NOOB JOSH: Hi.
SIMON: And what are you
gonna be doing here today?
NOOB JOSH: Bass chords, Simon.
SIMON: Here we go.
[gross muddy chords]
SIMON: That was terrible.
[Josh cries pitifully
SIMON: Ugh, dreadful.
Bass chords can be awesome
but as Noob Josh just
learned they can also
be a huge muddy mess.
But with the two easy chord shapes
I'm about to show you,
you can easily avoid the mud,
play along with tons of music,
and express yourself by
coming up with chord sequences
for bass lines, songwriting and maybe
filling in if you fire your guitar player.
[simon loves it]
[BassBuzz theme]
Rock and pop music are mostly
made out of these three note chords
we call triads,
which can be problematic on bass.
If you play them in the wrong register,
they sound like mud.
And if you're a beginner the
fingering can be tough too.
[sucky bass chords
SIMON: Horrendous.
[Noob Josh is sad]
That's not to say triads
can't sound awesome on bass
but there's an easier way to get started.
If you take a triad, you can convert it
into a much more usable bass chord.
Here's the theory.
[screaming]
If you're starting from
zero with scale knowledge,
you should check out my
recent bass scales video.
But a scale is just a
specific bunch of notes.
Like this [playing bass]
that's called a major scale
or like this [playing bass]
that's called a minor scale.
And a chord is just a
combination of those notes
played at the same time.
Like this, [playing bass]
or this, [playing bass]
or this, [playing bass]
or this. [playing bass]
Triad chords, the most
common chords you hear,
are made out of three
notes from the scale.
Specifically the root third and fifth.
Or the first third and fifth
notes you play in the scale.
It's simple sounding harmony
but it can be tricky to
make it sound good on bass.
If I just play this triad chord as is,
it sounds like a muddy mess.
So there's two tricks I can use
to turn this into a usable chord.
First I remove the fifth.
The fifth adds some thickness
but it doesn't really
add a lot of color to the chord.
So we don't need it for a lot
of our bass chord voicings.
So that leaves us with root and third.
Which still sounds muddy
cause those notes are so close together.
So I'm gonna pop the third up an octave,
up two strings and up two
frets from where it was,
and that gives me this
chord called a tenth.
And the reason it's
called a tenth is because
if I count through the scale,
one, two, three, four,
five six, seven, eight
and keep going into the next octave.
Nine, ten.
That's the note I'm going up to.
So it's just the third up an octave
is called the tenth.
And tenths give me instantly pretty chords
with no mud to worry about
anywhere on the bass.
I'll show you how to
play these in a second,
here's what they sound like in context.
[Steely Dan "Peg"]
[Earth Wind & Fire "Shining Star"]
[Headhunters "Watermelon Man"]
I'm gonna show you two chord shapes
called the major tenth
and the minor tenth.
You can move these around
anywhere on the neck.
For now let's just start them on an A
on the 5th fret of the E string.
Play that with your middle finger,
and then for the major tenth,
we're gonna grab C# on the G string
on the 6th fret with our pinky.
So you got middle on
the 5th fret of the E,
pinky on the 6th fret, the G.
Doesn't that sound lovely already?
And for the minor tenth,
just bring your pinky
note down a half step
to the 5th fret.
So both fingers are on the 5th fret
and it gives you the minor tenth,
which is a nice sad sounding chord.
And you can use a different
fingering if you want
but I recommend middle
pinky for everything
because it allows you
to move around the neck
without changing fingering
and it also leaves your index
free to rest on the A and D strings,
keeping them muted so you only get
the two notes you're looking for.
Real quick let's talk plucking.
There are lots of ways to
pluck and strum chords.
For this lesson I recommend you pluck
your low notes with your thumb,
and your high note with
whatever finger you want.
Index, middle or ring.
Pinky doesn't work so
well cause it's short
but you can do thumb index, thumb middle,
thumb ring, all good.
You can easily start making
music right outta the gate
with these shapes.
