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…
Variation #1: Walking down for two bars, then walking up for two bars…
Notice that each four-note group starts on “the 1” of the prevailing chord and moves scale-wise and diatonically to “the 1” of the next chord!
Variation #2: Walking up for two bars, then walking down for two bars…
Notice the syncopation of the chords in the right hand–sometimes on the beat, sometimes behind the beat, and sometimes before the beat…
Notice that each four-note group starts on “the 1” of the prevailing chord, that a chromatic tone is inserted on a weak beat in order to make the line flow smoothly, and that the fourth note in each group is a leading tone, which creates an irresistible melodic-harmonic drive to the 1 of the next chord!
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.