Walking Bass Help

[6v6]

Hi all,

I'm a fairly straight-ahead rock/blues electric bass player, and can fake my way through most things calling for relatively simple groove/pocket type playing, but the other night I tried playing along to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSZuwTZaTjk

BB King's "Every Day I Have the Blues" - there's a lot of versions out there, but that one from "Live at the Regal" has a DB walking bassline, and try as I might I just couldn't follow it at all!

Can anyone help point me to a dummies guide to walking bass which would help me figure out how the patterns work, and how I can emulate such a feel on electric bass?

Thanks for any help, the apparent randomness of these DB/jazz style basslines is baking my noodle! [size=4] [/size]

Edited August 18, 2014 by icastle
Link Fixed.

[Coilte]

In that clip, it is not easy to hear the bass, so that could be one reason why you found it hard to follow.

Here is a link to lessons on You Tube :

[url="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=walking+bass+blues+tutorial"]https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=walking+bass+blues+tutorial[/url]

Also on You Tube is a series of lessons by Dave Marks on walking bass. He starts with the basics and builds from there.

I think there are about ten lessons in all.

Here is the link :

[url="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dave+marks+walking+bass+lesson"]https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dave+marks+walking+bass+lesson[/url]



Finally, if you are really keen on learning walking bass, then I can recommend this book (comes with a CD).

I certainly found it very good.

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-Jazz-Lines-Bass-Hungerford/dp/0786659963/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407936357&sr=8-1&keywords=walking+jazz+lines+for+bass"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-Jazz-Lines-Bass-Hungerford/dp/0786659963/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407936357&sr=8-1&keywords=walking+jazz+lines+for+bass[/url]

[Doddy]

There is no randomness to the majority of walking bass. Without looking at the clip, I'll just tell you a basic approach
to walking.
At it's core a walking line is about outlining the chord changes, so start of by studying chord tones. A lot of Blues walking
lines are relatively simple in this regard and are often very little more than this.Most Blues are based around dominant 7 chords so focus on them to start. From there, you can look at applying non chord tones as passing notes to smoothly move between changes.
There is a lot of depth in walking lines and it is a serious study on it's own, but if you start to study the chord tones you will get a good foundation.

[lobematt]

[quote name='6v6' timestamp='1407931536' post='2525424']
Hi all,

I'm a fairly straight-ahead rock/blues electric bass player, and can fake my way through most things calling for relatively simple groove/pocket type playing, but the other night I tried playing along to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSZuwTZaTjk

BB King's "Every Day I Have the Blues" - there's a lot of versions out there, but that one from "Live at the Regal" has a DB walking bassline, and try as I might I just couldn't follow it at all!

Can anyone help point me to a dummies guide to walking bass which would help me figure out how the patterns work, and how I can emulate such a feel on electric bass?

Thanks for any help, the apparent randomness of these DB/jazz style basslines is baking my noodle!
[/quote]

I've just had a quick play through it, there's lots of variations but over most of the chords he is playing quite simple patterns, try following along the chords trying the following patterns (from the mixolydian mode). Rhythm as Q Q Q E E

R 3 4 #4 5
or
R 8ve b7 6 5

Over the last few bars he's using different types of turn arounds too. Spend a bit of time trying to figure out one or two of the phrases he's repeating through the tune and it should start to make a bit more sense!

Edited August 21, 2014 by icastle
Link Fixed.

[6v6]

Awesome, thanks all - all that info should point be in the right direction.