Walking Bass Line Songs?

[rarbass]

Alright, so for some reason I find it difficult to get myself some decent exposure to jazz. I never know what to look for in terms of artists or specific songs.

So! I have decided to once again consult TB, as I usually get answers

Can anyone suggest fairly popular songs with decent walking basslines? Honestly the only one I currently have access to is Rockin' in Rhythm - Weather Report. Please help me out, I'm trying to learn some walking bass lines so I can figure them out for myself, but I've had no luck thus far....

 

[suckyplayer]

well, it's more complicated than that. you'll want to look into specific players first, and hear how they play the lines. ray brown is the master of walking bass, so anything with him on bass is a go, just look him up. then, start with easy songs, like autumn leaves or take the 'a' train, and work your way up. you'll figure it out as you go. transcribe the lines you hear, and figure out why they work. knowing theory is a must. pick up a fakebook, it never hurts.

here's a list of tunes to get you started, it doesn't matter who plays on them really, but try to find some ray brown. just look these up on your favorite music acquisition device:
- Take The A Train
- Autumn Leaves
- Tune Up
- Blue Monk
- Song for my Father
- Black Orpheus


some artists to look up as well, not bass players:
Miles Davis
Duke Ellington
Bill Evans
Thelonious Monk
Charlie Parker
Lester Young

Bass players:
Ray Brown
Oscar Pettiford
Ron Carter
Charles Mingus
Percy Heath
Scott LaFaro
Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen

(note that those are all upright bass players)

well, there's kind of a starter pack i gave you. happy hunting!

 

[paul_wolfe]

First thing you should do is get BUILDING WALKING BASS LINES by Ed Friedland. IT's the best starter on walking bass lines there is.

Then as you're going through the book you need to implement playing what Ed teaches to a whole slew of standards. You either need The Real Book and Band in a Box to generate backing tracks to play along or you need a few volumes of Aebersold play alongs.

The aebersolds are good because some of the volumes are aimed at beginners - they're easy to find - and you can also turn the piano channel off and hear the bass alone so as well as playalongs they double as a good place to start learning transcribing too.

Hope that helps.

 

[soong]

Listen to old school blues for SUPER easy walking bass. Learn 12 bar walking bass before the jazzier, more irregular stuff i'd say.