The main part of the I-vi-ii-V(7) progression is ii, V and I. There are an enormous number of songs written as ii-V and ii-V-I. Even blues which is I-IV-V is really a variation of ii-V-I. Notice that in both cases, the V resolves into I. One reason that rock and roll sounded somewhat different from blues even though it was clearly derived from it was that the I-IV-V of hard blues was sublimated into ii-V-I. Nearly every pop song in existence is ii-V or ii-V-I. But so are a great many jazz tunes and even classical pieces.
So before we go any further, let us review the circle of fifths:
Figure 3.
Figure 3 is my favorite circle theme to be found online because it shows the chord progression in Roman numerals. The indicator window is centered on C as I. When C is I then F is IV and G is V. No matter where you slide this indicator window, the relationship will be the same. Slide it over to D making it I, then IV is G and V is A and so on. The key signatures are shown both in sharps and flats and the relative minor scale of each major is shown in blue. Again, the major chords are in upper case Roman and minor are in lower case.
For more info about the circle of fifths, read my thread here:
http://www.musicbanter.com/general-m...le-fifths.html
Okay, so now we have looked at chord progressions and we can apply them to a jazz chart. Let’s start with a simple standard—“Satin Doll”:
Figure 4.
The bassist is mainly interested in the chord designations over each bar (or measure). So would the pianist and guitarist. Unless one of them is the lead instrument in which case they would be more interested in the notes on the staff which is the basic melody. The guitarist or pianist would play those chords as background accompaniment to the lead instrument.
We’re not too concerned with the key at this time (it’s C) because we are using the chord progression to establish key centers. The first two bars are occupied by a D minor 7th (D-7) and a G7. This is ii-V. C is I so D is ii and G is V so the key center for the first two measures is C. But the next two measures are E-7 and A7. What is the key center for these two measures? Since the chord progression is still ii-V then D is I, E is ii and A is V. So the key center is now D. You can consult Figure 3 to verify this. Using key centers eliminates the need to know the key while playing and to establish a chord progression instead which is far more useful.
As a bassist, I would play though it once as a “two-feel” before breaking into the walk. Two-feel is short for “two-beat feeling.” I would play two half-notes per measure based on a root-fifth thing. So, I’d play a D for two beats then a G for two beats in the first two measures then E and A for the next two and so on. This may sound easy but “two-feel” requires a creative mindset or it becomes very monotonous very quickly. There are secrets to varying it up and a good bassist relies on them. I find two-feel playing harder than walking.
Okay, so the two-feel portion is done and I start to walk it. How do I do that? When you listen to a jazz tune and the bassist is walking, you can tell he’s improvising. You know this wasn’t planned out ahead of time. Part of the reason you know this is because he never seems to play the repeated sections quite the same way. Yet, he’s never out of tune and seems to know what note he’s going to play before he plays it. So how does he do it?
All he’s really doing is expanding on the two-feel idea to make it four beats per measure. So in the first measure, the bassist would play a D-7 arpeggio. An arpeggio is simply playing the notes of a chord in succession rather than simultaneously. So once the walk begins, we will play one arpeggiated chord per bar rather than two chords per bar, e.g. a D-7 chord in the first bar (DFAD) then a G7 chord in the next bar (GEDG) then an E-7 in the next (EGBE) then an A7 in the next bar (AC#EA) and so on. This would be a simplistic walk but it would work. And that is really the secret of walking—arpeggiating the proper chord. Of course, it takes practice and a lot of it to do it creatively so it doesn’t sound the same on every number but this is it in a nutshell.
In fact, here is a bass chart for the walk portion of “Satin Doll” (notice the bass clef):
Figure 5.
Figure 4 was a very abbreviated chart for the piano or guitar in a small combo. It uses a treble clef and does not contain any indicators for the bass to walk. The reason is that seasoned professionals don’t need all that. They would rather keep the chart minimal and short. They know what they have to do. But a larger jazz orchestra might have charts for each instrument and so the bass would get its own chart. Notice it is divided into A and B sections which is quite helpful. When the bandleader is telling the orchestra how to play the piece, he can tell the band to play A then go onto B then repeat A again then jump to C before moving onto the coda. Such instructions are useless for the earlier chart because it is too stripped down although the band members can mark it up with pencils as they see fit. Charts were made for marking up (note the pencil marks in Figure 5 which are mine).
Notice that in Figure 5 certain parts there are two chords per bar. During a walk, this is usually seen at the points known as the “turnaround.” The turnaround occurs at the end of a section where the musician either goes back and repeats the section or she moves onto another section either because the chart itself instructs her where to go or because the arranger has decided it (and the musician will generally pencil that change in). So how is the turnaround played? Notice in the A section of Figure 5 that there is a two-bar turnaround labeled “1” that consists of C major 7 and B7 in the first bar while the second bar consists of Bb7 and A7. The pianist would just play those chords but the bassist would have to pick two notes from C major 7 and two from B7. C and B would two of the notes obviously. So maybe he picks C and the fifth of C major which is G. Then he plays B and maybe plays the major 3rd of B7 which is D#. Then in the next bar, he plays Bb and perhaps the minor 7th of that chord which is Ab. Then he plays A and maybe the major 3rd of A7 which would be C#. So that’s what he’ll play at that first turnaround—C, G, B, D#, Bb, Ab, A, C#—in straight 4/4 time and then go back and repeat that A section again as per the instructions. Or he could simply play the root of each chord and the fifth of each. Or perhaps he’d prefer to play the root and the thirds. Or he could mix them up—anything he wants. That is how a jazz bassist walks on the fly never playing the same thing twice and yet never playing out of tune or fumbling for notes. He doesn’t have to know precisely what notes he is going to play next but he knows what notes are available to him and where they are on the fingerboard. Practice is still necessary because some note combinations don’t sound that good together and the musician wants to know what to avoid.
Why does each bar have four little slashes in them? Because the notes to be played will be improvised. The slashes let the musician know to improvise notes—four to a bar. The bars could simply be left blank, I suppose, but this is the standard way of signifying improvisation on a chart. One may write down a walk if one chooses. For example, here is my chart of “Satin Doll” with two sets of walks:
Figure 6.
Joe Pass - Satin Doll - YouTube
“Satin Doll” by Joe Pass. Here, the bassist does all kinds of stuff during his walk. He is still arpeggiating chords but is doing it in very innovative ways. This is how each bassist develops his own style. Ron Carter, Scott LaFaro, Milt Hinton, Paul Chambers, Gary Peacock, etc. would have each done it differently.
By the way, plucking two D-7s quarter-notes and two G7s quarter-notes in the first bar and so on is NOT two-feel! That is still considered walking. Anytime you are playing four quarter-notes to a bar in 4/4 time, you are walking. Two-feel is always two half-notes per bar of 4/4. Now there are little tricks you are taught as a jazz musician to inject some variation into a two-feel so that it doesn’t sound boring such as preceding each half-note with a little short grace note sort of like “b-bum b-bum” but this not walking.
One last thing about walking: accent the 2 and 4 beats. Giving all four beats the same emphasis doesn’t cut it. The walk has to swing—that is its raison d’etre. To make it swing, we accent 2 and 4. Try it, you’ll what a difference it makes.