Walking bassics the fundamentals of jazz bass playing ed fuqua on. With piano jazz chords, transcriptions, jazz licks, piano blues, walking bass, and more. Start with the basic book and then move to the advanced book. 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. 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. Looking for a structured way to increase your current skill level. R 3 5 6 7 walking bass line theory basics chris fitzgerald. Hanon piano exercises have been meticulously constructed to provide the optimum level of practice for pianists of all levels and abilities. In this example, the bass line consists of simple arpeggiations of each chord, giving the overall effect of a simple blues bass line. Walking jazz lines for bass is a fine instruction book by a fine musician. In part three of our walking bass series, we are looking at the final changes for the 12 bar blues. The specific goal of this book is to familiarize players with the techniques used to build walking bass lines and to make them aware of how the process works. In lesson 2, we continued to build patterns for the common chord progressions we see in blues. Cool walkin bass faber level 3a piano adventures lesson book duration.
The collection of material of this book is, in our opinion, the basics to playing bass guitar for some event. They practice long and hard trying to make their physical body and their mental frame of mind an appropriate vehicle to execute the ideas formulated in their mind. Playing with a walking bass line is a style of piano playing that is used most often in solo jazz performance. To create piano bass lines can be trickier than it first seems. Simple walking bass line for jazz beginners talkingbass. During this phase, you go from learning to mastery.
Especially since im assuming here most of them will just have quarter notes or eight notes. Walking bassics the fundamentals of jazz bass playing. Fundamental concepts for walking bass is a systematic method, written by george urbaszek, bass player and longtime jazz bass teacher at two australian uni. Obviously the sound of the contrabass is warmer and softer than the percussive sound of the piano and some shadings are impossible with the piano, for example glissando or bender. Listen to his cd called giant strides and youll see what i mean. The course covers john goldsbys most effective materials, learnt from studying with and transcribing the music of our jazz bass heroes.
Thelonious monk institute of jazz online jazz handbook. A stepbystep method for developing extraordinary technique on the bass guitar strengthen your overall facility on the instrument with this series of exercises and lessons, presented in an effective themeandvariation format. Nov 29, 2017 all great bass players have two things in common. The bass provides the rhythmic and harmonic foundation for the rest of the band, so its imperative that theres no hesitation when walking a bass line. Walking bass line theory basicspart 1by chris fitzgerald. 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. They walk great bass lines, and they create great grooves. Are you trying to find a way in to playing jazz bass. Bass lessons beginners guide to walking bass lines bass tab standard string tuning g,d,a,e recommended 1.
Since its walking bass piece each note is a quarter note. Easy walking bass lines pdf constructing walking jazz bass. There is a web site, that has an excellent remote learning course for bass. Basics of bass guitar playing 8 there are usually about 20 something frets on a standard bass guitar. Designed for beginning players or anyone wanting a solid foundation for learning jazz bass. Pay attention, burn through this as fast as you can, and you. Walking bass lines are an essential part of blues and jazz piano especially if youre playing solo or without any. Walking bass line piano tutorial walking bass jazz piano. The term walking is used to describe the moving feeling that quarter notes create in the bass.
It is possible to add rhythmic variations, but in general, a walking bassline drives the song forward step by step. Wellcrafted and an enjoyment to read, learn, and study with. Chord tones root, 3rd, 5th, 7th are the most powerful choice you can make when creating your walking lines. Therefore being in control of them and becoming fluent is crucial. A walking bass line is the most common approach to jazz bass playing. This book contains ten walking bass lines to ten of the most common chord progressions from jazz standards. The recording uses a split stereo mix with piano and drums on the right channel, and bass and. It is in stereo with the bass, piano and drums on the left, piano and drums on the right. The term walking is used lescribe the moving feeling that quarter notes create in the bass part. This is why i give you these play along tracks of drums and piano. 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. In that song youll hear how the walking bass line expresses the harmony and fills in the melody.
Walking bass lines helps us learn and reinforce the fundamentals of jazz harmony. I also included for you a backing tracks of popular jazz standards to help you practice lesson material in the way closest to live band situation. Building up is an online course with 45 lessons and 4 hours of video. Once you have some basic rules down, youll be able to make bass lines over any chord progression. Additional components of convincing bass lines are note choice and forward motion. We learn a really cool walking bass line that you can use under a 251. If you know how to create a walking bass line, you can be more creative in your jazz playing. Cool walkin bass piano adventures3alesson book youtube. 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.
Learn piano with step by step online lessons pianote. Walking bass with the piano left hand classic jazz piano. 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. Beginners guide to walking bass lines bass tabs bass. This is an indepth look at the heart and soul of jazz bass playing. Welcome to the talkingbass free online bass lesson map. Provides the aspiring jazz bassist with a thorough guide to walking bass lines.
Most jazz piano books give a couple of pages to this important skill so this dedicated book fills a real need. Misc cool walking bass pattern bass tab this cool walking bass pattern is fun to play, and also a good warmup. Once you have some basic rules down, youll be able to make bass. Sep 26, 2010 the walking bass technique with the piano left hand has great effect. Looking forward to hearing your walking bass lines over autumn leaves. The examples in the book are presented with sample bass lines or as chord progressions only. 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. Download the sheet music for the arrangement of lets fall in love that is featur ed in our walking bass for piano youtube video. By starting with the anchor bass line, you will be able to unlock the door to creating your own swinging walking bass lines.
