Walking Bass Line "Source Book"?

[RHFusillo]

Has anyone published a book of transcribed walking basslines by different bassists for different tunes?

I'm thinking of something like the "Charlie Parker Omnibook," except containing walking bass lines.

I have a good grounding in the theory and understand the value of transcribing things myself, but it would be nice to have a book to read through, to get some fresh ideas. I have David Overthrow's book and have ordered Ed Fuqua's book. But what I am thinking of is less "how to."

[Mike Arnopol]

Transcribe, transcribe, transcribe. You'll learn 10 times as much. When I was a kid, I'd transcribe the Ron Carter lines from the Abersold lp's. It was easy hearing the bass. As a matter of fact, I think Abersold sells transcriptions of them but don't buy them. Do it yourself. Then I started transcribing off regular records. Sam Jones, Andy Simkins, and Red Mitchell were my favorites for walking line construction. It helps your ears so much. By the time I was a senior in high school I had transcribed about half of LaFaro's stuff on the Vanguard sessions.

[fingers]

+1.

Yer profile doesn't give much info 'bout you. What level are you?

Transcribing can be pretty daunting to the beginner.

[RHFusillo]

Aebersold -- should have thought to look there myself. Thank you.

[wdave]

Here is something I posted a while back (post #2). It might be helpful to you. http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showth...t=#post7169573
Dave Little

[YamBass]

The best source for that type of things should be your ear training.

[petesenkowski]

Canadian bassist Mike Downes published this book a few years back. It contains some basic walking theory as well as side-by-side comparisons of bass lines to standards by bassists such as Paul Chambers, Ray Brown, Israel Crosby, et al.

http://www.mikedownes.com/bassLines.html

Thanks,
Pete

[chop_1992]

I have to agree with Mike that the best way is to "Transcribe, transcribe, transcribe," and you will indeed learn 10xs as much as if you just read it from a book.

That being said, I also agree with Peter that the Mike Downes book is fantastic. If you want to have a very thorough comparison of many different famous players, check out his book.

In this book, the lines on blues and rhythm changes are laid out with many players parallel on one page (all the lines in a row, like a score), and it is interesting to see how similar players like Pops Foster and Ron Carter actually are when playing a blues . . . it reinforces the idea that it is not what you play so much as how you play it . . .

So, I would get the Downes book, but also start transcribing lines that appeal to you.

[relacey]

I've got the Mike Downes book and I'd mostly agree with this recommendation. However, John Goldsby's book The Jazz Bass Book is excellent and one of my favorites. More than a collection of transcriptions, John takes a historical perspective on some of the great contributors to jazz bass with analysis of the styles and essence of their playing. I come back to this book again and again.

Todd Coolman has a couple of nice books of transcriptions too; Bottom Line the Ultimate Bass Line Book and The Bass Tradition: Past Present Future.

For me, the real fun is not in just copying the greats but figuring out why they played what they played when they played it. For that, Ed Fuqua's book, Walking Basics, The Fundamentals of Jazz Bass Playing, has served as a great starting point. The other book along these lines (basics not transcriptions) that I like is The Bass Line Book ~ a workbook by Arn Evans which may be out of print but you should be able to find with a little internet searching.

[chop_1992]

Thanks, relacy for mentioning The Jazz Bass Book. That is IMHO also a good book, and it does deal with a lot of bass lines, players, and various styles.

Another book that I would like to mention here is Bass Notes. This is my walking bass line transcription book. It's different from the other books suggested in this regard: I transcribed my own lines from the play-along CD, and I comment on what I play and why.

The Mike Downes book, or the Jazz Bass Book both deal with historically important, famous players. The Bass Notes book only presents my bass lines and analysis. (I ain't famous, but ya'll miss me when I'm gone ).

In Bass Notes, I give some brief rules about bass line construction and interpretation—very Aebersold-like—and then I have the exact transcriptions of 10 standards with my style of walking bass lines, plus a lot of my little tricks laid out for all to see. You can listen to the CD and follow along, play with the CD, or turn off the bass channel—you know the drill.

I've been posting here on TB way too much lately about all of my stuff—videos and the like, so I don't want to come off here with too much crass commercialism. But, as long as we are talking about bass line books . . . mine is certainly another one.

I have to go back to the post by Mike Arnopol and remind anyone who wants to really learn to play bass lines to transcibe a lot. Playing a decent bass line is not rocket science, but it is a matter of hundreds (more like thousands) of hours of playing, listening, playing listening.

[Jason Hollar]

I had one years ago called Bebop Bass or something like that. It had PC, Pearcy Heath, lots of blues & rhythm changes, etc.

Hmmm...have to dig around and see if I still have any copies from that....