14 Piccolo Bass Chords You Need to Know in 2023 [With Diagrams]

If you’re interested in learning some simple piccolo bass chords, this post is for you!

Like I’ve mentioned before, the piccolo bass actually has the same standard tuning as the last four strings on a standard guitar.

And in my main piccolo bass article, I mention how this tuning is also the same as the standard bass, just one octave up.

In other words, if you are familiar with either the standard guitar or the standard bass, you will already know a bit about the piccolo bass, and these chord shapes will look familiar.

And if you aren’t familiar with the standard bass or guitar, don’t sweat it.

These piccolo bass chords will get you started on this instrument in no time.

C major

You form the C major chord with three notes – C, E, and G.

To play this chord, place your middle finger on the C note which is located on the 3rd string, 3rd fret.

Then place the index finger on the E note, 2nd string, 2nd fret.

Because there are only 4 strings and the options are limited, we will avoid the G note and we’ll repeat the C note on the 1st string, 5th fret with the pinky.

G major

The chord is made up of the G, B, and D notes.

First, we start with the root note. To play this note, place your index finger on the 4th string, 3rd fret.

The next note is G again, but one octave higher. Place your ring finger on the 2nd string, 5th fret.

The last note for this chord is B (major 3rd). To complete this chord, place your middle finger on the 1st string, 4th fret.

F major

The notes are F, A, and C.

You can find the root note (F) on the 4th string, 1st fret using the index finger.

The next note that we need is F again. Place your ring finger on the 2nd string, 3rd fret.

To complete this chord, place your middle finger on the 1st string, 2nd fret. That’s the A note.

A minor

The notes from which the chord is made are A, C, and E.

The best position for this chord is with the root note on the 4th string, 5th fret, starting with the index finger.

To play the next note, place your ring finger on the 2nd string, 7th fret. This is the A note again, one octave higher.

The C note (minor 3rd) is on the 1st string, 5th fret. There are two options regarding the fingering in the left hand.

The first option is by holding a bar over the 5th fret with the index finger. The second option is to play this note with the middle finger.

In this case, the second A note on the 2nd string will be played with the pinky.

D minor

The D minor chord is made of the D, F, and A notes.

To play this chord, place the middle finger on the 3rd string, 5th fret. That’s the D root note.

To play the minor 3rd (F), use the index finger on the 2nd string, 3rd fret.

To complete this chord, place your pinky on the 1st string, 7th fret.

This chord is one of the most difficult in this guide due to the distance between the middle finger and the picky.

E minor

This is the easiest open strings triad where only the middle and ring fingers are used.

The notes are E, G, and B.

The E root note is on the 4th string open.

Тhe next E note, place the middle finger on the 2nd string, 2nd fret.

The minor 3rd is on the 1st string open.

C minor

The difference between the C major and the C minor is only one note – for the chord to be minor, the E note becomes Eb.

This change does not affect the position much.

The root note remains on the 3rd string, 3rd fret with the middle finger but the new Eb note is now one fret lower – 2nd string, 1st fret. Use the index finger for this note.

Lastly, to complete the chord, place the picky on the 1st string, 5th fret. That’s the second C note.

This chord is played in the same way as D minor with the only difference being in the starting fret.

The same goes for the rest of the minor triad chords. The root note is on the 3rd string (Bb minor, B minor, C# minor, Eb minor, etc).

G minor

This chord has the same shape as the A minor. The only difference is that the root note here is on the 4th string, 3rd fret.

Continue by placing the ring finger on the 2nd string, 5th fret.
The minor 3rd (Bb), is on the 1st string, 3rd fret. You can use either the index or the middle finger.

All other minor triad chords with the root note on the 4th string are played in the same way. Again, the difference is only in the position on the root note (F, F #, G # / Ab, etc).

C7

This chord is much easier to play compared to the C major triad because we don’t have to stretch the pinky (that’s a relief).

To play this chord, start with the middle finger on the 3rd string, 3rd fret.

The E note will remain on the 2nd string, 2nd fret with the index finger.

The new note is Bb. So place your ring finger on the 1st string, 3rd fret.

The same goes with the rest of the dominant (7) chords where the root note is on the 3rd string.

G7

However, the situation with the G7 (compared to the G major triad) is very different.

To play the G root note, firstly place your index finger on the 4th string, 3rd fret.

Then place your middle finger on the 2nd string, 3rd fret for the F note.

And lastly to play the B (major 3rd), place your ring finger on the 1st string, 4th fret.

D minor 7

There are two options for this chord.
The first one is to play the root note with the middle finger on the 3rd string, 5th fret.
In this case, use the index finger to play the F note on the 2nd string, 3rd fret.

Lastly, play the C note by placing the ring finger on the 1st string, 5th fret.

The second option is when you use the ring finger for the D root note. In this case, use the index finger for the F note and the pinky for the C note.

A minor 7

This chord is very easy to play.

It can be played simply by covering all strings on the 5th fret with the index finger.
Only avoid the 3rd string (A) because we already have that note on the 4th string, 5th fret.

So for an alternate option, use the index finger for the A note, the middle finger for the G note, and the ring finger for C.

E major 7

To play this chord, place the middle finger on the 3rd string, 7th fret.

Then place the index finger for the G # note (major 3rd) on the 2nd string, 6th fret.

Finally, place the pinky on the 1st string, 8th fret to play the Major 3rd interval (D #).

B major 7

The complete the last chord of this guide, place the index finger for the B root note on the 4th string, 7th fret.

Use the middle finger on the 2nd string, 8th fret to play the major 7th interval (A # / Bb).

To play the last note from this chord (D #), use the ring finger on the 1st string, 8th fret.

Piccolo Bass Chords: Conclusion

I hope this article has helped you understand the basics of some piccolo bass chords.

If you have questions about this instrument or these chords, let me know in the comments!