R & B Bass Lines

by Eric Starr and Nelson Starr

R & B bass lines have a lineage that passes through many genres, including blues, folk, ragtime,
boogie-woogie, Dixieland, swing, and even marching band music. R & B bass parts borrow
generously from those developed on piano, upright bass, and tuba. However, with the advent of
the electric bass, and electronic music in general, the bass has also grown more modern and
cutting edge.
Before funk and rock existed, R & B bass was closely related to blues itself. At that time, bass lines
were typically centered around the root of the chord, usually played on beat one. This was
followed by thirds, fifths, sixths, dominant sevenths, and even seconds on beats two through four.
The walking bass line (with the quarter-note pulse) comprised the basic rhythmical feel in old-
school R & B. This type of bass line also inspired much of early rock-and-roll, which, for all intents
and purposes, was merely a hyped-up form of R & B. Figure 9-1 illustrates a typical pattern that
might be used.
Figure 9-1.
R & B walking bass line

The major pentatonic scale is the basis for a wide variety of bass lines.
Composed of five different notes (the prefix penta means five), the major pentatonic is used
extensively in contemporary pop, R & B, funk, soul, and other styles. Its origin, however, is
extremely primitive. Many ancient and ethnic forms of music use the pentatonic scale (as does
blues) as the basis for the melody and is one of the most universal scales of all time.
There are two main types of pentatonic scales: major and minor. Each major pentatonic has a relative minor. The relative
minor pentatonic contains the same notes as its major counterpart. Relative minor pentatonics are found a minor third below
(or a major sixth above) the given major pentatonic.
The most common type of major pentatonic uses a tonic, a major second, a major third, a perfect
fifth, and a major sixth. You should familiarize yourself with all the possible positions and
configurations for this scale.
You will learn more about minor pentatonics later on in this chapter. For now, Figure 9-2 shows
you three typical positions for A major pentatonic. All three examples use a closed
position. This simply means that there are no open strings. Closed position is beneficial
because it is moveable up and down the fretboard. In Figure 9-2, the first and last notes
are tonic pitches. If chord changes were present, the tonic would correlate to the root of the chord
(in this case, A).
The major pentatonic can typically be used on any major chord in R & B. In order to compose a
bass line, notes are often pulled from this scale, sometimes in some combination with other scales
or musical devices. Every time the chord shifts, the corresponding major pentatonic may shift
too. Figure 9-3 shows how you can use three pieces of three major pentatonic scales. On each
chord, the pentatonic shifts to correspond with the chord. You should try composing (or
improvising) your own bass lines using these three scales. In order to do this, play the root of
each scale on beat one and a segment of the appropriate scale on beats two, three, and four. This
assumes you're playing in 4/4 time.
In Chapter 7 you learned that the dominant seventh interval technically called a minor seventh
is a special chord extension. Harmonically, it captures the essence of the blues like no other
extension. As you can imagine, the dominant seventh is also an essential element in R & B. When
you combine the dominant seventh with the major pentatonic, you have even more good options.
Some of these options are shown in Figure 9-4. Here you will play the same chord changes
as Figure 9-3 but with a new bass line; the bass line used inFigure 9-4 always incorporates
the dominant seventh.
Figure 9-2.
A Major pentatonic in three positions

Figure 9-3.
Major pentatonics on three chords

Figure 9-4.
Expanding your use of major pentatonics

Soul, Motown, and Funk
Funky Bass Lines