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Bass Chords

I love to play chords on bass. They sound huge and are very expressive. I've written down some of my favorite voicings of common chords. Note that in these examples I'm only playing three note chords. To sound a four note chord ( like Maj. 7, min 7 or Dom 7 ) I usually drop out the 5th of the chord. It helps to keep the chord from sounding to muddy. Once you see the shape on the fret board try moving the chord to different places.
Click this thumbnail to see the full pic.

Here's a simplified version of the verse section from Little Wing by Hendrix.

LittleWing.jpg (159434 bytes) Click this thumbnail to see the full pic.

Each measure is four beats long. In measure five, the Bm7 is played for three beats and the Bbm7 for one. In measure six, seven and eight, each chord gets two beats. In measure nine, the Dmaj gets three beats followed by three beats of rest. Listen to the song and try to add that great Hendrix feel. Remember this is a simplified version to help you get to know basic chords. When you feel comfortable playing this, experiment with different chord voicings and the phrases that are played in between the chords.

Here is the six-string version (remember this also is a simplified version compared to the genius work of Hendrix!) Here is what it sounds like.

littlewing6.gif (6074 bytes)

Click this thumbnail to see the full pic.
NOTE: What looks like 2 measures (Gmaj & Fmaj) are actually part of the same measure.
The following is the form of Little Wing.
All measures are 4/4 except for the last one, which is 2/4.
| Em | G | Am | Em | Bm7 Bbm7 | Am7 C | G F | C D | D | rest measure of 2/4 |
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© 2004 David Mastick

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