Building Walking Basslines Lesson 1

[cb56]

I'm assuming we are talking about Ed Friedland's book here.
can I make a suggestion? If you are not up to speed with reading standard bass clef, get Ed's bass method books (Hal Leonard pub.) and work through that first. I have the book that has vol. 1,2 &3 combined. Great for getting your reading and basic theory up to snuff. Also, Vol. 3 has some studies that will help lead you into his walking bass book. This is a fun well thought out book that makes learning these things EASY..... (with practice).. and the play along tracks are great/fun/enjoyable!

 

[MalcolmAmos]

....... My folks raised me on Bluegrass and I was taught to think in those "chord tone intervals numbers"... and still do to this day.

Do you play using both methods, sight reading AND chord tone interval numbers? Talk to me a little more on what type of music you play and which method do you use. That's my point, I know how to read standard notation, and this book will let me practice this skill. No question I can use the practice - as everybody needs to read and play to keep the rust off, however, if I can not find any bass clef sheet music, on the music I play, what is the need other than keeping a skill alive.

My subconscious does call this cheating, but, if I can not find any sheet music for Country that has the bass clef why am I beating myself around the head and face?

I guess I need to be told it's OK to play from chord tone interval numbers..... and then zero in on gathering new and exciting patterns. Accept the fact that there are two ways to play, chose one, and get on with it.

 

[cb56]

......I think this book is good for beginners practicing sight reading from the staff which most TBrs agree is major importante. No? I think just refering to the R,3,5,7,8 is cheating.........

IMO both are important. btw I'm still working on both, so I'm no expert. But if you are playing a jazz gig. (and I hope to some day) Chances are you will need to build walking lines using only a lead/chord sheet. No written out bass lines. So you will need to think in terms of chord tones, root 3rd 5th etc on the fly without actually thinking about what note you are playing. If you stop to analyze what's going on, the music will fly by too quick. Kinda like trying to figure out how and why the brakes on your car work instead of just stepping on the pedal.
Once again, IMO Others may differ.

 

[cb56]

.....
My subconscious does call this cheating, but, if I can not find any sheet music for Country that has the bass clef why am I beating myself around the head and face?.....

I agree, no sense beating yourself up over any of this that's for sure. I don't have a whole lot of call for note reading these days either other when I'm playing in the church band and I get to play the bass(vocal) part on a hymn. But I think any music skill you have is worth keeping in shape because you never know when you'll need it.
I played country in a band for years and also played at a country music theater where we had to learn new tunes every week! (and yes you will play some walking bass lines in country) We never had any sheet music so I just played it all by ear. Some folks used the nashville number system which assigns number to the chord progression. Really, IMO (again) anyway you get the music to come out of your instrument and sounding good, is not cheating.

 

[Lambic]

...Accept the fact that there are two ways to play, chose one, and get on with it.

Let's not head towards the false discussion about reading music, a discussion that's often polarised into "you need to read music to be a good musician" vs. "you do'nt have to read music to be a good musician". Once, a drummer, whose name escapes me, said something along the lines of "I can't read notes, and I know I'm a good drummer. But I also know that if I could read notes, I would be an even better drummer''. Reading notes can take away focus on making music, not reading notes can hold you from discovering magnificent books and parts full of interesting stuff. I'm reading notes since I was seven, but when playing bass I sometimes like to have that tab underneath, as a kind of fingering hints, because it's not always easy to pencil in fingerings an accurate way, in order to find them when coming back to the part, thus not having to think too long about "How did I play this again?" Knowing how to use more than one approach (as well technically as theoretically) is a big plus, even if some approaches don't appeal as luch as others. Again an example from the drummers' world: bass drum with heel down vs. heel up. If you master both, you'll go a lot further!

 

[Febs]

Do you play using both methods, sight reading AND chord tone interval numbers?

Yes, all the time. If I see a line that is written out ...

| C E G A | C A G E | C ... |

... I will often think of the intervals (R 3 5 6 | 8 6 5 3 | R) in my head as I am reading the line rather than the note names, and that helps me to decide in real time as I read the chart what fingerings to use.

Accept the fact that there are two ways to play, chose one, and get on with it.

I really don't think that it is an "either/or" proposition. Reading music is much like reading the written word. In the early stages, you have to consciously recognize each individual letter and the sound it makes. With sufficient practice, you stop reading individual letters and start recognizing whole words. For example, as you read this paragraph, did you have to stop and consciously think that the sixth letter in the word "proposition" is an "s"? No, of course not. Reading music is the same way. With sufficient practice, you do not need to stop in the middle of a measure and consciously think "that dot on the page is a 'C'." There is a great value in learning to recognize both notes and chord tones/intervals. I would not recommend abandoning one in favor of the other.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

OK..... Store the chord tone interval number "patterns" (riffs) into muscle memory and then use the book as a standard notation tutorial.

Develop two skill that will eventually work as one.

I'm at ease with that. The more you learn the wider your horizon.

