Creating jazz bass lines pdf

Dedicate at least 3060 minutes each day to playing the bass. This book is for beginning and intermediate bass players looking to improve their understanding of how to create hip bass lines in a jazz or blues context. Walking bass lines and chords for guitar pdf method with. Next, different groove skeletons are played on the root of the chord. In this first lesson, i will cover some basic material that all players should know regardless of style preference. Just like walking with your feet, tyjwalking bass line is one step after the other that takes you somewhere. Jamerson while correcting errors, creating a selective, centralized and updated source list for the literature on jamerson while expanding the amount of musical analysis of his specific bass lines and, with the analysis, solidifying the direct connection between jamersons jazz experience and his eventual evolved music persona. A t a certain point in your development as an improviser it becomes necessary to evolve beyond just playing right notes and using your favorite licks and move onto playing longer coherent musical phrases that develop over the length of your solo.

For example, when you do steps 1, 2, or 3 above, you are creating the most basic kinds of ostinato. The symbol of the bass clef is derived from the old german way of writing f. Building walking bass lines pdf free download epdf. Building jazz bass lines like ron carter joe hubbard. 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. The man was a genius of jazz guitar, one of the most influential musicians of his generation, and someone who changed the face of jazz forever. Throughout the course, you will learn techniques for playing effective walking bass lines over jazz chord changes. The purpose of this presentation is to learn how to create bass lines from a set of chord changes. This is because the bass line has bother a major 3rd and a minor 3rd in it. Blues in a mp3 jam trackdap more modal blues bass ideas. Now that you have the basics down, lets go a step further to create a longer, melodic line. The two dots on the right of the bass clef symbol surround the. How to create bass lines 5 ostinato or riff bass an ostinato is a repeated rhythmicmelodic. A big part of being a jazz guitarist is accompanying other musicians.

Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the. 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. Now how many of those notes you use is left up to you. Heres a blues in a jam track you can use to practice with. Jazz is one of those few styles that expands and goes past the average intermediate phase. How to write a walking bass line learn jazz standards. Creating jazz bass lines demonstrates creating and hearing jazz bass lines to give your playing a smoother and more natural sound.

This can be an especially frustrating stumbling block to overcome in that it takes a great amount of effort just to be able to play the. By working with the three etudes in this article you will learn how to. Jazz bass explores the key ingredients necessary to play great jazz bass lines, including the sound, feel, foundation, and power. Stevens method provides numerous exercises to keep each and every aspiring bassist enthuse about learning and creating walking bass lines. Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of. The bassment free bass guitar transcriptions in standard. Having the bass tab option is for the bass guitar player and will hopefully inspire them to read standard notation. A requirement to building jazz lines or walking bass lines, as an electric bassist is highly dependent on what you listen to. The fundamentals of music are pitch and rhythm which are placed in a grid of five lines and four spaces called staff. Then you hear the sound of the ionian mode, the correct scale for d major.

An easy method for creating walking bass lines on piano walking bass michael gundlach. The basic principle for playing latin tunes is the same as playing twobeat bass lines. The formula for a successful walking bass line is simple. Solid walking lines will get you work and that is the goal of this book. If we analyse the walking bass lines from a good bassist in a band, we quickly come to realise that there are. As a result, the bass line works very well in this song and sounds like it fits. Creating jazz bass lines paperback january 1, 1988 by jim stinnett author 4. They effectively cancel each other out and end up creating a great sounding jazz walking bass line. Bass tablature for a cool little jazz line by bass lessons. Building bass lines 5 it is common practice by jazz bassists to simplify a walking bass line by playing only on beats one and three, usually during the beginning of the tune when the melody is being played.

In this lesson we will be creating a simple walking bass line over a basic jazz blues progression. His ability to create seemingly endless streams of energetic, sophisticated lines, then turn on a dime and nail a blues run, made him fun and enjoyable for all jazz fans to listen to. This is the most common 12bar blues form aka iivv progression. Just found the best bass notation site in the universe, also offering tab to the lesser bass mortals, just cannot understand why it took me so long to find you. Adhere to this basic rule and you can even tackle the approach notes in a similar fashion, creating the effect of walking to the new chord in onefret steps. Jazz guitar makes full use of many theoretical concepts, and also tends to use a lot of the more difficult concepts in music, such as improvisation and proper usage and implementation of the chromatic scale.

Just sign up underneath that page and ill send you a pdf with all the bass lines, links to the actual recordings, plus my analysis of the bass lines and why they work so well. The beauty of this concept is you do not have to worry about if the chord is major or minor. At first glance, the bass might appear to be one of the easier parts to add to a musical arrangementafter all, the instrument only has to play one note at a time, and bass parts tend to lend themselves equally well to either performance on a real bass you know, one with actual strings, or a keyboard sampled or synth bass. Here are the most common types of bass lines, or approaches to creating bass parts. It is found most commonly in blues and jazz, but as you learn bass guitar, you will hear its influence in almost any style of music. This simplification is known as a twobeat bassline. The essential guide to walking bass amazon web services. Simple walking bass line for jazz beginners talkingbass. This book will give you a clear cut method for creating bass lines along with important information on what chord scales are used for each chord type and how to reharmonize a chord progression to create variations. Latin or straight8th note bass lines can be embellished by adding an 8th note on the offbeat of beats two and four. In pretty much any contemporary groovebased style, the basss priority is to make the changes, or ground the tunes harmonic structure. Creating bass lines jazz arranging techniques, music for. Dorian pentatonic blues bass line ideas guitar pro zip file mp3 jam track.

