Exercise

Bass 224 — Arpeggio 6/4, minor

Second inversion (6/4)E minor

Corpus id bass-224 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The arpeggio 6/4 in minor: the same standing harmony under a walking bass, closing back to the tonic it never really left.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4
Bass	E3		G3	B3	A3	B3	E3
Figures			6	6/4		#

The given bass and its figures (E minor, 4/4; ⌒ = tied from the previous note)

The model realization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2		bar 3		bar 4
Soprano	G4	G4	G4	A4	F♯4	G4
Alto	E4	E4	E4	E4	D♯4	E4
Tenor	B3	B3	B3	C4	B3	B3
Bass	E3	G3	B3	A3	B3	E3
Figures		6	6/4		#

The model realization (E minor, 4/4; ⌒ = tied from the previous note)

The bass climbs its own triad to the fifth and steps off into the cadence. Against the three preceding stages of 6/4 tension — appoggiatura, neighbour, passing — this one carries none: the stability hierarchy locates the chord, and the bass merely visits its rooms.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. Hold the right hand still through the first three figures and listen: the chord does not change, only its floor does. Carry it into A minor, B minor.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-224 — Arpeggio 6/4, minor. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-224

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-224

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