Chords for Dave Marks Walking Bass lesson 01

_ Hi there, I'm Dave Marks and welcome to this the first video in my series on walking bass lines
This week we're going to look at some arpeggios
_ Arpeggios are chords played one note at a time.
So if I play the chord or an arpeggio
It's [E] _ the same idea.
Both of them are C major one is played
Harmonically or we play everything on [C] top of each other and the other one is played melodically
_ _ Where we play one note then the next in the next
_ Walking bass lines
Attempt to outline harmony through melody.
So instead of playing the chord we play the notes of the chord across four beats
And by using the chord tones, for example
We can very clearly suggest what type of chord it is
If someone plays [Eb] C major and we play the notes of C major one after the other it helps to outline and reinforce that sound
so
The first thing we need to be able to do is play our arpeggios for three different chord types
We're looking at a chord [A] progression that goes two five one in the key of C
Which means in the key of C there [Eb] are seven different chords that can be played
The second one is D minor seven
The fifth one is G seven and the first one is C major seven
If you're a little bit unsure about how [Am] this harmony [Eb] works download the PDFs on the lessons page from my website
_ It should give you an explanation of where the chords have come from and also a good system for practicing
_ _ First of all, we'll look at our D minor 7 shape
So minor 7 chord has a root [D] a flat third a fifth and a flat 7
_ If we're looking at our D minor 7 shape
we play D on the fifth fret of the A string [F] F on the third fret of the D [A] string A
on the second fret of the G [C] string and
C [Cm] on the fifth fret of the G string so [D] D [F] F A
_ [A] C
[C] _ _ _
For G [G] dominant 7 we play G on the third fret of the E string
_ B on the second fret of the [B] A string
_ D on the fifth fret [D] of the A string and F on the third fret [F] of the D string and
[Fm] Then finally for [C] C major 7
C on the third fret of the A [E] string
E on the second fret of the D string
[G] G on the fifth fret of the D [B] string and B on the fourth fret of the G string
[D] Here's a close-up of those hand positions
So first up we have D minor 7
D [F] [A] F A
[C] and C
[D] We do my fourth finger
[F] second
[A] _ first [C] and fourth
_ [D] _ _ [C] _ _ _
[N] Okay, next up for G7
_ [G] playing G [B] B [D] D [F] F
[G] And I'm using my second [B] finger my first finger [D] my fourth [F] finger _ _ [Ebm] and then finally C major [C] 7
C E [B] G B _
[C] I'm using my second finger [E] first finger [G] fourth [B] finger
_ [C] _ _ [B] _ [D] Here's the three in a row
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ [E] _ _ [B] _ _ _ [N] _
_ Okay
So for this week's practice a good system to use is the cycle of fourths of the cycle of fifths
That means you can play it in all 12 keys
If you have a look on the lessons page on my website
You can download PDFs that show you how to do this and for this lesson
I've actually written out that same 2 5 1 progression in all 12 keys
This exercise is really good for your left hand technique and it'll also start your brain thinking a little bit more about what you're playing
Do you know the names of the notes and all of the chords?
Do you know what the intervals are?
Do you know what the shapes are properly?
Can you move it through different keys?
Hopefully as you play it through all 12 keys, you should start to realize it's all the same idea.
Just being moved around the neck
Sometimes with open strings and different keys the shapes that you use will be different
But the sign should always be roughly the same
_ _ Okay, next [Eb] week.
We're going to start looking at changing direction with our four note arpeggios
Have a good time practicing and I'll see you in a week's time