It is possible to add rhythmic variations, but in general, a walking bassline drives the song forward step by step. 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. Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of jazz. Therefore being in control of them and becoming fluent is crucial. Walking bass line piano tutorial walking bass jazz piano. A walking bass line provides a strong rhythmic and harmonic foundation by smoothly moving from each chord to the next using four. Easy walking bass lines pdf constructing walking jazz. Click download or read online button to get basic walking bass lines for jazz guitar book now. Simple jazz blues walking bass line breakdown youtube. The symbol of the bass clef is derived from the old german way of writing f.
A walking bass line generally consists of notes of equal duration and intensity typically 14 notes that create a feeling of forward motion. This example is a little faster than what i usually do. R 3 5 6 7 walking bass line theory basics chris fitzgerald. And walking bass lines are a continuous sequence of quarter notes, generally played on the beat 4 notes per bar in 44 time. The bass also has a rich history as a solo instrument in jazz. For a young musician just beginning to dive into the art form, it can seem a daunting task. 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.
Looking forward to hearing your walking bass lines over autumn leaves. Walking bass jazz guitar lesson all the things we are. Video does not go deep into analysis, the written part does. One very important and widely used jazz guitar technique is playing bass lines in combination with chords. The description below is for the pdf and audio files.
S7 e7 all of me example bass line john marley 3 3 3 5 2 2 4. If you are wishing to order the pdfmp3 files please go to the correct page as this product is for the pdf file only. Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of jazz online jazz handbook welcome to the bass chapter of the thelonious monk institute of jazz s online jazz handbook. How to keep your bass lines interesting and how to write a walking bass line. A bass line is a melody line played in the bass by a lowpitched instrument such as the piano, double bass, electric bass, tuba, etc. Click here to download the free 3 scale concepts that create killer walking bass lines pdf. Looking for a structured way to increase your current skill level. The walking bass line is one of the most fundamental parts of american music. Covers scales, arpeggios, rhythm, walking bass lines and music theory as it applies to the bass, along with many lines and grooves played over a variety of progressions in all keys. Basic walking bass lines for jazz guitar download ebook. Oct 12, 2005 walking bass lines for jazz guitar by stephan badreau is a step by step guide to harmonizing bass lines on the guitar. Building walking bass lines bass instruction pdf free download. Walking bass lesson 3 jazz blues fundamental changes.
This is the most common 12bar blues form aka iivv progression. A guitar in standard tuning will never reach the lower bass notes of a real bass, but. In this 5 minute masterclass, were going create a bass line over a blues in f. Beats 1 and 2 of the measure have a simple descending third pattern starting on the 9th of gm7. The blues in 12 keys, book i in the constructing walking jazz bass lines series is designed to give the aspiring bassist of all levels the tools and devices required to construct professional level jazz bass lines and to build a strong functional awareness of how to function as a professional bassist in any musical setting. In this lesson, we will show you a couple of jazz bass lines that will help to open your eyes to the use of chords and chromatics within jazz bass guitar playing. May 02, 20 demonstration with instruction on iviiiv walking bass and chords. Walking bass is most readily associated with jazz, where musicians have used it in ensembles of all sizes and styles. Bass lessons beginners guide to walking bass lines bass tab standard string tuning g,d,a,e recommended 1. 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.
Walking a bass line with the left hand is a skill every jazz, rock, and pop pianist should know. Now its time to learn how to create a complete bass line from scratch. Once mastered, it should be very easy to find an applicable jazz standard to practice it over. It is full of ideas, examples, chord voicings and substitutions, as well as short chord progressions for you to try your new learned skills. Simple walking bass line for jazz beginners talkingbass. The wonderful thing about it is that walking a basic bass line is not all that difficult once you learn a few simple steps. From the marlena shaw album who is this bitch, anyway. Were going to use basic chord tones and repetitive lines that will act as a springboard in developing your own lines. 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. One last idea for this lessonlisten to jazz organ players like larry young. The fundamentals of music are pitch and rhythm which are placed in a grid of five lines and four spaces called staff. Most often the bass lines are played by an acoustic or upright bass. A must know chord progression played at all the jam sessions.
