I played trombone in a few big bands and stage bands and none of them had a bass player
SBL has some good jazz stuff to start off with. One of the early levels of the players path has an easy version of something similar to Autumn Leaves, then Scott has a course where he analyses Autumn Leaves and you play walking baselines over the chord changes.
I found Ed Friedlands book “building walking baselines” was good, it’s a pretty easy way to learn walking baselines while learning to read standard notation. Getting some kind of real book is handy too.
Sheetmusicplus.com has a lot of band scores with all the parts and they do have bass lines to a lot of them. They are not cheap generally, $20-$40 and up depending. But you will find very good bass lines in a lot of them.
Sometimes, but not always, you can buy each part separately for $2-$3. You have to do a bit of digging as their search function isn’t really tuned for bass parts.
The problem with learning jazz and getting good at it is it’s lots of work and it takes time you can play it out of a. book but I don’t know if you learn much from that… I think listening to a lot of jazz/big band and analyzing songs to get the feel of it helps. It’s hard for me to say, I listened to a lot of it growing up so I can just feel it… my problem is getting it to come out my fingers
I feel this pain.
Playing sax ‘without a net’ is ridiculously hard for me.
I enjoy playing melodies and parts, the improv just does not come out of my fingers.
That said, playing other people’s parts or solos is one of the tried and true ways of building a vocabulary that one day (I am still wondering when this one day comes) you start to have something to say yourself.
Gio makes a good point above though to make sure that the bass score you use is, in fact, in concert pitch, or more ideally already transposed up an octave for bass. It would suck to learn everything transposed for a Bb instrument.
Piano scores are bad for this as the bass part will typically be a different arrangement than what the bass would play. And of course it will be in concert pitch, so the bass part will also be notated an octave lower than you are used to seeing it.
I do agree with that for sure and I always suggest that people don’t worry too much about theory and all that stuff right at the start and just get into playing stuff and develop a vocabulary. As a person who is big on playing from tabs when I can (because I’m lazy/efficient) and someone who hates it when people advise beginners to learn things by ear, I think this is one area where learning by ear and transposing can be very helpful because it forces you to listen more and pay more attention to what’s going on with intervals and approach notes. I really enjoyed the walking baselines book and the stuff on SBL and I spent months just working on that stuff but I feel like that would bore the crap out of a lot of people
Hello! I just found this thread and decided to join BassBuzz because of it. I have a lot of experience playing jazz bass. I teach it as well, mainly to beginners and adult jazz enthusiasts. There are some great responses here, not to be ignored. I’ll add my two cents as well.
There are so many approaches to learning jazz! What I notice with my students is confusion between the “destination” and the way to get there. Most want to sound like their favourite local player that they see at the local club, or like their favourite jazz albums.
These are great and inspiring reference points. That said, Rome was not built in a day!
Learning materials by nature are chock full of valuable information. Mike Downes, Ron Carter … all awesome stuff! My suggestion is to use these materials alongside a teacher. A conscientious and empathetic teacher can help you to focus on what’s important to you and your development. Oftentimes, it’s very simple stuff, not “jazzy” at first. As you progress, you learn the necessary technique, sound production, “feel”, and musical principles (theory, rhythm, reading, etc.). Before you know it, you’re jamming confidently and ever-curious about the next area to work on. You may not have something fancy to play - yet - but you’ll be best prepared to execute your role as a bassist, keeping that low end alive!
It’s very much a cumulative process, and (in my experience) worth every ounce of patience you can afford to invest in the process!
Someone suggested this to me a while ago (re: walking bass lines) - a total no-nonsense approach, thus a bit to the dry side, but very thorough and helpful.
(I think there is a book along with these videos as well).
After A LOT of twists and turns and a lot of practice, I have finally reached a point where I believe I might be able to again take up some Jazz. I thought I could take on Janek Gwidala’s book ii-V-I. My choice is based on a number of decisions that I think are important to this discussion. First, the book has tabs. I needed to decide that my destiny doesn’t lie in learning to read music. So that kind of dims my chances to do the ‘real’ thing. Second, the book focuses on a chord progression. Before buying the book I realized I know what a chord progression is, but I am mystified about how they work or how to apply them. So I am hoping I will get some insight into that. Staying on the theme of chord progressions, the ii-V-I is super frequent so I am hoping I am casting my net wide and this material can be used in any context.
