The Harmonic-Bass Divorce in Rock

Prior authors have identified cases of independence between melody and harmony in rock, dubbed the “melodic-harmonic divorce” (e.g., Temperley 2007). This article shows that a similar type of independence often exists between harmony and bass, which I refer to as the “harmonic-bass divorce.” I categorize instances of harmonic-bass divorce using the three types of melodic-harmonic divorce introduced by Nobile (2015): hierarchy, syntax, and loop divorce. Although the concept of harmonic-bass divorce intersects with extant theoretical constructs, I argue that viewing the bass and harmony as separate layers helps explain the organization of what might otherwise appear to be arbitrary chord extensions.