Root Notes
If you look at the previous example, you will notice that when the A minor chord symbol appears above the music, the bass is playing an A note and when the C chord symbol appears, the bass is playing a C note. The name note of the chord is called the root note (as in the root of a tree) and all other notes of the chord are built on top of that note.
The root note of a chord will always sound good when played as a bass note because it makes it clear to the other musicians what the chord is and gives them a solid foundation for the notes they play over that bass note. If you are ever unsure what notes to play for a particular chord progression, you can’t go wrong if you play the root notes of each of the chords. The following example uses the root notes for the chords Am, C, D, F and G.
Each example chord progression should be ended by playing the first note. E.g., play this example through and then end it by playing a long A note.
