3 Scale Concepts That Create Killer Walking Bass

Lines
The Walking Bass Series - Part 2

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Creating walking bass using scales can be tricky because it's hard to get
the notes within the scale to line up perfectly with chord changes. Often
we need to 'manipulate' how we play the scale so scales sound 'strong'
and outline the chords well.
What's more scales in isolation can tend to sound like a technical
exercises. This bass lesson shows the secrets of how to create musical
walking bass lines using 3 simple concepts derived purely from the first 5
notes of the major and minor scale.
Make sure you check out P​ art 1 of The Walking Bass Series​ where I
introduce this concept and the other two core methods of creating bass
walking bass lines.

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The Circle Of 5ths
For this lesson I'm going to use the first 8 bars of the well known jazz
standard Autumn Leaves. This chord sequence is based on a concept
called the Circle of 5ths or the Cycle of 4ths (two names for the same
chord thing!).
You will see the The Circle of 5ths time and time again in Jazz / Walking
Bass... If you need help understanding the it check out this lesson: ​I will
Survive The Circle Of 5ths
First, let's comfortable with the chord sequence by just playing the root
notes on the bass guitar.

Adding Bass Guitar Chords

It's really good to internalise sound of the chord sequence or 'harmony'. A
great way of doing that is to play the chord sequence on the bass guitar.
Here is the sequence played using some common 'voicings' or chord
shapes on the bass guitar.
To get further help with chords on the bass guitar make sure you
download the E ​ ssential Guide To Bass Guitar Chords here.

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Scale Concept 1 - Whole | Half | Half
In this first concept I'm going to extend the Whole | Half | Half Method
which we discussed in part one of The Walking Bass Series.
Notice how we can start to use the whole range of the fingerboard. Over
the first 4 bars this line starts off at fret 3 on the A string and ends at 12 fret
on the G string. This is why learning walking bass can be so powerful for
your fingerboard knowledge and confidence.
As the name suggests this method comprises of a Whole Step (2 frets) ,
then two Half Steps (1 fret) to travel from chord to chord.
In bar 5 we adapt this to Half Step, Whole Step, Half Step. This is to get the
bass line to work with the Am7b5 chord.
The beauty of this concept is that you do not have to worry about if the
chord is major or minor. This is because the bass line has bother a major
3rd and a minor 3rd in it. They effectively 'cancel' each other out and end
up creating a great sounding Jazz walking bass line.

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Scale Concept 2 - The Double Root
In this second concept I'm going to a very simple concept that just using
the first 3 notes of the Major or Minor scale.
To ensure the bass line always lands on the target note (or the first beat of
the next bar) at the correct point we are going to double root. This means
the root is played twice on beats 1 and 2. We then ascend up the 2 notes of
the scale.
The challenge with concept is we always have to ensure we choose the
correct 3rd of the scale. These are the two patterns we end up with:
● R | R | 2 | 3 - for Major Chords / 7th
● R | R | 2 | b3 - For Minor Chords
The major chord or 7th chord will use a major third and a minor chord will
use a flattened / minor third. Go through this concept very slowly to begin
with and listen to the sound of each bar, one by one and appreciate the
critical differences in the bass line.
Bar 5 uses the pattern R, R, b2, b3 to get the bass lines to work perfectly
with the Am7b5 chord.

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Scale Concept 3 - The Scale Wrap Around
In Concept 3 I'm going to show a very simple but powerful Walking Bass
concept.
First of all we need to be comfortable with the idea of 'Target Notes'. When
creating walking bass lines we always need to have a target note. More
often than not the target note will be the next chord change.
If we are playing the Cm7 bar our target note with F, which is the first beat
of bar two.
The Scale Wrap Around plays note below the target note and note above
the target notes on beats 3 and 4 of the previous bar.
We end up with two patterns:
● R | 2 | 3 | 5 - for Major / 7th chords
● R | 2 | b3 | 5 - for Minor Chords
Again the challenge is picking is to ensure we are playing the correct
minor or major 3rd in each bar.
As in the previous examples we have to adapt bar 5 so the Am7b5 chord
sounds good. We end up with this pattern: R | b2 | b3 | 5
You will also find that root of the Major Chords is best played with 2nd
finger on the fretting hand and the root of the minor chords is best played

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with a first finger on the fretting hand. The patterns of notes will then fall
natural under the hands if you are using the One Finger Per Fret Method.

Final Thoughts
Mastering these 3 straight forward concepts over this Circle of 5ths Chord
sequence will unquestionably help you take scales from being a
'academic' technical exercises to something you can use in the real world
with confidence.
In part 3 of The Walking Bass Series I'm going to show how to take the
ideas you learning in walking bass. If you love Funk Music... watch out!
If you'd like to learn walking bass from the ground upwards make sure you
check out The Essential Walking Bass Cours over in the Bass Lab PLUS
Membership.
You can also grab the backing tracks for this lesson inside the
membership too.
You can request your invitation by clicking here - e
​ bassguitar.com/blp​.
Any question, just ask...
James

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Keep grooving hard…
James

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