mjhjmtu

This post got me thinking about root movement. It has been said time and again that root movement of an upward fourth and descending fifth are particularly satisfying, and obvious choices when working towards good voice leading. But are there situations in which a bass that moves by step is more appropriate? Sequences like the one below are what mostly come to mind (C maj):

But I can think of other examples . . . what about the chorus of Changes by David Bowie?

It looks something like this (also in C maj):

And it certainly is amazing. But wouldn't traditional music theory have pushed him to write a bass line that looks more like this (forgive me if this doesn't look pretty):

If anyone could elaborate on this concept (namely, the various effectiveness of stepwise bass vs. bass lines that follow the circle of fifths), then I would be very appreciative.

Best,

286642

Both are nice. Both can be (and have been) used with the same root progression. Take the "La Folia" progression: i,V,i,VII,III,VII,i,V,.... One bass progression is 1,5,1,7,3,7,1,5.... Another is 1,#7,1,2,3,2,1,#7,1. The second case makes a nice discant to the first bass line.

Not a lot to say except that yes, V - I bass lines are good and strong, and so are stepwise ones. I wouldn't consider 'traditional theory' preferred one or the other.

Motion by fifth is much easier to manage in four voice harmony, if you are following the western-tradition voice leading rules. But stepwise motion is possible, with some caveats.

Stepwise motion with the root in the bass is problematic because it will usually result in parallel fifths, which are forbidden (and all over the place in your first example, by the way). In a typical IV-V progression, the upper voices move in contrary motion to the bass in order to avoid this. Just going up continuously is very difficult.

Stepwise motion is also do-able with the third in the bass, and doing this continuously is sometimes called parallel sixths. When voice leading with parallel sixths, you can even discard the customary predominant-dominant-tonic ordering, because it is considered sequential instead of progressive harmony.

Another possibility is stepwise motion in the bass where the bass note alternates in function. For example, Pachabel's Canon is written as a descending bass line where every odd-numbered chord is in root position and every other chord is in 63 position. This results in the sequence I V VI III IV I, which you may recognize from a whole bunch of other songs. This sequence is sometimes called "Descending 5-6 syncope" because it descends and alternates between 53 and 63 chords.

There are ascending versions as well (for example, Tiptoe through the Tulips).

But just straight chords up and down the scale with the bass in the root? Pretty rare. From a voice-leading perspective, very hard to pull off.

In my experience and training, the circle of fifths progressions are more important in the overall chord progression. However, you can have good circle-of-fifths progressions and still have very smooth step wise bass voice leading by using inversions (Bach seems to have been excellent at this). I was taught to make the overall root harmonies follow circle of fifths, but make the vocal parts have smooth leading.

Hope this helps.