dave9199 Posted July 29, 2004 Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 Are there standard notes to a walking bass line? I'll choose Bb as the key. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted July 29, 2004 Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 (edited) depends on the chord progression. Edited July 29, 2004 by 7/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave9199 Posted July 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 Say it's a I-IV-V-I, major. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maren Posted July 29, 2004 Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 Check out THESE 3 PAGES from a Mel Bay book -- it's aimed at pianists but works for bass, too. The top of page 3 starts out with I-IV-V in B-flat... And HERE are a couple of pages about modal walking bass lines. The point of a walking line is that not every note will be in the chord -- you're using "passing tones" between the notes of the chord. Sometimes these will be heard as chord extensions (7th, 9th, 11th 13th) or chord substitutions (sounding more like ii than V for example). Sometimes they'll be heard more melodically. But I think the scale or mode or chromatic function is often the most important -- good to work on YOUR sense of what scale or mode you feel the tune is in. This frees you to "play" with it. Also, to know where you want to emphasize an important chord change by approaching it chromatically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrdlu Posted July 31, 2004 Report Share Posted July 31, 2004 Why not grab some records with Paul Chambers? Listen to the bass only, and hum along with him. He plays nice, clear, melodic lines, and you'll learn a lot from listening to him. I'm a sax player, but I often follow the bass on a piece, and I have learned to think bass lines to most pieces that I know. (I don't think I could improvise on a piece if I could not also think out some bass lines for it.) We could use some "electronic manuscript paper" on this board. If this facility existed, I could write out a few choruses for you - say a blues in B flat. (I'm sure that many other posters could also do that.) Ron Carter would be another one to listen in to. He has several favorite licks and they sound great. Before going into a walking bass line, make sure that you can play a basic 2/2 line, where the notes are mostly tonic and dominant. Try it on some real slow items and get it drilled into you. This raises the thought that a musician should know at least a little about the instruments that the other guys in the group play. When I was starting out, a friend lent me a book by an old English arranger called Lewis Stone, which had a section on each instrument in a swing band: its range, how you write for it, whether it transposes, etc. It was very interesting, and the info was tremendously useful over the years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upright Bill Posted August 2, 2004 Report Share Posted August 2, 2004 Does this help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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