Chords for 5 Levels of Walking Bass And Chords - Great Comping Approach

Ever since I heard Joe Pass play walking bass and chords behind Ella Fitzgerald
_ _ I was [Abm] completely [C] sold and found it to be the ultimate way to comp in a duo.
Something that I then also spent a lot of [Ab] time practicing and later putting [Gm] to use on gigs.
[Cm] Comping like that with several layers happening at the same time [C] can be a bit tricky.
So in this video I'm going to show [Ab] you how to develop it, what to pay attention to
and how to practice this type of [C] playing and then also take it one step further.
My name is Jens Larsen, learn jazz, make music.
The best place to start is by first [F] constructing a bass line [E] and then add chords under it.
[G] The way I learned this was actually by transcribing walking bass of albums
but you can actually construct them [Ab] pretty easily using [A] a few [C] guidelines.
Before the comment section gets flooded with angry bass players again
then I just want to add that [E] I am aware that playing bass is a profession,
[C] maybe even an art form and that this is just a really simple example that happens to work on guitar.
When you play walking bass lines on the guitar then you are only using [E] the lowest strings E [A] and A
[C] which is also going to make it easier to add chords later
since this is where you generally place bass notes when you play shell voicings
_ _ or drop three _ or drop two voicings.
_ And you have plenty [Ab] of strings to add the chord while [Cm] you're playing the bass lines.
For this video I'm going to use [Ab] a basic progression
just to have a few different [C] things to work with.
So I'm using Cmaj7, _ _ [D] Em7 to [A] A7 [D] and then Dm7 [C] to G7 back to Cmaj7.
It's just a slightly embellished 1-6-2-5.
Before you start just improvising bass lines then it's useful to [Bb] know how to compose them
and that's actually pretty easy to [C] do since most [Abm] bass [C] players seem to manage.
For now you can focus on having a walking bass that moves from root note to root [E] note.
Let's add [Bb] those and then use [Ab] that as a skeleton to construct the rest.
So we have these [C] bass notes C, [E]
[A] E, A, [G] D, [C] G and C.
For the bass line to really connect with the chords and [D] be clear
then I have the root note on the first beat
and for the chords that last one bar I have also put [C] a chord tone on beat three.
So for C [Gm] that's the G, [E] for D [A] minor it's the A and for [D] G it's the D.
That's an easy way to [C] get a bass line that really sounds like the chord.
For the Cmaj7 bar here I can easily go from [G] C up to G [Eb] by just adding the E in between.
So just [C] up the triad _ [G] _ and then I need to go to [C] the E on E minor 7
and of course the easiest way to do that [Gm] is just to walk down the scale
and then use an F as a diatonic passing note.
[E] _
Once I'm on the E minor [N] then I need to go to the A
and the chord tone [C] that's probably easiest to use there is the [B] B.
[E] _ _
So you [A] could use the G as well so you [G] get
_ [A] _
but that's a little bit more difficult to play [Ab] so I'm not using that [A] one.
Then going from the A to [F] the D then I'm using [Db] a C sharp
which is just the third of the chord to [G] lead up to the D minor.
Now D I [A] need to go down to the A the fifth which is on [E] B3
and I do that by just walking down the [D] arpeggio so [C] _ [A] down to the C to A.
Now I need to move to G and instead of playing the A twice
[Cm] I'm just gonna go down and play just [G] continue down the arpeggio.
So [A] D, C, A and down to [F] the third F [G] and that takes me to the G.
[Am] On the G I'm using the triad again [G] so just [B] G, [D] B, D
and then [B] repeating the B to take me to the C.
[C] _ _
This gives you this bass line which I'm just going to play
and then I'm going to show you how you can add some chords to it.
_ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ [F] _ _ [G] _ [Bm] _ _ [C] _
Adding chords to a bass line like this is actually pretty simple.
I'm going to start with some easy shell voicings
and [Cm] just add them around each chord [Em] change.
_ _ _ [E] _ [A] _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _
[C] _ _ [Cm] Before we start adding chromatic [Gb] passing notes and chromatic chords
let's just have a look at what's going on.
[Cm] All I do is that I add the rest of the chord whenever the [E] chord changes.
C major 7, [G] _
_ [F] E minor [D] 7 [G] to [A] A7, _ [Db] _ [Dm] D minor 7 _ [Am] _ [G] _
_ to G7 [B] and _ _ _ back to C major 7.
_ _ On the G7 you have a delayed chord [G] which adds more syncopation and energy to what's going on
and this is something that you want to explore as well
and that you'll see a lot more of later in the video.
