Walking Bass Lines: Lesson 1 Example 1 Cmaj7 First lets look at playing walking bass lines over this chord by using scales. Over a Cmaj7 chord the most common scale to play over is the C Major 7 here is the C Major scale as a shape on the fingerboard. The numbers inside the dots represent the fingering pattern I want you to try. This is a fingering pattern written for a 4 string bass tuned E, A, D, G.

Here is the C Major scale ascending and descending written out in standard notation along with tablature. The red numbers above the notes represent the scale degrees.

Example 2 There are 7 notes in this scale and 8 including the octave. We can use these notes to create a Walking bass line over a Cmaj7.

 

In Jazz music as I mentioned before the feel is accented on beats 2 and 4. The harmony however is defined by the 1st and 3rd beats. The notes we play on these beats really tell the listener what the harmony is. Especially when we play walking bass lines the choices we make especially on the 1st beat is really important to tell us the listener or other band member what type of chord we are listening too. Here now is an example of a walking bass line only using the ascending C Major scale over a Cmaj7 Chord.

We can play scales in order over changes but it is not always the most musical choice. We don’t necessarily want our walking lines to sound like scales even though we are deriving the notes from their. For this purpose to demonstrate the technique it is perfect to play these scales in an ascending stepwise order. When we break it down we will notice some really important and revealing things. Bar 1 Beat 1 (Important) is a C, which is the Root of the chord. This is a good choice. Beat 2 (Less important) is a D, which is the 2nd degree of the C Major scale. This could be analyzed as a passing scale tone targeting our 3rd beat. Beat 3 (Important) is an E, which is a Chord Tone it is the Major 3rd degree of the Cmaj7 chord. This tells us we are not playing a Minor chord. As a chord tone is landing on a strong beat it is a good choice. Beat 4 (Less important) is an F, which is the 4th degree of the C Major scale. This could be analyzed as a passing scale tone targeting our 1st or downbeat of a new bar.

 

Bar 2 Beat 1 (Important) is a G, which is a Chord Tone it is the Perfect 5th degree of the Cmaj7 chord. As a chord tone is landing on a strong beat it is a good choice. Beat 2 (Less important) is an A, which is the 6th degree of the C Major scale. This could be analyzed as a passing scale tone targeting our 3rd beat. Beat 3 (Important) is a B, which is a Chord Tone it is the Major 7th degree of the Cmaj7 chord. As a chord tone is landing on a strong beat it is a good choice. Beat 4 (Less important) is a C, which is the Root of the chord. This is where the problem starts. We are playing a strong note choice on the weakest beat of the bar. We are trapping ourselves, as the next beat is our downbeat. We are setting up a weak not on the strongest beat of the bar which will throw the band and the listener off as to where the harmony is. Bar 3 Beat 1 (Important) is a D, which is the 2nd degree of the C Major scale. This note was analyzed earlier on beat 2 of bar 1 as a passing tone between the 1st and 3rd degrees. As it is now landing on the 1st beat it is implying a change of chord. It will become a surprise to our ears. Example 3 We can avoid this problem in a few different ways. The first one is we don’t have to shape our lines like this and can avoid landing on strong beats with weak sounding scale degrees. The second way is to only play chord tones, which we will look at next and the third way, which we will look at now and that is to add chromatic approach notes. In Jazz music you can add an 8th degree to the scales to give us a symmetrical sounding scale. We call these scales “Bebop scales”. Here is the C Major Bebop scale as a shape on the fingerboard. The numbers inside the dots represent the fingering pattern I want you to try. This is a fingering pattern written for a 4 string bass tuned E, A, D, G. Please note this is a suggested fingering pattern for you and will change Ascending and Descending.

 

Ascending C Major Bebop scale - Descending C Major Bebop scale

Here is the C Major Bebop scale ascending and descending written out in standard notation along with tablature. The red numbers above the notes represent the scale degrees. The > and < symbols imply an acsending or descending chromatic approach note.

Example 4 When we analyze this scale you will notice there is a chromatic approach note between the 5th and 6th degrees. This gives the scale a great symmetrical sound. This scale is very commonly used when writing melodies and soloing in Jazz music. We will look at this scale in more depth in the Tony Grey Bass Academy but now lets look at how this scale lines up when playing it as a walking bass line over a Cmaj7 chord.

 

When we analyze this walking bass line we will notice the 1st bar is exactly the same as when we used our regular C Major 7 note scale. Lets now analyze this line from bar 2. Bar 2 Beat 1 (Important) is a G, which is a Chord Tone it is the Perfect 5th degree of the Cmaj7 chord. As a chord tone is landing on a strong beat it is a good choice. Beat 2 (Less important) is a G#, which is the chromatic approach note we looked at in the C Major Bebop scale. This sets us up for beat 3. Beat 3 (Important) is an A, which is the 6th degree of the C Major scale. As you can see this is a non-chord tone landing on a strong beat. Beat 3 is not as strong as beat 1 and if your line has a strong feel and direction you can get away with this. Beat 4 (Less important) is a B, which is a Chord Tone it is the Major 7th degree of the Cmaj7 chord. As a chord tone is landing on a weak beat is ok again as long as the direction is strong. You will see it sets up our downbeat for bar 3 perfectly. Bar 3 Beat 1 (Important) is a C, which is the Root of the chord and the best choice for the 1st or downbeat of our bar. This scale when played straight over 2 bars creates a perfect symmetry as on the 3rd bar we are back to the Root only an octave higher. Of course we would play this scale ascending and descending over our chord progression but it really demonstrates the importance of the Bebop scale and the importance of strong and weak beats in Jazz music and music in general. Example 5 Here now is an example of using the C Major and C Major Bebop scales over a Cmaj7 chord. The red numbers above the notes represent the scale degrees.

 

Watch the video demonstration of me playing this line so you can hear clearly the effect it has. I will break down and analyze the line for you to understand and play the example slowly at first. I will then perform the written bass line in real time along with the band. Try learning your scales all over the fingerboard and practice this concept over the MP3 play-along.