In this 5 minute masterclass, were going create a bass line over a blues in f. In this lesson ill demonstrate how i approach playing walking bass lines and chords at the same time. Walking bass lines for jazz guitar by stephan badreau is a step by step guide to harmonizing bass lines on the guitar. Were going to use basic chord tones and repetitive lines that will act as a springboard in developing your own lines. 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. Walking bass line piano tutorial walking bass jazz piano. The jazz bass line book by mike downes is a comprehensive approach to the construction of improvised bass lines. Walking bass line theory basicspart 1by chris fitzgerald. Just like walking with your feet, tyjwalking bass line is one step after the other that takes you somewhere. Therefore being in control of them and becoming fluent is crucial. The purpose of a good walking bassline or any bassline for that matter is twofold. This configuration will allow you to turn the bass track off and play with the piano and drums. And walking basslines are a continuous sequence of quarter notes, generally played on the beat.
There is a web site, that has an excellent remote learning course for bass. No need to wait for a book, you will receive a pdf file, so you may start playing your. Music is all about group interplay and most accomplished modern improvisers see a performance as a conversation. 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.
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. Easy walking bass lines pdf constructing walking jazz bass lines. Intended for beginners and professionals, the book deals with playing in 2, creating walking bass lines, 34 time, using a broken feel, modal and. Walking bass lines always sound cool in any style of music, but are essential to jazz blues and great american songbook jazz standards. Walking bass for jazz and blues is a complete method to help beginners master each element of blues and jazz walking bass. Playing jazz guitar bass lines with chords the guitar is an extremely versatile instrument, with seemingly endless techniques and tones around every corner. While some knowledge of music theory is necessary, excellent bass lines can be. It is full of ideas, examples, chord voicings and substitutions, as well as short chord progressions for you to try your new learned skills. One very important and widely used jazz guitar technique is playing bass lines in combination with chords. This is an indepth look at the heart and soul of jazz bass playing. This is an important concept to remember, the walking bass line is. And walking basslines are a continuous sequence of quarter notes, generally played on the beat 4 notes per bar in 44 time. It is full of ideas, examples, chord voicings and substitutions, as well as short chord progressions for you to try your new. You may notice that certain phrases appear in many solos.
Free jazz piano lessons everything you need to know about jazz. He is the coauthor of berklee onlines jazz piano course and the book berklee jazz standards for piano solo. Elgar salut d amour sheet music for piano solo pdf piano sheet. 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 part three of our walking bass series, we are looking at the final changes for the 12 bar blues. R 3 5 6 7 walking bass line theory basics chris fitzgerald. How to play left hand jazz piano walking bass techniques duration. 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. Learn some simple techniques to get started playing authentic walking bass. Intended for beginners and professionals, the book deals with playing in 2, creating walking bass lines, 34 time, using a broken feel, modal and slashchord harmony, ballads, and much more. If you know how to create a walking bass line, you can be more creative in your jazz playing.
We learn a really cool walking bass line that you can use under a 251. Walking bass lines for jazz guitar bookaudio files. In order to be a part of the jazz movement one must accept change. All transcriptions are available in pdf format for free download. 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.
A guitar in standard tuning will never reach the lower bass notes of a real bass, but. We explore how to walk that bass in your left hand up basic triad shapes and scale fragments. When starting out with walking bass lines, i would recommend that you always target the root when changing chords. Pdf a contourbased jazz walking bass generator researchgate. 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. Evolving upward bass book 11 rufus reid comprehensive bass method ron carter building jazz bass lines ron carter modern walking bass technique mike richmond drums stick control. Heres what you get a complete guide to walking bass lines so you learn how to play on the most common chord changes in blues and. If youre amazingly extra awesome, youll be able to sing the melody and make a bass line at the same time. For a complete guide to walking bass lines be sure to check out the full course here. Incorporating the 3rd of the chord will also give your bass line a stronger harmonic foundation.
Here is the bass lines for autumn leaves that everyone contributed to last week. This is a simple yet thorough book on beginning bass lines. Walking bass lines are a fascinating part of jazz, as they support and mark the harmony underneath the chords and melody. For beginning bass lines, the root of the chord is the most common target note to play because it is the fundamental note of the chord. The course covers standard head arrangements, walking lines and solos for bass. I have this book and no only is it a great way to get some very nice walking bass lines down, its a nice book for piano technique as well play the bass lines in both hands, together.
Each generation of jazz musicians contribute their own unique ideas, feelings, and sound to the music and this is what. These jazz piano lessons cover everything you need to know to appreciate and play jazz. This book is not intended as a compendium of every possible pattern or harmonic approach. Music educational books and sheet music downloads for blues, jazz, funk, latin, gospel, rock, celtic styles for instruments including piano, keyboards, sax, flute, guitar, violin, bass, clarinet, mandolin online music lessons, digital sheet music downloads. Walking bass lines are really useful in jazz piano they give you a cool, pro sound and a good sense of rhythm. The bass lines in the section are for you to learn, memorize, and play in a real live playing situation. Robert christopherson is a professor of piano at berklee college of music where he teaches private instruction, improvisation, advanced composition, reading, ensembles, and a survey of piano styles. It is designed to develop strong harmonic skills, rhythm, phrasing and note choice. This is the usual second step for players who want to master walking bass before moving to chromatic lines. Bass conversations episode 0003 walking bass lines, listening to the masters. Jan 22, 2018 by gerald marks and seymour simons an example of scales used for walking bass lines, i try to use mostly the notes in the key of c, the bass line have some embellishment notes and right hand plays.
