This lesson is the first look into how we construct the actual lines and starts with a primer on arpeggios or chord tones. When improvising a bass line through a chord progression, its unlikely youll. Walking bass lines always sound cool in any style of music, but are essential to jazz blues and great american songbook jazz standards. Therefore being in control of them and becoming fluent is crucial.
It is obvious that we should have a command of these bass lines like a musical vocabulary, so to speak. This first bass fill simply works up and down the a7 arpeggio from our low a at the 5 th fret of the e string. This is the second lesson in the series devoted to walking bass lines. Build a walking bass line from scales the jazz piano left hand. When you use our free bass tabs pdf youll be able to download and save them to your computer for future use. Walking bass lines for guitar jazz guitar workshop series.
Chord tones root, 3rd, 5th, 7th are the most powerful choice you can make when creating your walking lines. Since its walking bass piece each note is a quarter note. The book will show the musician how to connect familiar chord shapes with the appropriate bass notes. 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, 1 2 step below to whatever is the next chord. This is a really popular chromatic line that works equally well over minor 7, dominant 7 and major 7 chords. If you know how to create a walking bass line, you can be more creative in your jazz playing. Step one root and fifth orientation begin with a quarter note walking bass line utilizing primarily the 1st and 3rd fingers.
To get backing tracks and pdf files to each lesson just pop your first name and email into the side bar field if you have mastered the patterns from module 1 and module 2 you can now play very solid and good sounding walking lines without repeating yourself every two bars. Walking bass is a form of bass line, or a musical line that usually provides the lowest voice of the musical texture. Apr 23, 2012 in this walking bass lesson i show you how i actually teach my own personal students using this method and why they seem to be able to start creating there own walking bass lines much faster than. In this lesson ill demonstrate how i approach playing walking bass lines and chords at the same time. You will also have learned a system for analyzing a bass line that will help you to understand why some bass lines work and others dont. Exercise 1 demonstrates this with several examples. Heres an easy pretty slow walking bass line, in the key of am. Table of contents 1 all of me 2 all the things you are 3 alone together. Walking bass lines for jazz guitar by stephan badreau is a step by step guide to harmonizing bass lines on the guitar. Many genres, including rock and pop as well as older styles like. Provides the aspiring jazz bassist with a thorough guide to walking bass lines. Music educational books and sheet music downloads for blues, jazz, funk, latin, gospel, rock, celtic styles for instruments including piano, keyboards, sax, flute. Pay attention, burn through this as fast as you can, and you.
This bass transcription is the full percy heath walking bass line to but not for me take 2 from miles davis 1957 album bags groove. From todd johnson, a 4page pdf look at a style of jazz known as modal tunes. I am now personally excited to schedule walking bassics into my own study rotation. 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. From the funkiest bass grooves to the most lyrical bass solos, from the 50s up until 2020. This is an important concept to remember, the walking bass line is movement. This is a very simple way of applying the chord tones in a bass fill.
Walking bass lines for jazz guitar book audio files paperback october 12, 2005. This exercise is nothing more than a i vim iim v bass line playing two. You can also resize the bass tabs which makes them perfect for viewing on an ipad, smartphone or other tablet. This is a nice websiteblog about playing upright bass. More than 460 free transcriptions for bass and other instruments on basslessons. If youre looking for bass tabs, then click here these free bass transcriptions are provided for educational use only click on the transcription title to view and download the pdf. If the previous chords root and the current chord root form a descending fifth or ascending fourth interval, you can play the minor seventh of the previous chord on the fourth beat of the previous bar and start the. Walking bass lines for jazz guitar bookaudio files. Steven mooney, constructing walking jazz bass lines book series. Playing with a walking bass line is a style of piano playing that is used most often in solo jazz performance. By the end of the book youll have all the skills in place to create walking bass lines over the most common jazz structures and chord sequences. We have already made use of this combination in the song walking train page 87, bar 24.
