Question:
I have a question about walking down and up on the guitar. I hear about these a lot from many guitarists. Can someone explain what it means?
Thanks
Tim
Answer:
That usually just means going up and down on the neck, usually through the use of a scale or mode.
Answer:
Just going all over the guitar in solos, scales and stuff.
Answer:
maybe he means like walking bass lines, then iw would be playing a bass line wihle playing either a solo or riff stuff.
Answer:
Originally Posted by jamforchrist123 maybe he means like walking bass lines, then iw would be playing a bass line wihle playing either a solo or riff stuff.
What I mean is walking up and down the guitar with chords. I am not sure about walking if I am playing for example, in G. So the chords in a song will most likely be G, Em, C, D which are the 1st (major), 6th (minor), 4th (major), and 5th (major). So how can I use walking up or down to make the chord progression sound good, say going from the chorus to the verse.
Answer:
"Walking" is not a technical term except when referring to bass lines (and even there it's sketchy), so there's almost no way anyone can define it for you. It's like asking what a riff or lick is. There's no technical definition that can be explained. My best guess is that you are thinking about playing chords as barre chords moving up the neck. Of course you could also be simply referring to a bass line being played underneath the chords.
Try playing these examples and see if either one seems like what you mean:
Play these chords in order:
G - 320033
Csus2 - x35533
Dsus2 - x57755
C - 8 10 10 9 8 8
G - x 10 12 12 12 x
Play these chords in order (in drop-D):
D - xx0232
A - x02220
Bm - x24432
F#m - 444222
G - 5x0003
D - 000232
G - 5x0003
A - x02220
PS - Those are basic chords for Pachelbel's Canon in D. The drop-D is so you can play the low D bass note.
The song Jesus, You Alone also uses a bass line underneath the chords, but I don't remember the chords.
Answer:
Taking the chords you mentioned:
G, Em, C, D
You can incorporate both slash chords (compound chords that have an upper harmonic component and a bass note that is not the tonic) and inversions to give the progression a moving or walking feeling.
G - D/F# - Em - G/D - C - G/B - (Am) - G
Your bass notes will be descending as follows:
G - F# - E - D - C - B - A - G
A nice diatonic major scale, yes?
The upper chords will be:
G - D - Em - G - C - G - (Am) - G
I added the Am to complete the pattern. You could also use a D7/A in place of the C. The dominant V7 chord over the 2nd note of the scale will beg to be resolved to the G major I chord.
Is that sort of what you're looking for?