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Walking bass lines which look complicated, can often be broken down and easily played by just about any bass player by exploring the RAAL Walking Bass Formula.
The RAAL Formula gives you an outline to know exactly which notes are available to play on each beat of the song, and the good news is the first and last beat are already chosen for you!
With that being said lets just into the RAAL Walking Bassline Formula!
RAAL is in acronmy that stands for:
Root-Any-Any-Lead
And each letter is letting you know which notes you can play on each beat in a 4/4 time signature song (1-2-3-4).
Beat 1 is the R
Beat 2 is an A
Beat 3 is another A
Beat 4 is the L
With that foundation, let's dig deeper into what each letter represents.
The R stands for ROOT. This is nice and easy, on the first beat of each measure you need to play the root note. So if the band is going to an A major chord, the root would be A. On this beat you also need to determine the tonality of the chord the band is playing (major, minor, diminished, etc.), the tonality will let you know which notes are available to you on the next beat.
Both of the A beats stand for ANY. For these two beats you can choose any notes that you think sound good from the corresponding chord tones or scales of the chord that the band is playing. The following pages of this guide will outline some of the possibilities for you and layout major and minor chord tones as well as major scale shapes you can use.
Finally, the 4th beat is reserved for a LEAD TONE. A lead tone helps move the listeners ear and leads them to the next chord they are about to hear. The most important element of a lead tone, is its relationship to the next chord, not the chord you are currently playing. So if we are moving from an A chord to an E chord, the lead tone you choose should relate to the E chord. In the next pages I will give you a few examples of lead tones you can experiment with. Often a lead tone is a note from the chord tones of the next chord or a chromatic note that is a half step away from the next ROOT.
From the LEAD TONE, you move right back into the R or ROOT of the next chord and repeat the process. do that over and over again and you will have a very sweet sounding walking bass line for any song of your choice!
Now lets take a look at some chord tone shapes and scales you can use for the ANY notes of your walking bassline as well as some options for your LEAD TONE.
A major chord is made up of 3 tones, the root, 3rd and 5th. Below you will find 3 shapes of playing these notes.
Remember, whatever note is the Root (or "R") is the chord you are playing the tones of. So if your "R" note is a "B", then you are playing the "B" chord tones.
Major Chord Tone Shape - First Finger Position
Major Chord Tone Shape - Second Finger Position
Major Chord Tone Shape - Fourth Finger Position
A Major 7th chord is made up of 4 tones, the root, 3rd 5th and 7th. Below you will find 3 shapes of playing these notes.
Remember, whatever note is the Root (or "R") is the chord you are playing the tones of. So if your "R" note is a "B", then you are playing the "B major 7" chord tones.
Major 7th Chord Tone Shape - First Finger Position
Major 7th Chord Tone Shape - Second Finger Position
Major 7th Chord Tone Shape - Fourth Finger Position
A minor chord is made up of 3 tones, the root, minor 3rd and 5th. Below you will find 3 shapes of playing these notes.
Remember, whatever note is the Root (or "R") is the chord you are playing the tones of. So if your "R" note is a "B", then you are playing the "B minor" chord tones.
Minor Chord Tone Shape - First Finger Position
Minor Chord Tone Shape - Second Finger Position
Minor Chord Tone Shape - Fourth Finger Position
A Minor 7th chord is made up of 4 tones, the root, flat 3rd 5th and flat 7th. Below you will find 3 shapes of playing these notes.
Remember, whatever note is the Root (or "R") is the chord you are playing the tones of. So if your "R" note is a "B", then you are playing the "B minor 7" chord tones.
Minor 7th Chord Tone Shape - First Finger Position
Minor 7th Chord Tone Shape - Second Finger Position
Minor 7th Chord Tone Shape - Fourth Finger Position
The Major Scale is made up of 7 tones and if often shown with an eight note which is the octave of the root note. The formula (in relationship to steps and half steps) to build a Major Scale is:
Whole-Whole-Half-Whole-Whole-Whole-Half
Major Scale
The below Major Scale diagram outlines how we could use the RAAL Formula within the Major Scale.
R-Root Note
A-the 3rd
A-The 4th
L- A chromatic note a half step away from the next Root note (assuming the root note of the next chord is on the 5)
A lead tone is "leading" the listener's ear to the next chord. Since we are now concerned with the next chord, we need to look at the lead tone in relationship to the root of the upcoming chord.
Chromatic Lead Tone
One of the easiest LEAD TONES is the half step chromatic tone. This is simply the tone a half step above or below the next ROOT note you are going to.
Diatonic Lead Tone
Diatonic is just a fancy word for notes within the scale, in other words if we are looking at an A major as the next chord, a diatonic note is any note inside of the A major scale. In the below example the tone on the left would be the 7th and on the right would be the 2nd.
The 5th
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Below are some blank fretboard charts for you to make some notes or practice how well you have memorized the shapes!
-Charlie Haden