Essenial foundaions for producing a jazz bass-line with good sound, rhythm and harmony

TECHNIQUE

DANNY ZIEMANN

Professor of double bass, Eastman School of Music Community Programme and

SUNY Oswego, New York

Understanding how to play walking bass is one of the core responsibilities of a bass player in any jazz setting. In its simplest form, it means playing one note on each beat of the bar in a way that outlines the harmony and rhythm of a tune. his does not mean simply playing the chord root at the beginning of each bar and itting in a few chromatic notes around it: a good walking bass-line is a counter-melody in the bass register, written to support the main melody, just as the lower voice supports the upper voice in traditional counterpoint. hinking about this line not in terms of function and pattern, but instead in terms of shape, rhythm, chromaticism and melody, can be intimidating but it also gives you the freedom to be as melodic as you want to be. Learning to play walking bass will set you up for success in whatever type of jazz music interests you.

EXERCISES

Sometimes you might hear musicians saying, ‘here are no mistakes in jazz!’ hat is like saying that there are no wrong words, when you can use words in the wrong context if you are not thoughtful. here are no wrong notes, but there is syntax and there is vocabulary, and we need awareness of this in order to communicate our ideas. For me the most important quality for a bassist in a jazz setting is sound. he second most important is rhythm, and the third is harmony. It’s better to play with a beautiful sound and very basic ideas than to play something idiomatic with an unpleasant tone.