Walking bass on Tuba

[capt_tuba]

I want to learn Walking Tuba, where do I start? This is way outside my comfort zone but it is something I need to learn. Can someone tell me a couple of good book titles to start with. Thanks!!!

[Euphtub]

Try this first:

1. Play a major scale up to the 9th in straight eighth notes.

2. When you hit the 9th, walk down the diatonic 9 chord to the root and then back up to the 9th.

3. Start on the 2nd note of the major scale (Dorian mode) up the 9th.

4. Rinse and repeat for every mode of the major scale.

Example:

C D E F G A B C (D B G E C E G B D) C B A G F E D C

The chord is in ()

In your head, visualize the lines or spaces of the chords you outline in each mode. I actually tell myself line, line, line, line, etc. as I walk down. Once you can play all the modes in C, add a flat and work with F.

You should learn the chords spelled out in each mode as well.

1. Ionian CEGBD (C9)
2. Dorian DFACE (Dm9)
3. etc.
I learned this excerise from another private teacher that plays saxophone. He learned it from Steinell at UNT about 20 years ago.

It has helped me a great deal.

Once you learn all the diatonic 9 chords of each mode contained in each key, start working on ii-V-I progressions. Here's the pattern I use:

DFAC GBDF CEGBDBGEC (swing the whole thing).

When you get bored, learn harmonic minor patterns. They make weird chords and will twist your brain trying to keep up with the #7, but it makes you sound like a boss when fiddling around between lessons

I'd be happy to discuss further if you'd like to pm or email.

-Michael

[imperialbari]

Low brass scale routines by Klaus Bjerre.

Routines for the Major mode, the Lydian mode, the Locrian mode, the Phrygian mode, the natural, melodic, and harmonic Minor modes, the Dorian mode, the Mixolydian mode, and the Lydian Dominant mode plus the 8-note Dominant scales. Each mode has pages addressed directly towards Euphonium (baritone, trombones) in treble and bass clefs plus bass clef tubas in F, Eb, CC, and BBb. These routines may also be used by other treble clef brasses (especially horn), clarinets, and saxophones.

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Yo ... 0routines/

[Art Hovey]

Listen to Rich Matteson with Louis Armstrong and the Dukes of Dixieland.
Listen to Ray Brown.

Play along with recordings that you like. Do NOT read a bass part.
Learn to listen while you play.
Teach yourself to sneak breaths without disrupting the flow.
(Inhale when something loud is happening, or use circular breathing if you can.)

To become more familiar with chords spend some time with a guitar or keyboard, or even a ukelele. To become more familiar with the tunes, learn to play the melody. Learn the lyrics too.

Don't limit yourself to walking bass style. Variety is the spice.

[tuba_dan]

In any major scale, 1, 3, 5, 6, b7 up and down will give you a nice walking bass line... BUT you will get bored pretty quick.

TO DO:
Listen to lots of players.
Practice your blues progressions in all keys.
Learn all your scales, and modes, and arpeggios.
Get some chord theory behind you.
Get a fake book, learn the melodies, and play the changes.
Play chord tones on the beat, off the beat, vary the rhythm (play what you heard while you were listening to lots of players).
Take a course (Berklee Music Basic Improv. course is pretty good).
Good books: Mark Levine's Jazz Theory Book, Alfred's Patterns For Jazz, Advance Musics Jazz Bass Line Book (Mike Davis), the Aebersold series (Blues in All Keys, and How to Play Jazz and Improvise are good intros).

Have fun, it's a long road.

[Jack Denniston]

I think walking bass sounds great sometimes. Other times I think walking bass is too "busy" and the group sounds better if the bass line is just 2 notes per measure, on beats 1 and 3. Other times I think it sounds good to play on beats 1, 3 and 4.

[EdFirth]

Find the station in your area that plays jazz and listen. The more you hear the more you'll know. There are lots of different interpetations of bass and lots of different kinds of jazz.And be grateful you live now because in Louis Armstrong's youth you pretty much had to go from club to club to hear jazz.Ed

[Lee Stofer]

The book, "The Evolving Bassist" by Rufus Reid is worth checking out for valuable information on how to construct bass lines.

