Crash course on walking

[mixtapelove]

Alright, so I'm basically a rock player, and a fairly mediocre one at that.

My brother (and drummer) really wants to use me on a Christmas gig, playing ballads and some light jazz... maybe some Guaraldi Charlie Brown stuff.

Well, I can't walk for sh-t. I haven't really tried all that much. I have two rehearsals to come up with something passable. I'm intimidated as heck. I took it on because I'll get paid decently, but I'm not a jazz bassist's a-hole.

Is there a good walking tutorial out there, or you have some standard go-to patterns that I should get to know?



(I just realized there's a lot of stuff on the upright forums about this.... probably should have posted it there, sorry.)

 

[fearceol]

Here are two links you will find useful :

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Dave Marks Walking Bass lesson 01 - YouTube


Bear in mind that you are not going to master WBL in a few weeks, but these links should get you off to a good start.

 

[anonymous111813]

I refer you to my website, there are some things there that can definately help you!

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A thing that can really help your way of playing walking bass it to realize that there is no
mystery behind this. In fact you can use the cliché chromatic lines any time and get through a
piece, even if you are sight-reading.
First, you got to be sure about the location of the notes on the fretboard, so you are able to
play the root note of every chord without any hesitation.
Then you have to check out how chords are constructed:
maj7 has a major third, a perfect fifth and a major seventh
"x"7 has a major third, a perfect fifth and a minor seventh
m7 has a minor third, perfect fifth and minor seventh
m7b5 has a minor third, diminished fifth and a minor seventh
dim7 has a minor third, diminished fifth and a diminished seventh (enharmonic equivalent of a
major sixth)
If you got that in mind, it becomes easy to play patterns over the changes such as:

R-3-5-3, R-5-3-5

G----------------------------2---0------0---4--5-------
D--------2-------0--2--3-----------0-------------------
A-0---3-----3-------------------------------------------
E--------------------------------------------------------

Am7 Dm7 G7 Cmaj7

That covers the harmonic development of the chord progression. However, if you only rely on
these patters, your walking bass line lacks something.
This is why you add chromatic notes to theses patterns.
If you are playing over a VIm7, IIm7, V7, Imaj7, it is not too much trouble to use some
chromatic notes:

G------------------------------0--2--3--4---5-----
D-----------------0--2--3--4----------------------
A-0---2---3--4-------------------------------------
E---------------------------------------------------

Am7 Dm7 G7 Cmaj7

You will notice that every bar starts with the root of the chord. Then you play the second note
of the chord, which is a major second in every chord we have here. Add two chromatic notes
that lead to the next root, and you are good!
You can also take the pattern I mentioned earlier, and spice it up with some chromatic
approaches.

G----------------------------2---1---0------0---4--5---------
D---------2---1------0---3--------------0---------------------
A--0---3--------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------

Root-Third-Fifth-Chromatic approach

 

[Ed Fuqua]

And there's always this...

 

[chaosMK]

I always thought walking was just playing notes at random. Hitting the root note... I should have thought of that.

 

[Elrend]

Step 1: Realize that walking bass is hard and it's a life-long struggle to do it well.
Step 2: Come to terms with the level you are currently at and create lines accordingly
Step 3: Keep practicing.

 

[mixtapelove]

This will get me started anyway. Thanks much

I also found the upright forums to be very helpful.