Behringer Bass Guitar PACK BT108BPK-PB503-BK User Manual

ULTRABASS

BASS GUITAR PACK

If you were then to take out every B and every F from these scales, you would be left with the notes of the C major (or A minor)

pentatonic scale spread over the entire fingerboard. Practise this the same way as you did the C major scale.

CHORDS

Although bassists tend to have rather less to do with chords than guitarists, for example, we would still like to give you at least a brief

introduction to what chords are and to what different kinds of chords there are.
A chord always consists of at least three different notes: the tonic (keynote), the third (i.e. the 3

note in the scale) and the fifth

(i.e. the 5

note in the scale). This is also known as a verticalization of thirds, meaning that there is an interval of one third between

each of the three notes. The type of chord is determined by the order of the different thirds (major and minor thirds). If a chord

contains a major third followed by a minor third, it is a major chord. If a chord begins with a minor third followed by a major third, it is

a minor chord. This means that there are the following combinations for major and minor chords:
Major chord: tonic, major third, fifth
Minor chord: tonic, minor third, fifth
In the following example, lets take the familiar C major scale and try to form a chord starting on each of the seven notes in the scale.
Well start with the C as the tonic. Now, if we look for the third above the tonic among the other notes in the scale we come to the E,

the 3

note. This is a major third (because it involves two whole-tone steps). Now we have to look for the next third above the E. We

find it one half and one whole tone (a minor third) above the E on the G; it is the fifth above the tonic C. This order of thirdsfirst a

major third and then a minor thirdmeans that this is a major chord. We therefore have all the three notes in the C major chord (C,

E, G). The abbreviation for this chord is simply C.

Now, if we take the D, the next note in the C major scale, and look for the notes in the chord in the same way, we get D, F and A. This

chord is D minor, because the thirds are arranged with a minor third first, followed by a major third. The abbreviation for this chord

is Dm.
If you form a triad on each of the notes in a scale according to the same principle, you produce the following chords based on the

scale.

.H\QRWH

7KLUG

)LIWK

&KRUG

degree

)

degree

The Bm

-5

chord (B minor diminished) on the 7

degree is an exception here among the other major and minor chords. In this case, two

minor thirds are verticalized, resulting in a diminished fifth (or an augmented fourth)from the tonic B to the F. All the other chords

contain perfect fifths, consisting of one major and one minor third.