Walking Archives
From the Bottom: Take Your Walking Bass Lines to the Next Level
Good walking bass lines can swing the band and outline the harmony, but GREAT walking bass lines will do that and steer the direction and intensity of the music. Take your lines from “following the changes” to “directing the flow” of the music!
Keep It Groovy: Integrating Concepts In Our Walking Bass Lines
In this “Keep It Groovy” lesson, Ryan Madora plays through a very common chord progression in jazz and pop, the 1-6-2-5 chord progression. We’ll learn how to integrate different concepts to begin building a walking bass line.
Keep It Groovy: Super Easy Bluesy/Jazzy Walking Bass
This one features a super easy walking bass line that can make your blues progression a bit jazzier and your jazz walking bass line a little more accessible. Think about it as a good gateway between the genres.
Talking Technique: Intro To Triplets In Walking Bass Lines
In the last lesson, we covered adding “burps” into walking bass lines and how to practice them systematically. This time we’re spicing up your walking with triplets. We’ll go over several variations to get these triplets under your fingers and ready to go on all beats of the bar. To keep a focused practice session, we’re going to narrow it...
Talking Technique: “Burps” in Walking
After the Talking Technique Episode on “Killer Dead Notes,” I got a question from Lionel who wanted to know about “the best technique and timing to get those really nice burps in walking bass lines.” I love the way he phrased that question – he asked specifically for not only the technique itself but also the timing. In this episode,...
Preparing for a College Bass Audition
Q: I am thinking about entering a music program when I get to college. How should I prepare for playing bass in a college program? What will I need to know? How good do I need to be? A: Whenever I speak with younger players getting ready to enter a collegiate music program, my first instinct is usually to tell...
Making Walking Bass Lines Come Naturally
Q: I would like to ask you about improvising bass lines. Could it be unconscious? I recognized that when I play walking bass, I’m always think about how to reach the next chord. I sometimes have great ideas that I hear in my mind’s ear, but most of the time it’s a really conscious procedure. It’s really interesting because during...
Freeing Up Your Walking Bass Lines
Q: I’ve been getting my walking together and have started to become comfortable and natural sounding playing perfectly functional harmonic lines through changes that highlight the harmony well. It’s all just basically chord tones and scalar patterns with occasional chromatic approaches. In sum, I think I’ve passed walking 101 and am ready to move on. When I listen to and...
Walking Bass Lesson: 12 Bar Blues
When you’re presented with a 12-bar blues, you have different options for how to create a walking bass line. In this lesson, we’ll cover those options. The song example I’m using is “Gotta Mind to Travel” by Coco Montoya, if you want to check that out.
Walking the Bass: Jazz Standard Progressions
Mel Bay’s new jazz bass method was actually written by guitarist Frank Vignola. Walking the Bass: Jazz Standard Progressions is a collection of ten walking bass lines for the most common progressions in jazz standards. The 28 page book is designed to provide the student with strong concepts for playing each walking line, while also learning how to outline chords...
On walking: Connecting ii-V’s
Continuing this video lesson series on walking, Jon explores various ways to connect ii-V progressions; arpeggios, chromatic & diatonic approaches from above and below the targets, and changing tones (notes arrayed on either side of the target). Jon is accepting students via Skype video. Email [email protected] for more information. Be sure to check out Jon’s book, The Untold Secret to...