The Chameleon bass
bass-mid · dirty · 96 BPM (88–108) · G minor · 4 bars · 64 steps
The technique
Cut every note short. Nothing here is longer than an eighth, and most notes are a single sixteenth. The rests between them are written as exactly as the notes, so play them.
Bar four stops after its fourth note and leaves two whole beats empty. Do not fill them. That silence is what makes the top of the next pass land.
The last sixteenth of the figure is a pickup a tone under the root, alone after the gap. Give it no accent, so the bar head after it takes the weight.
Bars one to three open the same way: the chord’s root, then its octave on the last sixteenth of the first beat. Bar four breaks that, climbing the IV’s root, third and fifth instead and falling back to the third before it stops.
Bar one drops to the third and climbs back to the fifth by step. Bar three keeps falling by step, from the fifth down to the third, and climbs from a tone under the root. Same opening, two answers.
Over the IV, play the key’s sixth raised, because it is that chord’s third, and never the key’s own sixth against it. Keep the raised one off the i, which stays minor.
Accent the root at the head of bars one and three and keep the rest even. The line lives between a tone under the root and the octave and a fourth above it.
The chords
4 chords over 4 bars, in G minor.
| Degree | Chord | Notes | Bars | Under the figure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| i | Gm | G · Bb · D | 1–1 | ● |
| IV | C | C · E · G | 2–2 | ● |
| i | Gm | G · Bb · D | 3–3 | ● |
| IV | C | C · E · G | 4–4 | ● |
The figure is played over these chords; supply them separately if your rig allows.
The rules
- Over IV, never the 6th — the IV is major, and the key’s own sixth is a semitone under its third.
The notes
4 bars in G minor. Each note is in force across the steps shown.
- steps 1–2·over i Gm·G2·degree 1·MIDI 43
- step 4·over i Gm·G3·degree 1·MIDI 55
- step 6·over i Gm·F3·degree 7·MIDI 53
- steps 7–8·over i Gm·D3·degree 5·MIDI 50
- step 11·over i Gm·Bb2·degree 3·MIDI 46
- step 12·over i Gm·C3·degree 4·MIDI 48
- step 13·over i Gm·D3·degree 5·MIDI 50
- step 16·over i Gm·A2·degree 2·MIDI 45
- steps 17–18·over IV C·C3·degree 4·MIDI 48
- step 20·over IV C·C4·degree 4·MIDI 60
- step 22·over IV C·G3·degree 1·MIDI 55
- steps 23–24·over IV C·E3·degree #6·MIDI 52
- step 27·over IV C·C3·degree 4·MIDI 48
- step 28·over IV C·D3·degree 5·MIDI 50
- step 29·over IV C·E3·degree #6·MIDI 52
- step 31·over IV C·F3·degree 7·MIDI 53
- steps 33–34·over i Gm·G2·degree 1·MIDI 43
- step 36·over i Gm·G3·degree 1·MIDI 55
- step 38·over i Gm·F3·degree 7·MIDI 53
- step 39·over i Gm·D3·degree 5·MIDI 50
- step 40·over i Gm·C3·degree 4·MIDI 48
- steps 41–42·over i Gm·Bb2·degree 3·MIDI 46
- step 45·over i Gm·F2·degree 7·MIDI 41
- step 46·over i Gm·G2·degree 1·MIDI 43
- step 47·over i Gm·Bb2·degree 3·MIDI 46
- steps 49–50·over IV C·C3·degree 4·MIDI 48
- step 52·over IV C·E3·degree #6·MIDI 52
- steps 53–54·over IV C·G3·degree 1·MIDI 55
- step 55·over IV C·E3·degree #6·MIDI 52
- step 64·over IV C·F2·degree 7·MIDI 41
The grid
Every step below strikes the note in force at that point. The grid is where the figure is played.
- —1, 33 (all vel 116)
- —4, 6, 12, 16, 20, 22, 28, 36, 38, 40, 46, 52, 64 (all vel 84)
- —7, 11, 23, 27, 31, 39, 47, 55
- —13, 17, 29, 41, 45, 49, 53
Your boxes
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Where it plays
Pick the boxes you own.