| Author | Message | ||
     Robert Noel Reddington Experienced User Username: bob_uk Post Number: 43 Registered: 5-2015 |
A good walking bass line gives another dimension to a tune. I don't have a bass guitar but a normal six string axe will do. Walking line is all 1/4 notes on the beat dead regular tick tock. Play any note low on the low E string tick tock fashion. Once going then pick another note with out losing time. Then change note every time. This won't sound that good because we are playing any old note. So here we apply a bit of schoolboy level music theory. If the tune is say C Major and then a few bars later G Major. Then the first note on bass is C. C Major is a traid. C E G. Because its in 4/4 time. I need an extra note so the bass is C E G C. When G Major comes along after say 8 bar intro. Instead of the last note in the bar being C use G this is played ond note before the chord change. ie. C E G G The last G is a leading note. The next bass bar is G B D G. Thus the walking bass line is in harmony with the chords. The above ditty if the beat is swung turns into a boogie. However I have left F Major out and a turn around to get back to C Major. The above is a very simple one the real skill is when its gets complicated when there's 6 different chords with minor sevenths țhrown in the mix. Then the options are huge but only one will be the best. A guitarist called Arthur Smith is ace at this. Dwayne Eddy is not as good. Arthur Smith wrote the very original guitar boogie. Many have covered it but no one gets it quiet right. Tip- accuracy and clarity of the note is more important than speed. 60 to 80 beats per minute is plenty fast enough. So start at say 50 beat. Keep it tick tock. Also don't play guitars that are out of tune. It will sound &hit and it wont train your ear. Nowadays modern amps have built in tuners so easy. I had to do it the hard way endless listening for the note interference. I tune first then play. Also stand alone electronic tuner £5 on ebay. Incidently after about 2 minutes of playing my hands feel better. If you have breathing problems mouth organs are good lung exercise. |
