Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
KEY TO WALKING
- Thread starter noeinstein
- Start date
As in everything else, study and practice. There's no way around it.
Yes, but what did you study and practice that helped most?
Correct timing and swing is more important than the correct note.
I began to study walking bass when I started playing DB.
I have a teacher, when I get home, I'll post some of my work with him.
A good tune to start is Mack the Knife (Moritat):
As you can see, if you stay in half position, you'll cover all the tune. The chords change, but you stay in Bb Major scale all the time, with B and E flat.
So, you have the same notes to all the chords on this tune.
Start with the arpeggios, until you have that under your fingers, don't move forward.
Then, maybe on 1 and 3, with root, third, and the next two notes (of the next measure, or compass) you start approaching the next chord.
For example, Bb6 to Cm7, on 1 and 3:
Bb, D, F, Bb.
Then maybe,
C, D, Eb, E, F. Or down, C, Bb, A, G, into F.
Get familiar with the sound of the approaches, you can approach the next chord chromatically, diatonically, or from the scale, for instance.
And learn the melody first. Always. Learn the melody. Then, as you play the melody, you can sing the line, on 1 and 3, for example.
And as you play the line, you can sing the melody.
Next, I would go to the Jazz Blues. F major Blues, Bb major blues, with ii-V-I and I-vi-ii-V.
Of course you can just learn the scales, the cicles, the ii-V-I sequences.
But you can also have fun and play along with tunes, like the ones above.
I strongly recommend you to buy the ireal Pro app. Download the Jazz files and you'll have a great resource to practice.
Take note that I am just an amateur. There are hundreds of more valuable opinions.
Last edited:
I'm an "overanalytical" personality type, so for me, the key for me (paradoxically) was: Listening is more important than thinking. It's more important to learn bass lines than algorithms for making bass lines. Stop searching for a magic "formula" and just play the **** tune already. Jazz is out in the world waiting to be discovered, not inside of my head.
(Disclaimer I'm pretty bad at jazz, so take my advice for what it's worth!)
(Disclaimer I'm pretty bad at jazz, so take my advice for what it's worth!)
The Hal Leonard building walking basslines book was a game changer for me. Only half way through the book and I'm confident I can pull off convincing, usable basslines. No master, but I've never tried to be one.
For blues, I worked on learning from what Tommy Shannon did with SRV. He covered a lot of ground with tons of fills and subtle variations, all performed with superb timing.
FullumMusic
Commercial User
- Oct 13, 2022
- 2,010
- 5,688
- Disclosures
- Audio/Music software developer, contracted with a company you've heard of and deving my own stuff.
As with walking on your feet, think about where you’re going and how you want to get there more than where you are.
Study the way Tommy Shannon plays bass and you will have it .
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Remember for each change, you have a beginning and an end. Work backwards and forward.
ii - V - I in every key, around the cycle of fourths, metronome on, not stopping at the key changes.
Of course playing a lot of standard tunes is good and necessary too, but if I had to pick one exercise that really helped me the most, this is it.
