In this week’s lesson we’re looking at a very simple walking bass line through the chord changes of the Jazz standard Autumn Leaves. We’re going to use basic chord tones and repetitive lines that will act as a springboard in developing your own lines.
P.S. For a complete guide to Walking Bass Lines be sure to check out the full course here
Autumn Leaves
OK first of all, here’s our simple bass line.
Playalong Backing Tracks
Here we have 3 separate backing tracks to practice along to.
100 bpm :
150 bpm :
200 bpm :
Let’s Look At The Chords…
As I mentioned this is a very simple line using only a couple of basic repeating melodic patterns. Once you have those patterns under your fingers you can start to experiment and add more and more figures on the fly as your vocabulary develops.
So first of all let’s just briefly look at the tune. Autumn Leaves is one of the most commonly used songs when it comes to learning jazz and with any jazz standard, it’s worth looking at the harmony and getting a feel for what’s going on in terms of basic chord sequences and key changes.
Autumn Leaves is pretty straightforward in that we have two main tonal centers, one in Bb major and then another in the relative minor key of G minor.
We start with a II-V-I progression in Bb Major.
Cm7 – F7 – Bbmaj7
We then have another II-V-I in the key of G minor (relative minor of Bb):
Am7b5 – D7 – Gm7
The Ebmaj7 helps to pivot between the two keys because it’s chord IV of Bb Major and chord VI of G Minor:
At the end of the 8 bars we have G7 chord acting as a secondary dominant chord to bring us back round to Cm7 again:
If you’re wondering what I mean by all these numbers, we’re looking at the chords in a key. Just follow work through the Music Theory For Bass series of lessons in the Lesson Map to learn more.
Two Simple Patterns
For this walking bass line I’m going to use only two scale patterns as the foundation for the whole thing. There are a couple of exceptions as you’ll see but for the most part we’re looking at one line for ascending and one line for descending.
- For ascending lines I’m using the scale degrees 1 2 3 5
- For descending lines I’m coming down the scale.: 1 7 6 5
These two patterns work for any chord movement by 4th. When measuring chord movement we look at the root movement in ascent. So Cm7 to F7 is movement by 4th because we have the root notes moving from C to F.
So for an ascending line over the Cm7 I can play C D Eb G.
This is the pattern of scale degrees 1 2 3 5 applied to the C Dorian scale. We use the Dorian scale because it’s the appropriate scale for this chord. We’re in the key of Bb Major so Cm7 is the second chord in the key. We match this to the second mode of the key, which is Dorian. To learn more about chords and scales within a key be sure to watch the Chords Within A Key lesson and the Modes Of The Major Scale lesson.
For the descending line I come down through the appropriate scale. If we look at the Bbmaj7 I descend through the notes of the Bb major scale. This leads us smoothly into the next chord of Ebmaj7.
A Few Exceptions
The two scale patterns work through most of the chords in Autumn Leaves because there is so much movement by 4th. However there are a few basic exceptions.
In bars 7-8, we have the same root note over two bars (Gm7-G7) so I’ve opted to simply descend through the arpeggio on the first bar and then use our 1-2-3-5 line for the second bar:
In bar 16 we also have Gm7 moving to Am7b5. This is movement of a 2nd so we need another line. I opted to use a basic chromatic approach:
In bars 27-28 we have 4 chords lasting 2 beats each. In this instance, we can simply repeat each root note, giving us a smooth descending line:
Finally in bar 30 we have another 2 chords in the bar. This time we have wider movement by 4th so we can use root – 3rd patterns to bridge the larger gaps:
Practice Tips
Learn to play the walking bass line provided and always focus on how each line works over each chord. You are making a journey from one chord to the next and using the chord tones and scales, implied by the harmony, as your resources in building a road through the terrain.
Even though we’re actually memorizing a line and looking at repetitive scale patterns, the aim should be to improvise your walking line and have the freedom to move around the fretboard with complete confidence.
So as a quick example of how you might use this bass line as a springboard. Let’s look at adding one more pattern into the mix. This is a really popular chromatic line that works equally well over minor 7, dominant 7 and major 7 chords. Let’s use our opening Cm7 as the example:
So this line gives us a formula of root note – 2nd – minor 3rd – major 3rd. As with our previous scale patterns we can simply add this into our line wherever we have movement by 4th.
