Dave Marks Walking Bass Lessons on Youtube: Lesson 5

We are using a chord progression with 3 chord types:

Min 7 (Root – Flat 3rd – Perfect 5th – Flat 7th)

Dominant 7 (Root – Maj 3rd – Perfect 5th – Flat 7th)

Major 7 (Root – Maj 3rd – Perfect 5th – Natural 7th)

Exercise 5.

• We will be playing our II – V – I progression in the Key of C Major. This

week, our concept is to create a system that we can use to explore all

of the possibilities of ascending and descending 4 note chords and

their inversions.

• To begin with, we!ll play all of our shapes ascending.

• We!ll start by moving the V chord - G7 through all of its inversions. This

means that we begin and end each time on familiar territory. I!ve

omitted the G7 Root position arpeggio because we!ve used that shape

in all of our previous exercises. You can add it in at the start of the

exercise if you like.

• Our chords are: D min7 – G7 – C Maj7

II V I

In the first two weeks, we looked at playing four note chords as arpeggios. We played these: Ascending: Root – 3rd – 5th – 7th

Descending: Root – 7th – 5th – 3rd

In weeks 3 & 4, we looked at playing each chord starting from any note in that chord. Starting from the Root: Root – 3

rd – 5

th – 7

th Root Position

Starting from the 3rd: 3

rd – 5

th – 7

th – Root 1st

Inversion

Starting from the 5th: 5th

– 7th

– Root – 3rd 2nd

Inversion

Starting from the 7th: 7

th – Root – 3

rd – 5

th 3rd Inversion

• Play the D min7 root position arpeggio. (D – F – A – C)

• Now play the G7 1st inversion arpeggio. (B – D – F – G)

• Finally, play the C Maj7 Root position arpeggio. (C – E –G – B)

• Play the D min7 root position arpeggio. (D – F – A – C)

• Now play the G7 2nd inversion arpeggio. (D – F – G – B)

• Finally, play the C Maj7 Root position arpeggio. (C – E –G – B)

• Play the D min7 root position arpeggio. (D – F – A – C)

• Now play the G7 3rd inversion arpeggio. (F – G –B – D)

• Finally, play the C Maj7 Root position arpeggio. (C – E –G – B)

This exercise can be played two different ways. The note we start G7 3rd

inversion from is F, so we have access to it from the 3rd fret of the D string

or one octave below, from the 1st fret of the E String. Either way, you have

to move out of position, so both can be considered equally good options.

Once you have this idea down, you can move the D min7 chord through

each of it!s inversions, but keep the G7 and C Maj7 as root position

chords:

Finally, we!ll move the C Maj7 chord through each of its inversions, but keep

the D min7 and G7 as Root Position chords:

1. What I!ve listed here is just the tip of the iceberg. If you think about it,

we!ve used a very straightforward system:

2. All arpeggios Ascending. (Try them with all descending…)

3. 2 Chords in Root Position, one moves through Inversions.

Exercise D min7 G7 C Maj7

01 Root Position 1st Inversion Root Position

02 Root Position 2nd

Inversion Root Position

03 Root Position 3rd Inversion Root Position

04 1st Inversion Root Position Root Position

05 2nd

Inversion Root Position Root Position

06 3rd Inversion Root Position Root Position

07 Root Position Root Position 1st Inversion

08 Root Position Root Position 2nd

Inversion

09 Root Position Root Position 3rd Inversion