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Jazz Progressions to Start With?

Matthew_84

Matthew_84

Nov 7, 2010
6,497
5,101
Greater Toronto Area, Canada
#1
I picked up my bass again at the beginning of the year with a hard-set goal to be able to walk competently on Jazz tunes, even if it takes a life time.

One of my exercises is to pick a chord progression, play all 7th arpeggios of the chords without a metronome, and then turn on a backing track of the progression/tune and trying to walk - starting with just root quarter notes, then slowly adding fifths, and so on. I try to play only one key a day and may (or may not) play it in a different key the next day.

My issue is that I am both very indecisive about which chord progression(s) to play and I keep reading different method books or watching different YouTube videos and it gets me thinking about doing a different progression.

I suppose any progression is good, but I do feel like I’m jumping around too much and not spending enough time with one before moving on (even when changing keys).

251s are short and sweet, but 1625s add a bit more variety. However, a lot of walking bass books/exercises have examples of 12-bar Jazz Blues walking bass lines and seem to encourage you to start with them. On the other hand, maybe settling on a tune and learning that for a few weeks would be better than bouncing around so much and may be a bit more musical… I guess you can see my dilemma, LOL.

I expect there to be varying opinions on which type of progression I should start with, but am interested to see people’s thoughts.

Thanks in advance!
 
#3
Matthew_84 said:
I picked up my bass again at the beginning of the year with a hard-set goal to be able to walk competently on Jazz tunes, even if it takes a life time.

One of my exercises is to pick a chord progression, play all 7th arpeggios of the chords without a metronome, and then turn on a backing track of the progression/tune and trying to walk - starting with just root quarter notes, then slowly adding fifths, and so on. I try to play only one key a day and may (or may not) play it in a different key the next day.

My issue is that I am both very indecisive about which chord progression(s) to play and I keep reading different method books or watching different YouTube videos and it gets me thinking about doing a different progression.

I suppose any progression is good, but I do feel like I’m jumping around too much and not spending enough time with one before moving on (even when changing keys).

251s are short and sweet, but 1625s add a bit more variety. However, a lot of walking bass books/exercises have examples of 12-bar Jazz Blues walking bass lines and seem to encourage you to start with them. On the other hand, maybe settling on a tune and learning that for a few weeks would be better than bouncing around so much and may be a bit more musical… I guess you can see my dilemma, LOL.

I expect there to be varying opinions on which type of progression I should start with, but am interested to see people’s thoughts.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
1) Seriously consider taking lessons

2) Focus on some standards

3) Learn to play those standards in all 12 keys
 
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#5
ClusterFlux said:
1) Seriously consider taking lessons

2) Focus on some standards

3) Learn to play those standards in all 12 keys
Click to expand...
Yeah, I really should try some lessons again, but this time with a reputable local jazz bassist (or at least one that they’d recommend).

I’ve been to three teachers in my past, and frankly, I didn’t mesh with any of them, but I may not have been looking for them in the right place to start with.

Thanks
 
#9
First, whether on bass guitar or double bass, work on your scales (because your walking bass lines will be created using scales). I warm up with major, dominant, minor and minor 7 b5 scales on both instruments. For real world practice, get some play along books. For example, the Jazz Improvisation Series "Approaching The Standards" by Dr Willie L. Hill, Jr. Also jazz play along by Hal Leonard. Additionally, Ed Friedland's books are excellent. His building walking bass lines is a good start. Books/DVDs - Ed Friedland

Good luck and remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint.
 
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#10
The Ed Friesland books are a great building block to understanding walking bass as Michael Milner above just mentioned. You also need to listen to lots of bassists and how they handle the changes and transcribe or whatever your best method of learning is.
 
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#11
Some great advice here so far.

Pick an easy tune to start with - Autumn Leaves is a common choice and demonstrates both major and minor ii-v-i changes. Bye Bye Blackbird could be another starting point. Whatever it is make sure you like it, as you’ll be spending a lot of time with it.

My advice is to learn the tune really well in one key before attempting others. Listen to lots of different recordings of it so you hear the variety of approaches that have been used. It’s very helpful to learn to play the melody, or at least be able to sing it, so you can keep it in your mind while working on the walking the changes. You mentioned playing 7th arpeggios - that’s a good place to start. If you can walk through the arpeggios for a tune in quarter notes in time you’ve got the beginnings of a walking bass line. Then you can work on the many different ways to connect chord tones. You can learn this stuff on your own, but (as everyone else has said) a good teacher can help you get going much quicker. Have fun with it - the more you work at it, the more there seems to be to learn!
 
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#13
Matthew_84 said:
I picked up my bass again at the beginning of the year with a hard-set goal to be able to walk competently on Jazz tunes, even if it takes a life time.

One of my exercises is to pick a chord progression, play all 7th arpeggios of the chords without a metronome, and then turn on a backing track of the progression/tune and trying to walk - starting with just root quarter notes, then slowly adding fifths, and so on. I try to play only one key a day and may (or may not) play it in a different key the next day.

My issue is that I am both very indecisive about which chord progression(s) to play and I keep reading different method books or watching different YouTube videos and it gets me thinking about doing a different progression.

