Gradus — Figured Bass Preview

Realize a Figured Bass

Figured bass is the notation system of the Baroque — the composer writes a bass line, numbers indicate the intervals above it, and the keyboard player fills in the harmony. Every great composer from Bach to Brahms was drilled on it from childhood. Below are three exercises from Paul Vidal’s 178 Basses, used at the Paris Conservatoire for generations.

Choose an exercise:

Bass No. 1 — C majorDEO I: Root-position triads · 4/4

5
3

5
3

5
3

5
3

5
3

5
3

5
3

5
3

Add a soprano note: click a beat, then choose a pitch.

About These Exercises

Paul Vidal’s 178 Basses are the foundation exercises of the Paris Conservatoire harmony tradition. DEO I covers root-position triads: every bass note receives a 5/3 figured bass, meaning you build a complete triad above it. The soprano must follow good voice-leading principles — no parallel fifths or octaves, smooth stepwise motion when possible.

The full Gradus figured bass studio includes all 178 Vidal basses plus historical collections from Insanguine, Handel, Kellner, Ristori, and Mozart — with real-time voice-leading feedback for all four SATB voices.

Figured Bass Reference

Figure	Name	Intervals	Example (C bass)
`5/3`	Root Position Triad	1–3–5	C–E–G
`6`	First Inversion	1–3–6	E–G–C
`6/4`	Second Inversion	1–4–6	G–C–E
`7`	Dominant Seventh	1–3–5–7	G–B–D–F
`6/5`	V⁶₅	1–3–5–6	B–D–F–G
`4/3`	V⁴₃	1–3–4–6	D–F–G–B
`4/2`	V⁴₂	1–2–4–6	F–G–B–D
`#`	Raised Third	1–#3–5	C–E#–G
`9`	Ninth Chord	1–3–5–7–9	G–B–D–F–A

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