5 Myths About Walking Bass Lines We Need to Debunk 

Mr. Israels! Well said as always. Wishing you all the best, always!

Agreed :)

Hahaha that’s great 😂 And yeah that’s why I made sure to say “use this wisely” haha

Hey man! Yes I remember totally. I want to use your name to say hi but don’t want to dox you haha. Thank you again for doing such a killer job last minute! I regret not having a chance to play more! Thanks for watching and your extremely kind words!

Wow thank you for your very kind words and for watching!

​@@LearnJazzBasswithMattRybicki Thank you Matt for this world-class content! Cheers!

Grüße! Vielen Dank fürs Zuschauen und ich freue mich sehr, dass Sie es verstehen können. Hilft es, die Option für Untertitel zu aktivieren? Ist es möglich, die Bildunterschriften auf Deutsch zu lesen?

It works with the subtitles. Thank you.

In German.

Thanks for your comment, I agree i! I think the word "outline" in the tricky part, right? That's why I try to specify something to the degree of "Reinforce" as opposed to "outline" because that sounds like arpeggiation. I think I'm understanding what you wrote I hope? Thanks again

@@LearnJazzBasswithMattRybicki My pleasure, happy to be a part of the conversation! And yes, you read my post correct;ly

Yes sir! Thank you!

You’re so welcome!

Most definitely! This clears up a lot of indecision (and a bit of apprehension) in my approach to playing walking basslines. I feel like I just got a whole lot better at it.

@@tomdbass1 That is AWESOME to hear!!

Glad it was helpful!

excellent summary haha

Thank you for watching and your kind words!

Thank you so very much for your kind words, for watching, and subscribing!

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching

Thank you for watching!

Wonderful!

Thank you!

Haha thanks for watching and appreciating the mic thing. It’s actually Kind of hard to figure out! I’m still Working on getting the best sound. But that big mic in the face trend is a bit much I agree!

Thanks John! (I think it's John?) I really appreciate your kind words. That's a wonderful question - for me, it's mostly I'm able to remove the transcription because honestly my memory is not that good ha! But for a fair handful of things - like parts of a certain transcription (intros or something) - I agree that I also have a hard time *not* doing those things on a given tune. Like the way that Ray plays "The Days of Wine and Roses" - I constantly play that the way he does and I get so annoyed with myself haha. So I think my answer is a little of both. If I were to take the next step and think about how to change that (if I wanted to or if you wanted to), I would say I would try to spend dedicated time figuring out *something else* to play on a given piece while in the practice room. And then turn my attention to that before I'm about to play that song on a gig - basically consciously trying to avoid what's been done by someone else and try to apply what I've worked out. Lastly, though, don't forget that imitation is a big part of learning the music! I think it's more than OK to copy someone as we work towards creating our own "voice". Thanks again!

My pleasure!

Yes sir, totally agree

Pete!! Man, thanks for writing it. It’s sincerely stuck with me (obviously). Hope all is well man!

@@LearnJazzBasswithMattRybicki hope you are well too - great job with the channel!

Thanks for watching and for your great question. It’s all good if you’re both playing the fifth - and in fact it’s pretty much fine for both of us to play the same thing at any point, with any note. It’s a question of degrees though. If in theory you’re always playing exactly what the bass plays then that’s going to sound weird. And for the bass to play the #11 for example in a passing moment is more than fine. It’s just a general approach - it’s like “*take into account* what the other person is playing”. If you’re playing a LOT of the same note choices that are chord tones it’s fine but will sounds little unsophisticated. If it happens in passing here and there it’s absolutely Part of the normal Course of things. Generally, though, it’s my understanding that you and a pianists voicings are going to, by default in more advanced language, contain a higher “percentage” of the extensions than chord tones. So if all parties are aware of and take into account the general approach of the other players (harmonically), we can make a more complete sound. This is all generalized though! And what I was saying in the video is too! Again it’s more like “consider what the other person will likely be doing and decide from there”. If a guitarist WANTS to play a lot of the same choices as the bass, there’s no real police that will show up! There’s no “real” serious consequences / other than someone else may or May not like your choices. I *would* ask though, most of all, please please please be aware that guitar (especially amplified guitar) has a ton of frequencies that interfere with the bass frequencies - making it even harder to hear the bass. Please take that into account!

