Reminder...
In a great blues band it's All For One and One Four Five

Mrs. Sippi Jon Hurt

You are correct, Daniel.

However, rightly or wrongly (probably wrongly), I notated those last two chords because when I was taught the line, one of the strongest and simplest turnarounds I was taught was that the last two bars could be played (in the bass) as G G C C F F D D (even though F is not technically correct for the key of G). Try that as the bass turnaround and it has a nice "bouncy" feel.

So, my idea was to keep the current turnaround as written with the descending bass line walking down to G at the end and essentially treating the bass notes in that part of the piece as not being part of the chords, but being more like passing tones. So In the last two bars, I ignored the bass and threw in rootless G C F D to mimic the other simpler turnaround. The top three notes of the second to last chord are ACE which are the 3rd, 5th, and 7th of Fmaj7 and the top three of the last chord are A, C, and F# which are the 5th, 7th, and 3rd of a rootless D7. Again, your notation works too and may be far more correct than mine.

As I noted in previous posts, I would like to hear feedback from folks if you think this sounds better with more dominant 7 chords subbed in for some (or all) of the diatonic chords I have used. I think that might result in an overall bluesier sound and feel, but I dunno.......

Recently I went back to Brett B's older post about Jeff Berlin's "perfect walking bassline" and re-noticed the similarities between what George L. taught me and what Jeff B. wrote. Of course, both Jeff and George taught at Musician's Institute in the 80's so there likely was some cross-pollination / shared ideas. If transposed to the same key, I bet Jeff B.'s line could work as a variation of George's or vice versa......

Thanks for the constructive criticism, Daniel. Us Cary-based Stickists have to have each others' backs.....

Okay Steve. This is some subtly clever blues. Be careful! Take this a bit further and it might become jazz.

Mr. Hare, thanks from your response. When I get a chance I will actually play this. I don't think I was so much criticizing as asking for help clearing up my own confusion. You definitely appear to know your way around formal composition. It's neat to see chords with implied roots. This isn't something I had been familiar with before.

No worries. Absolutely no offense taken. Questions force me to re-think my own thinking and root out things that lead me into mistakes. That's the only way you learn and get better. I am thankful when anyone takes the time to even look at my posts, much less take the time and trouble to provide feedback.

And I cannot take credit for the idea of using rootless chords in the right hand. See Greg H.'s "Two-Handed Blues Progression" on Page 4-6 of The Stick Book Vol. I in which he uses rootless Dom 7th chords throughout a blues progression. This is also why I think more Dom 7th chords might work (or even be preferable) in the piece I posted too.

As far as any alleged "knowledge" I may appear to have, I'm just like everybody else: I'm making it all up as I go along!

My vote for song of the month: Gee Low Jazz Blues. Post your version of the song here

So I reread the page 4-6 and as I remembered, each time a chord is introduced, the bass is playing the root. Playing rootless chords as your page shows, is a variant much like Josh Goldberg's Cell Bass variant on the Compass Bass system - a happy accident.

By my reading, you follow the bass-root rule up until the last 3 chords and then break formation playing over the 3rd, and the 6th during a walkdown.

I finally got my Stick out to play this and found some personal choice differences. I seemed to like it better in the natural key signature than as written. This is merely preference. In doing so, I found Gmaj7 -> G7. D dom7 -> Dmin7. Bmin7 -> B7 half diminished.

By changing the key signature, the Gmaj7 (G7) becomes mildly tougher to play (10,12,11 instead of 10,12,12) but everything else becomes easier, including the stretched 8,10,12 you mentioned which becomes 8,10,11. The turnaround fingering also becomes easier, just slipping one fret on the highest string instead of re-fingering completely to accommodate a two fret motion. As I kept messing with it, I found I liked it inverted higher, moving the A to the top for both chords and distinguishing the sound difference in the middle of the RH triad (E to F). If you bar the B and E in the Cmaj7, the sliding between G7 becomes easier than trying to hit B and E with separate fingers.

Not being a blues aficionado, where did the iii, vi, ii and VII chords come from? It definitely works in the song.

I hope my liberties are taken well. It was interesting to decompose.

Somebody please post a video,. I would , but can’t play 4 sheet

Thanks for the feedback, Daniel.

So, if I'm understanding you right, you found the piece played better overall if transposed to C instead of being in G? Did you transpose all the chords and the bass line or just selected parts? For example, did you just alter the chords that you noted (ie. Gmaj7 becomes G7, Ddom7 becomes Dmin7 etc.) or did you transpose the whole thing to C ???

I'll have to sit down and analyze.....cool ideas on your part all the way around....thanks for taking the time.

As far as your other comments go, my idea of deviating from the rules in the last couple of bars (i.e. having the walking bass part not be the roots of the chords) was simply to try to make it sound more interesting as you do the turnaround and head back to the top. One way to build excitement is to set up a rule and then pick the right spot to deviate from it (sparingly). I don't know if I succeeded or not, but that was the idea.

As to where the ii, iii. iv, etc chords came from, I was just being rigid in sticking to diatonic chords in key of G major. Again, simple-minded on my part and there are very likely variations and other choices that may sound / work better - seems like you have found some of those already!

I literally just replaced the F# with an F natural, which isn't so much transposition but substitution I think. I'm thinking I might try to find some time tomorrow to record both versions. They may be rife with mistakes and pauses, but it might help us and Markussz communicate. Thanks for the starting off point.

I hope you don't mind, I took a run at this and put a quick solo over it. Pretty much ruined your line probably. Ahhh well. lol enjoy anyways.

http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=225060