This is a short demonstration lesson detailing the basic principles of walking bass lines. As club and restaurant owners are cutting budgets, one way to keep our gig as a guitar player is to slim down the ensemble to a duo or walking bass lines read more. A bassline also known as a bass line or bass part is the term used in many styles of music, such as jazz, blues, funk, dub and electronic, traditional music, or classical music for the lowpitched instrumental part or line played in jazz and some forms of popular music by a rhythm section instrument such as the electric bass, double bass, cello, tuba or keyboard piano, hammond organ. Youll receive a pdf of all the lines played in the lesson, an arpeggio reference sheet and the backing tracks in c major and f major. Pay close attention to the quality of the chords dominant seven or minor. Bass parts are presented in easytoread tab as well as in standard music notation bass clef. The bass lines are good and one simple addition to know is that just about any chord walking bass line, you can always use a leading tone that is, 12 step below to whatever is the next chord. Walking bass lines for guitar guitar lessons for beginners, jazz. This is a a way of playing that i use really a lot in situations where theres no bass player, so mostly duo settings with a guitar player, singer or horn player. So what walking bass line the complete bass player. If you are looking to begin playing the bass then this how to video is the place to start. The walking bass line was developed by upright bassists like ray brown, milt hinton, paul chambers, and ron carter, but now its also commonly played on the bass guitar.
A walking bass line simply walks through the appropriate scale of each chord, one note per beat, hitting every beat of each measure. In the final two exercises, were going to combine exercises 4 and 5 to create some fun bass motion. I really liked all of the lines that you guys wrote and hope you enjoy playing through this line as well. It is found most commonly in blues and jazz, but as you learn bass guitar, you will hear its influence in almost any style of music.
Beginners guide to walking bass lines bass tabs bass. The first level will be to develop bass lines using triad chord tones only and resolve to the next chord root in the most economical way i. Looking forward to hearing your walking bass lines over autumn leaves. This is the first step in developing walking bass lines. Save an extra 25% off your first order with code ignited and combine with truefire cash for max savings. This is an important concept to remember, the walking bass line is. In this lesson, you will learn how to combine chords with a walking bass line, a concept that is becoming more and more in demand these days. Walking bass lines piano tutorial 5 minute masterclass. Learn to masterfully combine jazz chords with walking basslines taylor, martin, alexander, joseph, pettingale, tim on. How to play basic walking bass lines bass wonderhowto. If you are wishing to order the pdf mp3 files please go to the correct page as this product is for the pdf file only.
Its function is to outline the chords of the progression and provide a smooth transition from one chord to another. The majority of the presentation will focus on walking bass lines in a 44 meter. Walking bass definition of walking bass by merriamwebster. The function of the bass is to provide the foundation. Learn fingerstyle guitar with martin taylor online at artistworks. How to play walking bass lines at the piano cocktail. You should be able to do this with any progression at sight in meter.
It opened up a whole world of playing styles for me and the walking lines from bob moore including that wonderful bass intro to crazy and allen williams are just so adaptable and musical they will make anyone sound good. Our basic method for bass line construction is pretty straightforward. Often its best to keep mostly to the chord notes and add some extra melodic spice just when it makes sense for supporting the harmonic movement. Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of. For example, in a typical jazz 2 feel bass line for any song in 44 meter, the bass will play a half note on beats 1 and 3 of each measure. This is very useful in weaving a walking bass line through a chord progression while holding one position. Walking bass for jazz guitar distils over 40 years of virtuosity and skill into one beautiful jazz guitar book. The description below is for the pdf and audio files. Fortunately, there are many simpler ways to put together bassline. Below is the bass tablature for the basic blues in e bass line. You will learn some easy scales and how to play a walking bass line for whatever song you are playing. Martin taylor walking bass for jazz guitar fundamental.
Learn to play the bass line and the thirds and sevenths all at one time. A typical walking bass line consists of a string of quarter notes in 44 time. Share, download and print free sheet music for piano, guitar, flute and more on the worlds largest community of sheet music creators. The line constructed by using this method is not only perfectly. A walking bass line can in principle contain arbitrary chromatic runs, but obviously its not a good idea to do that all the time. Walking bass lines are a style of playing in which the bass player plays quarter notes which clearly outline the chords and chord tones, seamlessly outlining one chord and resolving to the next. When there are two chords per bar, we can construct a walking line by simply using the chromatic approach method to fill the spaces between target notes, as follows. In this lesson, well discuss walking bass with chords. Here is the basic bass pattern you will play over the e7 chord. When you combine all three, you have a very complete. Walking bass lines are a fascinating part of jazz, as they support and mark the harmony underneath the chords and. Its made up of the root, 3rd, 5th and 6th degrees of an e major scale for all of you music theory buffs out there.
