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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Music theory → Walk Down's
Don't know if this is actually a "theory" issue...I bet is is...all about how the notes in a chord relate to eachother I'm guessing--but somebody talk to me about "walk down's", like you hear in dern near every blues song in the world.
Yeah, 'splain walk downs, walk ups and turn arounds. I have problems when playing with a strum pattern, such as 1, 2 & 3 & 4 & 1. When " walking" to the the next chord in the progression would the 3 walk down notes (in the above pattern) be played on beats & 4 &? I understand "turn arounds" fairly well but since they too help lead into the next chord of a progerssion this might all tye in together. Thanks for the 'splaining.
Nela
Well, here's my idea on walk-ups or walk-downs in a bass line, and this comes from my bass playing and not my guitar playing. I'm not skilled enough with the guitar to do a reasonable walk-down. So, bear that in mind.
Let's say you're going from G to D. I'd use the second and third notes in the G chord and then jump right to D (the fifth). If you're playing a blues song, use a flatted third. That's a practical walk-up.
Sometimes what I like to do is to jump to the octave, so I'll play a low G on the third fret of the E string then jump up to the fifth fret on the D string to hit another G and then use the flatted seventh, the sixth, and then on down to the fifth. There's a practical walk-down.
Another bit of advice is that if you play your walk-ups and walk-downs really fast and hit a wrong note that isn't emphasized, you can just shrug and say "That's the blues, baby. That's the blues."
Anyway, the point is that I pretend that the base chord from which you're changing is a scale, and then I use select notes from that scale - mostly the second, the third (or flatted third), the fourth, and the flatted seventh (and less often the seventh, but that has a very bright feel to it and I am usually playing bass for folk or blues and don't want so much of a "major" feel - it works good for Country though).
I'm not saying this is "right". I'm just saying it's what I do.
Hope that helps. If not, a person with actual knowledge will be along directly to help you.
- Zurf
Flattened 3rds are a minor tonality, which is consistent with the blues.
Rule of thumb any time you're playing notes, and you hit a bad one: No matter where you are on the fretboard, you are at most one fret away from a "correct" note. i.e. One that is in key.
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Music theory → Walk Down's
