Here’s a typical jazz walking approach.

Audio Example 1

Audio Example 1 (Drums)

 

IDIOMS

RHYTHMIC:

This standard walking jazz line involves a steady stream of quarter notes punctuated by occasional ghost notes and other embellishments. As you are probably aware, the rhythmic subdivision between the quarter notes involves swung 8th-notes. Volumes have been written about the subtle nuances and critical impact that the manner in which this swing feel is interpreted has upon the overall feel. Suffice it to say that there’s no substitute for listening to and emulating the masters (Ray Brown, Ron Carter, etc.).

This sort of bass line is generally played on top of the beat.

HARMONIC:

As it would be impossible to comprehensively cover the vast harmonic and melodic vocabulary of jazz in a single lesson, let me instead quickly point out a few of the most common idioms found in Example 1.

The chromatic approach tones are very typical jazz bass signatures: note the use of chromaticism in bars 2, 4, 5, etc. It’s very common to hear bassists approach the next chord by either walking up or down from a half-step or whole-step above or below the target root note (or other chord tone).

Additionally, II-V cadences are extremely common (e.g., A-7 to D7 in the midst of a GM7 vamp in the key of G), and are one way to inject the tension and resolution that is such a big part of the jazz sound. This chord motion is also commonly used as a quick and effective means to facilitate a change in key.

Extending and harmonically varying these cadences at turnarounds is also a jazz signature. There are countless variations of the turnaround: some common ones are IIIm7-VI7-IIm7-V7 (as reflected in bars 11 & 12), IM7-bIII7-II7-bII7 and IM7-bIIIM7-bVIM7-bIIM7.

SONIC:

This sort of jazz bass line generally calls for a warm tone emulating an upright bass. You’ll probably want to roll off some of the treble...and play in a manner where you’re not getting a lot of fret noise. It can be helpful for pitch clarity (as well as for retaining a more organic vs. hi-fi quality) to minimize the sub-bass frequencies and roll in some low mid’s instead. This is obviously also a great place to incorporate fretless bass.

GENERAL:

Countless excellent resources exist for learning the art of jazz walking (notably, Adam Nitti’s Walking Bass online courses at MusicDojo.com and Todd Johnson's DVD series). Perhaps to a greater degree than most other genres, jazz is a style of music that requires focused and concentrated study to assimilate. Hopefully, the preceding can serve as a springboard for your further studies of this incredibly rich music.