So far we have patterns for each chord change in the 12bar blues except for one, moving from v to iv i. By the end of these tutorials you should have a solid understanding of jazz, and with enough practice be able to competently improvise and comp over any jazz song. Walking bass line theory basics pdf file chris fitzgerald. Walking bass lines supplement this is a supplement for the lesson on walking bass. Once a player can navigate a tunes harmony confidently, then rhythm can more easily come to the foreground. Use these lines to get you going the right direction when you start playing a blues. A walking bass line is the most common approach to jazz bass playing. Looking forward to hearing your walking bass lines over autumn leaves. Walking bass lines for guitar jazz guitar workshop series. The purpose of this book is to provide the beginning to intermediate jazz bassist a working vocabulary of walking basslines and concepts for improvising. The language of jazz or the jazz idiom is in a constant state of flux.
Start with the basic book and then move to the advanced book. In this weeks lesson were looking at a very simple walking bass line through the chord changes of the jazz standard autumn leaves. Dave frank school of jazz, new york city music videos. As such, they start from a beginner level and gradually build up towards more advanced topics. In this weeks lesson were looking at a very simple walking bass line. Learn walking bass from the master of walking bass himself. Walking bass lines are a very specific and classic jazz piano sound and generally considered an advanced concept. Music educational books and sheet music downloads for blues, jazz, funk, latin, gospel, rock, celtic styles for instruments including piano, keyboards, sax. Free jazz piano lessons everything you need to know. New release walking bass lines for guitar the blues in 12 keys book i. Jazz has changed greatly over the past 70 years and is presently in transition. Rather than arm you with a few examples of walking bass lines, this book will show. This paper describes a contourbased algorithm for the realtime automatic generation of jazz walking bass lines, following a given harmonic progression.
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. The worldwide leader in jazz improvisation educational materials for over 50 years. In lesson 2, we continued to build patterns for the common chord progressions we see in blues. This special online offer will run for the remainder of the corona virus social distancing period. I am now personally excited to schedule walking bassics into my own study rotation. 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. Chord tones root, 3rd, 5th, 7th are the most powerful choice you can make when creating your walking lines. In this example, the bass line consists of simple arpeggiations of each chord, giving the overall effect of a simple blues bass line. Walking bass lesson 3 jazz blues fundamental changes. In this article were going to focus on a few specific things that you can practice to help you play walking bass lines at the piano. Do you want to learn how to improve your lefthand piano walking bass techniques on piano or keyboard. Provides the aspiring jazz bassist with a thorough guide to walking bass lines. Also, dont forget to write out your lines at first and really practice these. Piano the jazz piano book and the jazz theory book jazz piano voicing skills dan haerle.
Playing with a walking bass line is a style of piano playing that is used most often in solo jazz performance. How to create bass lines 6 often youll use an ostinato for the head when the whole group plays the melody at the beginning and the end and use a walking bass for the changes when people take turns improvising over the chord progression of the song. Each example includes not only written basslines, but also a series of exercises that stepbystep introduce root motion, chord tones, scale patterns and chromatic halfstep approaches. Simple walking bass line for jazz beginners talkingbass. The main point to consider when constructing walking bass lines is how to create a smooth transition between the last note of the current chord, and the first. How to play walking bass lines at the piano cocktail. Walking bass lines for jazz guitar digital sheet music. Intermediate walking bass lines for jazz guitar explores the creation of walking bass lines played over chord sequence using scale tones. By the end of this book you will have the information you need to play. When creating walking bass lines, its important to outline the root and 5th of the chord.
And walking bass lines are a continuous sequence of quarter notes, generally played on the beat 4 notes per bar in 44 time. Walking bass on the piano can be one of the coolest things ever. Ive seen a few sources on walking bass but theyre never that good. Walking bass for jazz and blues fundamental changes. Endorsements as with all of sher musics books, the latin bass book is a welldone and concise breakdown of the fundamentals of this wonderful idiom. Free ebook downloads, practice tracks, drum tracks and much. How to play left hand jazz piano walking bass techniques. Sheet music plus, amazon ray brown legendary jazz bassist.
The majority of the presentation will focus on walking bass lines in a 44 meter. The book will show the musician how to connect familiar chord shapes with the appropriate bass notes. 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. First, to outline the chord you are playing over, and second, to smoothly approach the next chord. 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. Walking bass for jazz and blues fundamental changes music. 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. How to play walking bass lines at the piano cocktail piano.
Hi, i feel it is criminal that i havent learnt to walk after years of playing. New release walking bass workshop pt ii rhythm changes. Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of jazz. 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. Intermediate walking bass lines for jazz guitar by.
Learn to play walking bass lines like a jazz master. Its written clearly enough for even the most beginning players. 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. These blues bass lines are like having a one chorus lick that you can rely on to always sound good when you play it. Aug 19, 2014 in this lesson ill demonstrate how i approach playing walking bass lines and chords at the same time. Build a walking bass line from scales the jazz piano left hand.
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