Is there a Barry Harris for bass lines?

[BWV]

How much does Barry Harris's teaching assume a bass player? Do not see too much about using his techniques to create a good bass line

[Tal_175]

Do you mean creating bass lines or bass solos? I can see his ideas working well for bass solos.

[AllanAllen]

Dude… Ron Carter for bass lines. He’s still around, he hosts Q&A zoom meetings. You’re not going to find a better resource.

[Jimmy Smith]

All you do to create bass lines are think either the root and 5th, the triad, the 7th chord, or the scale, then lead into the next chord. It's really the opposite of BH-ing tech melody lines. For bass lines you want to be clear about the foundation of the harmony, not be all outside.

[BWV]

All you do to create bass lines are think either the root and 5th, the triad, the 7th chord, or the scale, then lead into the next chord. It's really the opposite of BH-ing tech melody lines. For bass lines you want to be clear about the foundation of the harmony, not be all outside.

yes, that is what I have learned, and given that my solo guitar playing / arranging offers few opportunities for Ron Carter level basslines I guess thats it.

my question is also the inverse - does BH’s harmonic system just assume a bass player doing what you describe, so it is developed to work with that in mind?

[Jimmy Smith]

I think so. My experience on bass as my 1st instrument and now as a B3 player has lead me to believe it's usually vanilla in the bass. Because if you change the bass, it changes the function of the chord. There's not really any advanced bass playing beyond those basics. Unless you specifically want to change the function of the bass and the whole chord. So it's more thinking the function of the harmony if you want to do something really tech in the bass.

[Christian Miller]

Barry Harris? Wasn’t that Paul Chambers and James Jamersons teacher?

TBH I’m not sure I ever heard him say that much about basslines. He was quite clear on bass players being able to play all the horn stuff.

Personally if the chord sits around for more than a couple of beats, the Barry scale stuff comes in very useful. Again - rhythm and pitch… setting up the chord tones on the strong beats etc.

[David B]

Here are a few pointers from bassist Ari Roland, who came up in the scene around Barry.

[Jimmy Smith]

What are you scheming to do? Imo if you want to make the bass more tech, the 1st thing you'd want to do is make the linearity of it all delux.

This is what a former guitar teacher showed me. The 4 ways outside voices can move relative to each other:

[Jimmy Smith]

does BH’s harmonic system just assume a bass player doing what you describe, so it is developed to work with that in mind?

I get your question now.

I've thought about this while practicing BH on B3 because I have to play my own bass. I came to the conclusion that you can do either. You can have the bass do BH also, OR you can have the bass just hold down the vanilla chord and have the upper part of the chord do the BH. When my teacher demonstrates BH he usually just does BH with his right hand and plays regular bass with his left. I think it works either way tho.

[Bop Head]

If someone is looking for advice on constructing walking bass lines:

Chris Fitzgerald (associate professor of jazz bass, jazz piano, and music theory at the University of Louisville School of Music) goes deeper than most into that matter on his YT channel.

[BWV]

Thanks for the replies

Have not played around with it, but seems like a good formula would be to focus on 1 3 5 or 6 on strong beats (maj or min 6th part of dim 6) then the diminished part on weak beats.

I posted this under theory, but what interests me more about BH isn’t the ‘theory’ part but how his ideas can get into your fingers with less brain damage than other approaches. Have not worked on his single note soloing ideas, just the harmonic ones.

[Christian Miller]

I get your question now.

I've thought about this while practicing BH on B3 because I have to play my own bass. I came to the conclusion that you can do either. You can have the bass do BH also, OR you can have the bass just hold down the vanilla chord and have the upper part of the chord do the BH. When my teacher demonstrates BH he usually just does BH with his right hand and plays regular bass with his left. I think it works either way tho.

What does 'do BH' mean lol?

[mr. beaumont]

WWBH do?

[Jimmy Smith]

What does 'do BH' mean lol?

6th/dim

Thanks for the replies

Have not played around with it, but seems like a good formula would be to focus on 1 3 5 or 6 on strong beats (maj or min 6th part of dim 6) then the diminished part on weak beats.

I posted this under theory, but what interests me more about BH isn’t the ‘theory’ part but how his ideas can get into your fingers with less brain damage than other approaches. Have not worked on his single note soloing ideas, just the harmonic ones.

For this thread to proceed rationally, we need to know what BH system you're talking about and how you're applying it. So you're using 6th/dim and are you applying it to solo guitar with bass lines included? Or what?

[BWV]

6th/dim

For this thread to proceed rationally, we need to know what BH system you're talking about and how you're applying it. So you're using 6th/dim and are you applying it to solo guitar with bass lines included? Or what?

yes, solo guitar w bass lines

[rintincop]

I don’t think Barry Harris played walking bass or a stride left hand, except maybe on rare occasions.

When I walk bass, four beats to a chord, I “add a half step” usually on the beat before the next root. This happens when I have run out scale tones.
My routine walking bass scale adds a half step so I can land on the root on beat one, or the fifth if the chord lasts eight counts. That is the unifying rule I follow.
Ascend:
CEFF#| GAA#B|C
Descend differently:
CBAAb| GFED|C