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Restless · 06-19-2002, 11:15 PM

quote:Originally posted by Cathy:
The best Lightfoot example I can think of for a walking bassline is Make Way For The Lady, particularly half way through the song, I think it's at the part where Gord sings, "Shake hands with the Father...."
Walking bass is very hard to explain in print. Believe me, I tried to explain it to Val last night on IM. I think I have her totally confused now!
You have to imagine the boom boom boom boom bassline continuously progressing part way up the scale, and back down, usually in groups of four notes, right on the beat. If you watch a bass guitarist playing it, it appears that his fingers are walking up and down the neck of the guitar.

Cathy
You had it with "Make way for the lady".. A walking bass follows and changes with each change of word. Another words..lets define what it is NOT. When you pluck the bass string it will vibrate for awhile and continue to emit sound till it fades etc. So in the meantime a person may or could sing/say several words in the corus before the bass cord is plucked again.
So with a walkin bass it is plucked for each word sung. "Make way for the lady= bum bum bum ba ba bum" etc. It walks along or follows each word sung.

06-19-2002, 11:15 PM	#13
Restless Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 333	quote:Originally posted by Cathy: The best Lightfoot example I can think of for a walking bassline is Make Way For The Lady, particularly half way through the song, I think it's at the part where Gord sings, "Shake hands with the Father...." Walking bass is very hard to explain in print. Believe me, I tried to explain it to Val last night on IM. I think I have her totally confused now! You have to imagine the boom boom boom boom bassline continuously progressing part way up the scale, and back down, usually in groups of four notes, right on the beat. If you watch a bass guitarist playing it, it appears that his fingers are walking up and down the neck of the guitar. Cathy You had it with "Make way for the lady".. A walking bass follows and changes with each change of word. Another words..lets define what it is NOT. When you pluck the bass string it will vibrate for awhile and continue to emit sound till it fades etc. So in the meantime a person may or could sing/say several words in the corus before the bass cord is plucked again. So with a walkin bass it is plucked for each word sung. "Make way for the lady= bum bum bum ba ba bum" etc. It walks along or follows each word sung.