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Hi, welcome to another one of my video lessons.
My name's Geoff Chalmers, and I own a website called the discoverdoublebass.com.
So, if you wanna learn more about the double bass, go and check that out.
And I also have a full-length, step-by-step video called, "Teaching How To Create Walking
Bass Lines," so you can learn more about that by following the links below this video.
Today we're talking about some really classic patterns, classic walking bass riffs, whatever
you want to call them, that you'll hear in jazz.
I'm going to be teaching you these riffs, these patterns, over "Fly Me to the Moon"
and the chord sequence for that.
So, it's one of those swing pieces that you've heard a thousand times, and having these patterns
will help you play this music and sound really convincing.
And I found a few little things about these patterns that relate to each other that will
help you use the [inaudible 00:02:03] chord types.
And I think it'll really help you go and get what you hear in your ear into your muscle
memory and out on the bass.
Well, that's the plan, so let's get into it and see if it works.
The walking bass line pattern that I'm talking about today can be used when you're moving
from one chord up a fourth.
Now, this chord could be a minor chord, dominant 7th chord, or a major chord.
So, they're the three main chord types.
The same pattern will work for each one of those.
This chord movement of moving up a fourth or down a fifth, it's the same thing, is the
most common movement between two chord types.
So if you can get some great walking bass lines under your fingers, it will mean you
can process these a lot quicker on your gig.
So, let's have a look how this works over "Fly Me to the Moon."
First, two chords are minor chords.
It's an A minor 7 to a D minor 7, and this is the pattern I'd like to learn.
Okay, so the first chord, A minor, we play root, 2nd, minor 3rd, and then we play C sharp,
and that leads us up to the note D. Now, why can't we just play up the scale?
There's a really good reason.
You'll end up on the next chord a beat early.
A, B, C, the next chord in the scale is D, but if you play that on B4 of the first bar,
it'll sound like you've suddenly arrived early, and this will keep happening no matter what
the chord type, whether it's dominant 7 or major or whatever.
So we've gotta put an extra note in the pattern.
Now, pattern works exactly the same way this next chord.
It's D minor 7.
The F sharp is now leading us up to G dominant 7 which is leading us up to C major 7.
Now, let's just pause for a moment.
The G7, root, 2nd, minor to major 3rd which is a really effective note choice on dominant
7th chords.
You'll hear that a lot, so the pattern works for dominant 7th chords.
Now, how about C major or C dominant 7, depending on exactly what version you're playing of
this?
But essentially, let's call it C7.
C7 moving to F major 7...and works perfectly.
Now, at this stage of the progression it takes a little bit of a side step up to the note
B minor 7 flat 5, the chord B minor 7 flat 5.
But if it was still moving up in fourths, it would still work perfectly.
We could go from F to B flat, and it would work great.
So this pattern is really effective, and all you need to remember is root, major 2nd, and
then you'll lead up chromatically to the next chord.
It's a lot easier than thinking of this more complex pattern note by note.
You really just gotta remember the first two.
Let me show you a really good one for B minor 7 flat 5, and for the more advanced players,
this will also work over altered chords as well.
So if we have an E altered chord next, that would work well.
So, B minor 7 flat 5...you have to play a minor 2nd, not a major 2nd, to match the chord
types.
That's B, C, D, D sharp, and that takes you to the next chord.
So if you are playing...let's have a look at the 2, 5, 1 in "Autumn Leaves" that you
hear.
A minor 7 flat 5, A, B flat, C natural, C sharp, up to D. And if you're playing D altered,
it would be D, E flat, F, F sharp, and then G. So the pattern there is root, minor 2nd,
and then you play the minor 3rd, and then you play the major 3rd.
And that's for altered and minor 7 flat 5 chords.
Now, it might be that you're a little bit baffled about what those chord types are.
If so, put them to one side.
The main thing is is you get this key pattern that you can use for minor 7, major 7, dominant
7th chords, because they're everywhere.
And what I'm gonna do now is show you another pattern that you can add in to add contrast
so you don't continually keep ascending with not enough notes to play.
You need a pattern to bring you back down, and luckily there's a really simple one which
is to move down the scale.
So, when we move backwards down a scale, we actually have enough notes in the scale to
take us down a fifth or up a fourth, however you want to be thinking of it, take you to
the next chord without having to add in any extra chromatic notes.
That's the first three bars.
In fact, let's start on an A, and then we can move down and see if it works, so let's
just start on this A.
And we've really clearly outlined the harmony there of the chords just by moving down the
scale.
And if you're a little bit unsure about the individual scales, this piece is in the key
of C major or A minor, whichever you prefer to think about it.
And that means no sharps or flats, so that could be a little shortcut to help you there.
And what starts to get really effective is if you mix the two approaches, so I'll give
you an example of how that would sound.
Let's keep going up, down, down, down, and then we'll go back up again.
There's a little bit of a change in the chord sequence there.
Up, down, let's keep going down.
You've got an absolutely huge range of options, and you're really using one approach which
is to use these patterns.
I found it a really helpful process, especially in terms of adding cool-sounding repertoire,
cool bass patterns that you can use and getting them into your muscle memory so you can move
through different chord sequences.
And when the tempo picks up, it's especially helpful.
So, I really hope you enjoyed today's video.
I think it's a really useful approach, but it's one of a huge range that we can take
when we're learning walking bass lines.
If you want to learn everything that I know about creating walking bass lines, check out
my full-length course which takes you from the real beginnings to some very advanced
material.
So, you can learn more about that by following the link below, and if you've enjoyed the
lesson, you can click that "like" that's on YouTube to let me know.
Keep practicing hard, and I'll see you next time.