Ever wondered about the secret sauce behind captivating chord progressions? Enter bass motion—an often-overlooked hero that can elevate your musical creations. So, what exactly is bass motion?
In essence, bass motion is the melody formed by tracing an imaginary line along the lowest notes in a chord progression. One of our greatest tools to sculpt bass motion is inverting chords.
Without diving into the technicalities, inversions involve making the lowest note in a chord something other than the root note (C is the root note of a C chord, G is the root note of a G chord, etc), making them the architects of catchy and melodic bass motion.
Without inversions, bass motion might feel a bit jerky, characterized by significant jumps between notes. While there's nothing inherently wrong with that, inversions add a layer of emotional depth and finesse to your chord progression by creating bass motion with smaller, more fluid jumps or even staying on the same note despite changing chords—a game-changer.
Take "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac as an example.
The basic verse progression is: C (x32010), G (320033), Am7 (x02010), G
Notice how, without inversions, the bass motion takes a sizable leap down by a perfect fourth when transitioning from C to G.
The verse progression with inversions: C (x32010), G/B (x20033), Am7 (x02010), G/B
When you introduce G/B—one form of an inverted G chord—it creates a seamless bass motion that gracefully descends stepwise all the way to Am7 and then back up to C.
Let’s use G to C to illustrate a different scenario. When you play those two chords back to back, it creates that same perfect 4th bass melody jump. No issue on its own, but if you wanted to smooth out the bass motion, but try inverting the C chord and listen to what happens. The result? Staying on the same bass note while transitioning between chords. Can you feel the emotional weight that the lingering G note in the bass adds to the mix?
Creating melodic bass motion offers a plethora of possibilities, and there's no one-size-fits-all approach. However, integrating inversions into your toolkit provides you with more tools to sculpt your bass melodies into something irresistibly catchy and beautiful. So, the next time you're crafting a chord progression, don't forget to let the magic of bass motion work its wonders.
Questions or comments? Email me at james@guitarlessonswithjames.com!
// James
PS: If you’d like to know more about inversions, check out my ebook HERE to discover:
The secret to using chord inversions to fill your playing with emotion effortlessly
A simple reference guide to help you remove the guesswork and easily pick the perfect inversions every time
The 2-step process to knowing how and where to use inversions
