Bass Line Exercises
While you might be interested in playing bass lines, you might not know where to start.
The following exercises are designed to expose you to various approaches for learning and applying bass lines to your studies.
They’ll also guide your from day one to advanced walking bass lines with comping in your practicing and performing.
You can start with the first exercise and move down the list from there.
Or, if you’ve checked out bass lines before, you can skip around a bit to find the right exercise for you at this point in your development.
Whole Note Bass Lines
To begin your study of bass lines, play the root notes through any tune you’re working on, doing so from memory if possible.
Outlining the root notes of any tune will allow you to hear the chord changes, as well as visualize the root movement on the guitar.
This prepares you to move on to half-time and full walking bass lines from there with confidence.
Play the root notes on the lower two strings only, which leaves space on the upper four strings to add chords on top of those bass notes.
Here’s an example of this exercise over a Bb jazz blues progression.
Audio Example 19
Once you have the root notes down, begin to add a few chords on top of those notes as you play through the changes in your practice routine.
Here’s an example of chords above the previous bass line example.
Audio Example 20
Though this is an intro exercise for bass lines, you might be surprised at how effective root notes can be when sight reading a tune.
Or, you can use this slow bass line approach in the first chorus of a tune to set up the time, before moving to busier bass lines from there.
Half Time Bass Lines
Once you have the whole-note bass line under your fingers, you can move on to a half-time feel bass line in your studies.
The term half-time means that you aren’t walking a full quarter-note bass line, but you aren’t only playing roots either.
You’re somewhere in between.
Here’s an exercise that you can do in order to begin adding this style of bass line to your playing.
Ø Pick a tune or chord progression to work on.
Ø Play the root note on beat one of new chord or bar.
Ø Play a chromatic approach note one beat before each root.
Ø If there’s room, play two chromatic notes before each root note.
Here’s an example of one chromatic note before each root in the first four bars of a Bb blues progression.
Audio Example 21
Here’s that same bass line, now with two chromatic notes before each new root note in the progression.
Audio Example 22
Though you’re only playing two, or maybe three notes per bar, getting the half-time feel down in your bass lines can take some time.
If you’re struggling with this exercise, skip down to the transcribing bass lines exercise later in this section.
That’ll help you get a half-time feel into your playing, by transcribing bass lines in your studies rather than making them up on your own.
Walking Bass Lines
Now that you’ve worked on nailing the root notes and developing your half-time feel, you can move into a full walking bass line.
Here’s a formula that you can use to begin playing walking bass lines over jazz tunes in your studies.
First, for bars that have 2 chords, play the root note on the first beat of each chord, followed by a chromatic note leading to the next root note.
When you have one chord per bar, or one chord for more than one bar, the following formula is a good place to start.
Ø Play the root note on beat 1.
Ø Play a diatonic note on beat 2, chord or scale tone.
Ø Play a chromatic approach note on beat 3.
Ø Play a chromatic approach note on beat 4.
By working this formula, you’ll be able to outline the chord that you’re on, and lead the listener to the next chord in the progression.
Here’s an example of a walking bass line over the first four bars of a Bb jazz blues chord progression.
Audio example 23
Once you have this approach down, feel free to break some of these rules to expand upon bass lines in your studies.
If you’re unsure of how to break the rules in a musical way, skip down to the transcribing bass lines exercise.
Transcribing is the best way to hear, understand, and apply real-life concepts to your bass lines.
Singing Bass lines
Along with playing bass lines in your practice routine, you can bring your ears to the equation by singing bass lines over changes.
When doing so, you have a few options as far as how to approach singing bass lines in your studies.
The first is to comp the chords while singing a bass line over those chords, playing the role of comper and walker at the same time.
For more of a challenge, you can sing the bass lines with no chords.
This forces your ears to keep track of the keys and chord changes on their own as you sing through the bass line over any tune.
Finally, you can sing a bass line and improvise single notes on the guitar over that bass line.
This is the hardest of the three approaches.
But, if you’re interested in developing your ability to hear and play bass lines, this is a good medium to long-term goal to have in your studies.
Transcribing Bass lines
Transcribing bass lines is the fastest and most direct way to get into the minds of some of jazz’s greatest bass players.
As a guitarist, you can transcribe any bass line you’re drawn to.
Learn how to play along with the recording at first to work on feel and phrasing, then add chords to make it fit more into a solo or duo setting.
Writing out a transcribed bass line is also beneficial.
This allows you to analyze the bass line to see where chord tones, chromatic notes, chord subs, and other devices fall within the lines.
If you aren’t sure which bass line to start with from a transcription point of view, check out the Sonny Rollins recording “Blue Seven.”
This is a great bass line for to transcribe, as the first chorus is bass only, then the second chorus is just bass and drums.
This allows for each note to be heard clearly on the recording.
After you’ve transcribed a chorus of transcribed bass lines, write out a chorus of your own bass line in the style of that player.
Use lines and concepts drawn from the transcribed bass line as the basis for your own line, melding these lines into your musical personality.