Walking bass exercises pdf

To really get the idea of what a good walking bass line sounds and feels like you need to start listening to the great upright bass players. Using the following figures and lots of practice, you can play a perfectly authentic groove in just about any of the main musical genres. Sep 08, 2014 practice bass scale exercises and if you are walking the bass into the next measure walk the scale tones of the next measures chord key signature. Developing a cohesive walking bass line eric elias. In this weeks lesson were looking at a very simple walking bass line through the chord. Take two different chords and you want to move as stepwise as possible between the roots of the two chords.

Not because of some super difficult part that i was trying to learn, but instead the difficulty was simply sticking to the plan. The target of this quizworksheet is to test you on the basso continuo, features of walking bass lines, nonchord tones, and notes in chords. When the harmonic rhythm of a progression of a song is two chords per bar, the bass. Walking bass for jazz and blues fundamental changes. Its function is to outline the chords of the progression and provide a smooth transition from one chord to another.

Nothing too difficult, just make sure you are stamping your foot two times per second and that you are counting from 1 to 4 in time with your foot beat. Before we get started, make sure you grab a handy free pdf and backing tracks package that you can download on. Apr 23, 2012 in this walking bass lesson i show you how i actually teach my own personal students using this method and why they seem to be able to start creating there own walking bass lines much faster than. Pickups are also mounted to the body and work like little microphones that pick up the sound from the strings. The possible noterange of a walking bass can reach from subcontra a to middle c. The following is an example of a common bass line construction when the harmonic. Walking bass lines are really useful in jazz piano they give you a cool, pro sound and a. When piano players copy this idea of walking bass lines, they generally do so by using their left hand to play the same role as that of the bass player.

Walking bass exercises for jazz guitar lesson with tabs and audio. Chord tones are the foundation that we are going to build our walking bass constructions on. As always you can download the examples as a pdf here. The bridge is the assembly that anchors the strings to the body. Download theory supplements, midi files, chord changes and full notefornote transcriptions of every lesson. Build a walking bass line from scales the jazz piano left hand. 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 improvisation for beginners bass road bass lessons. Improvise for real is now being used by both students and teachers in more than 20 countries. If you approach walking on purely theoretical terms, you might end up playing lines that sort of work but arent very musical. To demonstrate this we are going to use one of the most important chord sequences youll find in jazz music the iivi or 251. Bass lessons beginners guide to walking bass lines bass tab standard string tuning g,d,a,e recommended 1. For when you have to learn to play the bass right now. You can easily learn how to play walking bass lines.

Sunny bundle contentsjam track 17 pages pdfs 32 bars of solo, the head, the chords, all of the pentatonic, diatonic, harmonic minor, melodic minor, dorian, mixolydian, ionian scales as. Walking bass line theory basics pdf file chris fitzgerald. This is a solo i wrote for the jazz standard autumn leaves using a variety of thecniques that i have learned over my years of playing jazz. The two dots on the right of the bass clef symbol surround the line on which f pitch is written. Many people begin by playing by ear letting their inner musical ear guide their choice of notes and rhythms. To demonstrate this we are going to use one of the most important chord sequences youll find in jazz music. An easy method for creating walking bass lines on piano. 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. There is a pdf including all the notes on the neck and sopme tips and tricks to memorise them. In this bass guitar lesson, im going to take you through the 3 core concepts you can use to create walking bass lines.

The collection of material of this book is, in our opinion, the basics to playing bass guitar for some event. Walking bass lines pdf ebook in this ebook, joe hubbard unpacks the closely guarded techniques of the jazz masters, outlining easy and simple to use concepts to create great walking bass lines over common chord progressions. Simple walking bass line for jazz beginners talkingbass. Best of all, you can do so using the same set of notes for each of the grooves. Walking bass line theory basicspart 1by chris fitzgerald. There is a big tendency for players to seek for advanced and complicated topics while they still did not master the basics. A walking bass line walks through the chord progression, one note per beat. 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. Autumn leaves solo improvisation guide and walking bass. Apr 26, 2017 wallace stelzer is a professional jazz bass player and content creator from houston, texas. When the harmonic rhythm of a progression of a song is two chords per bar, the bass player will often play a target note on beats 1 and 3, and an approach note on beats 2 and 4. Playing a walking jazz guitar bass line is a captivating method of comping for other musicians, and yourself. In this walking bass lesson i show you how i actually teach my own personal students using this method and why they seem to be able to start.

Bass line exercises level 2 shelia lees accordion blog. Playing the bass guitar well means playing grooves. The method has been described as a totally different way to learn about music and improvisation. Chords and walking bass part 1 in this lesson ill demonstrate how i approach playing walking bass lines and chords at the same time. We are going to go move around the cycle counter clockwise. In this lesson ill demonstrate how i approach playing walking bass lines and. If you know how to create a walking bass line, you can be more creative in your jazz playing. Part 1 demonstrates the techniques used by professional jazz bassists to provide.

