Unfigured bass
![Even though almost every bass note in this figured bass part is figured (i.e., almost every bass note has numbers and/or accidental symbols underneath it to indicate the harmony), the last three bass notes are unfigured. A continuo musician playing keyboard would assume these to be the bass notes of root position triads.](/Images/godic/202502/18/Purcell_diatonic_chromaticism5739.png")
Unfigured bass, less commonly known as under-figured bass, is a kind of musical notation used during the Baroque music era in Western Classical music (ca. 1600–1750) in which a basso continuo performer playing a chordal instrument (e.g., harpsichord, organ, or lute) improvises a chordal accompaniment from a notated bass line which lacks the guidance of figures indicating which harmonies should be played above the bass note (see figured bass). Figured bass parts have numbers or accidentals below the bass line which indicate which intervals above the bass should be played in the chord. However, not all basso continuo parts from the Baroque period were figured.