karlplaysbass Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 hello everyone ive been playing jazz walking bass lines for a short time now. ive started learning some jazz standards and theres always one thing which catches me out and makes my bass lines sound messy. like in autumn leaves where in goes from g to gb, i was wondering if anyone can offer advice on how to keep the bassline sounding nice or wheather im missing a trick. cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hector Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Hi Karl. There are tonnes of ways to do this. I would experiment with looping those descending chords (on iReal B or whatever) and playing around over them. Do it really slowly at first, and focus on the key chord tones - R, 3 and 5. Be creative and explore how many different ways there are to get through these sorts of movements. A good idea is to play beats 1 and 3 as chord tones, and beats 2 and 4 as approaches to the next chord tone. For example, you could approach each chord from it's 5th: G Db Gb C F B E Bb (Db is the 5th of Gb7, C is the 5th of F-7 etc) Or you could aim for the thirds of chords: G A Bb Gb F Bb G# E (Bb is the 3rd of Gb7, approached from a semtione below, G# is the 3rd of E7, approached from a tone above) Another useful idea is to listen to what the pros do - pop on a few versions of Autumn Leaves (or any tune with chromatically descending chords) and try to transcribe their lines over those bits. Make sure you transpose your lines to all keys! These changes are an example of a [i]tritone substitution[/i]. Gb7 is a tritone substitution for C7 and E7 is a substitute for Bb7. So you can can actually just play G-7 C7 F-7 Bb7, which gives you another option. Ideally you'd want to be able to choose which of those you play. Also it helps to change that last Am7b5 to an Ebmaj7, then you have a progression G-7 C7 F-7 Bb7 Ebmaj7 (this is a 3 6 2 5 1, classic progression). Hope that's helpful! Let me know how you get on, happy to chat more about walking either on here or via PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlplaysbass Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 cheers man that cleared that up im defiantly going to do some research into the transposing the line that sounds interesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 You could, of course, play G twice followed by Gb twice. It doesn't have to be complicated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 [quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1435931331' post='2813761'] You could, of course, play G twice followed by Gb twice. It doesn't have to be complicated [/quote] What Bilbo said, especially when playing the head. Or R/5/5/R (going up and down) over that bar and the next bar, then open up over the solos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassace Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 [quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1435931331' post='2813761'] You could, of course, play G twice followed by Gb twice. It doesn't have to be complicated [/quote] Good suggestion, Bilbo. Or even G once and Gb once. Nothing wrong with breaking a walk with some 'twos'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visog Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Moderators - please get this moved to 'Theory and Technique' and have the OP roughed-up for posting in General Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassace Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 It probably wouldn't have attracted the same interest if buried in Theory and Technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visog Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 [quote name='bassace' timestamp='1435949308' post='2813980'] It probably wouldn't have attracted the same interest if buried in Theory and Technique. [/quote] * Moderators * And can we get Bassace 'counciled' too on the consequences of mis-posting. No cuts just knuckles at this stage. At this rate, I'll be selling my Astra in 'EUBs and Double Basses' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheG Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Ha ha ha!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlloyd Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 [quote name='karlplaysbass' timestamp='1435854573' post='2813108'] hello everyone ive been playing jazz walking bass lines for a short time now. ive started learning some jazz standards and theres always one thing which catches me out and makes my bass lines sound messy. like in autumn leaves where in goes from g to gb, i was wondering if anyone can offer advice on how to keep the bassline sounding nice or wheather im missing a trick. cheers [/quote] How about this for a neat trick... G7, Gb7, F7, E7 is a tritone substituted G7, C7, F7, Bb7 descending fifths/ascending fourths sequence... root notes with chromatic approach notes would sound great, adding tension and movement to the whole thing... Play the first chord as G7, then go to a C7. Everyone else can keep playing it as Gb7. Don't tell anyone and they won't know they're playing C7b5b9, just that something cosmic just happened. Nice. Play it fast and if everyone can keep up, you've got bebop. Sort of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Good tips there for a chromatic progression in any style of music too ! Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlloyd Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 [quote name='Hector' timestamp='1435855600' post='2813113']These changes are an example of a [i]tritone substitution[/i]. Gb7 is a tritone substitution for C7 and E7 is a substitute for Bb7. So you can can actually just play G-7 C7 F-7 Bb7, which gives you another option. Ideally you'd want to be able to choose which of those you play. Also it helps to change that last Am7b5 to an Ebmaj7, then you have a progression G-7 C7 F-7 Bb7 Ebmaj7 (this is a 3 6 2 5 1, classic progression). [/quote] Yeah, I should have read the thread before answering! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 [quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1435931331' post='2813761'] You could, of course, play G twice followed by Gb twice. It doesn't have to be complicated [/quote] Yep - this! Often keeping it simple (especially on a tritone sub) is the way forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveFry Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 You could also just pedal an open D through both bars ( and even the next two bars as well ) in the last head and give the left hand a rest . Simplest is best . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlloyd Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Or you could learn Sam Jones' line on Cannonball Adderley's version: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u37RF5xKNq8[/media] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lovelock Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Double G or just G then chromatic below into Gb simples... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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