1st., D 2nd., E 3rd., F 4th., G 5th., A 6th., B 7th.. (There’s no need to count C twice.) Following the 1st, 3rd and 5th note arrangement for chord construction, C, E and G played together make up the C major chord. All major chords are constructed this way.

As with scales, when the root note (the first) carries a sharp (#) or flat (b), the chord type (major) is unaffected. The term major refers to the 1, 3, 5 construction from a major scale, not whether the root note is sharp or flat.

Minor Chords

Now, we’ll look at minor chords. Like major chords, minor chords are constructed using the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and sometimes the 7th. out of the major scale; however, in this case the third is flatted. For practical purposes, the b3rd. is the definition of minor. Any chord, scale, arpeggio or anything else with the third flatted is minor. It is important not to confuse minor (b3) with flatting an entire scale or chord. We only flat the third. (Note: when using the 7th. in a minor chord, it is usually also flatted. But, it’s the flat third that defines it as minor so it is not absolutely necessary to flat the 7th. also.) Look at the examples. To the left is the C major chord. C minor is to the right. The only difference is that the E (the third) is flatted in the minor chord.

	(Double Flats and Intervals - In some instances, a note can also begin as a flat and need to be flatted again. In this instance, just flat the note twice. A note with two flats is simply called a “double flat.” There are also such things as double sharps. Keep in mind that sounds are created by moving notes around relative to one another. It doesn't matter what their names are. A major 3rd. is always two whole steps. And, a minor 3rd. is always one whole step and one half step. All major keys are made up of different notes but, all the notes are the same distances apart. In other words, the distance from the root to the 2nd. or any note in the major scale is always the same regardless of the key. These distances are called “intervals.”)

Seventh Chords

As it’s name implies, a 7th. chord is a chord with the seventh degree of the scale included in it. There are different types of 7th. chords. These are Major 7th., minor 7th., and Dominant 7th.. The term “7th.” is often assumed to mean “dominant 7th.” This may be true but the 7th. is frequently added to major and minor chords as well, giving us the other types of seventh chords.

As discussed earlier, there are three basic sounds in music: major, minor and dominant. The 7th. refers to the seventh note of the major scale. When this note is added to a major or a minor chord, it becomes a 7th. chord. One becomes the major 7th. the other, the minor 7th. (though, if minor, we usually flat the 7th..) So far, we’ve constructed major and minor chords using 1, 3 and 5 from the major scale and looked at the possibility of adding the 7th. When we add the seventh, we can create all three basic musical sounds rather than just major and minor.

The three sounds can be constructed using formulas. The formula for a major chord is 1, 3, 5. The formula for a minor chord is 1,b3, 5. Now, lets add three more. First, the major 7th. chord formula is 1, 3, 5, 7. The minor 7th. chord formula is 1, b3, 5, b7. And, the Dominant 7th. formula is 1, 3, 5, b7.

Pictured below are basic chord forms most useful for the bass. The strings are represented as vertical lines (left to right, they are 4th. to 1st.) and the frets are shown as horizontal lines. These chords forms may be played anywhere on the fingerboard but, on the bass, playing chords in the upper register will allow you to hear the chord tones more clearly. The 7th. shapes omit the 5th. simply because it is inconvenient to include it in the fingering. Learning where chord tone are located on the fingerboard will help you to quickly build effective bass lines.

	Look closely at each of these chord forms and compare them to their chord construction formulas. Once their construction is understood, the logic of the fingerboard can be recognized (assuming standard tuning). These chord forms may be played anywhere on the fingerboard. The name of the chord changes (A, B, C, etc.), but the chord type does not. The major chord shape remains major everywhere on the neck and the same is true for all other chord types.

Color Tones

As we have seen, each of the three basic chord types has a unique construction; however, all three have certain notes in common. They all share the same interval between 1 and 5. It is 3 and 7 that determine the type of chord. Flatting the 3rd., the chord becomes minor (usually b7 also). Flatting the 7th., but not the 3rd., makes the chord dominant. Finally, if we leave the 3rd. and 7th. natural, the chord remains major. Since the 3rd. and 7th. determine the chord type, these notes are called “color tones.” To aid in remembering chord construction, it’s useful to remember what’s unique about each chord. Regardless of how many notes the chord has, these color tones remain the same. It will be helpful to memorize them. Chords and scales both use these color tones to determine their type.