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Thank you, I love hearing that! Playing walking bass lines makes me happy so I'm glad to share that joy!

Hey Clyde, thanks for that. I'm so glad that the videos are helping you embrace jazz. This music has meant so much to me during my lifetime that I'm always looking for ways to make it accessible to more people. Glad this is helping you out. If you've got melodies that you want to learn or anything else about jazz that interests you, let me know - it might be the next video!

Ha, thanks! We have fun playing music whether anyone cares or not!

This is such a valid point, and it's really something that's pretty subjective. I find that when I work with unexperienced improvisers, they often sound like they're running scales and don't go beyond that on their own. It's the encouragement to experiment with interval leaps, repeated notes, and general phrasing ideas that takes them further - that's the idea of sounding musical. But I agree with you, some things just sit at a more rapid pace and you've got to get them under your fingers before you can get them sounding musical. If you've got a sound in your head, you shouldn't abandon it, you should work it until you bring that sound into your music! Thanks for this - I love this point.

Such a great song, right?!? This one is pretty fun to walk over - there's just so many possibilities! Bird was a harmonic genius!

Thank you Steven! This is a great tune to walk on - it can throw you some harmonic curve balls until you really get it under your fingers. It seems like every time I come back to it, I learn something new!

YES! Glad you enjoyed it!

Ha, sorry to disappoint! I don't know if I could actually light a bass on fire. Now a guitar . . . you just might see that video.

@@chipboazmusic Didn't disappoint. Great music 🎵

Can you ever get too many strings??? I'm thinking about a seven string these days . . .

Thank you, I totally agree with you! It's tough to get the notation working on the shorts. I've got it pretty cued in for the landscape videos, but it's tough to make it work in the vertical format. I'll try that this week!

Ha. I like to think that my fingers just crush that hard. But they probably don't. I've never really thought about that bass as having high action. But I've got to be honest - these days on gigs, I almost always play my six string. That bass has pretty low action, so I don't know. I don't find the action on the four string uncomfortable.

ALWAYS.

Thank you! Ha, yes! Swing grooves can often give us that laid back vibe . . .

Working on the latest one now! If there's any jazz standards that you want me to cover, let me know!

Yea, this is a really great point. The bass CAN play the melody, but that doesn't mean that it always SHOULD. If we try to force it, we have the potential to really ruin a performance. We've got to play in the best way to support the song. Like you mentioned, some genres have the bass playing the melody more than others, so that can make a difference. I think it benefits any bassists to learn some melodies as part of their practice routine, but they need to be careful about forcing it during performance.

Thanks Steven! This is a fun tune to walk over, and one that really makes me think about different ways to approach lines. It's something about the way the harmony moves, and the strength of the melody against it. It's a great one to work on!

Ha! Thank you my friend. I love walking bass lines. You can count on many more coming your way!

Thanks! I love improvising, especially when it takes the bass out of a normal context. I tend to lean towards the electric when I play funky stuff, so it's kind of cool to jam out over a funk groove on the upright!

YESSS! Jams like these are so fun and really can go a long way in building improv skills!

YESSSS! I love this melody, it's such a great one to play on the bass.

That's a great question Joe. Also a deep one - I might need to do a full video on this one. You could certainly learn a melody like this and play it without understanding the theory behind it. But the theory is going to deepen your understanding of the melody and provide you more options when you want to interpret or embellish the melody. If you're going to leap from the melody and improvise, theory is going to be pretty important in a jazz song like this. But really, take it one step at a time. Learn the melody and then learn some little bits of the theory and step towards a fuller understanding. It can seem overwhelming at first, but take one step forward every day and you'll get there!

Thank you! That was a really fun gig! Love getting the jazz a little funky . . .

Thank you Josem, I'm glad that you enjoyed it! I love this tune - it's long been a favorite of mine to play a walking bass line on. I love the bridge in particular - it's a good challenge!

That's awesome Patrick! I love playing melodies on the double bass for jazz gigs. It's a good bit of variety for the audience; if my pianist is the only one to play melodies with my trio, it gets old. It's just really expands my reach on the instrument too. What are some of your favorite tunes to play the melody on?

Thanks David, glad you enjoyed this one! I'm working on the first melody vid - you'll see it soon!

That's a good point. I'm still working out the best way to get a good mix while looping. Since it's basically all recorded onto one track, it's a tough mix. Working on this - open to suggestion!

@@chipboazmusic wish I could help. If it's 1 track, I don't know what to do. Maybe someone will be able to chime in at some point.🤙

Thanks so much my friend - glad you enjoyed it!

YES!!! Bill Laswell is the bomb. He's done so many interesting things.