As you'll see then most of the chords in this video
are either directly shell voicings or [C] derived from shell voicings.
If you want to see how much you can create starting with this easy and basic structure
[Ab] then check out this video.
There's a link in the description.
Until now the bass line was either [G] using chord tones or diatonic notes
but since [C] the point of a walking bass line is to keep the [Ab] music moving forward
adding some tension with some chromatic passing notes is a great thing to do as well.
Let's add that and also some variations [Em] to the rhythm. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ [C] _ If you like this video then please also give it a like here on YouTube
because that's a huge help for the video and for the channel.
So this [G] is roughly the same bass line [Abm] but now there are a few chromatic notes in there as well.
[Cm] I've added the D sharp as an eighth note to lead [E] to the E on E minor 7
[Ab] so that is both an extra leading [Em] note and a more active rhythm _ _ _ _
[E] _ and then in the next bar [Bb] we have the B flat to take [A] us to A
[Eb] and the E flat taking us down [D] to D on D minor 7.
As you can see [E] then I add leading [Ab] notes before the chord change
to add some extra forward motion, some extra tension
that's then resolved when you get to the root of the next chord.
On the D minor 7 then I have the A flat which is taking us down to the G
[C] which [Abm] _ _
is actually easier to play and also a chromatic leading note at the same time
so we win twice on that one.
[G] The G7 bass line now has a D flat 7 on beat 4
[B] _ [D] _ _ [Db]
and this is harmonized with a complete D flat 7 [C] which then resolves to the C major 7.
_ What you hear here is that you can in fact also use complete chords
[Bb] as a way of making things move more, be more exciting.
So let's add a lot of those and also add some color to [Em] the other chords.
_ _ [F] _ [E] _
_ [A] _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ Here I'm adding notes to most of the chords giving the dominants 9s and 13s
and really just adding color to the sound.
I'm also harmonizing some of the leading notes.
Now since the point of a leading note is to create tension that's resolved
then harmonizing it with a dominant chord is often a very good idea.
[A] As you can see [Em] in the C major 7 bar where I'm [Cm] harmonizing the F bass note
with an [E] F7 that then resolves to E minor [A] 7.
Or turning the A [B] flat bass note into an A flat 7 [D] that resolves to [Am] G7.
_ _ [Fm] _
_ [Em] The basic principle is really just to [D] harmonize the [Db] bass notes
and you can take [C] that even further and then put a chord under all the bass notes
which gives you a harmonized bass line.
So I [N] actually forgot to include that I also wanted to talk about the technique that I'm using.
I mean the right hand technique that I'm using because I play with my fingers.
Actually if you look at the Joe Pass video I think he's playing with a pick
and not with [D] his fingers.
He's playing the bass line with a pick.
You're going to do that as well.
I kind of prefer the sound of the thumb.
I think it just [E] sounds more like a bass.
[Db]
It's softer [F] but [G] you can do of course whatever works for you.
So I'm using [B] the thumb for the bass and then I'm just using the rest of the hand
and the rest of the fingers to play the chords with.
So that gives you something like this.
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ [Am] _ [Ab] _ _ [G] _
[Bm] _ _ _ _ [C] _ And actually you also have people who will tell you [Gb] that you need to palm mute the bass line
but I find that kind of cumbersome and I really like to just
have a little bit more freedom to move [C] around and play the chords.
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ Here you can hear how every bass note is harmonized with a chord
and I'm using inversions and other voicings to connect the whole thing.
Most of the time I'm simplifying the chords a little bit because it gets too busy
if they're all four note chords with a lot of notes and complicated sounds.
You can find some great examples of Jim Hall playing like this
and Joe Pass [Eb] actually also does this in a few places when he's playing with Ella. _
_ _ _ _ [Bbm] _ _ Often when you do this you're also using [E] more chromatic passing chords
simply because that's practical instead of changing [A] voicings all the time.
[Cm] But that's of course also [D] a question of tempo.
Something I remember struggling with myself when I [Fm] started out
is in fact a common problem for jazz [F] beginners.
You think about chords [Cm] as static grips and don't group [F] together
[C] different chord voicings as [Db] variations of the same thing
and that makes it impossible [Eb] to [Db] improvise with the chords
[Cm] and get all those beautiful colors that are available.
[F] If you want to have a solid foundation to [Eb] build everything else on
and [B] then add [Gm] variations to that
[Bb] then check [D] out this video and [Cm] see just how far you can go with a very simple beginning.