Comping Jazz Blues with a Walking Bass Line

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Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Jazz

Excerpt: Hello again and Happy New Year! I hope all of you spent your holidays with good company! Why not make your new year’s resolution to learn something different than usual? Maybe some jazz blues comping! ;) In this lesson we'll be covering how to add a bass line to your regular comping over jazz blues.  This is best utilized when accompanying or ...

Media Length: 2:50

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Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Jazz

Excerpt: Now that we've got the chords down it's time to add our bass line. In this part of the tutorial we will cover some rules to adding a bass line while comping chords. There are two main rules to follow. Rule #1: All bass notes should be quarter notes on a down beat. (beats 1 - 2 - 3 - 4) Rule #2: Each chord should be approached by half step, even if that n...

Media Length: 2:15

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Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Jazz

Excerpt: Onto the real thing! Make sure that all bass notes are played with the thumb or pick. The rest of the chord tones should be played with fingers 1, 2, and 3. If using a pick you'd use fingers 2, 3, and 4. Also keep in mind that the eight notes are swung so the up beats will happen a little quicker than "straight" time. As you can see our chords do not hav...

Media Length: 1:32