The Root Note Curse

Someone put a spell on us bassists. Somehow whatever we play, we always start with the root note. Which makes a lot of sense, because let's be honest, it's our job. But what if we want to play a solo or a bass fill? What if we want to play a melodic bassline in the breakdown of a song?

The Secret Sauce

One thing that helps us to get out of this rut is the concept of triad inversions. In particular the inversions of the 3-string shapes. In "The Triad Inversion Hack" I show you how to avoid only thinking of chord tones in relationship to the root note. With the knowledge of the 3-string shapes of the major and minor inversions you can let go of your addiction to root notes and come up with melodic lines by focusing on voice leading. 

Just think of any chord progression. Moving from one chord to another every note in a triad will dissolves into another note of the following triad. There are only three options. Either you will have to shift it a whole step, a half step or not at all. Using this knowledge when improvising every chord transition will sound smooth and let the melody live on. The typical jump to the root note makes it impossible to play melodic phrases that last longer than one chord.