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Double time walking bass?

R

Rasmusraye

Apr 9, 2015
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#1
Hi Talkbass! I finally decided this was the time to make a user after a few years of lurking.

I was asked to practice double time walking bass for a song i´m going to play next week and i´m not really quite sure where to start.. I know the basics of walking bass but i´ve never tried playing double time before. From my understanding double time simples means twice the notes in a bar is that correct? If so i was told to always land on a root note or fifth on 1 and i believe double time goes 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 in one bar compared to normal time 1 2 3 4. So i assume i should hit a root or fifth twice in one bar is that correct?

I'm really new to this term and any tips/tricks would be appreciated.

Rasmus.

Btw sorry for my english. Not my first langauge
 
#2
Correct, you will be playing twice as many notes per bar (EDIT: this describes double time feel, not double time).

You could aim for a root twice a bar but you don't really have to. If you keep it to once at the beginning of the bar (unless the bar has more than one chord), you can really explore creative options that aren't possible with 4 notes per bar.
 
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#3
Okay thanks for the fast answer. Now i encountered a new problem, the song (What is this thing called love) stays one the same chord for 2 bars twice in the choros. That means 16 notes. I feel thats alot of notes to play while still keeping it interessting any tips for that?
 
#6
IMPORTANT: There is "double time" and "double time feel". In "double time", you play song twice as fast. In "double time feel", you place twice as many notes per bar. It's imperative you know which you are doing! If it's "double time" as you say, you'll play the song twice as fast, So basically, 'four notes per chord'.

As for "being a lot of notes to play", four bars of the same chord is very common and some songs will even push that to eight, twelve, or even sixteen bars. Think of it as an opportunity to see which 16 notes you can cram in there.
 
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#8
I think you are referring to the 8 bar bridge. A common way to play that bridge is (don't worry about chord extensions)

Gmi7 C7 Fmaj7 /
Bbmi7 Eb7 Ami7 D7

1 bar each except the Fmajor7 which is 2 bars long.
These 7th chords can be altered as well.
 
#9
Hmm on the sheet music i recieved it goes like i mentioned before:1 bar of Gm9, 1 bar of C7b9, 2 bars of Fmaj9, 2 bars of Eb13 and 2 bars of D7b9. Strangely enough i cant find any similar sheet music anywhere. Its the Cole Porter version but i cant find any similar.
 
#10
Yes that's right.
1 bar of Gm9, 1 bar of C7b9, 2 bars of Fmaj9 stay the same
2 bars of Eb13 turn into
1 bar of Bbmin7 and 1 bar of Eb13
2 bars of D7b9 turn into
1 bar of Amin7 and 1 bar of D7b9

The result is what I posted above just without the "fancy" chord extensions.

It's typically in C Major, but your chart is in G Major. Just a different key that all the chords I've posted are for your key.
 
#11
That's a jazz standard. I would encourage to listen to some recordings of it (with headphones) to get an idea of the construction of it.

I'm making some assumptions here based on your question, so please don't be offended if I insult your music knowledge.

If you have limited knowledge of the chord tones, then you can play arpeggios starting on the root of each chord to get by for a lot of that song. It would be simple, but functional. Also don't be afraid to play chromatic approach notes.
 
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#12
The problem is that our teacher wants us to play the song in 180 bpm wheres the original song is recorded 75-80 bpm or something like that so its kinda hard to get a feel for the song. I guess based on the fact that we normally play the song in 180 bpm the choros with double time feel must be 360 bpm?
 
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#14
Rasmusraye said:
The problem is that our teacher wants us to play the song in 180 bpm wheres the original song is recorded 75-80 bpm or something like that so its kinda hard to get a feel for the song. I guess based on the fact that we normally play the song in 180 bpm the choros with double time feel must be 360 bpm?
Click to expand...

As stated above, it's probably double time "feel"..... Alot of bebop guys would "double" up on notes or, root, root, 3rd, 3rd, 5, 5 etc, good example is "koko"... kinda like playing the 2 feel with your left hand while playing quarters with right...

One thing I often do for double time feel, say I have a 2/5 in c major...on d minor (1 measure) I'd play d, f, a, f, d, e, f, f#(g7 1 measure) g, f, d, b, g, b, d, d flat(c maj 2 measures) c, e, f, f#, g, a, a#, c, e, g, e, then 2/5 of whatever chord is next....

So i treat one measure as 2, this just my simplistic approach........
....time to listen and practice
 
#16
I'm not really a "jazz" player, but I've played in combos quite a bit the last few years...the whole double time feel through me for a loop, I'd say learn standards traditional, double time feel, double time and bossa/salsa just in case..
Nothing like a BL calling "Double time" on a gig(usually means d.t. Feel), the first time I played changes twice as fast...but he politely explained after the gig..good luck, and try to memorize as many standards as possible, you don't wanna be buried in chart the whole time, esp. Rhythm changes and blues...
 

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