Walking Bass Lines: "Rhythm Changes"

[apacalipsy]

what key is this in?

[HyrulianWarlord]

damn!! i was starting my solo and you stopped playing! jajaja i thought this was a backing track, great playing man!

[Juusteli]

:o

[poconoblues]

Nice. Care to share tab of you solo? -jss

[RobBrooksMusic]

Amazing, you would think a bass would just follow the changes but you really gives your lines a character of their own, I keep coming back to this and the intro demo is great

[frcwolf]

@RobBrooksMusic Thanks Rob. I appreciate the good vibe.

[RobBrooksMusic]

Great vid

[sibwana]

great Bill! master Bill! thank you Bill!!

[gromshit101]

I love you

[jazzflea]

I think I love you! Every note you play is nailed! No crap no bull!

[davnkatz]

At 74 yo, I am a rather new bassist - taking private and jazz lessons. My jazz instructor talked about tritone substitutions, and you showed me what that means. Actually, your site was sent to me, and I find it an excellent learning tool. I plan to make it a daily supplement to my weekly lessons.

[jazzflea]

Bill, I love your stuff! I was writing it down as you were playing, nice!

[magetarg]

I didn't thought possible that a bass player could learn a single chord ! Ok just kidding, sounds great !

[MandolinMaker]

lol man thats smokin cool. if i lived in chicago i'd take bass lessons from you.

love all your vids, bill. i used to try to splain tritone subs to people, but now i just show them that video and they go "oh"

[chalmersg]

Great clip. Really swings :-)

[kirbybrawl22]

Question--if the substitutions are universal for all keys as long as the type of chord (1, 6, 2, etc.) doesn't change, why do you give the substitutions in actual chord names instead of the numbers they represent? Otherwise, I get the impression that these chord subsistutions will only work for Bb maj--and that's not the case, correct?

[frcwolf]

@kirbybrawl22 You're right that these substitutions will work in any key. Rhythm Changes are most often played in Bb and I find that it is best to work with specifics first and then generalize later.

[slapfiddle]

very nice.

[whigahipower]

nice !! what is the exact name of this kind of jazz ?

[frcwolf]

@whigahipower Hmm, I guess we call it "mainstream" jazz. Rhythm changes are based on a tune by George Gershwin, written in the 1940's (if I'm not mistaken) and appropriated by jazz players in the late 40's as a vehicle for improvising in the bebop style. So, bebop, swing, mainstream - anything to distinguish it from "smooth" jazz or "fusion" would be more or less accurate. Many musicians eschew these categories, preferring to concentrate on playing at the highest level.

[thepione]

@frcwolf Gershwin died in '37. "I Got Rhythm" was published in '30.

[jplanejazz]

@whigahipower Check out the tune Oleo by Sonny Rollins. Rhythm Changes tunes are very prevalent in jazz music. It is essential to know the Rhythm Changes as a jazz musician. It's as common as a blues.

[ighip]

i paly keys but this was still really helpful thanks!

[jefferzone61]

EXCELLENTE!!! No nonsense breakdown - Thanks a ton!

[rushybass]

thank you for this

[hugleberthumperdink]

That is one awesome walking bass man. Niiiiiice, so chilled, and yet such a groove.

[alowderm]

Bill,

You sound great.

I found this very useful.

Who do you play with?

Thanks

Adam

[frcwolf]

@alowderm Adam, I'm a working musician in Chicago and I own the website PlayJazzNow. I've played with a few "name" people and I presently stay in town playing private gigs, B'way shows, occasional sessions. For more about me than you'd ever want to know, visit my personal site billharrisonmusic

And thanks for the nice comment.

[drewhrt2]

this is so helpful and straight forward!

[lucaspeterlast]

So, this is infinitely better than the expert village videos. Thanks you very much. Very thorough explanations.

[krijnvannoordwijk]

Amazing knowledge and playing! Thanks a lot.

[1234aug]

Bill, Give us a lesson on the blues and give us a long demo too.

Great bass.

Thanks

[1234aug]

What do you think about the Jazzer strings by Pirastro?

