Chord Progressions

Bass Line Progressions (Part 2)
Extending the I - V/3 - vi Progression

In ‘Simple Bass Line Progressions’ we looked at the progression
I – V/3 – vi . In the key of D, that would be D – A/C# – Bm. We can extend this progression in different ways:

  • I – V/3 – vi – vi/b7 – IV – V
  • I – V/3 – vi – vi/b7 – ii – ii/b7 – V

Let’s look at these in more detail. Again, the roman numerals represent the chord (lower case for minors) and the natural number represents the note in relation to the chord being played.  Thus V/3 represents the fifth chord in a key, with its 3rd note in the bass; vi/b7 represents the sixth chord (which is minor) in the key with its flatted seven note (a whole step lower than the root note) in the bass.  Let’s chart these in different keys – click the boxes below:

Progression 1
I  V/3  vi  vi/b7  IV V
D  A/C# Bm  Bm/A   G  A
G  D/F# Em  Em/D   C  D
C  G/B  Am  Am/G   F  G
A  E/G# F#m F#m/E  D  E
E  B/D# C#m C#m/B  A  B
F  C/E  Dm  Dm/C   Bb C

Listen to this progression in C:

Chord Charts - Progression 1
Descending Bass Line Progression 1

*Please note, the chord chart for Em/D really represents an Em7 chord. There isn’t an easy way to get the D in the bass line and have it sound well, so I substitute this chord. The chord chart for C#m/B is technically a C#m7/B.

Progression 2
I V/3  vi  vi/b7  ii  ii/b7 V
D A/C# Bm  Bm/A  Em  Em/D  A
G D/F# Em  Em/D  Am  Am/G  D 
C G/B  Am  Am/G  Dm  Dm/C  G 
A E/G# F#m F#m/E Bm  Bm/A  E 
E B/D# C#m C#m/B F#m F#m/E B 
F C/E  Dm  Dm/C  Gm  Gm/F  C

Listen to this progression in G:

Chord Charts - Progression 2

Descending Bass Line Progression 2

Click for PDF

For three printable bass line progression charts, click the button below.

11 Comments

  1. Very helpful. clears up a lot for me.
    Cheers. will be back.

    Reply
    • Thanks John for visiting! Glad this information is helpful. David

      Reply
    • I don’t know the name of the blogger of this page. And I don’t know who he is. I wanna thank him for making such a great work for everyone who is keen on Guitar. It’s very helpful to me and I believe that so will be it to everyone who get into this page. It’s worth spending our time reading and taking down the precious notes from here. Just grap a guitar and practice.

      Reply
  2. thanks for the progressions, I just downloaded them to practice at my own time.

    Reply
  3. thanks for this info, Since im starting playing base guitar.thanks

    Reply
  4. i real love it, coz its inspiring to me and such info keeps you going more higher, thank you for this opportunity to learn more David.S.

    Reply
  5. The author dealt with many interesting points in this posting. I came across this article by searching Yahoo and I have to confess that I already subscribed to your site, it is extremely decent ;D

    Reply
  6. There’s my typo! I meant to say, On the first chord chart, you have written vi/b3. I thought that should be vi/b7. Am I missing something here, or is that a typo?

    Reply
    • You are 100% correct. I just caught that typo a couple weeks ago while teaching these progressions to some of my students. Also, I play the E/G# and the B/D# a little different than noted, i.e. 476×00 and x69800 (respectively). That actually makes the B/D# a Bsus/D#, but it works.

      Reply
  7. on the first chord chart, you have written vi/3. I thought that should be vi/7. Am I missing something here, or is that a typo?

    Reply
    • Yes, you are absolutely right. First chart should be vi/b7. Thanks

      Reply

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