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In the beginning, there was the root....and it was good. But
soon the root became became lonely, discontent, and needed a partner.
The root found its perfect partner in the 5th of the chord, and
they lived happily ever after.
If the root is the most common note used to create a bass line,
then the 5th of the chord might be considered the next most common.
This is just another note that can be freely used over a chord
regardless of key, and most of the time regardless of what type
of chord is being played. The exception will be explained later
in the lesson.
The
5th
In order to understand what the 5th is, you
will need to understand the basics of chord
construction.
If you take the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of a major scale, this
is a C major chord. The 5th is a G. So when referring to the 5th,
we are talking about the 5th note in a major scale. Using interval
talk, you would call this a perfect 5th.
C
D E F G
A B C
= C Major scale
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1
|_____|_____| =
C (C major chord)
root 3rd 5th |
Most basic chords...major, minor, 7, min7, maj7,
sus2, sus4...they all have 2 notes in common. The root, and the
5th. So the chords C, Cm, C7, Cm7, Cmaj7, Csus2, and Csus4 all
share a C root note and a G note (the 5th of the chord). There
are notes that are different in each of these chords, but knowing
that they all share 2 notes is a powerful bit of information.
That means for any type of chord the guitarist is playing, you
can play the same root and 5th "shape" for all of them
(most of the time).
So if you can memorize the "shape" of
where the 5th is in relationship to the root, you will be ready
to add another tool to your bass line building toolbox.
Page 2, Root - 5th shapes 
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