Walking bass lines in 3/4?

jeromebass · #1 04-14-2008, 11:34 AM

Anyone have some theory on building walking bass lines in 3/4 time? In 4/4 I usually hit chord tones on the first and third beats. Beats two and four are usually transition tones to get to the next chord. I use chromatic, dominant, or melodic transitions usually. I am not sure when to emphasize the chord tones in 3/4 though. I am assuming the first beat. Are beats two and three just kind of up for grabs usually?

BlackLake · #2 04-14-2008, 11:46 AM

here's something that might help you get started, take a basic 4/4 walk line, play it in 3/4 hitting the 4th beat of every bar on the 3&.

1..&..2..&..3...&..1..&..2..&..3..&
C......E.....G...A..Bb....A......G..E

This will atleast help you get into the 3/4 walk groove, you can advance it up later, try using triplets on the 3. Also using triplets on all three beats will give you a nice walkline, (although it will be a fast one)

Hope this helps a bit.

*sorry for the dots, only way I could get it to line up right.

Deacon_Blues · #3 04-14-2008, 11:47 AM

I don't see any big difference in note selection compared to normal 4/4 time. Root on 1 and chord or passing tones on the other beats. Or whatever fits.

Analyze Pat Metheny's "Minuano". That's a true masterpiece in 3/4 time....

MarkTAW · #4 04-14-2008, 12:23 PM

You don't have to hit the root on the 3, in fact it's a lot of fun sometimes to hit other chord tones to create inversions on the 3.

Classic waltz lines are to hit the root on the 1 and another note on 2 & 3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltz_(music)

jeromebass · #5 04-14-2008, 01:03 PM

Short and sweet. Thanks for the responses. I need to play around with it a while to get the feel of it.

BlackLake · #6 04-14-2008, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeromebass

Short and sweet. Thanks for the responses. I need to play around with it a while to get the feel of it.

You got that right, 3/4 has a very different feel to it, especially if you've only ever played 4/4.

A guitard friend of mine plays Fur Elise, and I constantly tell him he's playing it wrong, yet he has all the correct notes...what he's doing is actually playing it in 4/4 (totally kills the song IMO), he's semi-pro, yet he can't seem to get the whole 3/4 feel (I gave up - stupid guitard!).

Trauts · #7 04-14-2008, 04:19 PM

If you're good at rhythmic stuff you can try and play a two step feel under the three beats eg:
1---2---3---|1---2---3---|1---2---3---|1---2---3---|
C-----E-----|D-----G-----|E-----A-----|G-----D-----|

It can be a little tricky at first but often works (for a proper waltz feel stick to playing three beats though).

Montsegour · #8 04-14-2008, 04:22 PM

Hmmh, I never really practiced these things,
i don't know, is it just my sence or ears

Try playing songst that are in that rythm, i bet, you'll get it in a second

**Mark Wilson** · #9 04-15-2008, 09:07 AM

Generally, beats 1 and 2 are chord tones, and beat 3 is leading to the next chord.

Bill Evans : http://youtube.com/watch?v=57HnHX-BlRg
A lot of people : http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZoGtLq9Qx24

This tune, Someday my prince will come, is a standard in 3/4. A great tune to start!

on1ne · #10 04-15-2008, 02:05 PM

It's fun to play a blues in 3/4. Every now and then you run into one like All Blues (Miles Davis).

After we play the head I like to go into a walk. The only time i feel compelled to play the root is on the 1 of the first measure of each chord change, sometimes not even for that. For the other measures i like to use the 1's of each 3 count as a sort of anchor so that if you were to string all the "1's" together by themselves, you might hear a boogie line or some other variation of a standard blues bass line. So the -2-3 counts are walks that are incidental notes leading to the next "1" that is part of an overall riff. Don't know if this makes sense as i describe it but I think it sounds pretty cool when i do it.
I also like like to try accenting on the 2 or 3 occasionally which makes for a lot of fun if the drummer picks up on it.

jeromebass · #11 04-15-2008, 02:12 PM

I've played in alot of different time signatures. We do 3/4 (Bass) on top of 4/4 (Drums). Or we do 5/4 on 4/4. There are endless combinations and varieties it seems. It is just hard for me to get a good "walking bass" feel in 3/4. It seems forced. It's getting better though. I played some 3/4 tunes last night for about 30 min or so. My goal is to be able to pick any random song out of the real books and walk on them.

on1ne · #12 04-16-2008, 08:12 AM

Yes ultimately the best thing is to just keep doing it and you will get better and more relaxed and more walking lines will come to you.

Growing up i listened to a lot of Dave Brubeck. He likes to experiment with odd time signatures. The Time Out and Time Further Out albums are good examples. His bassist (URB), Eugene Wright, is fluid in 3, 5, and many other time sigs. Great stuff to listen to and it opens your mind to these ideas.