Walking Bass-lines

Introduction

A bass-line is a melody line played in the bass (by a low-pitched instrument such as the piano, double bass, electric bass, tuba, etc.). And walking bass-lines are a continuous sequence of quarter notes, generally played on the beat (4 notes per bar in 4/4 time).

Walking Bass-lines

Walking Bass-lines

The goal of a walking bass-line is to outline the chord progression but with an interesting melodic line that provides a counter-melody (as above). In Jazz, bass-lines should generally not be too repetitive (unless you’re intentionally playing a vamp – like in Blues or Boogie-woogie).

Walking bass-lines make wide use of:

  • Stepwise movement
    • Walking up or down a diatonic scale
    • Walking up or down the chromatic scale
  • Arpeggios
  • Chromatic approach notes (notes one semitone above or below your target note) & other passing notes
  • Octave jumps
  • 5th jumps
  • Repeated notes (playing the same note twice)
  • Interval skips generally following some kind of pattern

Walking bass-lines must outline and support the chord progression by targeting the root or 5th (and occasionally 3rd) of the chord. In a sense, this is the opposite of improvisation, where the 3rd and 7th (Guide Tones) are the most important notes. In walking bass-lines, the root and 5th are the most important notes as these really emphasise the tonality of each chord.

And the most harmonically important beats for the bass-line are beats 1 and 3 (in 4/4 time) as this is when the chords generally change. You want to target the root or the 5th of the chord on beats 1 or 3 of the bar, especially when the chord changes. This is interesting because Jazz generally has a backbeat (i.e. accenting beats 2 & 4).

Some general walking bass-line tips are:

  • The most important notes for a bass-line are the root & 5th, while the chord above the bass note (Upper Structure) emphasises the 3rd & 7th (Guide Tones).
  • Target the root note on beat 1 of each bar (at least to begin with, as this will create a strong sounding bass-line which clearly outlines the chord progression. The bass-line implies the chords when you do this. You can then get more adventurous.)
  • Use leading-notes on beat 4 before moving to the next chord. Say we wanted to target the root note of CMaj7, then we could use the following leading-notes:
    • Chromatic (D♭ to C)
    • Diatonic (D to C)
    • 5th/Dominant (G to C)
    • Encircle the note (D♭ to B to C)
  • Keep it movin’ and mix it up. Make sure you change directions (up and down), change patterns (steps and skips – so it doesn’t just sound like a scale or an arpeggio), diatonic and chromatic – all the while keeping a strong ‘four feel’.

To add some interest and variety, you can also:

  • Play staccato or legato
  • Play in swung eighth notes (rather than quarter notes)
  • Add ornamentals like fills and grace notes
  • Play multiple notes at once (double stops)
  • Use Pedal Point (see below)

For example, let’s take a II-V-I in C and create a walking bass-line:

ChordsDm7G7CMaj7
Pedal PointD, D, D, DG, G, G, GC, C, C, C
Arpeggio (hopping)D, F, A, CG, B, D, FC, E, G, B
Arpeggio (walking)D, F, A, FG, B, D, BC, E, G, B
DiatonicD, E, F, AG, A, B, DC, E, G, E
ChromaticD, F, A♭, F#G, A♭, A, DC, E, G, D♭
Double with chromatic approachD, D, A♭, A♭G, G, D♭, D♭C, G, A, D♭

Part I

Part II

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