The bassline construction method explored here uses chord tones, approach notes and basic reharmonization. In part three of our walking bass series, we are looking at the final changes for the 12 bar blues. Walking bass lines part 2 learn jazz piano online with. 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. These blues bass lines are like having a one chorus lick that you can rely on to always sound good when you play it. Chuck rainey all of these transcriptions are from an instructional book that was never published. If youre amazingly extra awesome, youll be able to sing the melody and make a bass line at the same time. Well be looking at basic scale degree patterns that can be applied to each chord in creating a walking bass line. Walking bass jazz guitar lesson on all the things you are. First off, before we begin, it is important that you take a look at your skillset.
Jazz is an incredibly difficult music to play in many ways. Written by stephen richter in both standard notation and tab. The second part of my walking bass series goes back to one of my favorite upright bassists of the 1960s era jimmy garrison. And walking basslines are a continuous sequence of quarter notes, generally played on the beat. The first jazz walking bass line etude we are going to learn is over the first eight bars of giant steps. Bb jazzblues walking bass line for guitar 1d47djy1gj42 idocpub. In this lesson we will be creating a simple walking bass line over a basic jazz blues progression. In this bass guitar lesson, im going to take you through the 3 core concepts you can use to create walking bass lines. When creating walking bass lines, its important to outline the root and 5th of the chord. If you know how to create a walking bass line, you can be more creative in your jazz playing. 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. A walking bass line is the most common approach to jazz bass playing. Use these lines to get you going the right direction when you start playing a blues. In part 1 we created waling bass lines over major and minor 251s using the tones of the triad in combination with chromatic or stepwise approach patterns.
Aug 11, 2015 in previous lessons, we have looked at creating a solid walking bass line to fulfill our supporting role in a jazz ensemble. Simple walking bass line for jazz beginners autumn leaves. Adhere to this basic rule and you can even tackle the approach notes in a similar fashion, creating the effect of walking to the new chord in onefret steps. A walking bass line is the most common approach to jazz. Walking bass lines for jazz guitar digital sheet music. It is obvious that we should have a command of these bass lines like a musical vocabulary, so to speak.
Intermediate walking bass lines for jazz guitar explores the creation of walking bass lines played over chord sequence using scale tones. Pdf a contourbased jazz walking bass generator researchgate. Walking bass lines always sound cool in any style of music, but are essential to jazz blues and great american songbook jazz standards. To get started with walking bass lines it is important to be aware of the root notes in each of the chords you are playing. From the blues inflected double bass solos of ray brown to the electric bass bebop of jeff berlin. Walking bass line theory basicspart 1by chris fitzgerald. Apr 02, 2016 simple jazz blues walking bass line breakdown. Jazz walking bass line etudes for guitar jamie holroyd. These walking bass lines will give you a good basis for what to play and how to outline the chords to provide a good solid walking bass line for soloists to improvise over. Playing jazz guitar bass lines and chords terence wright.
The book will show the musician how to connect familiar chord shapes with the appropriate bass notes. The majority of the presentation will focus on walking bass lines in a 44 meter. A compendium of techniques for great jazz bass lines including. Walking bass lines the easy, this jazz line is composed over the very common iivi progression. The difficulty in walking bass on the guitar lies in the combination of playing chords and bass at. It is technically demanding, harmonically advanced, and extremely interactive. Also, dont forget to write out your lines at first and really practice these. The bass lines in the section are for you to learn, memorize, and play in a real live playing situation. Walking bass lines for jazz standards piano tutorials playlist. Pdf this paper describes a contourbased algorithm for the realtime automatic generation of jazz walking bass lines, following a given harmonic. Playing jazz guitar bass lines with chords the guitar is an extremely versatile instrument, with seemingly endless techniques and tones around every corner. Just like walking with your feet, tyjwalking bass line is one step after the other that takes you somewhere. In this post, i want to take abstract concepts about how bass lines are constructed and use them to create practical exercises that.
This makes for a very simple and repetitive line but by learning a basic line. To demonstrate this we are going to use one of the most important chord sequences youll find in jazz music the iivi or 251. Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of. The term walking is used lescribe the moving feeling that quarter notes create in the bass part.
So far we have patterns for each chord change in the 12bar blues except for one, moving from v to iv i. Walking bass is a form of bass line, or a musical line that usually provides the lowest voice of the musical texture. Play through the progression using only root notes if it is new to you. In this weeks lesson were looking at a very simple walking bass line through the chord changes of the jazz standard autumn leaves. Aug 19, 2014 in this lesson ill demonstrate how i approach playing walking bass lines and chords at the same time. Well there is a huge number of jazz albums with great walking basslines probably my favourite for walking lines is paul chambers and of course if there is one album that everybody has or likes even if they arent a jazz fan is miles davis kind of blue.
