Quickest method to walking bass lines...

[billoetjen]

Hi,

If I saw this post my own first impression would be something like: "lazy slacker..."

BUT, I've been making glacial progress developing walking lines for a list of jazz standards (actually more like the Great American Songbook). And I'm looking for a method that I can apply to almost any of them that'll give me a faster learning curve. Chord-based. Tasteful, and acceptable. I'm not looking to be remembered for my playing, or win an award. Just get by and keep the pulse and support the song.
Flame me if you must.
My grounding in theory is pretty solid.
Thanks in advance.
PS - please to excuse me if this has all been covered a million times.

[Eminentbass]

Hey, a good place to start is chord tones linked with chromatic approach notes a semi-tone above or below, even if you just use the chromatic notes to approach the next chord. It makes the line sound less scalar and more authentic IMO. There's also nothing wrong with occasionally walking on one chord tone for a few beats.

[Bassman Bender]

Pick up a copy of Ed Friedland's book "Building Walking Bass Lines." It comes with a cd and should be just the ticket.

[Muaguana]

I'm still working on my walking, but taking lessons with a jazz player and taking jazz improvisation class for two semesters taught me a couple of tricks. One, the more tunes you learn and analyze the quicker the next one will be. Two, knowing what the chords are and the rhythm of the changes is vital. Play the chord progression as arpeggios, first in root position, then in the three inversions. Once you get the sense of how it sounds and know where the roots, thirds, fifths, and sevenths are (vaguely) you can start walking.

Start out with two notes per bar, and focus on connecting each chord by a step or half step. Then do four notes per bar, trying to avoid leaps as much as possible. It takes time and it's not easy, at least for me, but hammering the rhythm and sound of the chord progression into your head makes keeping your place a lot easier.

[Chrispurchase]

Ed's book is fantastic and i'd highly recommend it.

Someone on this forum recommended this book to me:http://www.jazzbooks.com/mm5/merchan...Category_Code= Which I found quite good, it by no means will make you an expert it will give you a couple basic patterns to get started.

But obviously the best thing you can do is take lessons, along with transcribing.

[powerbass]

There are a few basic walking techniques: scales, chord tones and chromatic. You can mix and match these. If you look at a chord progression the notes you play are like stepping stones across a stream, some steps are more direct and may be more comfortable (sound better). Check out the DB side of TB Theory Forum FAQ and Links

[odin70]

If you know your chord tones. Transcribe. You dont need books if you can transcribe what the masters have done.

[Eminentbass]

Originally Posted by odin70

If you know your chord tones. Transcribe. You dont need books if you can transcribe what the masters have done.

To add to this if I may, the Aebersold play along series is great for this and Rufus Reid's walking on the tracks is superb. The cds come with charts and melody transcriptions, so the changes are there in black and white which makes it easier to hear, transcribe and analyse the basslines. I mainly use the tracks for their intended purpose, which is to practice improvisation and reading the heads(I have the trombone edition which features this in bass clef) but this is an added bonus.

[Billnc]

eminentbass's posts saved me a lot of typing. +1

[MalcolmAmos]

Yes chord tones and pentatonics. Now how much of the chord's tones or the pentatonic's notes you use - that's what is important. Some time all roots are enough, some time not.

Takes a lot of study, listening and playing.

Have fun.

[Ed Fuqua]

BigEgoHead's shameless self promotion, but BASS WORLD (magazine of the International Society of Bassists) had some nice things to say about it....

[billoetjen]

Hi Ed.

I have Ed Friedland's book, which I've found helpful. But it kind of takes off at a pace that is just beyond me. I know that it's a tricky balance (I'm a teacher by trade) trying to give a student enough to go on and at the same time pack enough content into the book that'll keep them busy for a long time. Friedland's book, for all its merit, frustrated me. I'll accept the responsibility for that. I'm an old guy and learning jazz seems not so different from learning a new language. Kids pick it up much faster.
From the preliminary reviews of your book, it seems that "Walking Bassics" might have been a better place for me to start.

[billoetjen]

How about this for a shortcut:

During a phrase in which the chord change rhythm is one change per measure, I just play the three chord tones (inverted or not) on the one, two, and three beats, then a leading tone (probably chromatic from above or below) on the four. Then, say, a linear scale walk moving from one phrase to the next. In the mix with a singer and keyboards, can I get away with that until I build more muscles?

[Eminentbass]

Originally Posted by billoetjen

How about this for a shortcut:

During a phrase in which the chord change rhythm is one change per measure, I just play the three chord tones (inverted or not) on the one, two, and three beats, then a leading tone (probably chromatic from above or below) on the four. Then, say, a linear scale walk moving from one phrase to the next. In the mix with a singer and keyboards, can I get away with that until I build more muscles?

That's one way to do it. The chromatic note leading into the next change is something I'm quite fond of. It also gives you the other three beats to use chord tones to state the current chord. I don't know about hard and fast rules but essentially it's good to state chord tones on the strong beats 1 and 3. That's how I like to do it at any rate.

And you don't have to limit yourself to triads when thinking chord tones, 7ths, 9ths and whatever other tensions specified on the chart might be included in that category when walking.

[Asher S]

Originally Posted by Ed Fuqua

BigEgoHead's shameless self promotion, but BASS WORLD (magazine of the International Society of Bassists) had some nice things to say about it....

+1, an excellent book.

The benefit of Ed Fuqua's book is that it's all-in-one, whereas Ed Friedland's is 2 separate books.

+1 also to transcribing from the greats, then play along with the same recordings.

[billoetjen]

I just ordered both "Walking Bassics" and "Bass Lines in minutes" from Bass Books. I figure that even if I'm past the latter, there's some stuff I've missed along the way. It'll be interesting.

[Phil Smith]

Originally Posted by billoetjen

Hi,

If I saw this post my own first impression would be something like: "lazy slacker..."

BUT, I've been making glacial progress developing walking lines for a list of jazz standards (actually more like the Great American Songbook). And I'm looking for a method that I can apply to almost any of them that'll give me a faster learning curve. Chord-based. Tasteful, and acceptable. I'm not looking to be remembered for my playing, or win an award. Just get by and keep the pulse and support the song.
Flame me if you must.
My grounding in theory is pretty solid.
Thanks in advance.
PS - please to excuse me if this has all been covered a million times.

Step 1 is knowing and being able to play all of the chord arpeggios/spellings i.e. Maj, min, dim, aug, sus, Maj7, min7, min7b5, etc. and their inversions.

Step 2 is to take the knowledge to from Step 1 and apply it to some changes i.e. a tune like Autumn Leaves. You can start out by playing the ascending arpeggio of the chords 1 3 5 7 for Maj, 1 b3 5 b7 for minor etc and then 1 7 5 3 or 1 b7 5 b3 which is the descending arpeggio. Once you can look at a chart an do that with good time at any tempo you can start making modifications to the two approaches above, one approach is to play on the fourth beat a note that is a half step above or below the root of the next chord.

Step 3 practice playing over many tunes, play with others often and play what sounds good.

[LARUMBLE]

TODD JOHNSON'S TRIAD MODULES/SCALE MODULES DVD OR BOOKS ONLY IF ON A BUDGET.

WWW.TODDJOHNSONMUSIC.COM

LEARN YOUR MODES.


IT TOOK ME 4 MONTHS TO GET GOOD AT,NOW I'M PLAYING IN A JAZZ TRIO,GETTING PAID

[mcm]

lose the books and work on your ear imo.