New to quarter notes, I always played half notes. (tips?)

Yes to dance to... Follow the chords and using 4/4 time play the chord's root note on the 1 beat and the roots 5th on the 3rd beat.

Then shoot for a R-5-8-5 using chord tones. When that flows we can get into the other stuff.

 

That will be R-5-R-5 and will also work. Don't forget that rests count as a beat.

 

There's thread in the double bass forums about Country walking bass
When Malcom is describing Root on 1 , 5th on 3 he does not mean only play beat 1 and 3

Another way to describe what he is getting at:
You have 4 beats:

1. The root of the chord
2. other tone
3. the 5th of the chord
4. other tone

It's what to play on 2 and 4 -the available other tones -that you seem to be asking about.
Malcom is saying that you can choose any chord tone ( R 3 5 8 )and it will work

they mechanics of quarter note walking bass are this

• Beats 1 and 3 are considered strong beats , 2 and 4 are weak beats
• (I prefer to think of 2 & 4 as tension and 1 & 3 as release )
• strong (release) beats must harmonize more
• weak (tension) beats can harmonize less
• how much less depends on the style of music

For diatonic styles like Country or bluegrass, you can consider your options the pentatonic scale : R 1 2 3 5 6 8
so you end up with the chord tones plus 2 and 6 of the scale. The 2 and the 6 'count as chord tones' for walking purposes. So for what you seem to be asking:

1. The root of the chord
2. any pentatonic note (prefer something that leads into the 5th)
3. the 5th of the chord
4. any pentatonic note (prefer something that leads into the next root note)

This basic framework should get you going, but of course there's no rules. Leading nicely into the next chord root note will almost always work no matter what 'rule' beak. beat 3 does not have to be the 5th. The root on 1 is the most effective, but depending on the context you can get away with other chord tones. Use your ears! Listen to what the songs you are emulating do.

 

What you describe as "half notes vs. quarter notes" I describe as two different time signatures, the former being 2/4 (or 2/2) and the latter being 4/4. If I'm creating sheet music for a piece that swings, I base the time signature on whether the bass plays all the beats (4/4) or only the downbeats (2/4).

What you're describing as playing in quarter notes is commonly referred to as walking, and it's usually, but not always, in a swing context. Since you mentioned Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, consider "Faded Love." Is the bassist playing 2/4 or 4/4? The song works both ways, but a walking line takes it from "country" to "western."

@mambo4 has given a pretty good explanation... but keep in mind that walking bass is a big subject! Creating good, interesting walking lines takes practice, thought, and good ears. It's the first step in progressing from tuba lines to swing-bass lines.

 

Gene Autry and Jimmie Rodgers, maybe not, but Bob Wills?

Bubbles in My Beer

Roly Poly

Across the Valley From the Alamo

 

Yes, old country is major key, I-IV-V --- dirt simple stuff. When the fiddles join the band we swing the beat --- took me years to understand how to swing --- simple as changing the down beat to 2 and 4, instead of 1 and 3.

 

What?

Lovesick Blues

I Love You So Much It Hurts Me

Ramblin' Man

There's a lot more to "old country" than major key I-IV-V.

The downbeat is always 1, and you can emphasize upbeats without swinging. What makes swing is that the rhythm patterns are divisible by 3 as well as 2.

 

I'm not sure why you're concerned with counting measures (all of those tunes are indeed 32-bar forms). My point is that you can surely hear 4-beat swings in Bob Wills's recordings. All three Bob Wills tunes I linked to have 4-to-the-bar bass lines, with quarter notes ... I don't know what you're hearing. ?

In regards to Bluegrass music, listen to some Stanley Brothers. That bass player played quite a few walking lines - often in waltzes!

And regarding "pure" country (as if there is such a thing), Ray Price was considered a bit of a pioneer in his "Texas Shuffle" rhythm : 4-to-the-bar.

 

I think you'd benefit from listening to old jazz players and checking out some famous walking bass books. Ed Fuqua, who is on TB, wrote one. Ray Brown's book is good, as is Rufus Reid's. And if you listen to Paul Chambers play, you'll hear perfect execution of the rules all the other guys talk about in the previous answers in this thread.

 

@talkinboutpizza,
I can't help but think you have some sort of misconception about beats and measures based in how you are trying to describe what you hear.

 

It’s all relevant to the time signature.

I generally think of walking bass lines in four four time. Four beats to the measure, the quarter note “defines the best”.
Bass drum on one and three, snare on two and four (this is a very general description).

 

Half notes sound good in country bass too. Some songs let you mix it up, sometimes all half notes on the verse and quarter notes on the chorus. Or mixed together in a verse. Depends on lyrics etc. Those books mentioned above have lots of examples.

 

Check out Asleep at the Wheel , Josh Hoag on Bass and David Sanger on Drums do Western Swing right. They do a lot of Bob Wills songs really well.