What is walking bass?!

Question:

What is walking bass?

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Answers: It's a fish with legs : )

Not really, actually a walking bass line is a melody that is designed to fulfill both harmony and pulse. A basic walking bass line consists primarily of quarter notes emphasizing the roots of the chords.

It makes the bass into a sort of timekeeper, and, in particular in jazz, gives the drummer more freedom to play around with the rhythm. In older jazz, the drummer would play the beat with his bass drum, this is called "four on the floor". Somewhere around the second world war the role of keeper of the beat shifted to the bass player.

It's very common in swing, bebop, and other jazz styles.

But hearing it is worth a lot more than reading, so:

This is a walking bassline in a cover of Johnny Lang's "Rack 'Em Up.". Sound quality not great, and neither is the band, but you'll get the idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm42rrd_r...

For more info, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/walking_bas... It's a type of bass line where every quarter note is played. It outlines the chord changes by playing chord tones (1,3,5,7 of the chord) and passing tones (the rest of the notes of the scale plus chromatic notes - which aren't part of the scale). Is it the "signature" bass line of jazz and occurs almost all of the time in any swing style jazz tune.

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