Choosing the Correct Notes for Bass under Chord Progressions

[YoungCrocket]

Hi everyone, I'm somewhat new to producing and I have a question pertaining to chord progressions and bass. I like to make chill-step, so I often utilize LFO bass under piano and cello chord progressions. I used to just stick to chords in root position and have the bass-line mirror the root notes of each chord throughout the progression. Recently, I've been playing around with inversions. I've read some theory on doubling bass under chord progressions that instructs me to always double the root when in root position, double the third or root in first inversions, and double the fifth in second inversions. The problem is, whenever I use a fifth or third in my bass-line it usually sounds very dissonant. I am going to keep trying until I figure it out but is it even ok to use the root note of a chord for a bass-line when the chord is in it's second inversion? Sorry for the long ambiguous post, I guess I'm just looking for some guidance here. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[rhythmgj]

The simple answer is yes. Playing the other degrees would be to reinforce the chord _in a moving, note-to-note bass pattern_ (not as double-stops or bass chords). So if you are going to play one-note (per chord) bass parts, the most obvious thing to do would be to play the roots. A very simple and well-used bass concept would be root>5th for each chord. Adding more tones in-between give more motion and busy-ness to the groove, but it would never be technically "wrong" to play the root.

 

[YoungCrocket]

That's kind of what I figured. I think I get caught up in the theory too much sometimes. Thanks for the response.

 

[scrapheaper]

Hi everyone, I'm somewhat new to producing and I have a question pertaining to chord progressions and bass. I like to make chill-step, so I often utilize LFO bass under piano and cello chord progressions. I used to just stick to chords in root position and have the bass-line mirror the root notes of each chord throughout the progression. Recently, I've been playing around with inversions. I've read some theory on doubling bass under chord progressions that instructs me to always double the root when in root position, double the third or root in first inversions, and double the fifth in second inversions. The problem is, whenever I use a fifth or third in my bass-line it usually sounds very dissonant. I am going to keep trying until I figure it out but is it even ok to use the root note of a chord for a bass-line when the chord is in it's second inversion? Sorry for the long ambiguous post, I guess I'm just looking for some guidance here. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

It shouldn't sound dissonant doubling the thirds or fifth. If you play C and only C under an A minor chord (the third) it sounds bad?

 

[MarcDHall]

It depends which octave the chords are in. If they chords are too close to the bass it more likely to sound dissonant.

Swapping a first for a third is a common trick for extending a chord sequence. Say you have a 4 chord sequence, you double it to 8 chords, the in the second have change one of the bass notes (often the third one in) from a first to a third or fifth. It makes the second half sound different without it really being that different.

But actually whether or not something sounds dissonant is irrelevant. What matters is how if fits with everything else in context as the music progresses. Like if the bass is moving from one not to another via a fifth or something.