The Key of E at the Electric Bass Seat

Called in E, a tune has E – F#m – G#m – A – B – C#m – D#° available to it before anybody substitutes anything; the parallel minor, E minor, offers Em – F#° – G – Am – Bm – C – D instead. The two-five-one that closes most choruses is built out of three of those seven.

The electric bass seat carries the amplified bottom — the same harmonic duty as the upright, played with a fingerboard that answers back and a sustain the room can hear over a backbeat. The chord tones are the same ones the upright would choose; what changes is that a note can be held through the bar instead of dying, so a line can lean on a chord rather than announce it.

Learn where the ii, the V and the I fall in E until the hand goes there without asking, and the substitution rules become edits to something you already know rather than new material.