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Building Walking Basslines Lesson 1
- Thread starter Pbassred
- Start date
Anybody still working with this book? I've been doing other things for the last year or so. For one thing trying to get a better grasp on scales and arpeggios.
I guess I'm ready to start fresh with Ed's book. This time I should be able to navigate the neck much better.
Hopefully I'll have a little more discipline this time and incorporate this into my practice routine everyday for at least 6 months. I always find myself working on something for a month or so and then moving on to something else. Never able to perfect anything.
I guess I'm ready to start fresh with Ed's book. This time I should be able to navigate the neck much better.
Hopefully I'll have a little more discipline this time and incorporate this into my practice routine everyday for at least 6 months. I always find myself working on something for a month or so and then moving on to something else. Never able to perfect anything.
I'm on a 3 year program. I find Ed's book to be the best base for all the theory.
But since I'm such a noob I've supplemented it with Todd Johnson's 2 books/DVD -- which is more for a beginner player at my level. Ed's book combines a lot of information in one lesson. Todd breaks it down into more lessons with less 'new' information. And play it till it gets under the fingers. Ed's book goes pretty fast for me, so I kept going forwrd and comiing back and -- here's the gist, I was learening the lesson without setting up a frame of 'metadata' of here we are on this chord, moving toward this chord -- in my effort to 'get' the 'lesson', I was missing the underlying structure.
So it's all about the pace one can absorb this information.
May hurt as much as help, but I also look at Ed Fuqua's book and Jay Hungerford''s book and it does seem useful to understand the 'framework' for the lines they present.
But since I'm such a noob I've supplemented it with Todd Johnson's 2 books/DVD -- which is more for a beginner player at my level. Ed's book combines a lot of information in one lesson. Todd breaks it down into more lessons with less 'new' information. And play it till it gets under the fingers. Ed's book goes pretty fast for me, so I kept going forwrd and comiing back and -- here's the gist, I was learening the lesson without setting up a frame of 'metadata' of here we are on this chord, moving toward this chord -- in my effort to 'get' the 'lesson', I was missing the underlying structure.
So it's all about the pace one can absorb this information.
May hurt as much as help, but I also look at Ed Fuqua's book and Jay Hungerford''s book and it does seem useful to understand the 'framework' for the lines they present.
I'm about 3/4 through the book. Been working on it daily for about two months now. Don't know how much I'm retaining, but my eyes and ears are getting a good workout. I'll have to go back through this book a number of times, I'm sure.
Previously when studying the book, I would go back to the standards and play with just roots after I got through the root section. Then the same with root/fifth section etc.
This time I think I'm going to take more time over the basic blues patterns that are in the individual sections of the book. Probably loop them and just play over and over for long periods of time. Maybe trying different approach styles with the same loop. I find that sometimes I'd slip in a chromatic lead or double chromatic lead when I was studying the root/5th section. I'd try to suppress myself and stay on task of just root/5th, but I really think if it comes out naturally, without thinking, I should just go with the flow.
Anyway, it's good to hear you guys are still working on the book. Ed's instruction is great.
This time I think I'm going to take more time over the basic blues patterns that are in the individual sections of the book. Probably loop them and just play over and over for long periods of time. Maybe trying different approach styles with the same loop. I find that sometimes I'd slip in a chromatic lead or double chromatic lead when I was studying the root/5th section. I'd try to suppress myself and stay on task of just root/5th, but I really think if it comes out naturally, without thinking, I should just go with the flow.
Anyway, it's good to hear you guys are still working on the book. Ed's instruction is great.
Might want to go through ed friendlands bass method books 1-3 before walking bass if you want to get a better grasp on the beginner stuff.
Planning to return to it (it got too difficult at one point), after having been practicing play-alongs with written-out bass lines, mainly the Alfred Jazz Play-Along series, those seven books which exist not only for C, Bb and Eb melody instruments, but also for the rhythm section. Great stuff.
But I'm planning a lot of things for this summer... ay ay ay!
Just discovered this wonderful thread! I have started working on BWBL about six months ago, but I guess trying too hard to move forward caused too much frustration. So I'll go back and try out the idea of playing the standards in the back of the book "just" with the roots in all positions.
Thanks for all the advice!
Thanks for all the advice!
I'm no expert at walking lines, as a matter of fact I'm learning myself. I have found it very helpful to practice really basic concepts, like triads and in all inversions. Likewise with all seventh chords. You have to start a solid foundation before you build a house, same thing with walking bass lines. Though we (including myself) just want to grasp how to walk over changes, but we first need to develop a solid foundation at a basic level; such as knowing all your triads and seventh chords in all inversions. From there you can add permutations to make your lines more interesting sounding.
Just my 2cents.
Just my 2cents.
I agree that having a foundation in arps and scales would definitely be helpful for learning how to walk. But I designed the method to get you started without all the background info. Chapter 1 has nothing to do with scales and arps, it's simply a nuts and bolts way of constructing lines using basic R-5-8 with approach notes. No knowledge of harmony is required, simply target R-5-8 with chromatic, scale, or dominant approach. I realize that it's not as simple as it seems, but in fact all it requires is that you can find the individual notes on your neck. Of course, in 35+ years of teaching one constant I have found is many people don't know their fingerboard well enough to do this right away. So, while I certainly applaud any work you do regarding scales, raps, inversions... to absorb the first half of the book what you need is the basic fingerboard skill of knowing where the notes are (which can certainly be improved with learning scales, etc.).
The second half gets into using scales, arps, chromatic runs... and that is where I start introducing basics of harmony, and it goes much deeper when you get into book 2 (Expanding Walking Bass Lines). But trying to get through Book 1 without knowing your fingerboard will be very frustrating and slow - I've seen it unfold that way many times.
So.... how do you learn your fingerboard you ask? Well, besides all the high quality instruction you can already find for FREE on teh internetz from a plethora of experts....:roll no:
I have an old video on my Bass Whisperer Youtube channel called "Fingerboard Discovery", as well as several lessons on the Bass Emporium website - scroll through the "News" tab and you'll find 11 lessons, many of them dealing with fingerboard awareness through scales, and arps.
Good luck with the book. Be patient. This is not just a musical technique, you are learning a way of thinking and creating music... it's going to be about a year until this stuff becomes part of your fiber.
The second half gets into using scales, arps, chromatic runs... and that is where I start introducing basics of harmony, and it goes much deeper when you get into book 2 (Expanding Walking Bass Lines). But trying to get through Book 1 without knowing your fingerboard will be very frustrating and slow - I've seen it unfold that way many times.
So.... how do you learn your fingerboard you ask? Well, besides all the high quality instruction you can already find for FREE on teh internetz from a plethora of experts....:roll no:
I have an old video on my Bass Whisperer Youtube channel called "Fingerboard Discovery", as well as several lessons on the Bass Emporium website - scroll through the "News" tab and you'll find 11 lessons, many of them dealing with fingerboard awareness through scales, and arps.
Good luck with the book. Be patient. This is not just a musical technique, you are learning a way of thinking and creating music... it's going to be about a year until this stuff becomes part of your fiber.
Great advice. I'm sure I'll be busting out his first book today and shedding for many hours. I have a lot of resources, but not quite as good as this.
Ed knows what he's talking about. Not only has he had fine teachers, but he is a gifted teacher himself. Teaching is not just inparting knowledge, it about being guided by understandable steps through a maze of information. His books and videos are excellent. The last line of post #371 is gold. This will take time. Learning is a process, not an event.
