How's your walking bass?

[julietgreen]

I set myself a goal this summer to learn to play walking basslines to chord sheets. How did you learn?

[lownote]

talkingbass.net walking bass over blues. made sense to me because i had an immediate use for it

[Coilte]

If you are starting from scratch then I'd recommend :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Walking-Jazz-Lines-for-Bass-Music-Book-with-Audio-Access-/272526565447?hash=item3f73d96047:g:HKYAAOSw3mpXK1AY

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ7MfADYRmg

There is a series of about ten lessons here, starting basic and going on from that.




Later on you could try :

http://www.alfred.com/Products/Todd-Johnson-Walking-Bass-Line-Module-System-Volume-2-Scale-Modules--00-30025.aspx


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Ed-Friedland-Paperback-New-Book-Free-UK-Delivery-/222273401271?hash=item33c086f1b7:g:7hgAAOSw8w1X9s8x


http://www.shermusic.com/1883217504.php

[julietgreen]

[quote name='lownote12' timestamp='1503067786' post='3355496']
talkingbass.net walking bass over blues. made sense to me because i had an immediate use for it
[/quote]

Thanks for that. I learned the blues walking bassline as one of the first things I did on bass, so that comes naturally as long as it's a standard 12 bars. As soon as it diverges from that, I get all finger-tied.

[julietgreen]

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1503068386' post='3355502']
If you are starting from scratch then I'd recommend :

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Walking-Jazz-Lines-for-Bass-Music-Book-with-Audio-Access-/272526565447?hash=item3f73d96047:g:HKYAAOSw3mpXK1AY"]http://www.ebay.co.u...KYAAOSw3mpXK1AY[/url]

or

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ7MfADYRmg"]https://www.youtube....h?v=UZ7MfADYRmg[/url]

There is a series of about ten lessons here, starting basic and going on from that.




Later on you could try :

[url="http://www.alfred.com/Products/Todd-Johnson-Walking-Bass-Line-Module-System-Volume-2-Scale-Modules--00-30025.aspx"]http://www.alfred.co...--00-30025.aspx[/url]


[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Ed-Friedland-Paperback-New-Book-Free-UK-Delivery-/222273401271?hash=item33c086f1b7:g:7hgAAOSw8w1X9s8x"]http://www.ebay.co.u...hgAAOSw8w1X9s8x[/url]


[url="http://www.shermusic.com/1883217504.php"]http://www.shermusic.../1883217504.php[/url]
[/quote]

Lots of good links. Many thanks. I find I get so far with the basic part of the lesson and then the jump to actually playing seems a massive one! I'll definitely have a go at those.

[julietgreen]

Still - I wondered how others actually learned.

[drlargepants]

Many thanks !

[spikydavid]

[quote name='julietgreen' timestamp='1503070673' post='3355523']
Still - I wondered how others actually learned.
[/quote]

I went to a weekly jam, starting out knowing nothing. I learned a few lines from transcriptions which helped with translating concepts to actual playing. Stopped going to the jam session and did more focused playing with a quartet all at the same sort of level as me. Kept reading & playing, but I'm still mostly playing on instinct, I have read lots of material about how to walk, but I'm not consciously thinking about any of it when I'm playing. About nine months ago I incorporated more melody playing into my practice, which has helped with hearing how the bass fits in the tune

I'm now in three different bands playing once or twice a month, practicing with one or other of the bands weekly. That whole journey has taken about two and a half years

[lowdown]

Listening to a lot of Ray Brown/Paul Chambers recordings, along with getting the chord changes from the first/early fake books.I also had a good upright teacher, a guy called Joe Mudele. A fantastic Bebop player.

[project_c]

Joe Hubbard's walking bass book is brilliant and taught me all the basics I needed back when I first started getting into playing jazz. I can wholeheartedly recommend it, very straight forward and fun learning experience. He is a member here I think.

[Coilte]

[quote name='julietgreen' timestamp='1503070673' post='3355523']
Still - I wondered how others actually learned.
[/quote]

Well...I started off with the "Walking Jazz Lines for Bass" book I recommended earlier. It gives you (starting very basic and going up from there) exercises to work on, then you can incorporate those exercises by playing along to the accompanying CD. The bass on the CD can be isolated if you wish, so it's just you and the band playing.

Further on in the book there are standards written in bass clef along with the track on the CD (with or without the bass).

Great way to get started IMO.

[ChunkyMunky]

Rufus Reid wrote some excellent texts relating to this. +1 for the Joe Hubbard book too.