As you develop your walking bass line skills and vocabulary, you’ll begin to find many different ways of moving from one chord to the next, regardless of the intervallic distance.
Thanks for all of the free lessons. They really offer a clear explanation of how to approach the walking bass method.
Brilliant! Lovin it. Thanks Mark.
Hi Mark, great lesson I saw this on u tube, had a do a search to find it on your web site thought, I just couldn’t find it on the lesson map, it is not under the heading ‘walking bass lines’ Just wondering what category it is under on your lesson map, thanks your lessons are great, cheers.
It really helps to go through some of the lessons Mark has referred to in order to understand the language. A few months ago, I would have been completely lost if it hadn’t been for the excellent instruction on music theory that is WELL WORTH the time. You’d be surprised at how quickly one will pick it up with just a little extra effort placed on the “WHY”.
The lessons for the bass is very good and interesting.
Ciao Mark thanks a lot for the lesson wich is , as always , very clear and helpful ! Have you planned to release a new course specifically on walking bass soon ?
regards
Alessandro
Hi Mark. I absolutely love this lesson, and I’d like to learn more tricks and patterns. Do you have any more lessons on this subject?
Thanks!
Jonathan
Really enjoying these lessons. However, while trying to play Autumn Leaves with the backing tracks, I keep getting lost. Jazz is confusing me. I feel like the backing track is playing a completely different tempo or even a different song altogether. I am even using a metronome. Do you have any suggestions?
Do you listen to much Jazz? If not then that’s the problem right there. Otherwise just concentrate on counting the time to begin with. You’ll hear that heavy accent of the hi hat on two and four. That’s where you would click your fingers. Have a listen to some recordings of Autumn Leaves on Youtube or Spotify. That should help with listening to the chords.
Hi Mark and thanks. I’m using this to memorize chord progressions and as a sax player I have found it really helpful!
Kevin
This Page wins theinternet
U r a music genius Mark 👌👏👍🏻
Thanks Mark, this is an excellent run through!
One question though: If D is the 5th note of G minor, and G minor is a natural minor scale, then shouldn’t the 5th mode be the Phrygian (starting from Aeolian, then Locrian, Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian)?
To be fair the Mixolydian sounds better, I’m just trying to work out why..!
All best,
Kev
This confused me at first but I believe that it’s the melodic G minor so the 6th and 7th are major on ascent (E & F#) and minor on descent. That results in the 5th mode on D on ascent being like the Phrygian mode but with a major 2nd and 3rd (the same as Mixolydian but with a minor 6th). With the ascent pattern of 1 2 3 5, it’s the same as the Mixolydian mode.
-Eric
thank you so much!
This is a nice website/blog about playing upright bass. The bass lines are good and one simple addition to know is that just about ANY chord/walking bass line, you can always use a leading tone (that is, 1/2 step below) to WHATEVER is the next chord: so, if you are playing D minor for 4 beats, then the next chord (say is a G7), you simply play an F# on the fourth beat. Even though F# is not part of a D minor chord (it’s F nat), that leading tone works great because it resolves to that next root note (a G).
This will also work, also on 4th beat to play a whole step (in the above example, D minor, can play A just before the G) as well.
http://www.stringemporium.com/basscafe.htm
Great way to learn. Thank you so much!
Nice work there Mark but I need the downloadable version of the actual piece autumn leaves
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Very good explanation on how to simply build a bassline. The best video I have found on this topic. Do you recommend a sequel to this video? Merci !!!
Thanks Mark for all you very helpfull , clear and well organized tutorials … Man you did a great job in providing us with all this stuff – I just love it
Marc, thank you so much for this clear and concise explanation! Your website is phantastic.
Marc, thank you so much for this clear and concise explanation!
Are the backing tracks designed to repeat the full progression a few times?
Are the backing tracks designed to play the full 32 bars through a few times? I’m not sure if I should start over on the first bar after I’ve played the whole 32 bars on the backing track. Thanks! This was a great lesson!
Excellent
your lessons are unapologeticaly technical which thankfully makes you do the work to be better. i enjoy the work sir thanks!
Yet no one notices his fingering does not match the tabs…