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Question about Walking Bass

Alyosha

Alyosha

May 1, 2023
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#1
When you play walking bass in a band, do you have lines memorized or the chord progressions memorized?
I play bass in my schools jazz band but all of our music is written down so I have no experience with coming up with my own lines and I don't know how to approach it.
 
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#3
Alyosha said:
When you play walking bass in a band, do you have lines memorized or the chord progressions memorized?
I play bass in my schools jazz band but all of our music is written down so I have no experience with coming up with my own lines and I don't know how to approach it.
Click to expand...

Yes - both.
I suggest you hang around the DB side of TB and read threads like this, with special attention to the sticky posts by Ed Fuqua.
Help on Learning a Chord Progression by Ear (Jazz)?
 
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#5
Study and dissect the written lines leading from chord to chord and hear how the different approaches lead/sound. Hear what makes them "work" or sound cool.

On your own time pick two chords, ie Am to D and spend a few minutes walking between the two chords using different approaches each time. Expand to two octaves.
Then pick two other chords, say G to Bb and do the same.
Pick two more random chords. Very the approaches. Go by scale; go by chromatics. If ascending try going up past the root and coming back down to the second chord's root. Descending walk down past the second chord root and come back up to the second chord root. Listen to how all these approaches sound.
Listen and familiarize your ear to how these approaches sound and soon your fingers will just fall to what you want to hear. Kind of hard to explain.
Write your approaches down if you think that would help ingrain them. Works for some.

Later you could try going to other chord tones; but in the beginning to keep it simple just go root to root.
Later you can add more than two chords.
Play along with blues tunes where you can plainly hear the structure.
 
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#6
Being able to quickly analyse a chord progression by number helps a lot. If you memorise a few good ii-v-i moves, or i-iv's and back, you're halfway there if you can recognise them. I like to use iReal Pro and sometimes put on a random tune to get on the spot. Usually I go fumbling around with the roots, fifths and thirds at first, and progress from there with scales and chromatic notes.
 
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#7
Alyosha said:
When you play walking bass in a band, do you have lines memorized or the chord progressions memorized?
I play bass in my schools jazz band but all of our music is written down so I have no experience with coming up with my own lines and I don't know how to approach it.
Click to expand...
"Memorized" is not really the best way to look at it. Eventually your note choices should be made by what you HEAR.
First of all, playing with a big band/large ensemble (particularly in advanced high school or general university ) is more about playing arrangements of compositions rather than a small group approach of having a 'conversation' within the framework of a specific melody and harmonic form (chord progression) . But even big band charts will often have sections where you are simply given the chord changes and are expected to create a line based on that progression. So there are some basic skill sets you need to have in your ears and under your fingers:
SCALES - major, natural minor, harmonic minor, and (jazz) melodic minor in at least two octaves
TRIADS - major, minor, diminished, and augmented in all inversions and in open and closed position
4 PART CHORDS - maj7, dom7, minor7, tonic minor7 (minMaj7), half diminished, augmented 7, augMaj7, open and closed positions

That way when you see a chord progression (Dmin7 G7 to Cmaj7 for example)
1. you know what notes are in each chord (D F A C. G B D F. C E G B)
2. you can see how inversions can help you keep proximities in fingering by playing the common tones on the same fret/in the same position and playing the non common tones a half or whole step away
D minor7 in 2nd inversion (A C D F)
G7 in root position (G B D F)
Cmaj7 in 2nd inversion ( G B C E)
3. you can start to hear how using intermediary notes from the scales can link the chord changes and build an arc through the progression, rather than just arpeggiating each chord as it happens.

Because THAT'S the "approach" - walking bass should do 3 things:
1. provide harmonic definition - bass provides the foundation or the harmony/chords. The most basic way to define the chord is to arpeggiate it.
2. provide harmonic propulsion - that is playing in such a way that there is the feeling of forward motion from one chord to the next (that's why they call it a chord progression, right?) So note choices have to move the music forward.
3. provide melodicism - your line should be as much a melodic response to the chord changes within the parameter of being all quarter notes and fulfilling the two prior functions as your ear and wit allow.
 
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#9
I cheat by askiing Google for the chord progression on the song and then play notes of the active chord for my walk. How many notes is left up to you and the song.

Walking a root-5 normally works.
Root-3-5-Root.
Root-b3-5-b7.
Root-5-8-5.
Mess around and find which combinations you like.

Or walk this way, find the next active chord's root, on the fretboard, and then walk to it one fret at a time. After awhile you will get your walk down to the needed number of notes to get there and stay in the time signature of the song. One note walk, two note walk, three note walk, whatever is needed. Leaving early and then getting to the next root in synch with the rest of the song will take some practice.

Find the next root - then miss it and - walk to it one fret per beat - being on the root when that chord becomes active.

groves, country walking lick - Bing video
OMG Scott has gotten old.

texas two step video - Bing video
 
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#11
Rufus Reid has a book called "The Evolving Bassist" - Berklee College of Music uses this book. Basically, he teaches you to write out and revise your walking bass lines.

Eventually, as you write them out and play them more and more, you will grow vocabulary.
 

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