BASS Player Lesson Eleven Pgina 1 de 6

W AL K I N G B AS S : T H E N E XT S T E P

Las t time we dis cus s ed the concept of us ing chor d tones to cr eate walking bas s lines . T he value of the chor d tone- only appr oach
lies in the fact that our bas s lines completely outline our chor d changes . I n addition, chor d tones ar e eas y to manage fr om a
fr etboar d per s pective us ing s imple ar peggio for ms .

I f you have been pr acticing this method for impr ovis ing walking bas s lines for a while, you have pr obably alr eady figur ed out that
it has its limitations . s ince you ar e never wor king with mor e than 4 notes at a time for each chor d change, it is eas y to r un out of
inter es ting ideas . Fur ther mor e, your lines ar e pr etty much limited to what I might r efer to as a ver y angular s ound, becaus e of
the lar ger inter vallic dis tances between each chor d tone. S uffice it to s ay that this is a gr eat ex er cis e for intr oducing your s elf to
walking bas s lines , but it is not r eally des igned to be a s tr ategy for mor e advanced playing.

T he r eas on I like to have my s tudents begin with chor d tones when they ar e s tar ting to play walking bas s or s olo is s o that they
dont los e the identity and s ound of the chor d changes they ar e playing to. I t is eas y to imagine that if you only tr ied to follow the
changes by ear , you may or may not do a good j ob of connecting each individual change in a melodic way. Regar dles s of how
advanced your walking lines or s olos become, you will s till maintain a r eliance on chor d tones as tar get notes for outlining the
s hapes of your mus ical phr as es . Lis ten to any gr eat s olois t, and you will hear what I mean.

I n or der to move to the nex t level with your walking lines , we will want to us e s hapes and phr as es that will connect each note
us ing s maller and s maller dis tances . S maller dis tances between each note in a walking line dir ectly tr ans lates into a per ceived
level of s moothnes s in the line. A walking bas s line, like a gr eat s olo, is r eally a living and br eathing component of mus ic. T her e
ar e peaks and valleys in dynamics and s hape, times of tens ion and r eleas e, and the combination of high and low r anges on the
ins tr ument being us ed.
T o achieve mor e of this mus ical goal in our pr actice r outine, we will now incor por ate s cale tones into the mix . I n other wor ds ,
ins tead of j us t r elying on chor d tones , we will now mix chor d tones and s cale tones , which will give us a lar ger number of choices
for impr ovis ing. T he us e of s cale tones will allow us to us e s maller dis tances between note choices , s ince ther e ar e a gr eater
number of s cale tones in a s ingle octave than ther e ar e ar peggio tones , or chor d tones , alone.

S ome ex amples of walking bas s lines us ing s cale tones can be s een in ex er cis es 1 -3 .

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BASS Player Lesson Eleven Pgina 2 de 6

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BASS Player Lesson Eleven Pgina 3 de 6

I n or der to make us e of s cale tones , we will fir s t have to as s ign s cales to chor d types , s o we know what s cales to play when we
encounter differ ent chor d types . For this fir s t s er ies of ex er cis es , we can choos e fr om the modes of the maj or s cale to es tablis h
which modes will be us ed for which chor ds .

F i g. 1 is a diagr am outlining a s et of modes we can us e for s ome bas ic chor d types : (I MPORT ANT : Each s cale/mode would be
played s tar ting fr om the ROOT of the s pecified chor d.)

F i g. 1

For ex ample, if you encounter ed a C minor 7 chor d, you would us e the notes of C dor ian (C, D, Eb, F, G, A, B b, C) for your
walking line. S imilar ly, if you encounter ed a G 7 chor d, you would us e the notes of G mix olydian (G, A, B , C, D, E , F, G) to play
thr ough it.
T o clar ify the us e of thes e modes even fur ther , F i g. 2 s hows a diagr am lis ting the inter vallic cons tr uction of each of the modes
us ed in F i g.1 .

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BASS Player Lesson Eleven Pgina 4 de 6

F i gs . 3 -6 ar e s ome one octave modal s hapes you can us e for cons tr ucting your walking bas s lines (I n each ex ample, the lowes t
line cor r es ponds to your lowes t pitched s tr ing. T he fir s t note on that s tr ing would cor r es pond to the r oot of the s cale):

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BASS Player Lesson Eleven Pgina 5 de 6

Now that you under s tand how to connect s elect modes to chor d types , it is time for you to tr y s ome s cale tone walking bas s lines
on your own. E x er ci s es 4 -8 ar e s ome s ample chor d pr ogr es s ions for you to walk to. I n each ex ample, make s ur e to place the
r oot of the chor d on beat 1 of the meas ur e. T his way you will avoid any ambiguity in the har mony of your bas s lines . T his is not
any type of har d fas t r ule, however ... As you pr ogr es s , ther e will be ins tances in which the integr ity of the bas s line will depend
on you knowing when to us e alter native chor d tones on beat 1 or on any other downbeat of a chor d change. B efor e you s tar t
ex per imenting with that, however , fir s t tr y and mas ter this type of appr oach in which the r oot announces each chor d change to
the lis tener . Have fun!! !

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BASS Player Lesson Eleven Pgina 6 de 6

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