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
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:
| Chords | Dm7 | G7 | CMaj7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pedal Point | D, D, D, D | G, G, G, G | C, C, C, C |
| Arpeggio (hopping) | D, F, A, C | G, B, D, F | C, E, G, B |
| Arpeggio (walking) | D, F, A, F | G, B, D, B | C, E, G, B |
| Diatonic | D, E, F, A | G, A, B, D | C, E, G, E |
| Chromatic | D, F, A♭, F# | G, A♭, A, D | C, E, G, D♭ |
| Double with chromatic approach | D, D, A♭, A♭ | G, G, D♭, D♭ | C, G, A, D♭ |
Part I
Part II