Picture yourself as the bassist in a jazz trio. Piano, Bass, Drums. The drummer is creating an interconnected web of rhythms and tones for yourself and the pianist to sit on. The pianist is comping a few chords and playing the melody to “C Jam Blues”. Now you, what are you doing?
You are probably playing steady, even, quarter notes. If you are, GREAT! That’s 50% of your job as a bass player. Now answer this question, are you providing the harmonic ground for the web the drummer has created? Are your quarter notes accurately representing the chords happening in the music? Are they leading the trio from chord to chord? There are three important things you should focus on, great time, accuracy (playing the right notes, that outline the chord) as well as leading (set-up the next chord so that your lines have flow). The last two things make your quarter note walking become the dynamic (as in moving, not volume) aspect of the web that is established by the drummer.
So, a walking bass line consists of:
1. Quarter Notes
2. Note Accuracy
3. Leading
1. To develop a great quarter note, play along with records as well as a metronome. Listen to how the bass plays with the drums. Each recording, each bass- drum match will be different. So, play with different records, and eventually you will start to notice what you prefer. But first, listen A LOT.
2. Note accuracy comes from knowing chord symbols and scales/modes that go with them. This is a serious drill of memorization. Put in the time to memorize all scales. As you memorize each scale, also learn to play it, in tune, across the entire bass neck. It is very important that you know your instrument.
3. I am referring to creating bass lines that lead us to the next chord, section, etc. From one chord to the next chord, the bass line should remain smooth, consistent and without major leaps, unless used sparingly as a “special moment” device. Otherwise, your line should be smooth like butter, no bumps. Again, it helps to know where the scales/notes are on the entire neck, otherwise you will get stuck at some points and have to jump just because you do not know where the nearest note is.
Here are some simple bass lines. I have labeled the mode I used as well as the degree of that mode. Notice that 1-2-3-5 is a useful one. An exercise for you, could be to play these 2-5-1 progressions in each key, using 1-2-3-5 scale degrees over each chord.
If you have questions, email me at tetyanahar@gmail.com and I can connect you with a bass player who can answer them!
*Bass lines are also written in treble clef for other instrumentalists to read, if they wish.
Notice 1-5-1 movement over Am7. This is not a walking pattern you should use often, this is a "special moment" tool, it works well for building tension during a building solo phrase for example.
Comments