Walking bass! Where to start?

[Howzabopping]

That Martin Taylor thread from the other day got me interested in adding more walking bass to my chord melodies. What are some good resources (books, websites, etc) to start learning chord melodies that include a walking bass?

Also, any pointers to walking bass "cliches" or people's favorite patterns would be of great help.

Thanks in advance everybody! And stay healthy and tuneful...

[fep]

This is a good start

[Liarspoker]

Also Martin Taylor's book Beyond Chord melody has a whole chapter on adding bass lines to your chord melodies. It's a great book.

[Jack E Blue]

I found Sean McGowan's walking bass course from Truefire to be exceptionally good. Lots of interesting technique tips as well.

[rob taft]

Ditto on Dirk's material, I also agree with the Sean McGowan recommendation, and Martin Taylor has a book just on building walking bass lines. Available via Amazon.

[Howzabopping]

This is a good start

Great video, thanks!

[christianm77]

The Martin Taylor guitar Method book has lots of good advice.

[bonsritmos]

as a drummer, who has played with a lot piano players and guitar players who start walking if there is another soloist and no bass, the absolute most important thing is to not slow down or drag. you can tell right away when the walker is putting more energy into getting a correct walking line instead swinging the heck out of the walk

i would seriously suggest pulling out miles davis four and more and walk your bass lines against that , a month of daily up tempo bass walking will tighten you up for the bandstand . being able to handle up tempo will give your walk a nice desirable bounce when you play medium tempo

it can be effective if you dont drag, remember, the bass is the cross between rhythm and harmony.

but if you cant pull the bow taut , and lay down a blistering bob cranshaw gorila walk ( as dizzy said that of cranshaw), better to lay down solid block chords , it holds the time down really well.

there ara also some slick bravum jinka bell ketu candomble tricks that would take an average bass walk into another leval ,and put that bounce into it , but, that is another thread i guess

[christianm77]

What bons says about walking bass I would also say is true of swing rhythm guitar.

[MarkRhodes]

This book by Steven Mooney might be worth a look. (A second volume covers rhythm changes in 12 keys.)

Walking Bass Lines for Guitar: The Blues in 12 Keys - Steven Mooney - Google Books

[VesaW]

After seeking material for walking bass, I found this Walking Bass Lines For Guitar. It is practical and not too easy. Thank you Dirk!

[Jonah]

Also Randy Vincent's section on Walking Bass in his Three-Notes Voicings and Beyond.
offers good patterns to start with and to expand to develope your own approach.
One thing about is that in my opinion his method requires already solid general background and a teacher to guide through.

[Matt Milton]

Check out Vinnie Raniolo's YouTube lesson on walking bass. Really good. It's an excerpt from his much longer DVD/download lesson from Stefan Grossman's guitar workshop but just the excerpt alone gives some really good tips.
EDIT: I see someone has helpfully found it and added it below!

[MarkRhodes]

[garybaldy]

That Martin Taylor thread from the other day got me interested in adding more walking bass to my chord melodies. What are some good resources (books, websites, etc) to start learning chord melodies that include a walking bass?

Also, any pointers to walking bass "cliches" or people's favorite patterns would be of great help.

Thanks in advance everybody! And stay healthy and tuneful...

There is a Martin Taylor album Tribute to Art Tatum which is fantastic. Especially ATTYA at break neck speed. Some of the tracks were transcribed in a book of the same title. Awesome stuff.

[ronjazz]

Vinnie's stuff works even better with hybrid picking.

[nopedals]

Play chord tones (the 1 if there's two chords per bar) on the odd beats and half steps above or below the next odd beat on the even beat. There, that's it in one sentence, right?

Bass players have it easy; keyboard and guitar players need to learn to comp and play melodies on top of that. Kind of like juggling. If you can do that, and keep good time, few people will care much about how creative you are about the bass notes you select.

[Matt Milton]

guitar players need to learn to comp and play melodies on top of that. Kind of like juggling. If you can do that, and keep good time, few people will care much about how creative you are about the bass notes you select.

You've just reminded me that there's also a Ted Greene YouTube video - one of the lo-fi grainy ones where he's teaching a private student - in which he talks a little bit about walking bass. He points out that his student is playing walking bass a bit too 'march like' rather than swinging. He also makes a similar point about note choice - that you can get away with ghost notes and, say, a low open E or open A note in passing that should strictly speaking be an E flat or F (or A flat or B flat) and because it's passing and very quick the listener won't notice or care.

[ragman1]

Here you go, a quick crash course in five and a half minutes...

Use sparingly. Don't be too acrobatic.

Keep it fairly simple, at least at first.

I haven't included doing the blues but it's the same principle. I might do it later if you need it. You may not :-)