Walking bass lines over these changes...

[N64Lover]

Hi everyone. The guitarist in my band has come up with a new tune and I am struggling a little bit coming up with good walking basslines over the changes. The combination of the chords and the time sig has me a bit stuck. So I was wondering if some of you would be interested in notating/recording/suggesting some ideas that you might have? It's a dissonant be-boppy affair, swing feel around 190 bpm, with a walking bass line on the 1/4 notes.

Here are the chords for the A section:

|| Bm7b5(b2) | G7 | Em7(b2) | Fmaj7 ||

It is really just in C major, and I think you really have to adhere to the appropriate extensions for each chord.

The timing is in 10/4, but I count it in 4/4 then 6/4. So each chord is played for 4 bars (4/4,6/4 x2 then next chord).

The B section is in 4/4 I can cope with it quite easily. Any help/ideas would be great, cheers!

[paul_5]

I'd probably shoot for 5/4 and use chromatic passing notes on beats 4 and 5 - 10 beats is a long time to stay with one chord, so why not add a dominant in occasionally to imply a bit more movement? (e.g. slip in an F#7 under the Bm7b5(b2))Also, should your 'b2' of those chords not be a 'b9's?

Also secondary dominants are your friend - imply a D7 before the G7, and B7 before the Em7(b9) etc... to create even more movement.

Hope this helps.

Edited November 4, 2012 by paul_5