The3rulesforstartingoutwithwalkingbassline:

Rule1istooutlinethetriadofthechordsothat’stheroot,3rdand5

th

Rule2istoalwaystargettherootwhenchangingfrom1chordtothenext

Rule3istochangechordsbyeitherachromaticapproachpattern,orfromawholestep

aboveorbelowthetargetnote

Let’snowputthese3principlesintopracticestartingwiththeMajor251

Asanexerciseyoushouldtakethesepatternsaroundatleast3or4major

keysandyouwillbecomefamiliarwiththesecommonapproachpatterns

forbasslinesovermajor251s.

AutumnLeavesWalkingBassLinesSupplement

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Nowlet’sapplythesameprinciplestotheminor251progression.

Wecanapproachtheminor251inmuchthesamewayasthemajor251.

Againlet’sstartbyoutliningthebasictriadshapeandtargetingtherootofthe

nextchordchromaticorstepwisepassingtones.

Here’sanothervariationwecouldplay:

Finallylet’slookatanexampleoveraminor251thatincorporatesoctave

intervals.

Sobesidesoutliningthetriad,wecanalsocreatebasslinesbywalkingup

ordownascale.

Let’sstartwithexamplesoverthemajor251:

Hereisacommonscalebasslinethatyoucanplayoveranymajor251

progression.Againlet’suse251inthekeyofBbMajor.Thisiswhatitcould

soundlike:

Youshouldnoticethatweused2chromaticpassingtonestoensurethatwe

landedontherootofthenextchord.

WestartontherootoftheIIchordandwalkupthescale,whenwegettothe

minor3rd,weaddthemajorthirdasachromaticpassingtoneandthiscreatesa

halfstepapproachintotherootoftheVchord.Thisworksinanykey.

Nowlet’sreversethisandwalkdownthescale.

Asyoucansee,tohittherootonthefirstbeatofeachmeasure,allweneedto

doiswalkdownthescalediatonicallywithnoadditionalpassingtones.

Becausetherootofeachchordisa5thbelow,thescaleworksperfectly.This

relationshipworksinanykey.Anicewastolookatthisistojustwalkdownthe

DorianmodestartingontherootoftheIIchord.

NextwehavetheMinor251whichwecanapproachinthesamemanner.

Andhereisthedescendingvariation:

Nowlet’smoveontothestylisticelementsofwalkingbass.

Firstlet’suseswing8thnotestocreateenclosuresaroundthetargetnote.

Hereyoucanseethatthelast28thnotessurroundtherootoftheVchord.

It’sveryimportantthatyouswingthese8thnotes.Checkoutthelessonsonswing

rhythm,ifthisisnewtoyou.Toswing8thnotes,yousubdivideeachquarternote

into3.Sothecountingwouldbe123–123-123-123etc.

Andthenyouplacethe1st8

thnoteonthe1

sttripletandthe2

nd8

thnoteonthe3

rd

triplet.

Let’slookatasimilarexamplewiththeminor251progression:

Nextlet’slookatacommonscalepatternthatcanbeusedoverbothmajorand

minor251s:

WecouldalsodothesameovertheVchord:

Finallylet’sexplorehowwecanenhancethe1chord.Wetalkedextensivelyon

howwecanmakethebasslineovertheII&Vchordsinteresting.Wellhere’sa

fewideastoaddinteresttothe1chord.

Inthisexampleyoucanseethatthe1chordnowlastsfor2bars….Thisisoften

howitwillappearinjazzstandards.Weutilisedbothoctavesanddoublednotes

inthebasslinewhichisusefulasyouhavemorespacetofillthanontheIIandV

chords.

It’sveryimportanttorememberthatthe8thnotesareplayedasswung8

thnotes

soyouneedtobefeelingthetripletpulseoneverquarternote.Here’sanother

example:

Inthisdemonstration,thefirstdoublednoteswerestillquarternotes,wethen

moveddownawholestepdiatonicallyandthenbackchromaticallytogetbackto

therootofthechord1chordinthefinalbar.

Rememberthatweswingthe8thnoteswhichwouldbecountedas1-2-3–watch

thelessononswingfeelformoreinformation.