Now that that is out of the way, back to L/chr and U/chr

 

[monroe55]

+1

 

[Febs]

Yes. It's a 5th not a root. Perhaps the typo is the measure should have two chords in it, i.e. Dmaj7 and A - probably A7 as everything else is a seventh of some type.

I'm confident that the typo is that the A on beat 3 of the 2nd bar should be labeled as a 5th. An A7 chord wouldn't make much sense in the context of that progression.

 

[251]

Well... On page 13 (Yeah I know, I'm stuck on the first page...), is the B a B flat? The chord is a Bb but I thought they annotated that in the line (like he did on page 14 song <3>) or is it because there is a b in the key signature (I think it's called) that any flatted chord is automatically a flat.

I hope this makes sense...

All of the staffs on page 13 are in the key of F (1 flat.). All of the "B" notes on page 13 are Bb.

I think you will find useful info on pages 8, 9, 10.

 

[251]

If Bb is in the signature, all B notes are flatted unless they are naturaled-- and if one B in a measure is naturaled (really, if any note has an sharp/flat/natural in a measure), it stays that way for the whole measure. The next bar reverts to whatever's in the signature.

Just to clarify; the key of Bb has 2 flats. All the B's & E's are flat unless marked otherwise.

 

[zenrad]

Looks like a typo, i'm sure ed will let us know what its is meant to be... if you transpose the next progression (which is the same progression) looks like it's meant to be an Cm7.

Exercise 14 is not the same progression.
If you transpose exercise 14 then what would be the 4th chord in exercise 13 (beat 3 in measure 2) would be a Bm7 and the A would be the 7th (b7 to be exact, because it's a dominant 7 chord).

The typo appears to be a mislabeled A note in the second measure, the A should be labeled the 5th.

Exercise 13 seems to be a couple of II-V-I cycles followed by a couple of II-V cycles and finishing with a II-V-I

Em7-A7-Dmaj7 = II-V-I in D
Gm7-C7-Fmaj7 = II-V-I in F

Em7-A7 = II-V in D
Dm7-G7 = II-V in C

Cm7-F7-Bbmaj7 = II-V-I in Bb

It very possible Ed placed an A7 there and the chord wasn't written in, but the progression as it is makes sense.

 

[monroe55]

Just glad my book wasn't the only one with a typo.

 

[Reaper Man]

sweet, I was starting to chomp at the bit a little. I'll get crackin

 

[evil-g]

Just my two cents, but we seem to be going at the speed of light with this. I have already gone through the book months ago. (maybe I missed something and I like this approach) My concern is we are going too fast for newer players. Can they really do pages 1 - 20 and have it down in a week or two. They certainly will not be ready to go to session and jump in. Those that want to go ahead should, but keep in mind some people are going to get confused because of all the jumping around. Could we say lets get pages 8 & 9 down, make certain most people understand (maybe a week) and move on to next few pages or so (another week). I think this would give players time to practice lessons and to progress.

 

[monroe55]

Good call Evil-G. I agree.
I wasn't sure about the skill level everyone has who are participating in this thread. Who started this thread anyhow? They could dictate the pace and what sections we should all work on each week. Otherwise we'll have questions coming in from all chapters of the book at different times. It'll be CHAOS!

 

[squashedOpossum]

Thanks, evil-g. I was about to abandon the thread because I'm just learning how to read music, and reading through these threads of people bragging about how they've already finished the first 20 pages in matter of hours is really discouraging. But then again, anyone who flies through this book that quickly is either (a) not grasping the concepts like they should, or (b) an experienced musician who needs to be teaching this course, not gloating about how quickly they can play through the book.

Personally, I'm taking Staccato's advice and working on page 8 for the next week.

 

[nboyer941]

first thread / lesson should be the 1/5/8 exercise. Next thread/lesson should be the chromatic approaches, etc. Don't lump them all together.

 

[Staccato]

Just my two cents, but we seem to be going at the speed of light with this. I have already gone through the book months ago. (maybe I missed something and I like this approach) My concern is we are going too fast for newer players. Can they really do pages 1 - 20 and have it down in a week or two. They certainly will not be ready to go to session and jump in. Those that want to go ahead should, but keep in mind some people are going to get confused because of all the jumping around. Could we say lets get pages 8 & 9 down, make certain most people understand (maybe a week) and move on to next few pages or so (another week). I think this would give players time to practice lessons and to progress.

With you on that idea! Ed's goal of "awareness."
Right now, the "two" feel, "four" feel, cycle of fifths, and fifths is keeping me busy. I haven't played those exercises backwards, yet!

 

[bassfuser]

I went through about the 1st 20 pages of this book a few months back. The approach I took was to play the progressions in time with a metronome while selecting notes all over the neck. Starting with the roots until I had them under my fingers. Then I went to the standard progressions and played them with just roots until I could play them comfortably. Then I went root/5th until I could play them. Then half step leading tones to root and 5th. This really helped me learn the notes on the neck, all over the neck.

For this book, I don't really think reading the notes is as important as understanding the chord tones and how they relate to each other on the neck. Don't get me wrong, I think reading is very important and I practice rhythm patterns all the time, but IMO reading is not that important for this book.