Dorian Tonality: Walking Bass Lines

A great way to outline the Dorian harmony and keep the time flowing in a swing context is to play a walking bass line…

…typically played as a relentless string of quarter notes… where the primary chord tones (1,3,5,b7) tend to fall on strong beats and where these chord tones are connected by diatonic passing tones or approached with a three-note chromatic pickup.

Here are two commonly-used variations for your consideration…