Building Walking Bass Lines

I think most bassists could improve by working through the book. Its improved my playing a bit, but I need to keep working with it to grow more. The book starts at beginner level, and the tunes/tracks get more challenging. It has a CD with piano/drums on one side, bass on the other. The focus is jazz, and he encourages note reading, but once you get a feel for these techniques you can use them as you like in other styles.

Book and CD set Has drums and piano on one side, bass on the other on the CD. Course starts simple and gets you into walking bass in a variety of keys. Having good quality track to play with really sounds good and helps you keep good time. I would have liked a little more on blues, bluegrass, country and rock, but if you can do the jazzy things in here you can certainly play most blues and rock. I think most bassists could benefit from working through the book - the exercises get more challenging, and it is fun to play along with the CD. I was lucky to find it used in excellent condition at a book sale at a library - so keep your eyes open for cool things like that!

Top Priority in Building Walking Bass Lines is timing. This book is a very serious instructional manual whose goal is to "familiarize you with the techniques used to build walking bass lines, and to help you develop an awareness of how the process of walking works." There is an emphasis on timing and reading music. Part One covers using the root, fifth and octave of a chord. Part Two introduces the third and seventh, and also goes into scales: the diatonic major modes, minor scales, pentatonic scales and scalewise motion. There is also discussion about arpeggiation and chromatic motion.

I have not managed to complete all the lessons in this book, but I can tell that doing so will make me a better bass player and overall musician. I think that the objective is not so much here are the notes to play, but "here are the concepts and if you use them, you will be able to create freely, using the bass."

I think that this book is directed toward a jazz style mostly, but that the concepts really benefit anybody wanting to have mastery of the bass guitar in order to play with others. The book has a CD that accompanies the lessons and was recorded in such a way that you can turn off the bass part and play along. Interestingly, the Appendix at the end has ten commonly played jazz standard progressions. The written bass lines are left out, but they are on the recording. This serves as an exercise in playing by ear--leaving you to figure out and transcribe them on your own.

All in all, this book may be just a bit over my head, and I have to admit that I am not a big jazz fan. However, I love to jam and I believe that the techniques and theories in this book are vital to developing the tools one needs to improvise with other instruments successfully.

The Author's name says it all. How to walk by an expert of the highest order. The book comes with a CD so the learning experience is enhanced and you learn to learn to play by ear as much as from the music itself. This is a serious study book with great rewards for the student that is painstaking , persistant, patient and simple doesn't know how to give up when the going gets serious.

Simply amazing instructional book. Starts off at the beginning with the basics, and goes through steps to teach you how to walk. Anyone can learn with this book, it was honestly one of the most valuable things in my bass-education.

This is an instructional book for beginning players. My original bass teacher used selected exercises to teach 5th's and dominants. I have since taken it upon myself to go through the book in its entirety. It has made me a better player in that it has taught me various chord progressions and forced me to read chord charts and notation. The book includes a CD which is very well done. Each lesson is a seperate track, unlike other books that lump 3 or 4 lessons into one track and force you to scan to the correct spot to start a lesson. This makes it very easy to practice one lesson over and over. Also, the bass and drums are recorded in the left channel while the piano and drums are recorded in the right. This allows you to isolate one or the other for transcribing or playing along. The book is good, but not perfect. I personally learn better with text explaining why I am playing what I am playing, and some more in depth articles on why certain lessons are played the way they are would be nice. Despite that, I have learned a lot from this book and would suggest it to anyone. BTW, if you want more text pick up Ed's "The Working Bassist's Toolkit". I did and I couldn't be happier. It filled in a lot of the holes that I felt were missing in Walking Bass Lines. It pretty much compiles all of his Bass Player Magazine articles plus some extras. Also includes a CD.

Ed Friedland continues to help us Bass Players out by producing Great Instuctional Books. And this one is no exception! He takes you along the Right Path in the use of the Walking Bass Line. He uses an organized and chronological approach, that easy and Fun to follow. There is some good advise in this Book as well: Double Chromatic Approach, Rhythm Approach, Arpeggiation, and Lines with Scalewise Motion. The Appendix is an added Bonus!! It has some Standard Jazz/Blues/Short II-V Progressions and Rhythm changes, that you can use to test your skills that you have just developed. Wonderful testing ground. Having the CD is another added plus and is very helpful. It is always Great to play-a-long!! Be informed....This Book has No Tab! All Musical Notation, as it should be!

This instructional book provides all the proper steps to build walking basslines. The CD is very helpful, and includes sections for play-along with the changes type sections. A follow up book is also available for those who would like to fuether their knowledge. Simple and easy to follow make this a great purchase for the beginning jazzer.