And is the reigning master of that kind of crawling funk groove

@@DavidWalters-l8h So true, I love that stuff. What's your favorite line from Mr. Laswell?

YES! There's really no right way to play - we should all be working with BOTH fingers and picks. I'm working on building my picking skills!

@@chipboazmusic same it's hard but you can't really play everything authentically without knowing both to some extent. I'll always be fingers first but still

@@joannalewis5279 Totally agree. It is hard. We get so used to playing one way or another. But we open up so many possibilities when we can do both. I do love the feeling of pulling my fingers across the strings - it feels like a closer connection to the instrument. But I'm putting in the time on that pick! Keep me updated with your progress!

Thank you! I've really grown as a bassist through playing the melody on a lot of tunes. I think it helps our groove and overall musicality!

@@chipboazmusic Jaco said the same

@@joannalewis5279 All right! He knew what he was talking about!!!

Ugg, you're right! That's the wrong one under Pattern #1 - the first measure should read D, A F, F#. Sorry about that, thanks for the catch!

That's such a great suggestion! I love that song and you're right - between the massive riffs, the fast runs, and the intense arrangement, there's a lot to learn there. That would be a good one to work on my picking skills, I'm definitely going to work on it . . . this may even turn into a video. Thanks for the idea!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. Yes, it's great to walk through these videos - there's a whole playlist of standards with the bass lines notated with tab if you're interested in more!

Ha! Thanks, glad you're enjoying the sheet music! It's a fun visual connection!

I love this. First off, congrats on starting a cover band! I'm well aware that leading a group - especially as a bassist - can be a real challenge. So that's awesome that you're doing that. And I love how you're taking this opportunity to develop your own approach to the bass on these songs. Incorporating the melody can be such a perfect way to do this. Both the melody and the bass line are such integral parts of the song; blending them together can be a great way to anchor the song. I love your description your work with your guitar player as a roller coaster ride too - that sounds truly epic!

Ha! I love that. I really do.

Ha! It's been a while since I made this video, thanks for checking it out! Sitting in the backseat of my Prius with my U-Bass was just so fun. Maybe too much fun . . . I couldn't keep from showing it. I'll do my best to focus on the music and keep it all under control!

⁠@@chipboazmusicyour good man 😂😂 I just think it takes away from the performance- bet weird al would love it though.. I am thinking of buying one? What are your thoughts on it after owning for a while? Would you get the fretless instead?

Thank you! The harmony on this one is kind of straight ahead, but I find the context of this one challenging. I always want to think about supporting the vocal in a solid and unobtrusive way. Balancing this with a creative voice can be a good challenge!

Thank you! I love walking my bass over All Of Me, definitely one of my favorite standards - there's just something special about the harmony on this one.

Thanks so much, glad that you’re enjoying the jazz bass tabs. These videos are super fun to put together! Let me know if you have any suggestions for standards to cover, I’d love to play through it. And if you want to download full transcriptions of the jazz bass lines, you can do that here: www.chipboazmusic.com/dig-deeper-into-jazz-bass-lines/

Thanks! I’m really enjoying looping these days, there’s so much creative potential in the technology. I’m looking forward to exploring the approach even further and seeing what I can do to make more concrete musical ideas come to life through looping!

Absolutely, I love the Trane version; in fact, the whole My Favorite Things album has so many interesting approaches to the music. I always felt that as far as Trane pushed the music into harmonically advanced and even harmonically free territory, he always kept one foot connected to standards like this and helped us look at them through his eyes. Really brilliant stuff.

Thanks! I’m glad that you’re enjoying the walking bass videos, I hope that you’re getting some useful ideas from them. If you’d like to download full transcriptions of the walking lines, you can do that here: www.chipboazmusic.com/dig-deeper-into-jazz-bass-lines/

@@chipboazmusic thanks! I tried that and I got a bunch of emails but I couldn’t figure out how to download the transcriptions.

Thank you! I’ve always enjoyed walking on this tune - it’s honestly one of my favorite standards to play. So many possibilities for walking and melodic material!

I totally agree. Some songs just scream for one approach and when you switch it up, it doesn't sound awful . . . but it feels like something is wrong. It's important to play what's right for the song. And I'll keep this one just between you and me.

That's so cool David, congrats on jumping into jazz! And I agree, no time like the present to jump into soloing. You're right on the money with your approach to soloing - ALWAYS start with the melody in my opinion. As you fill in the theoretical and stylistic gaps, other things will happen; but it all starts with the melody. I LOVE your idea for the "How To Play The Melody To" videos - I'm going to do that!

TRUTH! Fingers and Picks are two distinctly different sounds and one will be more appropriate for a song than the other. It's not about us playing the instrument - it's about the sound that comes out of it!