COLUMNS
Exploring Chord Tones
By Jason Raso
Hello , my name is Jason Raso . You may have noticed my bass columns in Canadian Musician over the years . “ Wait , why is a bass player writing the guitar column ?” “ Maybe he ’ s lost !”
“ This must be a mistake !” Actually , I ’ ve been teaching guitar for over 15 years . Learning guitar has been great for my overall musicianship and I believe it has made me a better bassist .
My experience as a bass player has also greatly helped my guitar playing . For example , as a bass player I ’ m used to walking from chord to chord . This is commonly referred to as “ playing the changes .” As I studied guitar books and columns I noticed more of a focus on scales than chord tones .
Example 1 shows a C major scale using three notes per string .
Scales are great but it ’ s important to make them work for you . The notes you play should complement the chords being played . In order to do this , chord spelling is a must . Even though guitarists spend most of their time playing chords , many are unaware of the individual notes within the chord . They only know the chord shape . Example 2 shows the spellings ( Root , 3 rd , 5 th ) for the chords in the key of C .
EX . 1
EX . 3
EX . 4
EX . 2 C = C E G Dm = D F A Em = E G B F = F A C G = G B D Am = A C E Bdim = B D F
Example 3 takes our three notes per string scale and breaks it up into chords .
Example 4 changes the order of the progression and starts on the 3rd of each chord . This makes for a melodic way to practice your scales and ties directly to the chord progression .
Want to explore chord tones further ? Download my e-book , Untangling Chords : Triad Spelling for Guitar for free at Jasonrasomusic . com / guitar .
Jason Raso is a professional bass player and instructor from Guelph , ON . His latest book , Soloing on Electric Bass : A Chord Tone Approach , is available from MusicBooksPlus . com . Jason proudly endorses Aguilar amplification and D ’ Addario strings . www . jasonrasomusic . com .
60 CANADIAN MUSICIAN