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Walking Bass

K

kynoch

Jun 28, 2006
196
0
#1
So I've picked up Ed Friedlands book on walking bass lines... I'm ready for study...some serious woodshedding.

But, before I get into that, I'm looking for any tips from others about starting to play walking bass, things that helped them along the way, concepts that may be easy to miss that are extremely important but easily overlooked. Any thoughts?
 
#2
There are obviously a bunch of ways to go about learning but here are some things that helped me a bunch when I was starting out.

First make sure you are good with building chords and know what notes are in the chords that you are outlining with your baseline.

One way to start walking is by first playing whole notes then progressing to half notes (2 a measure) and finally going to quarter notes and maybe even eighths.

Look for guide tones and the notes that are common and different between two chords. This is very similar to soloing. Emphasize the notes that change (i.e. half steps) and show that you know what is going on.

Finally there are a couple forms that are really common in jazz that are worth learning. Some that are good to start out with are

Blues: (Freddie Freeloader, Straight No Chaser, Tenor Madness, Billie's Bounce, etc)
Minor Blues: (Mr. PC, Stolen Moments)
Rhythm Changes: (Oleo, I've Got Rhythm)
II V I stuff (Autumn leaves, All the Things You Are)

Other than that just learn standards, play through the real book.

Hope some of that is useful.
 
#5
Books can help you understand how to walk, but there's absolutely no substitute for the time-honored method that every bassist who is even remotely competent at walking has used - transcribing (whether by writing down or just memorizing) the basslines of the great walkers - Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, Scott LaFaro, Percy Heath, Sam Jones, etc...

Yes, it's harder at first than working your way through a book, but when playing with guys with good ears, there is an audible difference between guys who learned to walk from the masters versus guys who learned from a book.
 
#6
the_stone said:
Books can help you understand how to walk, but there's absolutely no substitute for the time-honored method that every bassist who is even remotely competent at walking has used - transcribing (whether by writing down or just memorizing) the basslines of the great walkers - Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, Scott LaFaro, Percy Heath, Sam Jones, etc...

Yes, it's harder at first than working your way through a book, but when playing with guys with good ears, there is an audible difference between guys who learned to walk from the masters versus guys who learned from a book.
Click to expand...

CAVEAT - I'm a guy who wrote a book.
But, the idea that it's a choice between transcribing and learning from a book is spurious. And the idea that "every bassist who is even remotely competent" used transcribing as their sole educational source is ludicrous and misinformed. I can guarantee you Paul Chambers never transcribed any Scott LaFaro when he was "learning to walk".

Playing a walking line as accompaniment is not formulaic, it's not merely a pastiche of vocabulary picked up from other players. There are a few skill sets involved, which if you read enough about how the players in the 30s through the 50s came up, involve listening to other players, understanding how harmony functions, being able to navigate your instrument. So the bad news is that there's some work involved. The good news is that you can function within each of these areas with whatever level you currently have. The idea of walking is twofold; define the harmonic structure of the composition and keep moving the harmony forward. Arpeggios define the harmony, but they don't move it forward. Linear/scalar approaches can move in a forward manner, but don't define the harmony. And above all, the idea is to make music with the people on the stand.
So how do you get to that point? Well, the things that didn't work for me was the whole chord/scale approach I learned at Berklee, the "just dive right in" approach, the "just transcribe the notes some other bass players played". What did work for me are some of the things I talk about in here and here.
 
#8
Anybody else have this problem - I feel very comfortable with 'blues style' walking, using the common variations of the 12 bar progression and all of the common patterns. I can do this on stage, in real time as tunes are thrown at me. But I've been trying to take it to the next level, with a more jazzy take on the blues and I can pull it off somewhat convincingly, but only if I learn the song in advance. I just cannot make the leap to playing the more complex changes and "there are no wrong notes" chromatic lines unless I have them memorized.

Any practice suggestions on how I can play them jazzy blues with the same control and confidence that I have with straight blues?
 

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