Chromatic Groove… in 7/8!

by Ariane Cap • 1 Jul 2026 — 1 minute read

Chromatic Grooves and groovin' in 7/8 (odd meter). We combine these two different gems in this lesson.

Get the TAB for this groove below

Chromatic grooves meet 7/8 — two ideas, one lesson.

I’ll show you a chromatic groove that adds color and edge to your lines, plus how to count 7/8 as quarter notes so it actually feels natural under your hands. Bonus: a famous bassist who used this exact groove in a well-known tune.

Chromatics are the notes outside the diatonic scale — the “wrong” notes that, played right, add tension and drive. They’re also one of the best ways to lock in your one-finger-per-fret technique.

7/8 – an odd meter – throws your body off at first. The downbeat lands earlier than you’re used to, and your internal clock will fight you on it. I’ll walk you through a few tricks to get it under your fingers fast.

Grab your metronome for this one.


 
 

Played on my Consat Marleaux Bass

Like chromatic grooves? Here is another!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bassist, author, educator.

Groove enthusiast and learning nerd.

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Hi. I'm Ari.

As a bassist, I have toured/played/recorded with a variety of rock, Jazz, and funk bands, I have worked with some incredible producers (Keith Olsen) and musicians (Paul Hanson, Muriel Anderson) and I toured Brazil with Stu Hamm as a duo.

 

As a bass teacher, I have taught at London Bass Day, Gerald Veasley’s Bass Boot Camp, SBL, Truefire, notreble… I even ran my own music school for a few years before gigs took me back on the road.

 

One thing to know about me is that I teach because I am absolutely fascinated with the learning process. And I am obsessed with helping others realize their musical potential.

 

When I started playing bass, I excelled very quickly because I had an amazing teacher who taught me using a powerful method. This method transformed my playing so quickly that I passed a bunch of high-level university auditions and even tested out of entire classes at university even though I had been playing for only a very short time.

 

That’s what, many years later turned into one of my books, co-written with Wolf Wein, called “The Pattern System for the Bass Player”. I created entire systems of learning based on some of these ideas and wrote books and created courses together with Wolf. Our bass books have sold over 30,000 copies and garnered rave reviews.

 

I started teaching online in 2009 and have embraced technology as a powerful learning tool since then, never losing sight of the importance of providing feedback and personalized guidance to learners.

 

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Faucibus tellus sem

Faucibus tellus sem interdum eget sed elit amet amet feugiat. Sed arcu amet nulla dui nibh at. Metus vitae ut ultricies lobortis in. Magna amet urna sed netus risus eget. Et ac ornare tempor sagittis suscipit est. Viverra quis amet blandit morbi id nibh viverra habitasse fusce. Quis at ipsum tellus nulla purus accumsan velit tempus etiam. Interdum vulputate phasellus ultrices adipiscing viverra senectus phasellus lobortis. Quam volutpat leo arcu vel adipiscing. Augue morbi venenatis et adipiscing risus diam eget.

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