I suppose any progression is good, but I do feel like I’m jumping around too much and not spending enough time with one before moving on (even when changing keys).

251s are short and sweet, but 1625s add a bit more variety. However, a lot of walking bass books/exercises have examples of 12-bar Jazz Blues walking bass lines and seem to encourage you to start with them. On the other hand, maybe settling on a tune and learning that for a few weeks would be better than bouncing around so much and may be a bit more musical… I guess you can see my dilemma, LOL.

I expect there to be varying opinions on which type of progression I should start with, but am interested to see people’s thoughts.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
I think the tune that contains all the good stuff to start with is Autumn Leaves. II-V-I and ii-v-i on the relative minor and you've got yourself a good chunk of simple harmony with subtleties. It is all related to the same key center ;-)
 
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#14
ii-V
iii-vi-ii-V
IV-vii-iii-vi-ii-V

also, just get a real book and play tunes instead of analyzing things out of context.

also also, go get some lessons. And not necessarily from a bass player. A very good jazz pianist has much to teach you about these sorts of things.
 
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#16
Matthew_84 said:
I picked up my bass again at the beginning of the year with a hard-set goal to be able to walk competently on Jazz tunes, even if it takes a life time.

One of my exercises is to pick a chord progression, play all 7th arpeggios of the chords without a metronome, and then turn on a backing track of the progression/tune and trying to walk - starting with just root quarter notes, then slowly adding fifths, and so on. I try to play only one key a day and may (or may not) play it in a different key the next day.

My issue is that I am both very indecisive about which chord progression(s) to play and I keep reading different method books or watching different YouTube videos and it gets me thinking about doing a different progression.

I suppose any progression is good, but I do feel like I’m jumping around too much and not spending enough time with one before moving on (even when changing keys).

251s are short and sweet, but 1625s add a bit more variety. However, a lot of walking bass books/exercises have examples of 12-bar Jazz Blues walking bass lines and seem to encourage you to start with them. On the other hand, maybe settling on a tune and learning that for a few weeks would be better than bouncing around so much and may be a bit more musical… I guess you can see my dilemma, LOL.

I expect there to be varying opinions on which type of progression I should start with, but am interested to see people’s thoughts.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I-IV-V, ii-V-I
 
#17
I've been exactly where you are...
You asked what was the key to this skill... I worked with a few bassists (one's I'd consider very competent walking bassists), but the thing that really opened the magic for me was taking lessons from a great jazz guitarist. I also worked with a great jazz pianist. These guys had all the harmony, theory, chordal knowledge, substitutions, extensions, etc. to really open up jazz works and how to navigate a song. Inside all of those encounters were listening and transcriptions of lots of jazz tunes and great jazz players. However, with all that knowledge has to come restraint as a bassist. It's still about swinging pocket groove and a lot of quarter notes to be a good walking player.

Bottom line a "great" teacher is worth every penny... the problem is finding one....
 
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#18
Matthew_84 said:
...am interested to see people’s thoughts.
Click to expand...
0000.jpg

BassFalcon said:
...go get some lessons. And not necessarily from a bass player. A very good jazz pianist has much to teach you about these sorts of things.
Click to expand...
rodsnhawgs said:
...the thing that really opened the magic for me was taking lessons from a great jazz guitarist. I also worked with a great jazz pianist. These guys had all the harmony, theory, chordal knowledge, substitutions, extensions, etc. to really open up jazz works and how to navigate a song.
Click to expand...

the cool thing about a non-bass player = you can play some serious 'jazz duets' while you're studying and learning!

also: KEY TO WALKING = @Wasnex posted a very insightful (from experience!) preamble to "walking bass" in that thread. it's worth reading again if you didn't catch it.

i just posted in the same thread, TL;DR = get some experience with others. could be a jam night, a band, whatever...let the 'group effort' teach you in ways that books and recordings can never do.

if i was starting over, i think i'd pick tunes like all the things you are (there are lots of similarly useful tunes!):
- easy.
- fun.
- sounds good at any tempo (for practicing, and scaling up, or down, your tempos).
- lots of versions, and allows for "analysis."

good luck with your "jazz progressions" and with finding some good players with whom you can explore! :thumbsup:
 
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#20
Lots of YouTube videos on the basic how to walk, that gets you pretty far. I started with classic easy standards… really really slow. I’m still not much after some intense periods of a few months at a time, I’m starting a new few months at it this week! For me Autumn Leaves contains everything I pretty much need to know as far as standards go. It can get repetitive for me, a bit of a problem, you really need to be creative.

After a while you can just put on a no bass standard YouTube video that has the chart and get through it, but I was back to just shedding Autumn Leaves over and over, sounds boring, but actually it isn’t, although it would be boring for a listening audience.

The usual easy standards and blues standards.

Autumn Leaves, All Blues, Blue Train, Blue Monk, Straight No Chaser, All of Me, All the Things You Are, Take the A Train.

Transcription is super important, it demystified it all. It shows you how simple it can be, it all makes sense, you see all the repetition.
 

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