#1 Tip for Walking Bass Lines - Christian McBride | 2 Minute Jazz

One of the keys to putting together a good bass line is making sure they’re linear - meaning that they don’t jump around and skip around a lot.

You don’t want to put together a walking bass line where you kind of like 

— [whack, non-linear bass lines] —

I’ve actually heard some bass players do that. I really have. It’s not good.

Keep you lines so they go just like this – up and down hill, up and down hill.

If you want to break it up a little bit, make sure there’s a pattern inside of what you’re doing so it makes some sense.

-- [non-whack, nice bass line} --

I’ll break it up a little bit.

-- [more nice walking lines] --

Even when I’m making the jump, I keep it linear from there.

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