Chaining arpeggios with bass (I)

When it’s time to build a bass line there are thousands of posibilities. Depending on the style we’ll tend to define more or less chord harmony. But what’s sure is our bass line will act as a rope (a strong one) which ties togheter a chord to the next one.

Here we’ll propose a simple and useful approach to chain chords. Simple, because we’ll start in a simple way to increase complication gradually. And useful, because it will give us a more harmony based point of view of what we are playing. We’ll start chaining major chords, focusing on left hand, being right hand techniques indifferent for our purpose. Fingers are numbered as usual, 1 for index, 2 for middle, 3 for ring and 4 for little finger. Let’s consider a major triad formed by root, third and fifth. We’ll play the ascending arpeggio (C, E, G, E) and the descending one (C octave, G, E, G). This arpeggio fits not only for harmonizing triad chords, but whatever major chord whith his extensions in styles where bass plays only basic intervals, allowing other rythm instruments in the middle of the sound spectrum (keyboards, guitar), or even soloists, to define the harmony nuance of each chord.

The main problem when chaining arpeggios lies in fingering. If we reduce notes (even more!) by only playing the root of each chord, our line won’t be a serious fingering matter. But arpeggios have that kind of power, you can find yourself jumping through the fingerboard trying to catch the root with the middle finger. This feels awkward, so having several fingerings for the same arpeggio will prove more useful. Once we master them separately it will become easy to chain every pair of chords in every position in a smooth way for both the ear and the wrist.

So, which finger should we use to get comfortably into the next position, avoiding painful wrist movements, changing position only when necessary and always in a smooth relaxed way? We’ll use two fingerings for the ascending arpeggio (Ex. A and Ex. C) and another two for the descending one (Ex. B and Ex. D). It’s interesting to memorize each fingering diagram. We can divide our hand in two sides (only in mind!) leaving fingers 1 and 2 on left side, and fingers 3 and 4 on right side. Having two fingerings for each hand side will make easy to reach notes. When we get confident changing from left to right side and back again we can reach every arpeggio, no matter how far it is. Thus, minimum wrist movement will occur.

Ex. 1 shows a typical I, IV, V progression which we can use to practice the above mentioned fingerings. Numbers over the tab refer to fingering. Playing this exercise over different rythmic patterns in all keys will help understanding how do fingerings work when tying chords togheter.

But the exercise that will open our eyes and ears to all possibilities of these fingerings is Ex. 2a. Consists in moving through the cycle of fifths using the four proposed fingerings freely. It can look tricky at first time, but be patient and you’ll sort it out. As you’ll notice, fingering A fits when root is placed over strings 2, 3 and 4, but not when it’s over 1st string; fingering B can be used with root in strings 1, 2 and 3; fingering C, with root in strings 3 and 4, and fingering D, with root in strings 1, 2 and 3. Check it out.

Bear in mind it’s important to start slowly and to be conscious of what you’re playing. Singing the notes will be interesting too, and will develop ear-training. With some practice you’ll overcome the dilemma of what fingering to use in each situation. Then you’ll be ready to extend the exercise all along the fingerboard, including open strings. As you’ll also notice, the exercise tends to drive us way up, towards the pick-up. This can be solved as shown in Ex. 2b. Switch carefully from fingering A to D any time you want to climb the fingerboard towards the headstock.

Fourth intervals are very common in all music styles and may be it’s the most preferred way to chain chords. And once you nail down fourth changes you’re ready to cope with any other changes.

When you get under control the rudiments of this approach then go further and try to enjoy. What about tempo and style changes? You can move from swinging arpeggios to latin patterns. Write a progression in your favourite sequencer or software tool (i.e.: Band In A Box) as the one in Ex. 1, or even longer, with the complete cycle of fifths to play upon it and check how chainings work. Modify the arpeggio (C, G, E, C octave, for instance). Searching for lures to make exercises more pleasing is always interesting. In fact that’s what is all about: having a good time making music.