Blues Bass Lesson 3
Getting some lines together
In the early 20th century, Blues chord progressions were quite varied, but by the 1930’s, the 12-bar progression (Fig. 5) had become the standard. In order to be competent and confident, the Blues bassist must know how this chord progression sounds and be able to feel which chords are coming next. If the guitarist takes a solo (in Blues jams, solos last for Days) you have to hold the fort.
Walking over a 12 Bar Blues
This is a standard or ‘slow-change’ 12-bar. It uses chords I, IV & V in the key. We know the Blues uses mainly Dominant 7 chords, so in the key of A, we would have A7, D7 & E7.
Line 1: For the first 3 bars, I’ve used a typical root, 3rd, 5th, 6th blues bassline, with a descending scale passage in bar 4 leading us into the D7 chord.
Line 2: On bars 5 & 6 I’ve used the same arpeggio phrase, but this time up a 4th, starting on the note D. In bar 7 the arpeggio phrase drops back to A and bar 8 rounds off this line with a chromatic walk-up to E, the root of our next chord.
Line 3: Bars 9 & 10 feature more simple arpeggio ideas, bar 11 echoes bar 8’s chromatic walkup and we pump in a single E note all the way through bar 12 to signal the end of the first time around the progression.
The Driving Shuffle
Taking this chord progression as a ‘Blues Template’, we can try one other groove that always feels great. Many blues tunes have a ‘Shuffle feel’, which means that they have an underlying triplet feel. When we play pumping 8th notes in a shuffle feel, they sound like Fig.6, but are usually written like Fig.7.
.
For The Gig
Above all, remember that Blues music focuses mainly on the vocals and guitar. This isn’t ‘bass music’, but Blues has its own set of challenges for the bassist. It’s all about being rock-solid and laying down a strong foundation for the rest of the band.
This music touches people in a very raw and emotional way so remember to play it with your heart – sometimes giving out a strong vibe can be worth more than a note-perfect performance.