I listen to your lessons every day in an effort to catch up. You're professionalism stands out. I'm an old play by ear guy. My luthier just repaired my Czech bass..

Thanks

[1234aug]

I love the your playing and the sound of the bass. What strings are on the bass?

[frcwolf]

@1234aug Thomastik Spirocore "weich" gauge. Thanks for the comment.

[1234aug]

This isn't the point, I know, but your bass sounds great. What strings are on it?

[dec10]

It's worth mentioning that instead of Ab7, many people play the related Eb-7 or a passing E diminished chord leading into the last two measures of the 8-bar section. Rhythm changes are a flexible thing played different ways by different people. Some do iii-VI-ii-V on the second ending, some just play ii-V. Some cats reduce everything but the bridge to I and IV. It's up to us as bassists to determine how best to accompany the soloist.

Nice to see someone on youtube who can swing and teach.

[MrBenPratt]

I Absolutly LOVE THIS

Thanks Bill!

Your Absolutly AWESOME

Im Ordering an Engelhardt Bass from America and thought of your videos when i had to get it from america haha

[awesomewelles90]

Are you playing over the plain unaltered or substituted changes?

[frcwolf]

I'm using the standard changes but demonstrating a few substitutions you can use, such as iii (Dm7) in place of the I chord (Bb)

[Lydianshadow]

equovalent!

[Lydianshadow]

i respect everyone that can play the contrabass

[boogeymanhydrobudda]

thank you good transcribable bass line not too fast and easy to pick up

[libertatus]

Nicely done!

[a1b2c3d4e5f6ghijklmn]

very good timekeeping

[Toporaq]

Yes man take her for a walk

[MSlapik]

That baseline grooves so nice it could stand alone.

[LochieB]

you're the fuckin man!

[muzzleray]

the rest of you B natural ( ;

[helloimnick1]

cooooooool =D

[francisbaphomet]

This is good but you should probably mention this is an intermediate/advanced lesson. No beginner could handle this yet.

[mackyouaccount]

The internet needs more intermediate/advanced lessons.

[oOJimmySueOo]

You play so well! I wish I could follow what you're talking about here. I guess I have some learning to do

[sheikyerboudi]

I just want to thank for extremely helpfull vids and i do really hope for you to post more vids about walkings and substitions!

[CrackerJackLee]

very nice

[moveonupcb]

there are so many damn good musicians on you tube!

[Marvinlikespiano]

Wow very good.....I learn the double bass since just 2 weeks....and I hope that i will bo so good as you.......

Greets form Germany =)

[moriscengic]

allright. is there any other term for it? In europe in a non english countrys it would be called 'subdominant' in minor or on papper as you wrote iv ( and major with large letters IV).

Quite missleading term ( minor fourth) isn't it?

[supercinquino]

GRAAANDEEEEEEEE!!!!! this is a walking bass best video...thank you.

[das499]

actually the Ab7 is closer to Gershwin's original progression which uses a minor fourth, but alot of jazz players make it a dominant chord a whole step below the tonic. The diminished E also sounds great though.

[moriscengic]

What a hell is 'minor fourth'???? there is minor third, major third, fourth, augmented fourth, fifth and augmented fifth etc Never heard of a 'minor fourth' LOL :-) .

[das499]

what I meant was a minor four(IV, in this case Eb minor) chord, not an interval. yea there is no minor fourth interval, cause like you said that would just be a major 3rd.

[conroto]

You are a very fine teacher, but I have a hard time following you. I play electric I just can't understand why you upright players use open strings and force every note as far down the neck as you can. Once you hit an open string you're done with that note. You can't control it's duration, (other than hitting it again to mute it) volume or feel. And why not start higher and play across the fretboard rather than run up the G string from the lower positions?. Isn't that more physically efficient?

[frcwolf]

Remember that URB and ebass are two different axes with different fingering systems. On ebass you can play a lot of stuff in position that you just can't do on upright. It is also a matter of getting as much of the string vibrating as possible - this produces the deep acoustic tone that most URB players want to achieve. There are also the issues of intonation and tradition. Check out some great upright jazz players and you'll see what I mean.