Just like walking with your feet, tyjwalking bass line is one step after the other that takes you somewhere. Each lesson is professionally filmed in our studios located in greeley, colorado and kent, ohio. A handpicked collection of licks and grooves covers virtually every style of blues. The samples are in pdf format and require adobe acrobat reader to be installed. Chord tones should be the first stop on the road to learning how to play walking bass lines. For all of these exercises, we are going to use the cycle of 4ths.
This is the first step in developing walking bass lines. Fundamental concepts for walking bass a systematic method will show you stepbystep how to make up your own walking bass lines for jazz, country, rockabilly etc this manual can be used by anyone wanting to learn how to play improvised walking bass on any instrument in any time signature. Instead of the dominant, we can also play a minor7 chord in bass line 1 with a chord combination from ii. This collection of lessons contributed by todd johnson, the man behind the technique builders, walking bass line module system vol. Pdf a contourbased jazz walking bass generator researchgate. What are some specific songs with fun to play walking bass lines. Walking bass lines the blues in 12 keys bass tab edition mooney, steven on. This is an indepth look at the heart and soul of jazz bass playing. Practicing how to practice walking bass lines when first starting out trying to learn to play jazz or walking bass lines it can be hard to know where to start. Start with the basic book and then move to the advanced book.
But still, that book will get you started and it is a real good book just for that. Chords, soloing, theory, vocabulary, and more in each book. Walking bass line theory basicspart 1by chris fitzgerald. Aug 19, 2014 in this lesson ill demonstrate how i approach playing walking bass lines and chords at the same time. A very basic primer for walking bass lines connecting the dots part 1 david hodge guitar lessons guitar columns by david hodge, guitar lessons for beginners weve mentioned this before, but it certainly bears repeating. Here are some practice suggestions for getting the most out of the book. We are going to go move around the cycle counter clockwise. The specific goal of this book is to familiarize players with the techniques used to build walking bass lines and to make them aware of how the process works. The following is an example of a common bass line construction when the harmonic rhythm is moving at the rate of two chords per bar target notes are designated with t, and approach notes are designated with a. A walking bass line is a more creative form of bass playing than the other swing styles because you choose new notes each time you play the same song. The bass lines in the section are for you to learn, memorize, and play in a real live playing situation. Misc cool walking bass pattern bass tab this cool walking bass pattern is fun to play, and also a good warmup. Building walking bass lines bass instruction pdf free download.
Use these lines to get you going the right direction when you start playing a blues. Bass parts are presented in easytoread tab as well as in standard music. Walking bass line theory basics pdf file chris fitzgerald. Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of. Walking bass lines the blues in 12 keys bass tab edition.
The cycle of 5ths is just an organized way to travel through the keys so you hit every one. If youre amazingly extra awesome, youll be able to sing the melody and make a bass line at the same time. There is a web site, that has an excellent remote learning course for bass. Sample walking bass line on classic jazz standard chord progression taken from constructing walking jazz bass lines book iii standard lines. Module 2 scales passing tones walking bass lessons. A stepbystep method for developing extraordinary technique on the bass guitar strengthen your overall facility on the instrument with this series of exercises and lessons, presented in an effective themeandvariation format. Constructing walking jazz bass lines book i the blues in 12 keys new 2hr mp3 playalong free download featuring all chord progressions in 12 keys from part ii of the book available from website. The function of the bass is to provide the foundation. These blues bass lines are like having a one chorus lick that you can rely on to always sound good when you play it. The function of a bass player in the jazz combo is to work with the piano player and drummer to provide both a harmonic and rhythmic stability for the tune. So what walking bass line the complete bass player. T 1 2 a t 3 by chris fitzgerald a 4 t 1 a 2 t 3 a 4 walking bass line theory basics. Pay attention, burn through this as fast as you can, and.
