I wanted better walking bass lines. So I transcribed this...

Reader,

I've been feeling limited in my walking bass lines lately. Over the years I've learned bass line formulas that were really helpful, but now I feel like I'm just stringing formulas together instead of actually being creative.

I wanted to walk more authentic bass lines, so I reached out to a pro friend for a lesson. His schedule was full, but he told me everything I needed was already there in Ray Brown's playing.

So I transcribed several of Ray Brown's bass lines, and I've got a lot to share with you over the next few weeks. Starting today with his walking on Night Train with the Oscar Peterson Trio.

Oscar Peterson Trio

Night Train

Ray Brown on Bass

Our transcription starts at 1:05, under Oscar's first solo. As a piano player, I hadn't paid much attention to Ray in this recording until now, and it's a masterpiece.

Download the transcription as a PDF: Night Train.pdf

My Observations

A few things stood out to me as I transcribed this and played along:

The feel. OMG the feel. He's perfectly in the pocket, laid back on the offbeats and right on top of the downbeats.
Fewer roots than I'd expect. He still hits the root on most chord changes, but maybe a third of the time he's landing on a 3rd or 5th instead.
Every measure is a destination and a launching point. Just when you think he's arrived, he's already moving into the next chord. My memorized formulas don't do this very well. In fact, only one measure in the whole piece feels like a complete resolution: the last one.
He spans three octaves. My walking usually fits in an octave and a half, sometimes just one, but in just a few bars Ray uses his whole instruments range.
Leaps and scales work together. Scales pull you through the harmony like gravity, and leaps setup those scale moves. Measure 8 is a big leap up that sets up measures 9-13, a 2-octave walk down the scale, landing chord tones on strong beats.

Your Wednesday Woodshed

Each week I give you 3 steps to practice to help you implement the lessons from the newsletter.

Listen to Night Train and follow along listening to the bass with the track. Notice the feel and how precise his rhythm is.
Play the line along with the recording and try to match his articulation, feel, and length of notes.
Note which measures he lands on the root on the downbeat, then look at what he does in the measures before that to set up that resolution.