Hanon exercises 240 piano finger exercises in all keys. Walking bass lesson 3 jazz blues fundamental changes. So far we have patterns for each chord change in the 12bar blues except for one, moving from v to iv i. New release walking bass lines for guitar the blues in 12 keys book i. Playing keyboard bass lines lefthand technique for keyboards. Jazz piano tutorial walking basslines part i duration.
Another one for ed friedlands building walking bass lines. 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. For when you have to learn to play the bass right now. An easy method for creating walking bass lines on piano walking bass michael gundlach. I am currently working on a book about how to practice arpeggios on bass, so watch this space. Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of. When creating walking bass lines, its important to outline the root and 5th of the chord. The accompanying audio cd features 34 piano playalong tracks to further hone your ears and fingers. If you try to play notes that dont belong might sound.
Here is the bass lines for autumn leaves that everyone contributed to last week. This means when you are playing and creating on the fly you really need to have your stuff together. Incorporating the 3rd of the chord will also give your bass line a stronger harmonic foundation. 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. The cd accompanying the book is entertaining and highly helpful. The course covers standard head arrangements, walking lines and solos for bass. Playing keyboard bass lines lefthand technique for. Walking bass on the piano can be one of the coolest things ever. Jazz is an inherently harmonically complex style of music.
The first harmony sequence that we want to learn, is composed of the i. With your left hand practice walking bass lines through the chord changes and with your right hand practice comping. It doesnt make a big difference if you have 20, 22, or 24 frets on your guitar. And walking bass lines are a continuous sequence of quarter notes, generally played on the beat 4 notes per bar in 44 time. As jazz musicians, we spend a lot of our practice time trying to learn to think, hear, and play our way through complicated chord progressions as improvisers.
When learning walking bass, you have to hear how the notes you play sound against the chord. Practice tips here are some tips to aid you in mastering these bass blues licks. Unlike a solo, a walking bass line doesnt pause between phrases. Walking bassics by ed fuqua is one of the few method books that focuses exclusively on how to create authenticsounding walking bass 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. We can create a walking bass line over the following twelvebar blues chord progression. You can either follow along with the bass left channel or practice your own lines right channel with piano and drums as your accompaniment. You can easily learn how to play walking bass lines.
You are making a journey from one chord to the next and using the chord tones and scales, implied by the harmony, as your resources in building a road through the terrain. Learn to play the walking bass line provided and always focus on how each line works over each chord. Life is busy and its tough to predict when you will have time to practice and learn, but learning the piano is easier than i thought it would be. The idea for you is to develop an understanding of how linear motion can smooth out the bass. When starting out with walking bass lines, i would recommend that you always target the root when changing chords. This is the first lesson of the piano shorties series. This just means that you can play a couple notes higher on the guitar and those notes are so high pitched they are pretty annoying to listen to anyway. It is common for the harmonic rhythm to vary within most chord progressions.
The best way to introduce walking bass lines into your playing is to start with one short common chord progression. These walking bass lines will give you a good basis for what to play and how to outline the chords to provide a good solid walking bass line for soloists to improvise over. How to play walking bass lines at the piano cocktail. This is a simple yet thorough book on beginning bass lines. Walking bass lines supplement this is a supplement for the lesson on walking bass. Instead of having a few different things to try in this lesson, we are going to learn a written bass. Through the use of 90minutes worth of recorded rhythm tracks available online using the unique code in the book, players will have the opportunity to put the new learning directly into. Even just pencilling in the notes on the notation would get you through a walking bass book. This is a structured plan of all the mark j smith video bass lessons divided by topic. I know its not really art and it only represents a gross simplification of the actual practice, but it can give you a starting idea. We explore how to walk that bass in your left hand up basic triad shapes and scale fragments.
When you are a beginner on walking bass, you should mainly stick to the chordmelody notes. Mar 09, 2020 whether you play electric, acoustic or upright bass, this book cd pack will take your playing to the next level and beyond. Dave found a way to incorporate walking bass lines into his solo piano style in a unique way. Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of jazz. Just like walking with your feet, tyjwalking bass line is one step after the other that takes you somewhere. A walking bass line generally consists of notes of equal duration and intensity typically 14 notes that create a feeling of forward motion. This is an important concept to remember, the walking bass line is. The full series of exercises have a proven track record in improving technical skill, speed and precision stretching back well over a century. I am now personally excited to schedule walking bassics into my own study rotation. By explaining the basics of intervals, chords, and scales, the author builds a framework for understanding walking bass line patterns. Walking bass is something ive been struggling with for years and you presented in way.
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any way wo express written permission. As im sure you have heard before, practice makes perfect. Dedicate at least 3060 minutes each day to playing the bass. Bass conversations episode 0003 walking bass lines, listening to the masters. 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. In this lesson well take a look at scale style and intervalic bass lines, and even mix them up a bit. Dave frank school of jazz, new york city music videos.
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