Simple Jazz Blues Walking Line Breakdown
This walking bassline works over a 12 Bar Quick Change Blues Progression. Download the tab, sheet music and tracks from below the video. I’ve provided a breakdown of the whole 12 bars and some tips on how to memorize these longer streams of notes.
Jazz Blues Twelve-Bar
In this lesson we will be creating a simple walking bass line over a basic jazz blues progression. We’ll play through it so you can get it under your fingers and then we’ll 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. The chord progression we are going to use today is a basic quick changetwelve-bar blues in the key of C. There are three backing tracks of different tempos at the bottom of the page so you can hear how the feel needs to change according to the speed.
Tips For Memorising Lines
Before you move on, make sure you have memorised the progression and the bass line. Instead of working through the line note by note and memorising each part, it is much easier to cut it into smaller fragments and see each chord as a waypoint. That way, you can concentrate on what note is coming up next and see the notes between as a path. Let’s take the first bar as a fragment. We know that we have a journey from C to F within the space of 4 beats. The first note is the root note as dictated by the chord symbol and the fourth note is going to be an approach to the F. This leaves us with just two notes to fill and it can be as easy as using the arpeggio. So, for bar 1 we will have the notes C, E, G and Gb. It is much easier to remember the notes as a path between the chords as opposed to remembering 48 random notes! Work through the whole sequence in this same manner and take note of how the notes lead in to each successive chord. This will give you a few different ways to approach a target note and will help you come up with your own walking bass lines.
Practice Tracks
Swing Blues In C – 100 BPM
Swing Blues In C – 150 BPM
Swing Blues In C – 200 BPM
Great, Mark . . . Thanks!
Mark, a very good starting lesson and breakdown on walking bass lines. However, just wanted you to know
the tracts to download were not attached to the lesson, only the PDF. I did purchase
the Blues Practice Tracks so no problem. Just wanted you to know.
Thanks for another great lesson.
Kit
Hi Kit. Yes, it was reeeeally late here when I got everything finishing and didn’t manage to get the link in there. It’s up there now. As you can see.
Great lesson one of the webs best instructors..
Hey Brother
Encouragement for your valuable work!
Your are a gifted instructor
You use as few words as possible
Clear enunciation
Talented and Gifted
Pleasant likeable personality
Blessings,
Jimmy Thunder
Ontario, Canada
SUPER!!!
Excellent stuff. Thanks for all the effort you have put in this!
Brilliant lesson, makes a complicated idea come across really simply, makes me feel like I can actually get to grips with walking bass. I especially like the idea of building a musical vocabulary
Like all Talkingbass material this is priceless. Not to mention the fact that I simply adore Blues and Jazz. Incalculable value this. Amazing. keep it up Mark. Thank you.
Great, Thanks Mark.
hi mark, I dont see the download link for the tracks
Great Lesson Mark, have not played out since 1981…gasp! had bass stolen in 1995 and never replaced thanks to life’s challenges. Did not play for 35 years. Pandemic brought some good out of bad situation. Purchased Squire Jaguar CV bass, blowing through “Fender Play” …will finish 5 units in 6 weeks! Need more, this site seems to have it!
Mark, great stuff. As someone else has noted, I don’t see how to download the backing track. Thanks for help.
Really interested in this video, very well expkaoned left me wanting more
how do i download
Thank you
PDF Tab download? Where is it?
Below the video. It’s embedded on the page so you don’t need to mess around with zip files