Just listening to those few bars at the beginning, of you singing 'Have you met Miss Jones?', and the walking bass with it, gave me so much pleasure that I had to pause the video and write this. You have a gorgeous voice, Aimee, and are a wonderful pianist. Thank you for posting. Now back to the rest of the video!
So glad to have discovered you again. I started out playing keys at about 5 but fell in love with bass in my teen years and played electric bass in rock bands for about 6 years. But a situation arose in one of my bands where I started playing keyboard bass and keys. I found that pedaling for the right hand did not work for the bass so I started using a synth for bass which then allowed me to pedal for the upper keys, but since bass does sort of keep moving, it required no pedal, just correct fingering. It worked great once I got the independence worked out. But rock and country and blues to some extent are different from jazz and your lesson here is quite interesting. Rock, though it can have a bit of swing at times, does not swing like jazz does. Blues and jazz "cross pollinate" a bit more in the swing dept, but still are different to some extent. But love this lesson. This old dog (77) will have to try some new tricks here lol! And the way you broke it down makes perfect sense. Thank you!
Everyone should learn to play walking bass lines whatever the instrument - it really gets you to the root of the harmony (pardon the pun). Great video Amiee. I do love watching your content.
What a pity there isn't a "love" button on RU-vid! I've been trying to figure out walking bass for years, couldn't understand why it didn't feel right. That leading note makes all the difference! ♥️
Great lesson! I always thought of walking bass as complicated and have been in avoidance mode about learning it but you've made it so clear and easy. Thanks! Now off to the piano to give it a try....
Aimee, my mentor was the recently passed Jessica Jennifer Williams. Let me pull your coat about her! She had such dexterity and could lay out elaborate walking bass lines to sound like several pianists at once. I've been playing piano for a couple of years and (I know, I know) I want to sound like that! I'm ready for this video!
I do basically the same, but sometimes I play 1-3-5-leading tone instead of 1-2-3-leading tone. Another variation I do is sometimes I go down instead of up, so it would be typically (going down) 1-7-5-leading tone. I really like the triplets that you're showing, I'll try it.
Love this! As a 70+ year old guitar player who started playing bass because my bands bassist quit this is so helpful. I've played mostly rock and roll and blues, and love it, but I have struggled with jazz walking lines. Since you video I've been going through the real book and your formula works just fine on bass as well. Love you channel ❤️.
The truth is, your videos are too advanced for me. I'm an old dude who always wanted to play but never learned. Now I flit around RU-vid looking for a magic formula - your walking bass is pretty good - but I'm afraid that if you didn't put in ten years when you were young ... game over. Still, you do have a gorgeous voice. Break a leg, kiddo.
Aimee, you are incredible and you sound so good then and now. So grateful that you share your experience so people like me can benefit and connect with the music. I hope your kindness is returned to you exponentially. 😊
Very cool video. I'm not a piano player but I'm going to try this. I love walking bass and I don't see people doing it enough. Thanks for unlocking some of the mystery here.
Thank you so much Aimee for this short and sweet walking bass lesson. It’s basic and simple without being boring! A great start for someone who wants to accompany themselves on the piano and also solo with their RH. Thanks so much for all you do for jazz aficionados :-)
Excellent video. Your technique on how to play walking bassline on the piano has open up doors for me giving me new motivation. I'm own my way right now to blow the dust off my piano and start practicing your technique. Thanks a million Aimee.
Hi Aimee, you are not only an amazing and talented musician, but also a generous and giving person. This is simply great stuff and you are sharing with your followers and the world free of charge! Wish you and your family a wonderful 2022! Best wishes from Hong Kong!
I knew I had to move into understanding baselines and walking bass. But nothing I have seen has made it so clear and straightforward to learn as you. Thank-you so very much. I'm sticking with your lessons for a while yet!
Thank you Amy for sharing this lesson. I’ve been wanting to learn the Pattern to doing a Bass Line. And, you explained this in the clearest way possible. Proud of you ! 👍🤗💕👏
You can't imagine how I've improved my jazz piano skills after I started using your tips. Thank you very much! And by the way, do you have any plans for a new livestream?
Wow you pretty much fixed the problem I've been with having with writing smooth basslines. Thanks Aimee, I'll try applying what I learned here very soon.
Aimee, you are the greatest piano teacher ever. I will ask you again, if you ever decide to take on private students again, please let me know. Though I live in NC, I have studied guitar a with NYC based teacher so and I am very comfortable with Zoom lessons. Thanks again.
Aimee, YOU're hip!!! I don't play piano. However, this system you've shared is a nice road map for anyone who wants to know how to create a walking bass line. I'll have to save this one!! Thank you very much. My instrument...saxophone.
