WALKING
BASS LINES 101:
Building simple walking lines using chord tones:
Walking bass lines are some of the neatest and most melodic sounding
parts we get to play as bassists. Those of you who are fans of swing
jazz, blues, or boogie are probably already familiar with the walking
bass sound. Most of us associate the walking bass sound with a steady
quarter note pulse that outlines the harmony of the tune, usually played
in 4/4 time. There are many different ways we can approach walking bass
lines. The style of music bears a heavy influence on the way a walking
line might be played. If you listen to a lot of jazz, you have probably
noticed that walking lines in that genre are very improvisational in
nature. Rarely, if ever, will you here any repetitious phrasing when
a jazz bassist is walking through the changes in the form of a tune
if that player is experienced. It is almost as if they are playing a
solo using quarter notes only. If you listen to a blues bassist walking,
a level of improvisation still exists, but usually his or her phrasing
will be more harmonically conservative, and lines will be played utilizing
more consistent shapes or sequences of chromaticisms and
chord tones. Many boogie style walking bass lines are based
on a repetitious order of chord tones or scale tones, and the shape
of the line stays the same over each chord change. Examples 1-3 show
a few 8 bar examples of what you might hear from each of the genres
mentioned:
Example 1: A jazz style walking bass line
Example 2: A blues style walking bass line
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Example 3: A boogie style walking bass line
With any walking bass line, it is important to remember that your responsibility
as a bass player is twofold; you are the primary keeper of the pulse
of the time, as well as the foundation of what is happening harmonically.
This is especially true in jazz.
In this lesson, we will get into the basics of playing jazz walking
bass lines. To start off with, we will use chord tones only to construct
our bass lines. The reason for this is that chord tones (which can be
played using arpeggio forms) are what the actual chord changes are made
from. Needless to say then, the most conservative approach to outlining
chord changes would be one in which you were only choosing from notes
that were included in each chord.
Jazz tunes mostly consist of seventh chords. Seventh chords are 4 note
chords consisting of a root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th taken from a scale. Here
is a list of some common seventh chord types, along with their chord
tones written using scale degrees:
To
clarify even further, here is a list of the same chord types sharing
C as the root, along with their chord tones:
Chord
Type
Major 7 chord
Minor 7 chord
7 (Dominant 7)
Minor 7 b5
Diminished 7
|
Included
Chord Tones
root,
3, 5, 7
root, b3, 5, b7
root, 3, 5, b7
root, b3, b5, b7
root, b3, b5, bb7
|
Chord
C Major 7
C
Minor 7
C
7
C
Minor 7 b5
C
Diminished 7
|
Included
Chord Tones
C, E, G, B
C,
Eb, G, Bb
C,
E, G, Bb
C,
Eb, Gb, Bb
C,
Eb, Gb, Bbb
|
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Chord tones are best played using arpeggio forms. Arpeggios are basically
just broken chords. Figs.1-5 show some one octave seventh chord arpeggio
patterns you can use that correspond to each mentioned chord type:
Figure 1: Major 7 arpeggio, single octave
Figure 2: Minor 7 arpeggio, single octave
Figure 3: 7 arpeggio, single octave
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Figure 4: Minor 7b5 arpeggio, single octave
Figure 5: Diminished 7 arpeggio, single octave
Using chord tones, simple walking bass lines can be constructed simply
by choosing the appropriate arpeggio pattern for each chord change.
Examples 4-8 are walking bass lines constructed from chord tones only.
Example 4:
Example 5:
Example 6:
After playing through each example on your own, you will probably notice
that the use of chord tones in your bass lines outlines the movement
of each chord change without the need for any further accompaniment.
This simple, yet effective approach makes for a great introduction to
walking bass lines if you have never played them before. If you are
already able to play walking lines, limiting yourself to chord tones
only is a great way to improve your phrasing if you are having trouble
connecting chords effectively. A chord tone only approach to soloing
is also a great training method for effective phrasing and playing through
changes.
After playing through each example, start writing out your own changes
to play through. If you have a fake book or similar, try this same approach
working through tunes in the book. I think you will find that this exercise
helps to improve your harmonic awareness.
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