[gjones]

[quote name='julietgreen' timestamp='1503070456' post='3355520']
Thanks for that. I learned the blues walking bassline as one of the first things I did on bass, so that comes naturally as long as it's a standard 12 bars. As soon as it diverges from that, I get all finger-tied.
[/quote]

Great little video, from Scott's bass lessons, which sounds like exactly what you need.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuqti5Nq4_o

[Happy Jack]

But only if you completely wreck your bass first, as far as I can see from that picture.

[ambient]

I had a brilliant teacher.

You can't really go wrong with chord tones, especially when starting out. Use the root of each new chord as a target note, that's the note you're aiming for on the 'one' of that bar.

[Geek99]

Why not try ed friedkands jazz book?

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1503089161' post='3355695']
But only if you completely wreck your bass first, as far as I can see from that picture.
[/quote]

I'm thinking that bass is less than five years old. Does playing a genuine relic help more or less than a wannabe? (Trick question)

[DaveFry]

This may help , 6:35 to 28:00
( I was reluctant to add till I remembered you play sax , so chances are you may understand a keyboard map .)

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey-YWlT1Gc8[/media]

hth

[GigJones]

I had a pretty good jazz teacher for a year or two and through him I learned that a walking jazz bassline boils down to knowing these three things:

1. Chord tones
2. Scale tones
3. Passing tones

This is by no means a comprehensive formula but the general rules for a simple walking bassline are:

1. Play a chord tone on the one
2. Play a scale tone on the two and three
3. Play a passing tone on the four
4. Improvise and repeat 1 through 3 as necessary

Edited August 19, 2017 by GigJones

[ivansc]

Osmosis. I listened to so much mainstream jazz when I as a little kid I could hear where lines "ought" to go from memory.
Odd - never really thought bout it until someone years ago asked me how I worked out "those walking bass lines".

My Dad used to occasionally run dances in the 1940s and 50s at a place called the Headstone Hotel, Headstone Drive in Wealdstone, so I got to hear a LOT of jazz!

[NickA]

.... still learning. It's only been 20 years mind.

This:

1. Chord tones
2. Scale tones
3. Passing tones

works OK but can sound a bit bland and "really good" walking bass-liners don't seem to do it.

I asked the tutor at my regular jazz workshop if I should be concentrating on getting a root note into each bar (especially at the start, to help the horns along ... ahem) or trying to work in the tones that "define" each chord (ie the 6th's 7th's flattened thirds ... or whatever). He said, what I was playing (as above) sounded OK .. but the bass player in his band hardly ever plays roots, thirds of fifths! Working at creating tension through substitutions and release through return to the dominant or some-such. Hey Ho.

Currently playing along to iReal Pro (android app) and supposed to be looking into the Jamie Abersoch books / recordings (which have the bass on one channel only, so you can blend it out and play your own lines). These are not specifically bass oriented mind, but are something to play along and practice with.

Welcome suggestions above. Thanks folks.

[pfretrock]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1503089161' post='3355695']
But only if you completely wreck your bass first, as far as I can see from that picture.
[/quote]
There can only be three reasons to have an instrument like that:

1. You earned it (like Rory Gallagher).
2. You are pretentious or rich or both.
3. You have a huge collection of tools including rasps, files, sandpaper and steel wool.

[pfretrock]

I've got the excellect Ed Frieldland walking bass book, but I prefer this one. It has some pretty challenging exercises in it and it also includes Evil TAB.
Usual plaay along CD is included.

[url="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Walking-Bass-Acoustic-Electric/dp/0793580420/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503258315&sr=8-1&keywords=the+art+of+walking+bass"]https://www.amazon.c...of+walking+bass[/url]

Edited August 20, 2017 by pfretrock

[hrnn1234]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruTfC5v9Z2Y

this one has so much information crammed in that it can take weeks to digest. I'm still trying to figure it out.

[louisthebass]

I initially learned the basics (mainly triads & 7th chords) from a couple of teachers I had in my early days of learning to play bass. There were also a couple of good basic tutors that also helped:

"The Bass Line Book - A Workbook" by Arn Evans & Jim Stinnett's "Creating Jazz Bass Lines". Can also recommend the Ed Friedland "Building Walking Basslines" book, and some of the resources on SBL too.

Haven't investigated them but the Todd Johnson Jazz Bass modular books are also supposed to be excellent. Maybe someone on here has got them and can recommend them?

These are also great once you get started, there's a few of these on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9VsU5WqrVk

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

Edited August 21, 2017 by louisthebass