Walking bass "licks" - some help for those new to walking bass lines

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by adbass

Thanks for posting. There are a couple things to be wary of here:

1.) Where's is your key sign, time sig and clef?

2.) I'd be careful of that D# on beat two of the first ii-V line. That is a note I would generally avoid. Did you mean:

D - E - F - F# to the G, like the one on the 2nd page, 4th system?

In my hundred or so transcriptions of PC, Ray Brown, Oscar Pettiford, Sam Jones I have never seen that line, and it kind of obfuscates the harmony of the minor chord.

3.) There's at least one instance where you start on a F over a G7 that don't really make sense to me given the way it resolves, not that that's generally a bad thing. The one I'm looking at is the 2nd page, 3rd system, 2nd bar. I think if you called that a Dmin it would make more sense.

The other lines look good though, at rough glance. Thanks for sharing.

i tried that D D# E F G thing and found that the D# worked ok as a chromatic passing tone......the F seems to resolve better to the G as an F# tho......not to hijack but i have a bunch of transcriptions i'd love to swap for those pc,ray brown,oscar pettiford,sam jones....if you are interested.......

[pbass888]

this is great . i really appreciate the fluidity in the rhythm changes, especially the flow of up and down lines in line 4 and 10. I have learned a lot from these lines (the ii-v's and the changes). thank you again much appreciated!

[pbass888]

Originally Posted by Jim Campbell

i tried that D D# E F G thing and found that the D# worked ok as a chromatic passing tone......the F seems to resolve better to the G as an F# tho......not to hijack but i have a bunch of transcriptions i'd love to swap for those pc,ray brown,oscar pettiford,sam jones....if you are interested.......

Jim lm just getting into bass after a 20 plus year hiatus and im transcribing. I will try to scan some of my lines in. I will post relatively easy stuff from jones, and heath as well as some stuff from rufus reid on his own and w/ aebersold.

[squirtle]

Thanks Toronto. I plugged each chord progression into my Band in a Box and loop them while playing the lines. Fantastic for reading practice and learning new lines for this beginner.

[bassman_al]

A quick but huge thank you from this electric string bass player who will never play upright (too old, not rich enough, car too small, just plain like to play electric) but who is in a steadily gigging jazz band with 3 guys who know a heck of a lot more than I do about jazz. So thanks Toronto for helping me catch up a little bit! And +1 on the sight reading, especially coming over from treble clef as a former and sometimes current trumpet player.

Me now on jazz bass, for anyone interested.

[WRBass]

Originally Posted by bassman_al

A quick but huge thank you from this electric string bass player who will never play upright (too old, not rich enough, car too small, just plain like to play electric) but who is in a steadily gigging jazz band with 3 guys who know a heck of a lot more than I do about jazz. So thanks Toronto for helping me catch up a little bit! And +1 on the sight reading, especially coming over from treble clef as a former and sometimes current trumpet player.

Me now on jazz bass, for anyone interested.

Very nice! So, just reading this thread made you that good?

[pbass888]

Originally Posted by bassman_al

A quick but huge thank you from this electric string bass player who will never play upright (too old, not rich enough, car too small, just plain like to play electric) but who is in a steadily gigging jazz band with 3 guys who know a heck of a lot more than I do about jazz. So thanks Toronto for helping me catch up a little bit! And +1 on the sight reading, especially coming over from treble clef as a former and sometimes current trumpet player.

Me now on jazz bass, for anyone interested.

like your bass on that what is it? it looks like one I saw jeff andrews with. P bass?

[touji]

Thank you so much!! As a complete novice, this will be so incredibly helpful!

[bassman_al]

Hey thanks guys. So no, the thread here was helpful, but I have been working for a couple years getting my jazz chops together. Still have a long way to go obviously. Took me a year in the basement with Autumn Leaves and some others until I was ready to try it in a group setting outside of the jazz workshop I was attending, and then a year of gigging with this current group to get to the point that I am at now. I am excited about learning more and more about jazz bass.

The bass in the video is my '72 P-bass. Usually I use my MIA '62 RI/AV Jazz bass.