Bass Line Basics

Joey DeFrancesco didn’t single-handedly spearhead the resurgence of the Hammond B-3 organ; he did it using both hands and both feet! Since his emergence on the scene in the late ’80s, Joey’s soulful and virtuosic playing has attracted a large audience, and inspired a new generation of B-3 players. Larry Goldings, Gary Versace, Sam Yahel, Jared Gold, and Brian Charrette are among the legion of players who have followed Joey’s lead, continuing the B-3 tradition while developing new approaches to the instrument.

Joey’s energetic, exciting execution on the B-3 starts from the bottom up. His swinging bass lines lay down a solid rhythmic and harmonic foundation for his lightning-fast lines, as well as for the rest of the band. Contrary to popular belief, the bass lines played by B-3 organists are usually generated with the left hand on the lower manual, and not the feet on the foot pedals — though Joey can kick bass with his feet like there’s no tomorrow, when he wants to. Most B-3 players use the pedals for emphasis and percussive effects while walking a bass line with the left hand. Joey does this with great authority, and his left-hand bass lines are virtually automatic. It takes many hours of practice and playing to get that kind of confidence, but it’s well worth the investment. And walking bass lines are not restricted to B-3s; they can be played on virtually any keyboard, be they acoustic pianos, old-school synths, digital workstation keyboards, or B-3 clones.

Ex. 1. When playing walking bass lines, keep your ideas simple and clear. That’s what Joey does in his F blues. He plays roots and fifths, which take up three of the four beats in a measure. The addition of a chromatic passing tone to the root of the next chord completes the four beats. Play this pattern with the metronome and transpose it up in fourths, as shown in the music. Keep transposing to cover all twelve keys.

Ex. 2. Another common bass line pattern is to start on the root, go up to the third, then ascend chromatically. This moves nicely to the V chord in a blues progression. Play through this two-measure phrase, transpose it up a whole-step as written, and then continue to transpose up in whole-steps. Then start again a half-step higher to cover the other six keys.

Ex. 3. Joey combines elements of the first two exercises here with this seven-note bass line. Start on the root, go down to the third, up to the sixth, chromatically down to the fifth, down a tritone to a chromatic approach tone, and then resolve down a half-step to the root.

Play Audio and MIDI

These audio and MIDI files correspond to the lessons and hot solo transcription beginning on page 42 of the February 2008 issue of Keyboard. All files performed by Scott Healy.