Thank you Aimee for that wonderful lessons. I don't need any other lesson. This is enough for me. Can you zoom a little beat of your beautiful hands in the piano. I'm half blind. Thank you Aimee.
Hi Aimee! I've been enjoying your videos! I learned a walking bass line when I was in college that's similar. It's amazing that you put your formula together based on observations. My pattern is Root - Scale Tone - Chord Tone - Leading Tone. The variation is the opportunity make the fourth note the leading tone of the root or fifth of the next chord.
Thanks, Aimee. That's sorted out my approach in the future to basslines to melodies and bassline comping to vocals on guitar in under 1/4 hour! Brilliant.
Great stuff as always! I often solve the problem (if it's a problem) of the 3 of the walkup line being the leading tone of the following chord (moving from E to A via E-F#-G#) with the 1-2-b3-3 (E-F#-G-G# in this case) trick. Not sure if you'd have any objections to that, but coming from a more 12-bar background as I do, I seem to fall back on it. Next time it comes up, though, I think I'll try the leading tone a half step above as you suggest. Thanks again for all your enjoyable and informative work!
Wonderful video. The explanation is simple and although its not that easy to do off the cuff it works great. As a flautist, I'm I always looking for new improvisational ideas and stuff to play in the background. The approach gives us folks thar can't play chords a great way to outline and feel the harmonic movement better in a jazz tune.
Aimee, Metaphysical, Philosophical, Nothing is new. However all is new for you. The word discover actually means to take off the cover of what exists but has not yet been seen by you. You have Intuition Giving you Insights. It's a Partnership. So give yourself credit for listening to your Intuition and taking the cover off of many wonderful piano techniques. Thank you for sharing them with me and the rest of your viewers.
Thanks for this great formula. I’m learning to play bass lines on my Paetzold contrabass recorder (accompanying a dobro player on swing tunes). I think this will work just fine. It’s just what I was looking for. Recorder range is F2 to F4; I mostly play in the first octave and occasionally up to as much as a fifth above (C4).
Good lesson Aimee, I remember John Goldsby teaching the 1,2,3,5 way of approaching walking bass lines when I attended a Jamey Aebersold jazz camp here in the UK in 2003. Simple yet effective 👌
Great video. The A7 in the beginning is technically not in A major. It is in D major, but this doesn't affect your system since you aren't going to play 7th of the chord except as a sharp 7th leading tone. You might like to see my very crude Jazz tuba lessons. I made it for training classical tuba players to play in my Dixieland band. Just type in Jazz Tuba Lessons.
Such fun Aimee! Think you are the first to break it all down to small bites. Thank you! I have subscribed to Nebula and now watching you lessons. Can't wait to get started. 👏
Aimee's videos are great, and I'm enjoying this too. Her first example works well, but a scale note from above is good too. I'm saying that the B natural works fine as beat 4 in the first example, and adds a bit of light relief from that dark chromaticism linking many chords. I'd probably play CGCBA..to begin with. How high the line can be depends on the other instrumentation. I've heard Nat King Cole playing basslines very low, and driving a whole band when the bass player was not on the recording. Piano LH basslines soon gets lost in the mix if they're playing high against drums or horns, but might be fine in solo piano playing or with just a singer. The best keyboard bass lines are played with both hands, because you can "skip" more and throw the ball back and forth. This is good to know when you're making a backing track. Also guys, if in doubt, record the backing track bassline a little deeper and louder than seems necessary, because real bass notes are felt too, and you don't have that advantage. It's terrible when you lose the prerecorded bassline in the middle of a performance, simply because it doesn't cut through.
I wouldn't of used the term Leading Tone, I would call it an Approach Note. Calling it an Approach notes is more description of what it's doing, I played bass in younger days and before I even knew names for things I learned that I could setup a chord change by play a note a half-step above or below it. One of the benefits of playing lots of Blues jams as a kid discovering approach notes and developing a feel for where to put them. Another lesson learned from bass that can transfer in lots of way is... Chord tones on strong beats and dam near anything on weak beats. Which is why approach notes work. Cool lesson and another bass player loses their gig, you're mean.
Great stuff. Also your jumper is really cool. At a glance it looked like you were wearing a black dress and a white scarf which would've been very high-end jazz club haha
I have such mixed feelings about this, Aimee. It is awesome to learn that cool walking bass lines can be had simply by following a formula. But on the other hand, I'm a little sad to know that such coolness can be had simply by following a formula. Do you know what I mean? It's like when you find out about the tooth fairy. But I'm comforted by the thought that once I get this formula under my belt the coolness will carry me to even more frigid licks. So I am very grateful, Aimee!