As others have said, the primary way we learn something is by listening and imitating, and in the process internalizing it and making it our own. By listening to enough different people playing bass lines, taking what you like and leaving what you don't, you will develop your own signature style.

And, don't limit yourself to walking bass lines. Try to imitate anything that a bass might do, whether a crisp, clean two-beat style, smoothly bowed passages, or rock and R&B patterns. Play it like you mean it, and, most of all, enjoy it!

[PaulTkachenko]

Building walking baselines by Ed Friedland.

Learn to play a bit of string bass too ... can't hurt.

[GC]

A few things about playing standards I've picked up over the years:

Playing in four all the time is boring to the listener, which is counterproductive. There are times you need to play in two. There's an old practice that works for most standards: play the verses and choruses the first time through in two; switch to four for solos; back to a more active two for the last time through verses, two or four for the final choruses depending on the song, definitely four for tags or final repeats. It doesn't work for everything, but it works for most songs in two or four, and it can get boring if you do it all the time. Still, it can be especially useful if you're filling in with a group or playing fake-book gigs.

When playing in three, what you do on beat one is the important thing 99.99% of the time. Don't overplay or junk up beats two and three when it's not appropriate.

Bass is a timekeeping instrument in jazz and swing, even more than the drummer. If the band can't stay on beat when you play in two, switch to four when you feel it's necessary. Sometimes just a couple of measures can pull the band back together, and sometimes you need to push. Saxes are notorious for playing behind and dragging tempos down.

For playing standards, listen to Ray Brown. You probably won't be able to do everything he does, but listen to when he goes in and out of two and four. His command of style is as good as it gets. If you can get hold of the old After Hours CD by Andre Previn, Joe Pass, and Ray Brown, it's a great primer for the role of bass in a small combo. There's no drummer in the group, and Brown holds it all together. Also, the whole album is basically improvised; this is a fabulous example of what top-flight jazz players can to when they all know the music and just sketch out the barest outlines. It's Previn and the late Joe Pass at their best.

A couple of big-band arranging books mention that when writing bass lines in four, you can go anywhere within a chord but you should leave a chord by a step rather than a leap. This is mainly a walking bass idea, but it can be applied to other styles as well. It's less meaningful in two or three. Of course, for more modern stuff this is way passe, but you can still use it for smoothness at will.

When playing in live rooms, it may be necessary to separate notes in walking lines for clarity. Reverberating bass gets muddy easily, and the tempos and beat definition will suffer.

Having contests for control of the pocket with the drummer is generally not a good idea, but an incompetent or sloppy drummer has to be reined in at times (if possible). It's best to do it through your playing, but sometimes there's no way to fix it.

Sell the song, not yourself as soloist.

[capt_tuba]

Thanks a bunch everyone. This really helped me out!!!

[jimgray]

I've been doing this a long time.
Here are some things that have helped me:
Try not to miss 1, but think more about 2 and 4 if you really want to cook...
Play forward, lines.
Plan no rote lines, every note counts.
The power is in knowing where to vary/deviate.
Learn about leading tones and how to drive the changes from below.
Learn as much about harmony as you can.
The sher jazz book is cool.
Listen a lot to great bass players.
Play w abersold CDs, record yourself, and listen...
Repeat until you don't bore yourself.
Don't get too fancy, though - your job is to lay it down.
Find some trad groups to play with.
As many styles as possible.
If the drummer is smiling, you are doing ok.
Mostly- have fun!
Jim

[tubajoe]

this is a good book to get started

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/books-sh ... c=3WWRWXGP" target="_blank

drive, but don't rush. play softly.

don't assume that playing in 4 grooves harder. A good old rule is "2 beat, 2 dancing feet"

[Jeff Keller]

I was thrown into a New Orleans style Brass Band when I first got into the Navy. This really helped me:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzfYIFTHLdo

Hope this helps.