Here are a few simple
two chord songs you can
try these out on to start getting a feel.
Keep in mind the bass
players on these tracks
did NOT play chords but some tenths could
easily work in a live situation with
your band or your jam buddies.
[Buffalo Springfield
"For What It's Worth"]
This tune goes back and forth
between E major and A major chords
so all you need to do
is find an E and an A
on your A string and then plug
in your major tenth shape.
So lets use the open E for the E chords.
Which means that major tenth shape
will get tweaked a little
cause you don't have to fret the low note.
But the high note will be on the 1st fret
of the G string.
And then we'll find an A on the 5th fret
of the E string.
Plug in the major tenth shape
so the pinky goes on the 6th fret of the G
and that's our two chords.
Now lets keep this simple
and we'll just play whole
notes all the way through.
Here we go.
One, two, three, four.
E,
to A,
[Fleetwood Mac "Dreams"]
Dreams goes from F major to G major
so again all we need
to do is find F and G,
our root notes, on the E string.
And then plug in our major tenth shape.
So F is on the 1st fret of the E string.
Play our major tenth shape from there
and then find a G on the
3rd fret of the E string.
Play your major tenth shape there.
So we could just play whole
notes again to try this out
but we can make it more interesting
and play the rhythm of
the original bass line.
[playing bass]
On the bottom and hold the note on top.
[playing bass]
If this is too hard for you,
you can just play it as whole
notes again if you want.
Okay let's try this together.
One, two, three, four.
If you're digging this lesson
please click like and
subscribe to Bass Buzz
so I can become the
next American bass idol.
[not awkward at all]
[Alicia Keys "Fallin"]
Okay we get to use some
minor tenths on Fallin'.
This song goes from E minor to B minor
so what do we do?
Find our root notes on the E string.
First let's find an E on the
12th fret of the E string
just for fun and play
your minor tenth shape.
So pinky on the same fret,
12th fret of the G string.
And then our B minor, lets find a B,
7th fret of the E string.
Play the minor tenth shape there.
So again we could just play
whole notes or something
but let's make it interesting.
So this song is in 6/8 time
which means there are two strong beats
of three eighth notes each.
One, two, three,
four, five, six,
One, two, three,
four, five, six.
And the bass does this
cool rhythm in the verse
where it goes one, two,
three, four, five, six
one, two, three, four, five, six
one, two, three, four,
so why don't we copy that
rhythm with our tenths
like this.
[playing bass]
One, two, three, four, five, six.
Okay let's try that together.
Here we go.
One, two, three, four, five, six
So how do you take these
chords and make your own music?
Here's some possibilities.
Lets say I'm jamming with my drummer
[drums playing]
I can just take my shape,
play some whole notes,
move it somewhere.
Instant song.
So that's cool and then I
can add some more rhythm
to go with the drum beat.
[playing bass]
I can add some scale fills.
[playing bass]
So all those possibilities and more just
from two easy chord shapes.
Pretty cool right?
BUT JOSH HOW DO I KNOW WHERE
TO MOVE THE CHORD SHAPE???
Relax bro, there's a formula.
If you combine a few tenths
together like I just did,
you create what's called
a chord progression.
But how do you know where to go
and what's gonna sound good?
If you just do it without
any theory at all,
then it's gonna be kind of hit or miss.
But there's a chord progression formula
that most pop and rock music uses.
This formula gives you
chords to choose from
that naturally work and
sound good together.
There's not the only right chords
definitely not.
But they're a great starting point
for creating solid progressions
and to make a few billion
dollars writing pop hits
if you play your cards right.
SIMON: You have such an amazing talent.
Since there are seven
notes in the major scale,
that means there are seven chords
hiding in the major scale too.
C major, D minor, E minor,
F major, G major, A
minor, and B diminished.
Oh no diminished chord!
Don't worry about the
diminished thing for now
you can just use your minor tenth shape
on it when we get there.
