Originally published June 3, 2013, lightly edited for clarity.
Walking bass lines work best when they are built from chord tones rather than scale tones, because the main job of the bass line is to outline the chord sound. I have been playing and working on walking bass lines for many years and only recently thanks to my current teacher, Kevin Bales, have I realized my approach has always been more scale note based as opposed to chord tone based. Big mistake, right? When you look at the note job of a bass line, which is to outline the chord sound and since my lines were more linear with scale tones, I was not really supporting the harmony as well as I should have. So I guess my message to you is to definitely spend some time working with the chordal approach on your walking bass lines. The following video walks through composing a walking bass line using triads. Walking bass is one of the styles I teach. For personalized coaching on walking bass lines, online bass lessons via Zoom are available.