J

[saktoons]

For years I had played piano in a jazz trio and I covered the bass parts. When I later played tuba in some groups, finding the notes to play was easy. But I learned quickly (from the drummers, sax players, trumpet players, etc.) how important it is to stay on top of the beat. Don't rush, but push it and stay on it! (And when you're stuck for notes, a good solid root of the chord on beat 1 never hurts.)

[jeopardymaster]

If you've never heard of or listened to Eli Newberger, I recommend you check out his playing. Lots of character, good lines, and when he solos it's tasteful and crisp. Good player to emulate.

[swillafew]

The other posts have a lot of good stuff, especially getting a book to get started.
I would like to add:
Start practicing arpeggios that go through at least 2 chords on at least 2 measures. Apply pencil to paper to get started, and compose a few at first. After you have composed some that you can execute, play them in as many keys as you can manage.

After you have a few lines under your fingers, you can relax a great deal compared to the tension of sitting in the group thinking one note at a time. Once the relaxation starts the improvisation will appear as well.

[adam0408]

I say if you want to play basslines like a bass player, listen to bassists. Listening to tubas play bass will only encourage you to play basslines like a tuba player. "Jazz bass" is also a pretty loose term, and it will benefit you to learn other styles as well.

Although some are admittedly more "funk" than "Jazz" these guys are great players that will help you formulate your sound:

Jaco Pastorius (Weather Report)
Francis Rocco Prestia (Tower of Power)
Victor Wooten (Bela Fleck)
Steve Bailey
Stanley Clarke (I particularly like his work with Chick Corea on Light as a Feather)

Walking bass is about laying down a groove in collaboration with the drummer that will facilitate the feel of the tune.

Rule of thumb: If you're playing rock style, listen for the bass drum to fit inside the groove. If you're playing jazz, listen to the high hat or ride. If you have a less than competent drummer, you are responsible for the lion's share of the groove. Drive the bus and refuse to be pushed around.

Also, putting little rhythmic "hiccups" in your lines will break them up and make them more interesting to listen to. It is hard to explain this concept without a demonstration, but if you listen to enough bassists, you will start to understand.

Find a way to highlight ends of verses and solo sections when you're improvising walking lines. This will help everyone in the band, including yourself, keep their place.

For some stuff that may challenge your view of what a tuba is capable of in terms of a bassline, listen to Youngblood Brass Band and Bonerama (trombone group)

[enewberger]

Dear friends,

I don't think it's just selecting whether to play 2/4 or 4/4. Rather, supporting the unfolding rhythm of the tune is the tuba player's principal task. For me, building from an initial 2/4, while maintaining a 4/4 sensibility, is an understated way of propelling the rhythm, especially beneath a band that more accustomed to hearing a tuba do the old oom-pah thing. Then, as ensemble builds, you can expand to 4/4, using range and appropriate accidentals to increase the intensity. Also, if you breathe through your nose between beats, you can control the impulses much better than if you gasp for breath at the end of a phrase.
This all sounds impossibly abstract!

Here's an example of what I mean, in a nicely-recorded live performance of the Louis Armstrong classic, "Tears," for the Potomac River Jazz Club.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DZedus74oQ" target="_blank

I hope this helps!

Eli

[David Richoux]

Dear friends,

-snip-

Here's an example of what I mean, in a nicely-recorded live performance of the Louis Armstrong classic, "Tears," for the Potomac River Jazz Club.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DZedus74oQ" target="_blank" target="_blank

I hope this helps!

Eli

I want to hear that "rolicking (sic) solo by extrovert tuba player Eli Newberger."

I actually probably have, over the many years of catching the New Black Eagles at various festivals- you have been one of my biggest inspirations in playing trad tuba! One thing that really helps is having a consistant band with many rehearsals and performances, learning how to trust the rhythm section and being able to break free from constant 2/4 or 4/4 and still keep things swinging along...