Alternating Bass Notes

Lesson 5/44 | Study Time: 5 Min
Course: Fingerpicking Guitar
Alternating Bass Notes

Alternating Bass Notes

The root note of a chord is the note after which the chord is named e.g.:

  • the root note of a C chord is C,
  • the root note of a G7 chord is G
  • the root note of a D7 chord is D.

In the previous example the thumb (p) played the root note of each chord as the bass note. To make picking patterns sound more interesting the bass note can alternate between the root note and another note in the chord.

The following example uses the same chord sequence as exercise 2 but each chord lasts for one bar and is played using alternating bass notes. The fingerpicking pattern does not change and the thumb (p) plays the bass notes. As with any song or chord progression always hold the complete chord shape even though you might not pick every string.

Remember to use the pivot when changing from C to D7.

Fingerpicking Pattern 1

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Gary Turner

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Class Sessions

1- Blues Fingerpicking Guitar 2- Clawhammer With Pinch 3- Clawhammer 4- Fingerpicking Patterns in <span class="symbolA">)</span> Time 5- Fingerpicking Pattern 5 6- Playing Notes Together 7- Fingerpicking Patterns in <span class="symbolA">^</span> Time 8- The Hammer-on 9- Fingerpicking Pattern 2 10- Six String Clawhammer 11- Classical Guitar Style 12- Picking the Strings 13- Alternating Thumb Style 14- Ragtime Guitar 15- Notes on the Guitar Fretboard 16- Chord Chart 17- Glossary of Musical Terms 18- INTRODUCTION 19- More titles by LearnToPlayMusic.com 20- Twelve Bar Blues Progression 21- The Pull-off 22- The Chromatic Scale 23- The Capo 24- The Slide Finger 25- Approach to Practice 26- Fingerpicking Pattern 1 27- Two Bar Clawhammer Pattern 28- The Pivot 29- Other titles in this series 30- How to Read Sheet Music 31- Eight Bar Blues Progression 32- Constant Bass Line 33- Easy Chord Table 34- Classical Guitar (Nylon Strings) 35- Alternating Bass Notes 36- The Slide 37- How to Transpose 38- Steel String Acoustic 39- Fingerpicking Accompaniment 40- Strings 41- Electronic Tuner 42- Tuning Your Guitar 43- How to Read Music 44- Practice Position

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