Playing a walking jazz guitar bass line is a captivating method of comping for other musicians, and yourself. The majority of the presentation will focus on walking bass lines in a 44 meter. How to play a simple left hand walking bass jazz improv free pdf. 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. In order to be a part of the jazz movement one must accept change. Chords and walking bass part 1 i mostly talked about how to combine the two and how to practice getting both layers to work together. Incorporating the 3rd of the chord will also give your bass line a stronger harmonic foundation. A walking bass line is the most common approach to jazz bass playing. 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. Five steps to walking basslines on guitar guitar world. This technique resumes in a direct way the style of a bass instrument. Free scores for piano, violin, banjo, mandolin, accordion, classical guitar, bass, saxophone.
Improve your skills theory, dexterity, ear training, etc. Employs jazz bass line includes introduction and ending. In my previous post, how to keep your bass lines interesting, we defined what a bass line is and what its functions are, and looked at a few ways in which we can creatively negotiate chord changes. Walking bass for jazz and blues fundamental changes. Now its time to learn how to create a complete bass line from scratch. Oftentimes, we do not have access to a full jazz rhythm section bass, drums, and piano andor guitar, either due to personal aesthetic choices or due to arbitrary circumstances. Music educational books and sheet music downloads for blues, jazz, funk, latin, gospel, rock, celtic styles for instruments including piano, keyboards, sax, flute. Do you dream of playing bass lines like legendary bassists like ron carter, charles mingus, paul chambers or jaco.
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. Favorite trio dates of mine include the freedom suite, aix en provence with kenny clarke, the trio half of s. How to play a simple walking bass left hand pattern on the piano using a 12 bar blues. Dave frank school of jazz, new york city music videos. Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of jazz online jazz handbook welcome to the bass chapter of the thelonious monk institute of jazz s online jazz handbook. Instead of having a few different things to try in this lesson, we are going to learn a written. In this 5 minute masterclass, were going create a bass line over a blues in f.
Each generation of jazz musicians contribute their own unique ideas, feelings, and sound to the music and this is what. The problem is, there are lots of rules and then a billion more exceptions about how to get from one place to the other. To get started with walking bass lines it is important to be aware of the root notes in each of the chords you are playing. For stradella bass accordionists to achieve the more intricate chords represented in advanced chording, this chart below shows how to accomplish it by coupling various bass and chord combinations. Actually mark levines jazz piano bookmore specific to piano than his theory book, but is also geared toward pianists. We can create a walking bass line over the following twelvebar blues chord progression. Before diving into each jazz concept in detail, i recommend watching the overview videos and downloading the pdf on the right to. Here is a clip from one of the practice sessions where i was demonstrating different substitutions for. Jazz bass line construction thelonious monk institute of. Theres a ton of stuff, especially if you expand from just trios to multihorn groups sonny rollins besides w. How to couple basses on the stradella bass accordion. Elgar salut d amour sheet music for piano solo pdf piano sheet.
How to play a simple walking bass left hand pattern on the piano. Walking bass with the piano left hand classic jazz piano. The bass also has a rich history as a solo instrument in jazz. A bassline is a melody line played in the bass by a lowpitched instrument such as the piano, double bass, electric bass, tuba, etc. 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 term walking is used lescribe the moving feeling that quarter notes create in the bass part. Learning how to walk bass lines allows us to comp for other musicians using our own voiceinstrument. The book will show the musician how to connect familiar chord shapes with the. Left hand walking bass learn how to play jazz bass lines on the piano walking bass on the piano can be one of the coolest things ever. 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. Though this is a sound many of us dig, we can often be at a loss as to how to build effective and nicesounding walking basslines on the guitar. And walking basslines are a continuous sequence of quarter notes, generally played on the beat 4 notes per bar in 44 time. Another way the iviiiv progression is used is as a turnaround. This pdf serves as a compliment to a free lesson that i created emphasizing the rewards of smooth voice leading. Walking bass line theory basicspart 1by chris fitzgerald.
You can hear how he weaves a counter melody to the soloist he is accompanying. 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. When creating walking bass lines, its important to outline the root and 5th of the chord. The newest jazz piano chords pdf that i recently made available features those piano chords and voicings that i used during an eight bar segment of a piano video tutorial i created which focuses on the classic harold arlen tune paper moon. A walking bass line is simply a melodic bass line found mainly in jazz and blues styles in which you walk around in quarter notes connecting the chords. While some knowledge of music theory is necessary, excellent bass lines can be. From todd johnson, a 4page pdf look at a style of jazz known as modal tunes. In this example, the bass line consists of simple arpeggiations of each chord, giving the overall effect of a simple blues bass line. Jazz has changed greatly over the past 70 years and is presently in transition. The language of jazz or the jazz idiom is in a constant state of flux. After you listen to summertime played by the horns on the reference track, its time to play summertime. Walking bass lines are really useful in jazz piano they give you a cool, pro sound and a.
