Double Bass questions about walking bass in jazz

[John Goldsby]

One of the most important things I've ever learned was in a jazz lesson is once you hit beat 1 of a chord in jazz you are on your way to the next one. It is truly is about the "changes".

Thanks, Damon — that's important, for sure. It's about forward motion.

A good walking line is a mix of strong, swinging quarter notes, melodic ideas, chord and scale tones, leading tones and chromatic movement. Most importantly, knowing when it is time for each ingredient. You just need to spend time slowly adding each element to tunes you know in a few years you will have a good sense of what to do.

This is really all anyone needs to know to get started walking lines.