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. Rather than arm you with a few examples of walking bass lines, this book will show. Moreover, those lines can be heard on the most of great jazz recordings. Dave frank school of jazz, new york city music videos. Get the tabs, notation and practice tracks for all the bass lines in this lesson if you want. For ascending lines im using the scale degrees 1 2 3 5. A walking bass line generally consists of notes of equal duration and intensity typically 1 4 notes that create a feeling of forward motion. Simple walking bass line for jazz beginners talkingbass. I have included your bass lines in here so see if you can find your line as you play through these. Whats cool is that you only need to know which chords are played in the progression to be able to improvise your own beginner walking bass lines over the track. In this weeks lesson were looking at a very simple walking bass line through the chord. Constructing walking jazz bass lines, book 1, the blues in 12 keys.
Free bass tabs printable, downloadable pdf bass tabs. Discussion in recordings bg started by wintremute, may 20, 2017. Walking bass improvisation for beginners bass road bass lessons. For ascending lines i m using the scale degrees 1 2 3 5. All lessons are offered in highdefinition quality and presented with 35 cameras depending on the material taught.
This page features over 180 free bass transcriptions in standard notation. Description of the book building walking bass lines. The course covers standard head arrangements, walking lines and solos for bass. 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. With these jazz standard study guides you learn how to master your favorite jazz tunes on guitar. I added tabs on the bottom right of the screen, so you can learn easily this wal. Part 1 demonstrates the techniques used by professional jazz bassists to provide forward motion into bass lines, while providing a strong harmonic and rhythmic foundation. I really liked all of the lines that you guys wrote and hope you enjoy playing through this line as well. In this new 21 st century edition of bluegrass bass, the original book has been revised, edited. Bass lines incorporate many basic improvisational concepts and fundamental musical building blocks such as chord tone outlining.
Playing a walking jazz guitar bass line is a captivating method of comping for other musicians, and yourself. It is possible to add rhythmic variations, but in general, a walking bassline drives the song forward step by step. There are a couple of exceptions as youll see but for the most part were looking at one line for ascending and one line for descending. For further rhythmic training, i highly recommend the book, modern reading tat.
The collection of material of this book is, in our opinion, the basics to playing bass guitar for some event. Pretty much anything in the real book is a good candidate for a walking line. Were leaving nothing to chance and starting right from the beginning. Walking bass with chords for jazz guitar jazz guitar lessons. If this kind of work is new to you, it may take several weeks or a month to get comfortable with walking lines between chords. Through the use of 90minutes worth of recorded rhythm tracks available online using the unique code in the book, players will have the opportunity to put the new learning directly into. Due to the nature of walking bass lines, the only rhythmic value you will see in this book is a quarter note. We offer a broad selection free bass tabs pdf sheets to help you learn songs. This is a simple yet thorough book on beginning bass lines. Building walking bass lines pdf free download epdf. Walking bass exercise fly me to the moon play chords with free rhytm play both hands 1 oct down. Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of jazz online jazz handbook welcome to the bass chapter of the thelonious monk institute of jazzs online jazz handbook. Very easy to learn and play for the beginning bass player. Top 20 amazing bass lines of all time with tab sheet.
Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of jazz. For this walking bass line im going to use only two scale patterns as the foundation for the whole thing. Back to walking bass if you are looking to learn walking bass from day one you are in the right place. In 44 time there are four quarter notes in a bar, in 34, there are three. For when you have to learn to play the bass right now. This type of root motion is very common in jazz and popular music. The bassline construction method explored here uses chord tones, approach notes and basic reharmonization. The rhythm is basic, using quarter notes and the tones of a major scale. This lesson for electric bass covers an easy walking style blues bass line in the key of e. A comprehensive guide to constructing walking jazz bass lines for the double bassist and electric jazz bassist is a complete 12key guide to techniques and devices used to construct walking jazz bass lines in the jazz tradition. If we analyse the walking bass lines from a good bassist in a band, we quickly come to realise that there are bass lines that appear over and over, because they sound so good and have proved themselves successful.