Actually doing the exercises, even though, I solidly know the entire fretboard and I can pretty solidly play triads and 7ths. When the chord shapes are mixed while moving throughout the fretboard has proven extremely challenging.
That said I still love Jazz and I hope to further on the way to playing something ‘Jazz-like’.
Janek Gwizdala is typically for more advanced players, I would say. But, you can still work through his book, with a lot of blood, sweat and tears
His ii-V-I book gives you vocabulary how to navigate these chord changes, but I am almost sure, he is mostly referring to this in the context of soloing.
Yes, standards like “Autumn Leaves” are pretty much nothing but ii-V-I’s strung together
Talking Bass’s “Simple Steps to Walking Bass” is an excellent introduction to playing jazz. It starts at zero and progresses through how and why walking bass lines are created.
It also covers the ii-V-I progression that is so integral to many, if not most, jazz solos, irrespective of the instrument playing through the changes. But ii-V-I is only one possible progression of many available to use.
Again, Simple Steps to Walking Bass de-mystifies how/why chord progressions are constructed. Make no mistake: This is a lot to learn, and understanding the theory behind walking bass lines is key. That said, it is a treasure trove of information that helps make better musicians, regardless of the genre(s) someone aspires to play.
I have no experience with the following, but since you mentioned jazz tabs in your original post, while searching for something else I came across this trio of books:
Book I - The blues in 12 keys & playalong backing track
Book II - Rhythm changes in 12 keys & playalong backing tracks
Book III - Standard Lines - Bebop & Jazz standards & playalong backing tracks
All by Steve Mooney, and probably better for intermediate players than absolute beginners (per the comments). I suppose Book III might be more of what you’re looking for?
If you’ve learned to read music since your first post, I still say you may want to give Carol King’s materials for jazz bass a look (as I posted way above). The description for “Jazz Bass CD and Guide” for example:
1 hr. creating jazz solo and walking lines, ii7-V7-I, extended triads, cycles, chordal progressions, and b5 substitutes, chordal scale exercises & movements, easy-to-learn but functional fine theory, designed for ear players who are coming from rock-pop-blues backgrounds. Critically important education to empower your approach to jazz, chordal subs, stacked triads, the easy non-scale way of playing jazz, the way it was innovated – nothing like this time-proven tutorial.
Not expensive, also her books/guides are no frills. But if you can read music, reviews are very good. A few Amazon reviews for her “Pro’s Jazz Phrases, Bass book and CD,” which would come later in order of her jazz bass materials for study, seem positive, too. (while the latter is not available at Amazon, all her materials are sold on her website’s store)
Okay, enough free advertising from me for Carol Kaye stuff!
Perhaps a related but different question. What exactly is a vocabulary? What is a vocabulary built from? I started to ask this question while working on my exercises because I noticed that the ii-V-I combinations were small blocks of music, but then could be (if I can learn them) plugged in however I want (I guess to build a walking bassline) while still staying in line with the progression. Is that a vocabulary?
It is worth mentioning that Janek Gwizdala has his own video courses. I didn’t try any of them (not yet at least), but I would agree with what @joergkutter said - they are probably not for beginners.
The videos that accompany the ii-V-I are videos of him doing the exercise but not really much more. He leaves it open for where you want to take the material which to be honest has been just as difficult as the exercises themself. Formulating a structure around them has been challenging for me. So I just went to ‘all 12 keys’ and using the circle of 5ths.
This is precisely my current predicament. I’d consider myself to be an advanced beginner. I’ve gone through Josh’s course and now started the SBL course too. The latter does include a Walking Bass module, but just scratches the surface. I think it’s going to boil down to listening to a lot more jazz music and getting more of the theory drilled into my tiny brain. After I climb out of the SBL course, I’ll probably shoot for some one on one lessons.
you can play it out of a. book but I don’t know if you learn much from that… I think listening to a lot of jazz/big band and analyzing songs to get the feel of it helps. It’s hard for me to say, I listened to a lot of it growing up so I can just feel it… my problem is getting it to come out my fingers 
