Two-feel bass line
With
Tim RichardsHand positions for bass lines using roots and 5ths only
What's in the course
29 lessons (1h 19m) · 1 free
01. Playing the roots
2:34
02. Two-feel bass line
You are here2:26
03. Two-feel bass line (performance)
1:12
04. Guide tones
3:00
05. Two-feel bass with guide tones (performance)
1:06
06. Adding right-hand chords
2:37
07. Two-feel bass with chords (performance)
1:08
08. Walking bass lines
5:31
09. Walking bass line (performance)
2:12
10. Chordal rhythms
5:05
11. Rootless voicings
5:15
12. Walking bass line with rootless chords (performance)
1:10
Lesson transcript
top C and go down.**
Fingering Implications
These options have fingering implications. You could:
- Go up: Start with your little finger on C.
- Go down: Put your thumb on C.
- Alternate: Start with your third finger on C and go up and down.
- Reverse the order: Start with the third finger on C and go down and up.
Just by using roots and fifths, we've got four different ways of playing two bars of C.
Keeping It Fresh
When you play the whole tune, there will be some repeats. You'll be playing those two bars of C several times, so there's no reason to play the same bass line every time.
Don't omit to:
- Vary it
- Keep it fresh by going down instead of up
- Use different figurations
Alternative Notes in Two Feel Bass Lines
One other thing about two feel bass lines is that sometimes, instead of the fifth, you can play the third of the chord.
For instance, in the two feel bass line you're about to play:
- I do that in the A7 to take me to the D.
- So I've gone: root, five, root.
Then I think, "Right, I've got to go to D now."
- So C sharp would be a nice note to lead me to D.
- This gives me the half step connection between the third of the A7 chord and the root of the D minor.
29 lessons
1h 19m of structured video lessons
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Meet your guru
Meet your guru
Critically acclaimed jazz pianist and composer Tim Richards is one of Britain’s most experienced jazz educators, teaching piano privately for over 30 years, as well as at Morley College, Goldsmiths College, the University of Surrey, Premises Studios and other venues in the UK and abroad. He has produced numerous titles for Schott Music, including the best-selling two-volume Exploring Jazz Piano, Blues, Boogie & Gospel Collection and the acclaimed Improvising Blues Piano. He is also co-author, with John Crawford, of Exploring Latin Piano and Brazilian Piano Collection.
More recently Schott have published Jazz, Latin & Modern Collection (15 pieces for solo piano), comprising Tim Richards originals alongside pieces by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, and the two volume set Beginning Jazz Piano (now a two-part MusicGurus course).
“The real joy of Tim’s music… is that it is both hugely educational but also such great fun to play. Anyone with the slightest interest in learning to play or teach jazz piano should really acquire a set of Tim’s books.” PianoDao
As a performer Tim has been a presence on the UK jazz scene since the 1980s, also playing the blues with UK and US legends such as Otis Grand, Earl Green, Dana Gillespie, Larry Garner, Joe Louis Walker and Mojo Buford. He has released over a dozen albums as a leader (featuring many of London’s best jazz musicians including Pete King, Gilad Atzmon, Tony Kofi, Jason Yarde, Seb Rochford, Ed Jones, Dick Pearce and many others), and toured all over Europe with line-ups ranging from duo to nine-piece. His latest recording, the album ‘Telegraph Hill’ by the six-piece Hextet, was described in The Observer as "A true joy from beginning to end".
More info can be found on his website www.timrichards.ndo.co.uk
