Walking Bass Line in A.

[afzoomie67]

So for bass lessons, my teacher asked me to come up with a walking bass line for our 12 bar blues jam. He's a guitar teacher, so he hasn't been able to teach me as much as a bass teacher would and I've been looking around for a walking bass line in A, and cannot seem to find one.

[Papa Dangerous]

Learn the patterns for major, minor, diminished chords, as well as all the sevenths necessary that fit the pattern of A, be it major or minor.

Play each note twice with a bit of a swing groove to give it that bluesy sound.

[electracoyote]

Originally Posted by afzoomie67

So for bass lessons, my teacher asked me to come up with a walking bass line for our 12 bar blues jam. He's a guitar teacher, so he hasn't been able to teach me as much as a bass teacher would and I've been looking around for a walking bass line in A, and cannot seem to find one.

Has he taught you how to construct a major scale and the intervals that lend themselves to a good walking bassline?

[Mushroo]

Hop on Youtube and learn some bass lines from your favorite blues tunes.

[Tanner5382]

Don't worry, there's some easy ones for you to do. You could start a line on the A position(5th fret) on the E string, then play a Db(4th fret) on the A string, followed by a E(7th fret) on the A string, then a F#(4th fret) on the D string, and then finally a G(5th fret) on the D string. Just move this pattern to the D and E positions when you need to, and you'll have a basic 12 bar blues bassline going. Also, I second what Papa Dangerous said about playing the notes twice to make it swing.

[Mushroo]

Originally Posted by Tanner5382

Don't worry, there's some easy ones for you to do. You could start a line on the A position(5th fret) on the E string, then play a Db(4th fret) on the A string, followed by a E(7th fret) on the A string, then a F#(4th fret) on the D string, and then finally a G(5th fret) on the D string. Just move this pattern to the D and E positions when you need to, and you'll have a basic 12 bar blues bassline going. Also, I second what Papa Dangerous said about playing the notes twice to make it swing.

Not to be a nerd but there is no Db in A. It's called C# and it is the 3rd degree of the scale (A-B-C#).

[Stick_Player]

How sophisticated are the changes?

Simple:

||: A7 | A7 | A7 | A7 | D7 | D7 | A7 | A7 | E7 | E7 | A7 | A7 :||

More complex:

||: A7 | D7 | A7 | A7 | D7 | D7 | A7 | C#m7 F#7 | Bm7 | E7 | A7 F#m7 | Bm7 E7 :||

Here's one I found in G. Transpose it to A.

[Tanner5382]

Originally Posted by Mushroo

Not to be a nerd but there is no Db in A. It's called C# and it is the 3rd degree of the scale (A-B-C#).

Yep, you're right! I wasn't even thinking in terms of scale as much as I was just notes on the fretboard. I tend not to think too much when I'm typing these posts. My mistake.

[Mushroo]

Originally Posted by Tanner5382

Yep, you're right! I wasn't even thinking in terms of scale as much as I was just notes on the fretboard. I tend not to think too much when I'm typing these posts. My mistake.

The only reason I'm being a nerd about it is that we're talking about the blues, sooner or later you're going to want to play that note flat or "blue" in which case it is definitely a C and not a Dbb.

[afzoomie67]

This helps greatly..I'm going to keep playing both patterns to get them up to speed. I greatly appreciate all of your responses and input.

[mntngrown]

Originally Posted by Mushroo

Hop on Youtube and learn some bass lines from your favorite blues tunes.

I know I am gonna get the major Slap Down for this cause I can't say for sure But
Blues is an aural tradition that evolved in the rural US south from African slaves and has other influences of minor import as well. The music followed the players,after abolition of slavery to available work, in places as dissimilar as Chicago Ill, Oakland Ca.Dallas Texas and on and on. Asking Albert King or Freddie King to chart their songs, I believe would have elicited really interesting consequences.
Really easy to simply "Listen" to the bass players for any of the Kings= BB Albert Freddie cause they did not tolerate any hacks as they were the money making/touring real deal.
In recent years players like Tommy Shannon w/SRV and Johnny B Gayden with Albert Collins are great listening lessons.
As a well known teacher said "you have to get off the page"
The blues is another classical music. Just listen and listen and..

[Deathblade Eric]

Once you've got your head around those, try this for a few common variations:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8453031/145a.pdf

For Blues walking, I've always broken it down into 4-note licks that can be joined together in various ways depending on where you're going next. After a while, you build up a personal library of these which help to prevent things getting dull & repetitive.

Pete.

[Already In Use]

I'll have a shot at this...All first position w/open strings...Easy.

A(open) C# E F# 2 TIMES...THEN A(open) C# E F# G F# E C# ONCE...THEN D(open) F#(2 fret e string) A B TWICE...THEN A(open) C# E F# TWICE...THEN E(open) G# B C# ONCE..THEN D(open) F#(2 fret e string) A B ONCE..THEN A(open) C# E F# G F# E C# ONCE

You can vary this up...12 bar blues it..run up and down the pattern with a blues scale. Hope I got that right!

[mntngrown]

‪John lee Hooker Boogie Chillen‬‏ - YouTube In "A" but not walking! But if you can't lock in to this tight then you should not procede to lesson plan B.
Go to you tube Roy Rogers after and see what top notch bass players do with it. Hint AAA D CC

[IncX]

you will get so many ideas from this song:

‪Sobakasu Bass‬‏ - YouTube

i believe its also in A ... the patterns are just crazy!

[MonkeyBass]

Instead of looking for a bassline, look for a bass teacher that can teach you how to make your own bassline. I know you said you're looking... but look harder!!!

[Stick_Player]

Originally Posted by IncX

you will get so many ideas from this song:

‪Sobakasu Bass‬‏ - YouTube

i believe its also in A ... the patterns are just crazy!

That "song" was gawdawful, worse that Rebecca Black's Friday.

[Deathblade Eric]

Originally Posted by IncX

you will get so many ideas from this song:

‪Sobakasu Bass‬‏ - YouTube

i believe its also in A ... the patterns are just crazy!

... on the other hand, you could just learn from these three examples of stark, raving genius:

Oscar Peterson, Count Basie & Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen - Slow Blues

Take NHØP's sublime bassline apart & you'll be all the better for it. It's a 'just' a simple C blues with a II-V-I turnaround, but...

P.

[afzoomie67]

Thanks to all who posted here giving me advice.. it helps a lot.

[DONZI97]

Check out the baseline in Johnny B Goode.....walking blues bass in A