The 30-Second Walking Bass ‘Hack’

I used to think that in order to get through a song with a walking bass line, you needed to have some sort of advanced degree in music theory.

Everyone around me was telling me different things like:

• “You need to know all your scales to make it through”
• “If you don’t know your arpeggios, you’ll get lost”
• “Make sure you throw some chromatics in there”

Ugh…

Sure – knowing all that stuff absolutely helps, but if you’re just starting out, it can be overwhelming. 

I don’t want that for you, so today, I’m sharing a super quick trick that you can use to nail one of the most common chord progressions you’re likely to come across if you’re playing walking bass lines: The 2-5-1 progression.

You don’t need to know all the modes, arpeggios, chords, scales or anything like that. All you need to know to start using this trick is the plain old major scale.

Check out the lesson here:

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It’s a super quick lesson this week – less than 4 minutes, but you can start using this line right now to nail all the 2-5-1’s that you can poke a stick at.

By the way, if walking bass lines are what you need help with, be sure to check out my other walking bass line video: 5 Plug-And-Play Bass Line Formulas. It’s goes into a bit more depth than I had time for here, but it’s full of authentic walking lines you can use for any chord progression.

Good luck with the lesson and happy walking!

Cheers,