Iconic jazz bass licks, lines, intros, and figures discussion in jazz technique. Scribd is the worlds largest social reading and publishing site. Constructing walking jazz bass lines jazz online bass. Chords and walking bass part 1 in this lesson ill demonstrate how i approach playing walking bass lines and chords at the same time.

The course covers everything you need to know to play strong walking bass lines over blues sequences, 251 chord sequence, modal tunes all the way through to full jazz standards. See all formats and editions hide other formats and editions. For a complete guide to walking bass lines be sure to check out the full course here. This is to get the bass line to work with the am7b5 chord. 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. Good walking bass lines work to propel the forward motion that exists. Here are some tips to aid you in mastering these bass blues licks. The term walking is used lescribe the moving feeling that quarter notes create in the bass part. Walking bass line theory basics pdf file chris fitzgerald. How to play so what on the bass guitar by miles davis. Creating a walking bass line is one of the more elusive art forms in the bass world, but if you understand how to put it together, step by step pun intended, it wont seem so frightening. How to create a major groove for the bass guitar dummies. The next step in creating jazz bass lines is the addition of chord tones. First, the d major chord is played on the keyboard, with the bass adding the root.

Iconic jazz bass licks, lines, intros, and figures page. If you know how to create a walking bass line, you can be more creative in your jazz playing. The science of building strong jazz guitar lines part 1. Creating jazz bass lines is the first in a series of lessons to be presented on walking bass. 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 simply walks through the appropriate scale of each chord, one note per beat. Well play through it so you can get it under your fingers and then well have a look at what is going on in there so you can integrate parts of it into your own vocabulary and develop your own walking style. Be sure and check out the sister bass lesson to this one called.

One of the most effective ways of comping is using walking bass lines. In this book the process of walking a bass line is demystified. This article teaches you 3 jazz walking bass line etudes arranged for guitar. The bass line descends the scale and lands on the root of the next chord.

The bassment is a mean machine groove for bass players. James jamerson from jazz bassist to popular music icon. 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. Bass lines made from the active chords notes will always work. Creating walking bass lines is a stepbystep video course presented by geoff chalmers, which comprises of over 6 hours of hd video across 69 lessons. In this example, the bass line consists of simple arpeggiations of each chord, giving the overall effect of a simple blues bass line. The only 4 types of bass lines youll ever need to create.

This is a printable pdf method for guitar with audio files, tabs, standard notation and analysis containing 28 exercices, 6 jazz blues studies f, g and bb and 1 rhythm changes study. Regardless the reason, this is an example that incorporates rootfocused bass lines and nonroot focused bass lines. A walking bass line is the most common approach to jazz bass playing. Youre now going to place notes in between each of the chord tones from the first example, which is why example 2 seems more like a scale and less like an arpeggio by separating the notes of the chords first, then adding in the remaining scale tones, which end up being tension notes by the way. Pauls bass line in this example, as pretty and melodic as it is, is still consistent with the chords happening underneath it. To walk bass lines on the ii v i, all we have to do is learn three different walking patterns. This style heavily utilizes the roots and 5ths of chords. The bass lab plus is a complete program for the beginner to intermediate bass player join free today with a 14 day trial. Wallace stelzer is a professional jazz bass player and content creator from houston, texas. In this bookonline audio access pack, bass legend ron carter illustrates step by step the basic concepts of creating bass lines. Students and readers of constructing walking jazz bass lines.

Bass method jim stinnett creating jazz bass lines free download as pdf file. Walking bass lines always sound cool in any style of music, but are essential to jazz blues and. Constructing walking jazz bass lines daily warm up exercises for bass all books are available in either standard notation or bass tab. I have worked with literally over twenty different method books and steven mooneys approach is definitely the best of the best that i. In this weeks lesson were looking at a very simple walking bass line through the chord changes of the jazz standard autumn leaves. Simple jazz blues walking line breakdown talkingbass. Check out the steps necessary for creating a major groove. It is a comprehensive method teaching you how to create awesome walking bass lines, starting with the. A fundamental approach which is used by all great players is explored in depth.

Determine the chord tonality major, minor, dominant. Walking bass line theory basicspart 1by chris fitzgerald. This ebook will help you learn how to create, play and mix walking bass lines with common chords found in jazz. I kinda live by a note per lyric syllable yes sing or recite the lyrics with the vocalists if for nothing else to know where in the song every one else is.