It is absolutely crucial for the student to learn the material in the correct order and not to go ahead of oneself. Whats more scales in isolation can tend to sound like a technical exercises. A bassline is a melody line played in the bass by a lowpitched instrument such as the piano, double bass, electric bass, tuba, etc. Examples 2 and 3 are exercises using the same harmony but putting the chord in.

Walking bass improvisation lesson for beginner bass players. Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of. Here to download the free 3 scale concepts that create killer walking bass lines pdf. Walking bass line piano tutorial walking bass jazz piano. Beginners guide to walking bass lines bass tabs bass. Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of jazz.

Developing a walking bass lines is a subject that many of my students. The bass lines are good and one simple addition to know is that just about any chord walking bass line, you can always use a leading tone that is, 12 step below to whatever is the next chord. Chord tones root, 3rd, 5th, 7th are the most powerful choice you can make when creating your walking lines. Ifr blog instrument blogs bass blog walking bass line exercise 2 5 1 progression join my online ear training workshop in april, 2020. Walking bass for jazz and blues is a complete method to help beginners master each element of blues and jazz walking bass. This tablature is published at permission is granted the user for. In essence, were using the b note in our walking bass line, plus the guitars standard tuning to create a very cool sounding chord change. This is a must do exercise, as without listening in depth to these great players you wont have any idea of what youre aiming for and what a great walking bass line feels like. The goal of a walking bassline is to outline the chord progression but with an interesting. Even though our intent is to spice up the a to c change just by walking up the bass notes from a to b to c, were able to do a lot more than that in this case. For ascending lines im using the scale degrees 1 2 3 5.

Ifr blog instrument blogs bass blog walking bass line exercise 2 5 1 progression. How to play walking bass lines at the piano cocktail piano. 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. It is common for the harmonic rhythm to vary within most chord progressions. For this walking bass line im going to use only two scale patterns as the foundation for the whole thing. The bass lines are good and one simple addition to know is that just about any chordwalking bass line, you can always use a leading tone that is, 12 step below to whatever is the next chord.

Walking bass lines are a style of playing in which the bass player plays quarter notes which clearly outline the chords and chord tones, seamlessly outlining one chord and resolving to the next. Walking is a combination of the feel, understanding how to navigate from one chord to the next, and being able to play what youre hearing in your head. The notes above are all natural however any of this notes can be raised or lowered a half. A walking bass line is the most common approach to jazz bass playing. Imagine being able to listen to any song and recognize every note of the melody by ear. Walking bass exercises, week 2 week 2 of my 30 day guitar challenge to improve my walking bass technique, proved to be incredibly difficult. There are a couple of exceptions as youll see but for the most part were looking at one line for ascending and one line for descending. Fundamental concepts for walking bass is a systematic method, written by george urbaszek, bass player and longtime jazz. And walking basslines are a continuous sequence of quarter notes, generally played on the beat 4 notes per bar in 44 time walking basslines.

Just like walking with your feet, tyjwalking bass line is one step after the other that takes you somewhere. Lessons in this segment focus on the fundamentals of bass playing. Bass lines part one for all of these exercises, we are going to use the cycle of 4ths. Therefore, the bass is played by the left hand on the lower part of the keyboard of the piano. How to write a walking bass line learn jazz standards. All courses feature musical examples and exercises.

Bass guitar exercises for dummies cheat sheet dummies. As an active member of the new york city jazz scene, wallace has participated in jazz festivals, spoken and performed live on radio, and played at many prestigious jazz clubs and concert halls around the. Walking bass noterange usually the bass lies in the lower sound range of the music. As hard as it might seem at first to do this, there are some very systematic exercises and incremental steps that will help us develop these skills. In this 5 minute masterclass, were going create a bass line over a blues in f. How to play walking bass lines at the piano cocktail. In a previous lesson, i gave many examples for walking lines from. As an active member of the new york city jazz scene, wallace has participated in jazz festivals, spoken and performed live on radio, and played at many prestigious jazz clubs and concert halls around the country. The symbol of the bass clef is derived from the old german way of writing f. The blues in 12 keys upright bass and electric bass method pdf. 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. How to create bass lines 2 3 play in four quarters. This is a hitormiss process that most jazz players before 1965 had to use to learn their trade. The term walking is used lescribe the moving feeling that quarter notes create in the bass part.

Join my online ear training workshop in april, 2020. The function of the bass is to provide the foundation. All of the other parts of the bass are mounted on these three sections. Therefore being in control of them and becoming fluent is crucial. A guitar in standard tuning will never reach the lower bass notes of a real bass, but between the sixth and. Print and download in pdf or midi autumn leaves solo. Practice bass scale exercises and if you are walking the bass into the next measure walk the scale tones of the next measures chord key signature. Developing a walking bass lines is a subject that many of my students guitarists. Under each phrase i wrote the logic behind it and how i came up with it. Parts of the bass a bass is made up of three main sections. It is designed to develop strong harmonic skills, rhythm, phrasing and note choice. Mar 25, 2019 welcome to part 1 of the walking bass series. Wallace stelzer is a professional jazz bass player and content creator from houston, texas.