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Figured bass
Baroque composers often wrote just a bass line with small numbers under it. The keyboard player read the numbers and filled in the chords on the spot. The numbers are called figures, and they all count up from the bass note.
Plain prints every note in black, without the color coding.
Listen
Play each example here, or download it as an MP3 (audio) or a MIDI file.
Numbers count up from the bass
- G major with G, B, then D in the bass: 5/3, 6, 6/40:09
Sevenths
- G7 with G, B, D, then F in the bass: 7, 6/5, 4/3, 4/20:12
Accidentals
- The A minor bass, realized: i – V4/3 – i6 – ii°6 – V – i0:14
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Free to use in your own lessons and practice. Made by the teachers at Tissimo.