[conroto]

Thanks Bill,

While I don't get the "tradition" comment, I do understand string vibration and why you would want to strive for those good sounding notes near the nut. I can also imagine that one can achieve better intonation where the notes are spaced further apart near the nut as well.

Makes sense.

[Cellist218]

That bassline makes me

want to dance. lol

[ifbasscouldtalk]

great lesson! that's for the break down!

[LoginPeople]

is that a string bass? i play a string bass

[jamersonshook]

GREAT tutorial - thank you!

[slackebacker]

nice bassviolin!

or is it a zello?

[CMO5569]

This guy is great!

[ChronoZINC529301]

Yup

[edlaksmi]

great playing!

[myron099]

i hate that Ab in the A section. should be an E diminished. But yeah. great vid

[Inphimous07]

yea i agree that Ab does sound out of place, i usually use a E dim. or an Ebmin7 on that part.

[frcwolf]

Indeed, there are several ways to handle the end of the 'A' section and I had to make a choice. BTW, Ebm7 is awfully close to Ab7. I like Edim there too, but for a teaching video I thought it best to show it one way only.

[Mirdasss]

Awesome!

[foowah7]

Thanks for posting these--I've only tried this progression on Anthropology, and my current lines are very limited. Your explanations for these different lines are great!

[Maltainjuly]

nice..sounds exactly like anthropology

[MontgomerylandFunk]

Charlie Parker based alot of tunes on 'Rhythm Changes'. Some others are Celerity and Thriving From A Riff. If you want to get some wicked cool bop lines, the 'Charlie Parker Omnibook' is an incredible collection on his solos.

[Maltainjuly]

thanks :)

[MontgomerylandFunk]

Insightful.. nice to see someone going in depth on various subs. Helps ALL musiciens.

[kw231263]

wow great lesson

[bajo6s]

es muy buen video, muy pocos videos muestran buenas cosas, este bajista no es para nada egoista y muestra de una manera muy logica y practica en un pequeno ejemplo, como darle buen color al swing en jazz, gran tecnica y buen manejo teorico... please can you show more for us, this stuff is great.

[cmsinla]

This is why youtube doesn't suck

[jazz24p7]

hey, great sound.

i´d like to see you in a video performing with a band or at least an aebersold standard with a nice improv.

keep on swinging!

[Lot2learn]

Great tone, technique and feel. If I'm in Chitown - you're hired. ;-)

[mrtvsmith]

great sounding bass

[effsixteenblock50]

Wow - cool vid! I didn't know bass players did the ol' m7b5 off the major 3rd on dom. 7th chords! As a guitarist, I do it a lot.

I take all my Aebersold backings and remove the piano track - way more freedom that way.

Thanks again!

[chasyboy1]

Where do I get ALL your videos?

[frcwolf]

They're all here on YouTube.

[chasyboy1]

I found only two for upright? MORE, MORE, MORE....thanks!!!

[frcwolf]

Thanks all. I'll be posting some stuff soon based on your suggestions. Happy holidays!

[ajachs]

Thanks a million Bill. Intelligent bass playing! Who'd a thunk it? We bass players have always been harmonically challenged. Thanks for putting a dent in that trend. Hopefully more players will be influenced by your work.

? Have you considered helping us out with some bop heads, Blues for Alice, as opposed to traditional blues, perhaps? I know I'd dig that.

Thanks again,

Alex

[ajachs]

Thanks a million Bill. Intelligent bass playing! Who'd a thunk it? We bass players have always been harmonically challenged. Thanks for putting a dent in that trend. Hopefully more players will be influenced by your work.

? Have you considered helping us out with some bop heads, Blues for Alice, as opposed to traditional blues, perhaps? I know I'd dig that.

Thanks again,

Alex

[1arrya]

Great sounding bass Bill, Wow, what a woof tone and sustain it has, Sounds like it almost plays itself. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and knowledge. Long live jazz.

[ackeiswetter]

Thanks again Bill for another great leason!

i love the playjazznow web sight, great stuff!

[OwenClapp]

I've been playing jazz for a couple of years and have been wanting to learn more about substitutions. Your video was a great introduction to using them over a common chord progression. Thanks.