Chord tones root, 3rd, 5th, 7th are the most powerful choice you can make when creating your walking lines. When you can cleanly and smoothly play the bass line, add the chords. I really liked all of the lines that you guys wrote and hope you enjoy playing through this line as well. Here is the bass lines for autumn leaves that everyone contributed to last week. While often associated with jazz, walking bass can be found in any genre. In part 2 of this lesson we continue our study of walking bass lines. Players of all levels like to stretch out on the blues.
A slightly embellished version of this kind of line would also be typical of a basic boogie woogie type bass line, as in the following example. These riffs work over almost any chord which then moves up by an interval of a 4th to the next chord. 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 jazz guitarists when playing without a bass player. Here on learn jazz standards, there are a few great posts on walking bass lines for bass players. Walking bass lines for jazz guitar by stephan badreau is a step by step guide to harmonizing bass lines on the guitar. Introduces the beginner to the fundamentals of jazz bass guitar.
In this lesson ill demonstrate how i approach playing walking bass lines and chords at the same time. I have included your bass lines in here so see if you can find your line as you play through these. The difficulty in walking bass on the guitar lies in the combination of playing chords and bass at the same time. 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. Beginners guide to walking bass lines bass tabs bass. This is an important concept to remember, the walking bass line is. A compendium of techniques for great jazz bass lines. First eight measures of rhythm changes in the key of bb.
Easy walking bass lines pdf constructing walking jazz bass lines. In lesson 2, we continued to build patterns for the common chord progressions we see in blues. Walking bass lines piano pdf file download ranasohel. Well play through it so you can get it under your fingers and then well have a look at what is going on in there so you can integrate parts of it into your own vocabulary and develop your own walking style. Walking bass lines for guitar jazz guitar workshop series. In this example, the bass line consists of simple arpeggiations of each chord, giving the overall effect of a simple blues bass line. This paper describes a contourbased algorithm for the realtime automatic generation of jazz walking bass lines, following a given harmonic progression. Get a hold of the fundamentals before tackling this. Sheet music arranged for piano vocalguitar in d minor. Walking bass lines lesson 1 the jazz blues progression. Music educational books and sheet music downloads for blues, jazz, funk, latin, gospel, rock, celtic styles for instruments including piano, keyboards, sax, flute. Download intermediate walking bass lines for jazz guitar intermediate walking bass lines pdf being honest,i dont know improvisatuon im a beginnerintermediateadvanced bassist because im self taught and.
Bass lines part 2 adding chords to your bass lines mark white is an associate professortraveling clinician for. Walking bass lines always sound cool in any style of music, but are essential to jazz blues and. How to write a walking bass line learn jazz standards. How to create bass lines 5 ostinato or riff bass an ostinato is a repeated rhythmicmelodic. Walking bass lines for jazz guitar bookaudio files. While giant steps can be daunting to improvise over, you can create a walking bass line with only a few notes.
While some knowledge of music theory is necessary, excellent bass lines can be. This is the usual second step for players who want to master walking bass before moving to chromatic lines. These are all complete bass lines and this is the first time i have put them up for the general bass playing public. Simple jazz blues walking line breakdown talkingbass.
Contains printable sheet music plus an interactive, downloadable digital. If you like these ideas and want more information, my books walking bass lines for jazz guitar and walking bass lines for bass guitar are available at. Walking bass line theory basics pdf file chris fitzgerald. Are you trying to find a way in to playing jazz bass. In this lesson i share some essential walking bass patterns. Essential walking bass line patterns discover double bass. It demonstrates how i reuse bigger parts of lines on similar progressions very well. The jazz blues progression is a walking bass lesson 1 the jazz blues progression. Incorporating the 3rd of the chord will also give your bass line a stronger harmonic foundation. The intervalic bass line is created from your knowledge of what notes make particular chords. Playing a walking jazz guitar bass line is a captivating method of comping for other musicians, and yourself. 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.
Apr 26, 2017 in my previous post, how to keep your bass lines interesting, we defined what a bass line is and what its functions are, and looked at a few ways in which we can creatively negotiate chord changes. In jazz, bass lines should generally not be too repetitive unless youre intentionally playing a vamp like in blues or boogiewoogie. Intermediate walking bass lines for jazz guitar by. So what walking bass line the complete bass player.
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