Chromatic Pairs in a blues bass

While this is a "vanilla" blues bass line, it does illustrate the concept of chromatic pairs -- two semitone steps into
a new chord root -- as I discussed in my last posting. The root of the chord is always played with the left hand thumb,
or the 5th finger of the left hand.

C7 F7 C7 C7 F7 F7
4
&4 w w w
bw
w bw
w
w bn w
w bw
w bw
w
w bw
w
w
? 44 œ b œ nœ œ œ œ bœ nœ œ #œ œ œ
œ
œ œ #œ nœ chromatic pair œ œ #œ œ œ #œ nœ
7 C7 C7 G7 F7

& nw w w
w bw
bww bw
w nw w
w
œ
chromatic pair
? nœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ
œ œ #œ œ œ #œ

™™ w
11 C7 G7 C7

& nw w
bww nw
w bw
w
™™ œ
chromatic pair chromatic pair
? œ
œ œ #œ œ œ #œ œ œ
˙
The right hand deserves some innovative rhythmic interest -- use anticipations, passing chords, approach chords -
revisit my earlier posts on decorating V7 chords in a blues context, sliding by step, etc.

In the bass, also work for rhythmic interest, some grace notes flicked into place, and some approaches from a 5th away.

Improvise over the bass line with a dorian mode, or a blues scale, (or a whole set of blues scales), even
diminished scales, if that is your go. But bring patterns and scales to work in creating melody.