Walking a bass line is the most typical approach a bass player takes to playing jazz. While other types of rhythmic activity are available, in swing type of jazz, we play mostly quarter notes.

Start with the roots

The primary objective of a walking bass line is to outline the chord structure of the song and keep the rhythmic flow of the performance moving. The note choices must contain pertinent information about the harmonic structure of the tune. We will first use the target/approach technique to build our bass lines. By choosing a target note, our lines will have a feeling of destination. We will then use approach notes to precede the target note in order to create a sense of movement.

The first order of business is the root motion. Playing the root of each new chord is the first step toward developing a walking bass line. Here is an example of using the root motion of a progression to create a walking line.