¿Walking Bass lines?

[SMaubass]

I often see this phrase come up here... but I have no idea what it is; any help would be great

[CBRXJ]

I think you can find some examples here. Free Online Bass Lessons - Scott's Bass Lessons

[countrybass007]

Grab some country swing albums, like Asleep at the Wheel, lots of good examples of walking bass lines. (Oops, I mean CDs)

[SMaubass]

thanks guys, Ill look into both the things you mentioned

[MalcolmAmos]

Walking bass line = movement.

Now movement to the next chord is what people are talking about when they say walking bass line, i.e. you walk (move) to the next chord.

Yes Country does this all the time. In C with a C, F, G7 chord progression. You are playing under the C chord and want to get to the F chord. Target the F note then miss it by three frets. Then walk to the F one fret at a time. How about C#, D on the 4th string, jump to the 3rd strng for the E and land on F for the chord change. OK you have finished with the F chord and need to get to the G chord. Back up one fret - E, F, F# and land on the G. Time to move to the C chord. Target it - miss it by 3 frets - which ones would you use? That D# looks like a straight shot to the C. But, that is not your only choice. Which would you use? How about the A on the 4th string?

Recaping: Target the next root, miss it by 3 frets, then walk to it and be on it for the chord change. Piece of cake once you get comfortable with leaving early and nailing the next root in time for the chord change.

OK that's one way. Here is another. Use secondary dominants. You are playing the Cmaj7 chord bass line R-3-5-7 and it's time to move to the F chord. What is the dominant note in the F chord? It a C note. Change your last bass line from R-3-5-7 to R-3-5-8 then start with your bass line for the F chord. Why 8? In the above case 8 is another C one octave higher and dominants like to move to their tonic in this case the F. So the 8 pulls you into the F chord.

All kinds of other things that can be done. Ed' book Building Walking Bass Lines is a good place to start.

Have fun.

[Ed Fuqua]

Kind of NO. When someone says "walking bass" they are primarily referring to the bassist playing 4 quarter notes to the bar (in a bar of 4/4). This was to differentiate the change in feel from two beat or half note feel.
There are a variety of ways to approach note choice. But the whole idea is to keep the chord progression moving forward, the "walking" is the rhythmic element.

[avvie]

Originally Posted by countrybass007

(Oops, I mean CDs)

It's still an album.

ALBUM: A collection of songs or works

CD: a format in which the album is distributed.

[Johannes Oehl]

I have lots of written out walking bass lines on my website:

Start - johannes-oehls Jimdo-Page!