Jazz chord chart for basses shelia lees accordion blog. Of course, great time is at the center of pauls groove. Jazz piano walking bass and comping lesson notation. A turnaround is a short chord progression which brings you back to the beginning of a section of music for example, in many jazz standards the last two bars of a 32bar song contains the iviiiv progression. It is designed to develop strong harmonic skills, rhythm, phrasing and note choice. This paper presents a dynamic interface and voicing algo rithm for realtime performance of jazz piano comping. When learning how to play jazz guitar, many of us are drawn to the coolsounding style of playing walking basslines on guitar while comping rhythm. From the blues inflected double bass solos of ray brown to the electric bass bebop of jeff berlin. 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. But the truth is that walking bass lines are fairly easy to practice and, like everything in.
Walking bass for jazz and blues is a complete method to help beginners master each element of blues and jazz walking bass. Free jazz piano lessons everything you need to know about jazz. In my previous lesson on playing this sort of accompaniment. First, he comps for, and interacts with, other players as they solo. Bass tablature for cool walking bass pattern by misc. In the piano version we see that this fournotesequence is used many times. Developing a walking bass lines is a subject that many of my students guitarists and bassists alike have been interested in. Just like walking with your feet, tyjwalking bass line is one step after the other that takes you somewhere. Playing with a walking bass line is a style of piano playing that is used most often in solo jazz performance. Chord tones root, 3rd, 5th, 7th are the most powerful choice you can make when creating your walking lines. How to write a walking bass line learn jazz standards. Walking bass lines are a very specific and classic jazz piano sound and generally considered an advanced concept.
Walking bass lines for jazz guitar by stephan badreau is a step by step guide to harmonizing bass lines on the guitar. In this lesson well take a look at scale style and intervalic bass lines, and even mix them up a bit. In previous lessons, we have looked at creating a solid walking bass line to fulfill our supporting role in a jazz ensemble. This cool walking bass pattern is fun to play, and also a good warmup. How to play walking bass lines at the piano cocktail. Walking bass lines for jazz guitar by stephan badreau. Continuing our exploration of cool things to do with a jazzblues chord progression in a rhythm section, id now like to demonstrate an accompaniment, or comping, technique favored by jazz guitarists, pianists and organists alike over a swingstyle walking bass line provided by a bassist, second guitarist or keyboardists left hand. I teach out of jerry cokers jazz keyboard techniques for the pianist and nonpianist. Modal tunes are songs built on one or two chord changes that last at least eight bars each.
The walking bass technique with the piano left hand has great effect. Below is an interval position chart for an accordion with 120 stradella basses is depicted. Though learning how to walk a bassline and comp at the same time can take a lot of. Build a walking bass line from scales the jazz piano left hand.
The score to this video can be downloaded for free at my. When starting out with walking bass lines, i would recommend that you always target the root when changing chords. The bassline construction method explored here uses chord tones, approach notes and basic reharmonization. Therefore being in control of them and becoming fluent is crucial. Also, dan haerles jazz piano voicings book is really good. Today, pauls lines are classic jazz bass literature. Each of the below jazz piano lessons introduces a particular concept found in jazz. Popularized by piano greats lennie tristano and dave mckenna, among others, the walking lh bass line can effectively subtitute for a rhythm section, if desired, and provides a rhythmic and melodic foundation for rh improvisations. How to play a blues bass line is explained in detail with 5 rules for constructing good walking bass lines. Cindy moorhead when learning how to play jazz guitar, one of the things that many players want to explore and get under their fingers is walking basslines. In part 1 we created waling bass lines over major and minor 251s using the tones of the triad in combination with chromatic or stepwise approach patterns. In reality, if you ask people, nobody will be able to sum them all up and most people who do walking bass well either only use a handful of specific trick, or they are so deep in it that they cant even describe what they are doing.
Blues bass line, walking bass, jazz pianotutorial youtube. In this lesson i am more focusing on how to write the basslines for faster moving chord progressions like a rhythm change a part. Since its walking bass piece each note is a quarter note. Walking bass line piano tutorial walking bass jazz piano. Piano chord voicings for jazz combo the pianist has a few functions in a jazz combo. Heres what you get a complete guide to walking bass lines so you learn how to play on the most common chord changes in blues and. With piano jazz chords, transcriptions, jazz licks, piano blues, walking bass, and more. In part 2 of this lesson we continue our study of walking bass lines. Jazz everyone jam time 14 summertime piano 14 summertime 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 guitar player, singer or horn player. Playing jazz guitar bass lines and chords terence wright. Therefore, he needs two different types of voicings. And walking bass lines are a continuous sequence of quarter notes, generally played on the beat 4 notes per bar in 44 time. Walking bass lines part 2 learn jazz piano online with.
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