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Walking over 13th chords


Mike
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Hi all

Just wondered if you had any tips for walking over 13th chords - they crop up from time to time, and I normally am aware that on a piano I voice it as a maj7 chord a tone down over the root (e.g. D13 I play as a Cmaj7/D) but I was wondering if that would complicate a speedy walking bassline (think of Friday Night at Cadillac Club, all 13th chords) and whether to all intents and purposes I should treat them as dominant sevenths and emphasis the odd 13th here and there?

Thoughts welcome!

Mike

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Dude... Yep your right... Treat them as dominant 7th chords. Piece a cake!

In fact a big problem for bass players while walking is trying to stick to many extensions in. If it's a 9th, 13th, #11 etc etc... don't feel like you need to hit them in your walking lines all the time... They are the extensions, so let the piano/guitar do their job and take care of them. If you were playing in a trio with no other harmony instruments you might want to reference them more often but don't worry about it too much - the soloist could do it :)

Ez man,

Scott.

[url="http://www.scottsbasslessons.com"]http://www.scottsbasslessons.com[/url]
[url="http://www.scottdevinemusic.com"]http://www.scottdevinemusic.com[/url]

Edited by devinebass
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Its kind of a rule you get used to over time; be wary of extensions. When you are learning, there is a temptation to tray and imply the extensions of every chord every time you play them. This can lead to illogical and clumsy lines. Its is important to know what the chord names mean and what the extensions are but you should only use them when the line requires it. When chords are shooting past at one chord per bar, there is no way you can get it all in. Friday Night at the Cadillac Clud is a great example of when not to over egg it. Its essentially a rock shuffle and over complicating the line undermines the momentum and the energy of the thing.

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totally agree with Scott and Bilbo, it's worth remembering that a chord is defined as having extensions by the root, as each interval is relative to it. If you play extensions in low register, unless you are careful, you change the nature of the chord because we hear things from the bottom up. It's only defined as C13 when you stick a C at the bottom of it.

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Absolutely - thanks gents! The 13ths crop up occasionally but not regularly enough for me to worry too much until I was played Cadillac Club the other day. I just wondered with the number of extensions cropping up in the harmony (b7, 9, 11, 13) whether I should play much different.

Cheers for the input, dragons of jazz!

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[quote name='jakesbass' timestamp='1323082980' post='1458929']
totally agree with Scott and Bilbo, it's worth remembering that a chord is defined as having extensions by the root, as each interval is relative to it. If you play extensions in low register, unless you are careful, you change the nature of the chord because we hear things from the bottom up. It's only defined as C13 when you stick a C at the bottom of it.
[/quote]

Yeah, good point, I guess there's an argument for[b] over[/b]emphasising the root in this case!

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You must say the following post in 1950s over enthusiastic American news reader voice for full effect.

In latest news forum member 'Mike' breaks fellow bass enthusiast Jakesbass with an incalculable concept.... :)
Jakesbass is said to be stable but will need reprogramming before his next gig.
In other news... guitarist shares the limelight....

Edited by jakesbass
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