Jazz walking bass chord extensions

[julietgreen]

What are thoughts on voicing such things as 6ths and 13ths when playing jazz on the bass? Should we be putting them into the bassline when accompanying?

[songofthewind]

Stick them in, and see if they sound good. If they don't, stick them in a different way, and keep trying!

[ambient]

Do it, it’s like making a curry, the notes are spices. They’re diatonic, the chord tones are obviously the strongest notes, but others from the scale work fine too.

[FDC484950]

Any note works if it’s in the context of a line that makes sense with the music. The issue comes when the line requires you to outline the harmony in a more fundamental way (eg R357). Having said that the 6th/13th is used in one of the most foundational bass parts - R/3/5/6/ 8/6/5/3/ R/3/5/6/ b7/6/5/3 but it’s on the weak beat (2/4). It’s also often used as a chromatic approach note to a flat 7th. Advanced players can construct a line that both outlines the harmony to support the other instruments and adds something to the music.

Edited January 26, 2020 by FDC484950

[julietgreen]

Thanks for the replies, folks. To summarise: if you want to and it sounds right? 

[ambient]

25 minutes ago, julietgreen said:

Thanks for the replies, folks. To summarise: if you want to and it sounds right? 

Yes. If you look at the chords in the real book, you’ll see they’re often written to include the extensions; 11th, 13th etc. See how it sounds to you. It’s good too if you can listen to a master of the art; Paul Chambers or Jimmy Garrison, and see what they do.

[Dan Dare]

I've found Joe Hubbard's book helpful for extensions and substitutions. 

[tinyd]

The upper chord extensions also give you a guide as to what scales will work over the chords. So for example, a #11 means that it'll be one of the Lydian scales, whereas a 7b9 chord means that a half/whole diminished scale will work. I'm not saying that you should just run up and down the scales for your bass line, but I find that it helps me to have the scale 'under my fingers' when I'm playing a walking line.

[FDC484950]

The other point about a walking line is that it should work on its own. Just because it’s a bass line, it’s still a melody in its own right. That’s the beauty of a walking line - you can just play chord tones - R/3/5 - but you can also play something much more interesting. It all depends on the context and the player.

[toneknob]

This is my go-to resource when working out what does and doesn't work in walking bass. 

 

[EliasMooseblaster]

In a partial echo to what everyone else has said above - it's worth a try! Personally I take the approach that as long as you get a "safe" choice (i.e, R/3/5) firmly on the 1 of each bar, you can get away with being more melodic and colourful through the rest of the bar.

Just as a couple of common examples:

- for a chord built on G7, you can happily walk down the mixolydian mode from the root, i.e., G, F, E, D (R, 7th, 6th, 5th);

- for a Gm | D7 change, walk up the minor scale: G, A, Bb, C | D (R, 2, 3,4 | 5) - the 4th isn't normally a "strong" choice, but it creates a tension which is resolved perfectly by leading you up to the root of the next chord.

[toneknob]

Yes, but you don't have to is the quick answer. On the other hand...

What you get with a 13th chord is a whole host of chord tones. Have a look at C13. From root upwards in thirds that's C, E, G, Bb, D, F, A (root, 3rd, 5th, b7th, 9th, 11th, 13th respectively). Yes you can play all the notes of a mixolydian mode over that, but that's not helping much in terms of outlining the harmony as the song plays along, and that's a big part of our job as bass player right?

Check out some of the triads you've got in that selection of notes. As well as C major, and C7, which will help you out big time, you've also got for example Bbmaj7 (Bb, D, F, A), Dm (D, F, A), Gm (G, Bb, D) and probably loads more. Chuck in a few of these triads instead of something based on C and you might start hearing some jazz. Or, alternate a couple of triad pairs (Am and Dm for example) and see what happens. 

To maybe even elicit an approving nod/raised eyebrow from your keyboard player, lets pretend you've got a #11 in there instead of a 11. Then you get to switch between triad pairs C7 and D7 for example or even you've got Bb-D-F#, the triad based on the third mode of the melodic minor scale, which opens doors to all kinds of excitement.  (Bilbo will be along any moment to correct me on this paragraph)

Remember there are no bad notes, just bad resolutions.

 

 

 

[Dan Dare]

31 minutes ago, toneknob said:

Remember there are no bad notes, just bad resolutions.

This is so true.