Beginner Guitar Lesson 33 - Walking the Bass

Another concept I want to talk about today is the walking bass line. In our demonstration, we use the walking bass between the C7#9 and B7#9, just before our blues turnaround.

The walking bass line uses chromatics or passing notes to make the bass line flow well harmonically. These bass notes are plucked with the thumb while the chords are comped with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fingers of the strumming hand.

The late, renowned Jazz guitarist, Joe Pass, was a master of the walking bass line and also fantastic at playing blues. If you have a chance, check out his playing. I'm sure you'll find it inspirational (even if Jazz is not your cup of tea), because his technique and sound are so great.

In the walking bass line in our example, each bass note is played on each beat in the bar. On the other hand, the chords are comped on the first beat only, and the rest of the notes ring out for the whole bar. This really demands some finger independence in the fretting hand. Moving your 1st and 2nd fingers while the 3rd and 4th continue to hold the higher notes of the chord down is a really challenging task at first. But, as with all things, it will come with time and practice.

So let's focus on that two bar passage and really get to grips with it! First, I want you to try playing the bass line on it’s own. Practice making each note accurate in time & add stress to every second note so that it swings. As illustrated below by the note in bold type, the 2nd and 4th beats of each bar should be stressed. This helps the music “swing” or drive forward.

C B A A# B A G F

3 2 ０ 1 2 0 3 1 (fret fingering)

 

Repeat this passage, starting slowly at about 90 bpm and increasing tempo in the usual increments of 5 bpm to about 140 bpm. Now you have the walking bass under control, let’s add the chords on the first beat of each bar.

 

Remember that you must let the chord notes ring out while you play the walking bass notes. This means you have to maintain the pressure on the other strings while you voice the walking bass notes on the A and low E string. Start this really slow at about 70 bpm. Work up gradually as usual to 140 bpm.

Great job. Not easy, is it !?! Once you get this down, you’ll find articulating other chords and bass notes simultaneously becomes almost like second nature. Then, the next step is to put these chords and the walking bass line into context with the blues progression as shown in our example video and in the notation and TAB below. Happy jamming!