Walking bass, pentatonic, Holdwhatchagot

[Tom Gray]

Geez, there is some bad advice in the list.  In yesterday's bgbass-l digest,
there are 13 messages on the subject of "Walking Bass Line" and the first
one who got it right was #13, Mike Marceau.  Congratulations, Mike. You've
saved the day again.  In the last of Kip's variations on Hold What You Got,
he got it right too.

When walking down from G to C, you should always use the F natural (VIIb in
the G scale) on the way down, and use the F# (VII in the G scale) on the way
back up to the G chord.  ALWAYS.  The flatted VII, part of the seventh chord, leads to the IV
chord.  The major VII, a half tone below the I, leads you back to the I.
However, if you are walking down to the V chord (D in the key of G), always
use the F# rather than the F.  In general, you can use the scale of the
chord you are going to, rather than the one you are preparing to leave.
Think about that and ways to use it.  It works real well going from the I
chord to the II chord, when you use the IV# note.

The bass lines in the discussion of Hold What You Got appear to be not
really walking bass at all, but halftime walking bass.  The illustrations used in
that discussion are clearly only 2 notes per measure:

from Kip's last option: GFEDCDEF#GDGGDADD
Those notes are correct for playing a series of half notes, two per measure.
That is halftime walking bass.

For a real walking bass line, try using quarter notes, four per measure.
Here's a way you could play Hold What You Got with a 4/4 walking bass line:
I've divided them into measures using a slash = /

GBDG/GFDE/CEGE/CDEF#/GEDB/GABC/DF#AF#/DDEF#/
GABA/GFED/CEGA/CCBA/GGF#EDDEF#/GEDB/GDEF#/etc.

One more bit of misinformation on yesterday's and today's list regards the definition of a
pentatonic scale.  It should be I, II, III,V, and VI.  I quote from
Webster's Dictionary: "pentatonic . . . consisting of five tones;
specifically: being or relating to a scale in which the tones are arranged
like a major scale with the fourth and seventh tones omitted"  Thus, many of
the notes used in a walking bass line are pentatonic notes.  In the G scale,
they are G, A, B, D, and E.

When you bend the notes to make the blues notes, throw in IIIb and VIIb.
Sliding in and out of the blues notes, slide from the IIIb to the III or the
VI to the VIIb and back to the VI (not from the VIIb to the VII).  On my
recording of Rider with the Scene, I'm constanly doing those slides for
almost the whole tune.  You can also slide (or hammer on) from the IV# to
the V.  Though, often, the bass players role would be to stick to the
strong notes, I and V, and leave the bent and bluesy notes to the lead
players.

Tom Gray

[kipster]

tom said:

 

>When walking down from G to C, you should always use the F

>natural (VIIb in the G scale) on the way down

 

Friend of the Devil, John Deere Tractor, Youre Gonna Make Me Lonesome When Youre Gone, Have You Ever Seen the Rain, Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, These Days, etc. not ALWAYS, but in most 12 bar blues or bluegrass songs. 

 

>and use the F# (VII in the G scale) on the way
>back up to the G chord.

 

Hickory Wind, Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised, Sin City, Southern Train, Timber (Im Fallin In Love), and other. again, same caveat as above--in most 12 bar blues or bluegrass songs. 

 

>The bass lines in the discussion of Hold What You Got appear to be not
>really walking bass at all, but halftime walking bass.

 

depends on your point of reference. which was:

 

>GBDG/GFDE/CEGE/CDEF#/GEDB/GABC/DF#AF#/DDEF#/
>GABA/GFED/CEGA/CCBA/GGF#EDDEF#/GEDB/GDEF#/etc.

 

id say my example was 4/4. but if yiou want to look at my notes as 1/2 notes, very few people would call my note selection anything but walking bass. in bluegrass, 1/2 time walking is often, nay, nearly all the time, is called 'walking' bass. 1/4 notes, being considered almost universally tasteless these days would never enter the discussion. you are the bassist who employed that approach to Monroe's 'Little Georgia Rose' and its sold more copies than anything ive ever recorded, so i cant claim to know better. but i personally would never play it like that today. just MY opinion, sense of taste, and style. works for dixieland and swing though.

>One more bit of misinformation on yesterday's and today's

>list regards the definition of a pentatonic scale. 

 

a quick calculation says there are at leat 35 possible pentatonic scales. i think if you read the posts, we concluded we actually mislabled the 5 niote scale we were discussing. we (i) meant 'blues scale'. that was my fault. heres where im coming from with that--when people in bluegrass talk 'pentatonic', they are refering (and i agree, in an often somewhat misleading manner) to 'blues scale'. jazz folks tend to think minor pentatonic first . much as when you tell a bluegrass person to go to a VII, the almost always know you mean a flat VII, but a jazz musician might go to the majVII. i made that mistake once or twice when i 'converted' to bluegrass. anyways, using that terminology simple my using common shorthand, expecting everyone to be on the same page. i was wrong to assume that and if you check the later posts, youll see that i agreed (with much ululation and wimpering) and changed my terminology.

 

tom, everyone here very much appreciates your many accomplishments and are honored that you share your knowledge on this list. you are a legend. im not. but i think you are being a bit strident in your condemning of our efforts here to get this right. we are here to experience others opinions, not ridicule them when we perceive differences from out own. during the day i write disaster recovery plans, complex network incident response plans, and design specifications for software architecture to support these plans. i dont simply write them and send them off to the builders. instead, i send them around the entire team for peer review. although corrections are cosnstant, i never see phrases equivalent to 'Geez, there is some bad advice in the list' returned with these reviews. i see suggestions, corrections and incorporate revisions until its right. i think a less demeaning, more supportive approach would be more effective in serving the goals of this list. then again, my career is a pale shadow to yours and i welcome all your input.

 

thanks

 

kip 

[George Stephens]

Gee,

I'm glad I started this thread. I just love it when the heavy weights
squabble. ;.)). I'll go back to lurking mode.

Sully

By the way, I think Calvin was specifically talking to bass players when
he spoke these words:

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men of talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of
the human race.

Calvin Coolidge, 1932