Lesson Goal: To quickly internalize common practice Major 2 5 1 Walking Bass Lines in all keys… by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle…
Table of Contents
Prerequisites
Basic music reading skills… the LOVE of music… and the discipline to study and practice.
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Why Study these Major 2 5 1 Walking Bass Lines…
- You will develop the ability to recognize a major 2 5 1 chord progression by ear.
- You will develop the ability to recognize a major 2 5 1 when you see the chord symbols in a chart.
- You will see how scales and chords are inseparable, interrelated views of the same musical stuff.
- You will begin to really “know your way around the piano”.
- You will develop the skill to play a variety of major 2 5 1 chord voicings and rhythms (comping).
- You will develop the skill to improvise melodic lines over a major 2 5 1 in a variety of styles and rhythms (soloing).
- You will build a huge chord and scale vocabulary that enables you to “speak” the major 2 5 1 chord progression in a wide variety of contexts.
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Major 2 5 1 Walking Bass, Variation #1
A great way to keep the time moving and swinging is to “walk” the bass line in relentlessly flowing quarter notes that outline the harmony…
Pattern Recognition: (1) Walk down for two bars, then walk up for two bars. (2) Each four-note group starts on “the 1” of the prevailing chord (3) The line moves scale-wise and diatonically to “the 1” of the next chord…
Major 2 5 1 Walking Bass, Variation #2
Pattern Recognition: (1) Walk up for two bars, then walk down for two bars. (2) Each four-note group starts on “the 1” of the prevailing chord (3) A chromatic tone is inserted on a weak beat in order to make the line flow smoothly (4) The fourth note in each group is a leading tone, which creates an irresistible melodic-harmonic drive to the 1 of the next chord…
Notice the syncopation of the chords in the right hand–sometimes on the beat, sometimes behind the beat, and sometimes before the beat…
Major 2 5 1 Walking Bass Lines, Other Keys
Homework: Using your knowledge of the major scales and chord structure (and your ears of course), play this pattern in all keys you expect to play in (suggested keys: C, F, Bb).
Learning by doing in this manner will build an enormous scale and chord vocabulary that Doing so will develop an enormous scale and chord vocabulary that you will know by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle… laying a rock solid foundation for fluent improvisation.
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