@@LearnJazzBasswithMattRybicki So in short we can say: "everything is possible!" Thanks for your answer

@@erikpors9775 Hey again - I realized that I totally misread your question. I missed the "..can NOT play.."...so my new, hopefully clearer answer, is that 100% the bass player can (and probably will) play the 5th if you're not playing it. It will sound good if they do, in fact. Thanks again

Oh wow thanks!

Wow thank you Kim! How generous!

Thanks man, for your continued support!

Hahaha! That really made me chuckle, thanks

I have to say again how much I enjoy this kind of humor - I keep chuckling about what you wrote

Milt!!!!!!!!!! Hi!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉😊😊😊 how are you? How great to see your name

Great thanks. Still deep in the music. And in touch with Davey. Wonderful to see you doing your thing. 🎉

@@miltonline oh amazing. I’m gonna try to email or text you and see if what i have still works

I appreciate your attention to detail! Well, if you just look at the whole 3 last bars together - he knows he needs to get from that Eb to some kind of consonant sound on G minor, which is a really important bar. So think of those bars as just "some kind of descending line". That's really all it is!

From a pianist point of view: m7b5 almost always have natural 11ths as extensions. They either have a b9 if its interpreted as the VIIm7b5 from the I major scale, or natural 9 if its interpreted as a VIm7b5 over the I minor melodic scale. In both cases the 11th is natural. Then again, you could always think of any m7b5 as either the VI of ImMaj7 or the V to a I7b9 chord, in which respectively, for Am7b5, that D could be either outlining the 9th of the Mmaj7 or tonic of the I7b9 dominant chord.

Yep!

@@euricorusso9974 Thank you. That makes sense.

@@LearnJazzBasswithMattRybicki - yes, musically it makes sense and rather straight forward. Just based on my tendency to keep it simple, it would not have occurred to me based on the chart.

Thanks for your comment and for watching! But I'm sorry, I'm confused - you say "hard one to justify" ..meaning you don't agree? Or am I reading that wrong

Yeah closer to what I meant!

Really HOOKED you, huh?

@@LearnJazzBasswithMattRybicki 😂

😂

Yeah that’s kind of summarizes the whole video doesn’t it? “Listen to the greats and do what they do” !

It takes more than simply hearing someone play something

I have looked at examples of people like Ron Carter, Brown , and Paul Chambers. The lines were straightforward. It was the feel and rhythm they put to those notes that made it seem complex. Just like in cooking, the way you blend the few spices and herbs is more important to bring out the flavor of recipe. Bass is the touchstone of the band.

@johndemaria9408 you said it!

@@johndemaria9408 You obviously don't have a real clue of walking bass. Of course the feel and rhythm are important aspects - but the notes of the lines must be well chosen. I as a pianist, for example, have no use for a bassist who may have great feel and energy but always makes strange or inappropriate note choices. And believe me, these bassists are numerous.

Perhaps you're not a fan of straight ahead jazz? Matt is a top shelf first call player, I was lucky enough play a session with him and loved every minute of it. He literally wrote the book on Ray Brown. The jazz musicians I know certainly don't find his playing dull!

Supporting is not necessarily "just" supporting. It can be decorating and interacting too. But the "supporting" function is at least as important to the overall musical result than the soloist's line.

Accompaniment on any instrument is about supporting the soloist.

Scott LoFaro.... "dull and pedestrian"? LOL wow. The role of the bass is to support, if you want to solo all the time just be a guitar player.

@@PeteCocoPhoto Well put! Now, can you recommend a 2nd camera for me? My primary is a Sony A7iv - need a 2nd shot (4k) but can't afford another A7? I mean, since you're here ;)