Walking Basslines PDF – F Blues
In this 5 minute masterclass, we’re going create a bass line over a blues in F. Walking bass lines are a fascinating part of jazz, as they support and mark the harmony underneath the chords and melody.
Right-Hand Voicings
As this is a lesson about the baseline, we will be using only basic rootless voicings in our right hand for the following chords in the F Blues:
- F13
- Bb13
- Bdim
- Am7b5
- D7alt
- Gm9
- C13.
If you are not familiar with these voicings, check out the “Related Lessons” section for detailed tutorials on how to learn and master these useful jazz piano voicings.
The Bassline & PDF Example
The bassline we cover is a combination of several bass lines I have transcribed from the bass players mentioned below. We start with a simple 1-5-1 octave higher and then the 3rd of the chord leading chromatically to the 4 chord – Bb.
Continuing with repeating the notes Bb and B which leads us to the 5 of the F chord in the 3rd bar.
Then 5, 1 back to 5 and 1 an octave higher, from where we start the with Eb, the 7th of the F7 chord, or 3rd of the Cm7. This kind of line that starts from a note other than the main triad notes 1, 3, or 5. This is something that for Ray Brown used – for example – among others of course. It gives an interesting colour, and creates a good foundation for this bar, which resolves to the 4, Bb.
We then start the 5th bar with the notes of a Bb triad, leading to Bdim chord, where we again use the note of the diminished, last note being b natural, which gets us nicely to C, the 5th of the F chord. then 1F 2G 2# G#, chromatic approach note to Aminor7b5.
As the next 2 chords Aminor and D7 last only 2 beats each, we’re going to just use A, then tritone for it, leading chromatically to D from above, then D and the 3rd of the chord F#.
Last 4 bars we have Gm7 C7 to F, first we play a bass line which is very common. It follows the scale, just adding a chromatic note between 3 and 4.
Lesson Downloads
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Walking Basslines F Blues File Type: pdf
Related Lessons
251 progressions are essential components of the jazz language and so taking the time to memorise them will greatly benefit your playing.
Rootless voicings sound more professional than root based 7th chords and they voice lead much more smoothly in a 251 progression.
To play a rootless voicing we leave out the root of the chord and play one of the upper extensions to get a richer, more colourful sound.
Practice Tips
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Listen to the great bass players and compose your own bass lines over songs you’re working on.
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Bass players who’s baselines you must check out are Oscar Pettiford, Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, Ron Carter and Jimmy Garrison, just to name few.
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You can use the specific bassline demonstrated for playing solo piano, learning different blues heads, and for practising improvised solos.
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Enjoy!
Tried to copy the bars so I can print them and take them to the piano. Anyone know how?
Hi Janet,
Yes all of our lessons come with downloadable PDF supplements containing the lesson notation and additional information. This is one of the features of pro membership.
We do offer many free PDF downloads here – https://www.pianogroove.com/resources/ – and every PDF download on the website is available for students enrolled with us.
You can learn more about Pro Membership here: https://www.pianogroove.com/pianogroove-pro/
If I can be of further assistance let me know.
Cheers!
Hayden
As an example, this is what is included for this lesson:
Cheers,
Hayden
I’m a bass player this was great hope you provide more stuff like this
Is there an iRealPro track I can use to help me play a melody on this bassline?
Hi John,
Yes there is indeed, do you have the Jazz 1350 iRealPro pack? It’s free to download here: https://www.irealb.com/forums/showthread.php?12753-Jazz-1350-Standards
Then search “jazz blues” and you will find the exact chord progression from this video.
Screenshot attached.
Let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Cheers,
Hayden
`just WOW! This is one of those lessons I am also looking for – as I really want to learn to improvise in jazz … I. can only improvise to pop tunes or classical – it’s going to be a long road for me, but will be super fun and definitely worth every minute of the time hehe.. Am so excited practicing to this. Thank you so much!!! Tuomo. Brilliant masterclass session! – Kristeta
Thank you so much!
Have you checked out the Classroom programs? We’re offering several different classrooms where you can have Zoom classes with other students in real time, in different topics from basic musical knowledge to improvisation, voicings and so on.
Anyway, here’s a link to the Classrooms main page:
https://community.pianogroove.com/c/classroom/36
Feel free to explore and sign up to anything you are interested in, as well as everything else on PianoGroove 🙂
All the best,
-Tuomo
Great lesson – thanks Tuomo! Super helpful and clear, and the last section where you played a comp/improv/head is a great way to practice it too.