Groundwork · Ed The Wave
The bass line that holds everything up.
A chord progression generator built on ground basses, historical dances and continuo patterns, in every key, with MIDI export straight to your DAW.
The instrument
Groundwork
Preparing the instrument…
Groundwork
Pick a ground, dance or continuo pattern, vary it in any key, and export the bass and chords as MIDI for your DAW.
Guitar · standard tuning
Make your own ground Type a chord chart, start from a pattern, or import a MIDI file
Write one bar between each |. Use chord symbols, slash chords or Roman numerals. You can also import MIDI or start from the current pattern. Saved grounds stay in this browser only; copy the chart somewhere safe to keep it.
Piano roll
Blue is the ground bass, orange the chords. Click to play from that point. Space plays and stops, ← → step through the chords, L toggles the loop.
How a ground works
A ground is a short bass line repeated under changing music above it. Chaconnes and passacaglias are triple-time grounds; the passamezzo, romanesca and folia are older dance basses.
What it is
Long before the loop, there was the ground: a repeating bass line that players built on, varied and danced over for hours. Groundwork brings that tradition into your studio. Pick a ground, a dance or a continuo pattern, choose any key, and Groundwork generates the bass and the chords above it, ready to drag into your session.
It doesn’t stop at the Baroque. Groundwork also covers jazz, blues and pop progressions and son montunos. When you’re ready, you can build a ground of your own.
What it does
- Generates progressions from ground basses, historical dances and continuo patterns
- Covers jazz, blues and pop progressions and son montuno patterns
- Works in all keys
- Exports the bass and the chords as MIDI for any DAW
- Make Your Own Ground: design a repeating bass and build harmony on top of it
- Shows guitar fretboard diagrams for every chord, so guitarists can play along
Who it’s for
Producers who want progressions with real history behind them. Keyboardists and guitarists learning the foundations. Teachers who need examples in any key, on demand.