Walk Ups and Walk Downs With Chords

[imaginaryrobots]

I've been learning bass using eMedia's Bass method for basic instruction.

and I've been rather stumped over the walk ups and walk downs.

i have a vague idea of moving up and down on a scale

but it feels unnatural trying to go all up a scale and down in a short time

main questions i have

could someone really explain this to me?
do i have to start from the root? and if thats the case how could i do a walk down to a root? if i must start from the root
or should i treat that like a slash chord and start from wherever i want and end with the root.

ughhh it just all gives me a headache.

[DudeistMonk]

Your post is a bit confusing...are you trying to write walking bass lines (ie: play jazz) or are you just running scales for practice purposes?

I'm going to guess the latter.

To do a walk down from the root to the root or up from the root to the root you use a second octave.

C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

the 3rd fret on your A string and the 5th fret on your G string are both C. So start at the low one and play the scale until you get to the high one then come back down....

-----------------2--4--5--5--4--2------------------
--------2--3--5--------------------5--3--2---------
--3--5---------------------------------------5--3--
---------------------------------------------------

C D E F G A B C C B A G F E D C

[JTE]

Are you wanting to walk up from the root of one chord to the root of the next? Like when the chord changes from C to G you play C D E F and land on G for the next chord? So, a G7 to C change you'd either go up G A B C or down G F E D C. Those are in the key of C.

So, in Bb going from F7 to Bb you'd play F G A Bb or F Eb D C Bb.

jte

[imaginaryrobots]

Ohhhhhhhhh. thank you both so very much!

sorry again for the confusion of it. thats pretty much how i felt about the whole walkup walkdown thing.

see what i was trying to do was make a walkdown happen with just one root

like somehow start middle c and get to middle c in 4 beats while trying to play notes decsending or ascending and doing it that way proved imposible since i was already way off from my root that going back to it would defeat the purpose of me walking down.

so walkdowns and walkups are transitions to other chrods. if i got it right.

thanks so much!

[slybass3000]

Ok I'll try to give you some examples with what you seem to be looking for.

Basslines have two very important aspects regarding harmony IMHO.
First define a chord quality and second connecting the roots properly.

So, depending on the duration of a chord and where it is going you have to make choices between diatonic and chromatic lines.

I'll use quarter notes examples in a walking bass fashion to show you some ways with scales.

If you have a C Major for two bars (8 notes) then you can go up the major scale to the octave above and make the line smooth because you land on the fifth(G) on the second bar which is recommanded.
If you start on the octave above and you want to go down,you won't land on the fifth but on the fourth(F) which is not the best note to define the chord of C. So by placing a passing note or chromatism you can land on the fifth on the second bar. On a C major chord the best passing note would be Ab just before the G and then finish the scale down (C-B-A-Ab-G-F-E-D-C).

If the chord only last one bar( let say C major to F major for example) then you do the exact opposite. You place a passing note on your way up (C#) on a C major(C-C#-D-E-F) or E on a C Minor (C-D-Eb-E-F). When you go down you don't have to add any notes because the appropriate scale will make you land on the next root (F).

I hope this will make sense in writing like this,

Good luck,


Sly

[OnThaCouch]

At the end of P&W rehearsal last week our keyboardist and drummer went into a gospel sounding vamp and I was told they were playing over the changes to one of the tunes but doing a walk down to the next change/chord.

Anyone have a video/audio clip of this type of thing? I think I understand what is being described, just would like to hear an example and see if it matches what I heard live last week. I would like to know how to do this.

Thanks.

[MalcolmAmos]

Don't have a video, so.....



Target the next root note - miss it - and walk up or down to it. Be there on the 4th beat.

Many ways to do this - pick your favorites. I to IV piece of cake If I is C then C#, D, up to E and land on F. IV to V take some thought - most of the time I'd just back up to E then F, F# and land on G. V to I couple of ways back I normally just sound the V then drop down a string and walk down (back) to the I.

Course I'm using "the box" and thinking interval numbers.
G-|----|--2-|----|--3-|--4-|----|----|
D-|----|--6-|----|--7-|--8-|----|----|
A-|----|--3-|--4-|----|--5-|----|----|
E-|----|-----|-R-|----|--2-|----|----|

I to IV..... If I'm on I (or R) then R# then R's 2, then R's 3, then R's 4 and you are on the IV. It's just a matter of working out your favorite movement patterns.

Good luck.

[Lakland55]

C Major scale, charted can look like - CMaj: CMaj: (forward and once backward)

[SLaPiNFuNK]

You need to have a great understanding of scales before you can start walking.