So one more time in numbers,
our I chord is major,
our ii and iii chords are minor,
our IV and V chords are major,
vi chord is minor,
and the vii chord is diminished.
And that's true in any major key.
Any chord progression that only uses
chords from this sequence is called
a diatonic chord progression.
And diatonic just means they
all come from the same scale.
And I cover that in more detail in my
Beginner to Badass course at Bassbuzz.com.
But you can pick any
chords from the sequence.
[playing bass]
And it will sound good.
[playing bass]
So how do we apply this
to our bass chords?
All we have to do is run
through that sequence
using our tenths shape.
Lets do this in the key of G instead of C
so we don't run out of frets.
So it's gonna be the same sequence,
just starting on G.
So our I chord is major,
our ii chord is minor,
so we play our minor tenth shape,
and we're just gonna be
walking up the major scale,
on the E string basically and adding
the appropriate tenth shape.
So G major's our I,
up to A minor, B minor is the next one,
our iii chord so we find a B,
play our minor tenth shape,
IV chord is C major,
so we find a C, play
the major tenth shape,
V chord is D major, so what do we do?
Find a D, play the major tenth shape,
then E minor, F sharp diminished,
we just play our minor tenth shape
and don't worry about theory for now,
even though diminished
sounds really scary,
and then we're back to I.
I recommend you be able to
play through the sequence
in a variety of keys.
Maybe every key depending
on how many frets
you have on your bass.
And if you know the
major scale well enough,
you can find these sequences yourself,
but if not I've got them
all written out for you
on a cheat sheet, check the
link in the description.
If you know these sequences,
you'll have the same basic formula
for writing chord progressions
that pro songwriters are using everyday
and you can lean on it for jamming,
for songwriting and
just for better grocking
the music that you play and listen to.
Okay time to make sure all
this stuff is clicking.
Lets put your shapes in action
and write a song together.
Making up your own chord
progressions with tenths
is awesome, you can use it as a simple
songwriting tool, you
can back up a singer,
you can use it as a starting
point for a bassline.
Not to mention that
moving around with tenths
like this is great for
your fretboard knowledge
and training your ear.
So here's an easy-as-hell,
four step method to get you writing
your own chord progressions.
Step 1 is just pick a key.
Let's do G major.
Step 2 is to pick some chords
from the major scale sequence.
So let's start on the I chord
to make sure we know what key we're in.
And then we can just
pick any other numbers.
Lets just say six, three and four.
So we have I, vi, iii and IV.
That's a four chord progression.
Imagine for a second you
didn't know any bass chords.
All you could do on a I -
vi - iii - IV progression
is play root notes
[playing bass]
which could be the perfect
bassline for a song
but if you can play some chords
[playing bass]
it tells you so much
more about the harmony.
You get to really taste
it in your bassline.
Yum, yum, yum.
So that takes us to Step 3 which is
find the roots and plug in the shapes.
So we find the four roots of
our chords on the E string.
G on the 3rd fret.
E on the 12th fret.
We'll just use that E on
the 12th fret for fun.
B on the 7th fret.
And C on the 8th fret
and then plug in the
appropriate tenth shape.
So G major,
E minor,
B minor,
C major.
And for step four we pick
a rhythm and a plucking pattern.
So let's listen to the
drums we're gonna jam with.
[drums playing]
So I could just play whole notes.
To the vi.
To iii.
Or I could just play some chord notes.
I can alternate plucks.
Or I can copy that kick drum rhythm.
One, two, three AND
Now you can use this as the basis
of a jam, or a song,
you could write a melody
that goes over it.
Or you can throw it in your looper
and then solo over it
using the G major scale.
[playing bass]
Or you can accompany yourself singing.
[Carly Rae Jepsen "Call Me Maybe"]
SIMON: I would say no.
NOOB JOSH: Let me try another
song Simon, how about this?
[Janis Joplin "Piece Of My Heart"]
SIMON: A complete and utter nightmare.
[NOOB JOSH IS SO SAD]
