Example 1 shows the F Mixolydian scale. The chord symbol associated with this scale sound is sometimes written F7sus, F7sus11, F7sus4, Cm7/F, or Eb/F. Hard to fathom, but all of those chord symbols indicate the same sound. There are many ways to understand F7sus on the bass, and we’ll explore how to best describe that sound on the bass by using triads. First, play F Mixolydian up and down, sideways and backwards, and see if you can find three major triads that are contained in the scale.

  Ex 2  Ex 3

Did you find them? The F, Bb, and Eb major triads are all found within the F Mixolydian scale (Ex. 2). If you play two of the triads, F and Eb, you can easily outline the sound of the F7sus chord. Example 3 shows the root, 3rd, and 5th of the F7sus (the notes of the F major triad), followed by the b7, 9, and 11 (the notes of the Eb major triad). Play the notes of the two triads in various combinations for a few minutes and listen to the sound of F7sus; use the eighth-note line in Ex. 4 as a starting point. Note that the combination of two triads forms a six-note melodic pattern—the same notes found in the F Mixolydian scale, without the note D. When thinking of a scale, the tendency is to play diatonically, or up and down step-wise. By combining two triads, you automatically play intervallically with wide melodic jumps.

  Ex 4 Ex 5

The pianist McCoy Tyner recorded his album The Real McCoy [Blue Note, 1967] several years after he left the famous John Coltrane Quartet. Tyner pioneered a style of playing that used 4th intervals, pentatonic scales, and combinations of triads in many of his lines and melodies. Tyner had a slick way of combining triads to outline complex chords. On the track “Passion Dance,” he created his melody based on the combination of the F and Eb triads. In Ex. 5, he answers the main theme of the song, outlining the F triad from top to bottom, then playing the notes Bb and Eb on beat four of bar 1. In the second bar, he ends the phrase on another note in the Eb major triad, the high G. By using notes from the F and Eb major triads, the line suggests the sound of the F7sus.

To understand McCoy’s melody, let’s also take a look at Ron Carter’s bass line. Carter plays a “pedal” bass line under the harmony (Ex. 6). A pedal is a repeated series of the same note, sometimes played in octaves. The repeated bass line on the F pedal gives the soloists sonic space to create intricate lines on top.

  Ex 7

The ability to combine and alternate between inversions of triads will help you expand your bass lines and solos. Example 7 shows the F major triad alternating with the Eb major triad. Notice that the line starts with the root-position F triad, and moves to the 1st inversion Eb triad in bar 2 (G, Bb, Eb). In bar 3, the F triad is played in the 1st inversion (A, C, F). In bar 4, the Eb triad is in the 2nd inversion (Bb, Eb, G). The triads alternate, and the inversions also alternate between root position, 1st inversion, and 2nd inversion, all the way up and down the neck.

Example 8 starts on the low F, and then jumps to the 2nd inversion of the Eb triad. In bars 2 and 3, notice that the line alternates using only two notes from the Eb triad with two notes from the F triad. This variation still outlines the sound of the alternating triads by using only two notes from each triad in succession.

  Ex 9  Ex 10

In a similar style, Ex. 9 alternates between two notes of the F triad and two notes of the Eb triad. Example 10 begins on a high F and alternates between inversions of the F triad and Eb triad down the neck.

The line in Ex. 11 is rhythmically broken, but still uses alternating triads.

See if you can find other combinations of triads that can describe complicated chords containing 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths. Look at the following chords and see if you can find combinations of two triads that you could play over them: Cm7, Cmaj7# 11, C7# 9# 11, C7b9b5. Next time, we will dig deeper into triad pairs. Until then, keep the passion.