Walking basslines

Whether you are creating solo jazz guitar arrangements or improvising an accompaniment behind a singer or other instrumentalist, the ability to multi-task, delivering the crucial elements from two contrasting parts at once, can be a real asset to your playing. One impressive and musically effective combination is to mix a walking bass pattern, rather like you’d hear from an upright double-bass player, and punctuate this with syncopated chord voicings, much like what might be played in the left hand by a good jazz piano player.

The principle challenges here are firstly to choose the right notes and rhythms, usually either half notes (minims) or quarter notes (crotchets), to provide either a two or four-in-the-bar feel to the bass. The