Building Walking Bass Lines [Paperback]

Ed Friedland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1995

A walking bass line is the most common approach to jazz bass playing, but it is also used in rock music, blues, rockabilly, R&B, gospel, Latin, country and many other types of music. The term 'walking' is used to describe the moving feeling that quarter notes create in the bass part. The specific goal of this book is to familiarize players with the techniques used to build walking bass lines and to make them aware of how the process works. Through the use of 90-minutes' worth of recorded rhythm tracks, players will have the opportunity to put the new learning directly into action. This book literally gives bassists the tools they need to build their own walking bass lines.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation; CD edition (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0793542049
• ISBN-13: 978-0793542048
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,239 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book for the Beginner or Intermediate Player, September 21, 2005

By 

Professor Challenger "The Ideator" (Florida) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Building Walking Bass Lines (Paperback)

When I first purchased Building Walking Bass Lines, I knew how to read notes in the lower five frets of the bass, and played bass at a high beginner's level. I'm also a full-time college teacher (business), so I know solid teaching of any kind when I see it.

Unlike other books on walking bass lines I'd tried to learn from, this book got me walking over chord changes quickly and fluidly, and with a minimum amount of pain.

Friedland gives a brief overview of how to read notes on the electric bass, briefly discusses how to construct chords, and then launches into the clearest and most gradual explanation of how to walk over chord changes I've ever seen. He has a lot of "hands-on", play-along exercises at the end of each concept, and they're stripped of unecessary complexity so you can see the concepts clearly.

A major strength of this book is how you see results in your playing immediately, which encourages you to keep practicing. It's important for anyone learning something for the first time to see immediate progress in their ability, and Friedland has written this book to achieve just that.

The exercises get more and more difficult as you go along, but were never out of reach for me. The end of the book gives the chord changes to 10 jazz standards.

After working through this book, I knew enough to hold my own in a gigging fusion band with some ex-music teachers and university graduates in music.

Also, I found the concepts I learned in the this book made me a better rock and folk player, because I understood how to construct interesting bass lines under chords in any style -- all this was an outgrowth of my jazz knowledge gained from the book.

Anyone who writes that this book is "too easy" or "too basic" is actually complementing Friedland, because it takes a master to dissect a complex topic into something everyone can understand.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's easy to start "walking", November 22, 1999

By 

L. Graca "lmgraca" (Portugal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Building Walking Bass Lines (Paperback)

It's a very interesting book, with lots of good exercices. I particularly liked the way how Ed Friedland introduce the reader in the way how to construct your own bass lines. He gives you space for you to do your own bass line, for you to express your own imagination. If you are a starter in this walking bass business, I recomend you to buy this book, you won't be deceived.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Instruction, June 11, 2006

By 

J. Fabian (Menlo Park, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Building Walking Bass Lines (Paperback)

I have been using this book in my teaching practice for the last several years. I have met Ed at a NAMM show and told him I am responsible for the sale of hundreds of these books! I don't use many books, but this one is so well laid out, the chronology of the material is very smart. By the time you get to the end, you should understand how to use all 12 notes for most basic chords. I remind my students that although the reading material is all blues and jazz oriented, this is about note choice. These concepts are applicable to any style of music. Playing a walking line with a different note on every beat is great practice, even some imtermediate players have issues there.

The book is divided into 2 sections. The Root-5th relationship is established and from there he sticks different approach tones in between. Chromatic, Dominant and Scale for 1 note approaches and a double chromatic approach tossed in.
The second half introduces 3rds and 7ths and the diatonic modes, applying them as scale fragments and arpeggios, and even some more advanced harmony - thinking of IIm7-V7 chords as one sound, indirect resolution approaches and longer chromatic tensions. Finally, it has plenty of "blank slate" standard chord progressions in the appendix to apply each technique as it is learned. It is also a good introduction to reading as all the exercises are quarter note values, except #1 - half notes.
All in all, highly recommended if you want to learn to create lines that make sense.