AlexanderDaeya
Meh. I love theory, or at least I love it in theory razz I really don't understand much of it, as much as I hate to say that, I am not musically inclined >.< I am trying to change that, but I am failing so far at that -.- I would love to learn it... Sucks that I am looked down on -.- I am tired of being called a shitty bassist by someone in my class that has played less then a quarter of the time I have and believes he's the s**t because he is in a tribute band... that uses him as a metronome. Though it does give me a reason to drive myself to play better. (Three plucking busted-blister-now-calloused fingers and proud of it.)
Right might as well pop a question after that rant: Chords. I don't understand them -.- Not in any way shape or form. About the only thing I do understand of them is the root note (The note I am forced to play in Praise Band... no bass music -.-) What do Arpeggios have to do with them, whats the difference between Minors, majors, suspects, 5's etc. lol. I ask alot -.-
Right might as well pop a question after that rant: Chords. I don't understand them -.- Not in any way shape or form. About the only thing I do understand of them is the root note (The note I am forced to play in Praise Band... no bass music -.-) What do Arpeggios have to do with them, whats the difference between Minors, majors, suspects, 5's etc. lol. I ask alot -.-
Well, you'll run into musicians like that all throughout your life, because they hold an image of themselves that is skewed, giving them a false sense of greatness. Just quietly exceed his abilities, not saying anything, just playing better than he gives you credit for.
As for chords, it's pretty simple with a bit of knowledge under your belt:
Chords usually consist of three different notes: The first(root) note of a scale, the third, and the fifth. There are 8 notes in a scale, and 12 in an octave, which is the full spectrum of notes from one until it repeats. These are because of spaces in between notes, called sharps or flats, depending on if you are looking at the note above or below it. All notes have a sharp and a flat with the exception of B sharp/C flat and E sharp/F flat. The difference between a note and it's sharp/flat is known as a half step(or a semitone), and the difference between most natural notes (except where noted above) is a whole step. Now, the spacings between the notes in a major scale are as follows:
1-2:whole step
2-3:whole step
3-4:half step
4-5:whole step
5-6:whole step
6-7:whole step
7-8:half step.
The 8th note in the scale is the same as the first, just one octave higher.
With that covered, I can explain chords:
As I already said, they generally consist of 3 tones, and with a major chord it's the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes. Of course, the 8th is also played, but as I said, it's the same note as the first. So, when doing bass chords, as well as most other chords, the pattern to observe is this:Root, 5th, 8th, 3rd.
This means that you play the root on your E string, the 5th note on your A, the octave on D, and the 3rd note above the octave on your G. Here's how an A major chord would look on bass:
G-6
D-7
A-7
E-5
Here, A is the root and octave, E is the 5th, and C sharp is the 3rd. Now, there is a reason why I referred to the note as C sharp instead of D flat, but I (or someone else) will explain that in a later post, because I don't have any more time right now.
I hope this intro into music helped, because without this knowledge, one cannot function as a musician.