You can do this same exercise with any of the patterns. Bass pro shops did not respond when contacted for comment about the companies promotional practices in overlap markets. The term walking is used to describe the moving feeling that quarter notes create in the bass part. Learn from the internationally acclaimed master of jazz chord melody guitar as he teaches you, stepbystep, how to play walking basslines on guitar and combine. With this tutorial you will learn tips to improve your walking bass technique. The blues in 12 keys upright bass and electric bass method pdf. Learn to masterfully combine jazz chords with walking basslines. Begin with a quarter note walking bass line utilizing primarily the 1st and 3rd fingers. While some knowledge of music theory is necessary, excellent bass lines can be. R 3 5 6 7 walking bass line theory basics chris fitzgerald. Therefore being in control of them and becoming fluent is crucial.
Walking bass line theory basicspart 1by chris fitzgerald. Just like walking with your feet, tyjwalking bass line is one step after the other that takes you somewhere. When piano players copy this idea of walking bass lines, they generally do so by using their left hand to play the same role as that of the bass player. Fundamental concepts for walking bass a systematic method ebook by george urbaszek. Use the same method that is illustrated with the ii v is. Walking bass lines always sound cool in any style of music, but are essential to jazz blues and great american songbook jazz standards. Chord tones root, 3rd, 5th, 7th are the most powerful choice you can make when creating your walking lines. Walking bass lines are an essential part of blues and jazz piano especially if youre playing solo or without any. There are many ways to combine the chordal, scalar and chromatic elements to create a.
Walking bass definition is an evenly accented repeated bass figure often in short octaves used especially in piano blues. In this 5 minute masterclass, were going create a bass line over a blues in f. S7 e7 bass bass a7 10fr d7 5 a7 d7 bass bass e7 a7 9 e7 a7 bass bass 10fr d7 10fr d7 g7 d7 d7 g7 bass bass 8fr c. The term walking is used lescribe the moving feeling that quarter notes create in the bass part. A walking bass line is the most common approach to jazz bass playing. Popularized by piano greats lennie tristano and dave mckenna, among others, the walking lh bass line can effectively subtitute for a rhythm section, if desired, and provides a rhythmic and melodic foundation for rh improvisations. The electric bass examples from glenn worf and others are also useful for upright if you change a few of the note positions. Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of jazz online jazz handbook.
Many beginner and intermediate piano players are daunted by trying to play the bassline at the same time as the melody. Chords and walking bass part 1 i mostly talked about how to combine the two and how. Walking bass with chords for jazz guitar jazz guitar lessons. Jazz walking bass guitar lessons sean mcgowan truefire. Chords and walking bass part 1 in this lesson ill demonstrate how i approach playing walking bass lines and chords at the same time. Learn how to build and play walking bass lines on guitar and combine these with chords video, guitar tabs, and backing track. Paypal will automatically convert from us dollars to your currency using the exchange rate at the. Here is the bass lines for autumn leaves that everyone contributed to last week. Once these methods have been learned, the student can combine all of them to create a walking bass line. In this example, the bass line consists of simple arpeggiations of each chord, giving the overall effect of a simple blues bass line. Dave frank school of jazz, new york city music videos. How to write a walking bass line learn jazz standards. Exercise 1 demonstrates this with several examples.
Walking bass and chords are a great way to comp on guitar in a duo setting, the most famous example is probably joe pass, but you will see it. Learn to masterfully combine jazz chords with walking basslines play jazz guitar english edition ebook. The possible noterange of a walking bass can reach from subcontra a to middle c. Here is an example of walking a line by switching between 1231 and 53. As always you can download a pdf of the examples here. While walking bass in a band is generally played by the bass guitar or double bass player, being able to play walking bass lines is an essential skill for. Playing with a walking bass line is a style of piano playing that is used most often in solo jazz performance. Connect the chord changes, experimenting with different string groups but stay on the low side. Finally, create your own bass lines by mixing up the root patterns.
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