by “How can you play a walking bass line if there are 2 chords in the bar?”
A student asked this on a live stream not too long ago, but I thought it was a great question and worthy of its own dedicated video.
Walking through chord progressions with multiple chords in a bar is trickier than if you just have one chord. If you’ve got 4 whole beats to outline a chord, you’ve got a lot of real estate to make it happen.
You might put the root on beat one, a scale tone on beat 2, another chord tone on beat three and maybe some kind of chromatic note on beat 4.
When the chords go past twice as fast though, you only have 2 notes to outline entire chords.
Just 2 notes!
This makes things a bit harder, right? But if you know some simple, easy-to-apply formulas, you don’t have to worry about freezing up or botching the bass line when you get to the bars with multiple chords.
Instead, you can breeze through them as though they’re second nature to you. So today, I’m going to show you 4 of these formulas so you can get up and running in minutes.
Check out the lesson here:
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FREE - Download The Tabs, Notation And Tracks From This Lesson
Start practicing these 4 walking bass formulas so you can master playing 2-chords-per bar today!
As with all ‘formulas’ in music, these are just a starting point. You don’t want to be stuck on them forever or your life will get a little boring.
And remember, you don’t have to stick to just one all the time. In fact, life will be better if you mix and match the formulas so you’re always getting something a little bit fresh – just like I show in the video.
Once you’re comfortable with these formulas, you can start branching out and coming up with your own bass lines and your own unique ways of snaking through tricky chord changes.
The secret though is practice! So if you want the tabs, notation and backing track that I used for this video to make mastering these formulas easy, make sure you download them for free by filling out the form above.
I can’t wait to hear what you do with these formulas!
Good luck with the lesson and happy playing!
Cheers,
Luke, that was a great lesson, thank you. I’ve been trying to write a bass line to a song and this has really given me some ideas.
Keep up the good work, I enjoy your lessons, nice and simple and enjoyable to follow.
Rgds
Tony
Thanks so much Tony – So glad you liked the lesson!
Hi Luke, thanks for the tabs and notes which came through. But, the backing tracks did not. Could it be something I’m doing wrong?
Thank you for your response. Joy Banks
Hey Joy – the track will be in the email that will show up a minute or two after getting the PDF. If you have any troubles finding it, just send me an email and I’ll help you out!
i have no second email either
Turns out there was a glitch in the system, (my fault) but it should work fine now!
great job on the bass lines of two chords in one bar. Very educational BUT I can’t get the audio to play something different about the track. I would really like to have it to practice too. LOL
First of all, I would like to thank you, Luke, for the great lessons.
I am 70 years old and I am new to Bass, I have never played any guitar before but was asked to do this by a couple of guys I know that needed one for their garage band. I have been playing only root notes and needed the help you have given me. My fingers are slow, but I will do my best to add more life to my Bass playing. Thank you so much.
Lee
Same as Joy,,, want the track Been a couple of hours. Just an old beginner that wants to improve
Thanks
By the way,,,,,great lesson and vid
Hey Daniel – just had a look at my back end and there was a bit of a glitch that I fixed, so it should all work fine now. Glad you liked the lesson!
I got the music but could not play the back track. could you send the back by it’s self. Thanks. Keep up the good work.
Hi Luke,
Just like Joy Banks who left a message, i too have not received the email with the backing track and its been 30 minutes since i downloaded the PDF?
Thanks
Hey Grant – you’re right. There was a back end glitch that I found and patched, so it should all be working now.
I’m a little behind Grant and the others. Downloaded the PDF and the music track email showed up in my inbox within 60 seconds. You’ve got it working Luke. Thanks.