OK, the other day Jook asked about some effective moves to employ when playing a walking bass line.
No one wants to sound like they're flying in lifeless midi files for a bass line, and no one wants to sound like the left hand of a twinkie keyboardist playing a trite root - third - fifth line over every chord, always starting on the root of the chord. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
so, the big deal when playing a (primarily) 1/4 note waling bass is you want to keep things moving forward. obviously yo udo that with your time (note placement).... but also by making sure you play a CHORD tone (root, 3rd, 5th, 7th) on the strong beats....beats one and three.
after awhile it becomes more automatic, but at first you might have to be super deliberate and chart out a line to get it all lined out. nothing wrong w that!
to use RG's Cm Blues as an example, here's a line you might play over a the first four bars of Cminor. i'm gonna use capitol letters for the chord tones as they fall on beats one and three.....and beats on two and four will written in lower case. capiche?
these are 1/4 notes:
(play ascending and jump down to "d" in bar three)
//
C d
Eb f /
G a
Bb b natural /
C d(jump down)
Eb d /
C d
Eb] e natural // that will lead you to your "F" note for your two bars of Fm.
this is NOT the best medium to explain this stuff. so, does that makes some sense?
