walk between notes

[tercelkisor]

Hi. ive been playing bass for about a year in my church. not as my primary instrument but i know where the notes are so i fill in if we have no bass player. Ive recently been offered a spot in a band so i wanna get a little better understanding on it. I know all the notes. the octoave up 2 strings, up 2 frets. I know the major scale. what i was wondering is what could i do between playing chords. say the song is in the key og c and i want to go from a c to a f. instead of just holding a c until the f i want to fill it with a walk up to f. I just dont know the rules and stuff. do i just use the notes in the major scale? what is the rule(s) for walking between notes?

[Exploiter8]

Hum the progression in your head, then play the notes you hum.

[tercelkisor]

so theres no rules or anything? i dont have to use a scale do move? i can just play whatever i want?

[Exploiter8]

I'm no pro. I've been in bands since the mid 70's when I started on drums. Realizing I had a better ear than the Guitarist and Bassist that started when I did, I picked up the bass, and taught myself how to play. I played out, doing covers and some originals, but nowadays I just get together with friends and jam! I've never LEARNED how to play. No reading, lessons, etc. I have a good ear and a good sense of timing. I'm sure there might be a method to my madness, but I've never approached playing that way. It's kind of like playing a kazoo. You don't have to know any rules, just keep things in the right key and time. To me, the creative process begins with hearing in my head what I want to play, then playing it.

...Or maybe I'm just a freak!

X8

[Crazyeelboy]

Originally Posted by tercelkisor

Hi. ive been playing bass for about a year in my church. not as my primary instrument but i know where the notes are so i fill in if we have no bass player. Ive recently been offered a spot in a band so i wanna get a little better understanding on it. I know all the notes. the octoave up 2 strings, up 2 frets. I know the major scale. what i was wondering is what could i do between playing chords. say the song is in the key og c and i want to go from a c to a f. instead of just holding a c until the f i want to fill it with a walk up to f. I just dont know the rules and stuff. do i just use the notes in the major scale? what is the rule(s) for walking between notes?

This will all pretty much depend upon the song, what your other bandmates are doing and the sound to want to effect. Experiment and try a number of things bit, but also remember that you might want to walk down as well as up.

[MalcolmAmos]

Originally Posted by tercelkisor

........instead of just holding a c until the f i want to fill it with a walk up to f. I just dont know the rules and stuff. do i just use the notes in the major scale? what is the rule(s) for walking between notes? -- lets change that to walking between chords.

Chord being used in the song is the C. OK bunch of things you can do. The notes of the C chord will be the Root, third, and fifth of the C scale. I think of this as being the R-3-5 now the song will probably be in 4/4 time so I'll need one more note - how about R-3-5-3.
Instead of strumming a C chord we will be building a bass line to use with the C chord. We play notes of the chord. Now how much of that will I use in my bass line? That depends on how much it will take to make the groove. Perhaps just roots so I play R-R-R-R. Perhaps R-5-R-5 will be best - it's your bass line do what you think best.

OK the F is next -- that generic R-3-5-3 will work on the F chord also you just have to know how to grab the R-3-5-3 for F. More on this later. Now when you get to the G7 the R-3-5-b7 will be your generic bass line.

OK how to walk to F - first understand you do not have to walk to F you could just go there. But walking to F is a neat way of getting there. Now it's very complicated - you target the F note and miss it. LOL Then walk up or down to it chromatically hitting it on the 4th note. Yep miss it and walk to it. Just work on your favorite progressions and see how to walk chromatically to the next chord's root - you want to be there for the 4th beat.

Here is how to find what will the R-3-5-3 for F be. http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showth...67#post9372867 Use the major scale box pattern and let it find the right notes for you.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by tercelkisor

i can just play whatever i want?

Eventually, yes.

[JTE]

Eventually yes, but there's the learning curve. For your example in the key of C going from C to F. Well, it's in the key of C so that means it's based on the C major scale. The notes between C and F are D and E so you would use those. Does Eb work? Well, that depends on the song, how fast you're playing that Eb, where you come from before it, where you're going after it, and ears of the listener(s).

This is where basic music theory can help you. Knowing it is in C helps you know that the E natural is more likely to sound "right" than Eb in this case. Then as you play, you'll hear what works and what doesn't.

John

[iiipopes]

Since you play in church, borrow one of your church's hymnals and start learning the bass lines that the organ pedals play and the choir bass men sing on the hymns. What good part writing does is exactly what you're asking: how to get from here to there on the hymn/praise chorus/anthem/etc. It's the same thing. Go purchase a College theory 101 book and sit down with it and the hymnal. These two resources will give you what you need to "fill in the gaps" and help lead your church/praise/worship group.

[Art Araya]

These are the notes you can you use:

1. chord tones
2. scale tones
3. non-scale tones (takes some musical maturity to pull this off tastefully so "avoid" these when first starting)

so in your example of a C chord moving to an F chord. Here are samples of the above approaches:

1. After playing the root (C) you can play an E or a G note before going to the F chord.
2. After playing the root (C) you can play D, then E, then land on the F for the F chord.
3. After playing the root (C) you can play G, Gb, then land on the F for the F chord

This is highly simplified. There are entire books on constructing bass lines.

Check out this page for more details: http://www.malletjazz.com/lessons/bassline.html

[S. Katz]

Start by building simple walking transitions between chords. If you are in 4/4 time (and you usually are), you will outline the first chord with the first three beats of the measure, and you will want to land on the root of the next chord in the first beat of the next measure. That leaves you the last beat of the measure to walk to the next chord. (Of course, you can always subdivide that beat if you want to walk using more than one note.)

The three most basic options for filling that extra beat (i.e., walking to the next chord root are):

1. Use successive scale tones to move up or down from measure 1, beat three to measure 2, beat 1.

2. Use successive chromatic scale tones to make the move.

3. Use 1 or 2 to surround the root you are targeting, and then hit it.

For Example, in the Key of C, move from Cmaj to Emaj: Measure one starts C - E - G. Measure two starts E - G - B. How do you walk from G to E, using the space of one beat (measure 1, beat 4)? You have several options. The most obvious is F. The two measures would be:

C - E - G - F | E - G - B - x
(the x is for what you do at the end of measure 2).

Another possibility (which I would prefer):
C - E - G - Gb,F | E - G - B - x
(i.e., play the Gb and F as eight notes)

A third:
C - E - G - F,D | E - G - B - x

These three possibilities are examples of 1, 2 and 3 above.

This just barely scratches the surface of walking, but it is a solid place to start. If you can work these three techniques into your playing you will cover a lot of ground.

[StuartV]

Get Ed Friedland's book Building Walking Bass Lines.

A couple of hours to read. Months (years? a lifetime?) to master.

[mambo4]

I could add, but really there is plenty for you to work with posted above.
Art Araya's post lays it out the best.
If you can get competent at 1.) and 2.) in his post, you will be 90% covered.

[Robert Spencer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--l53mSuSlM
PM Sent. Take care. Bob