Walking Like a Legend · 9 Video Lessons · 13 Downloads · Yours To Keep

A Transcription Collection · 9 Lessons

Nine legendary bass lines that break the rules you were taught, and sound better for it

Collage of an upright bass scroll rising out of a vinyl record, with a coiled bass string

Walking Like a Legend · By Cole Davis

Ron Carter, Paul Chambers, Charlie Haden, Israel Crosby, Peter Washington and Jimmy Garrison, taken apart note for note on video. All nine, with the transcriptions, for $47.

From Cole Davis: New York bassist, Juilliard, learned under Ron Carter.

$90$47

One payment · Yours to keep

Get all 9 for $47

9 video lessons · 1 hr 48 min of video · 13 downloads

Ron Carter Paul Chambers Charlie Haden Israel Crosby Peter Washington Jimmy Garrison
9
video lessons from Cole
108
minutes of video
13
downloads
$47
for all 9

You were taught to play the chord.

Put the root on one. Keep it simple when the tune's simple. Walk something safe when the changes get scary.

Good rules. Every player on this page breaks them.

On Passion Dance, Ron Carter plays the chord maybe 40% of the time.

Kind of Blue is famous for its simplicity, and Paul Chambers plays the busiest B flat blues line I've ever heard on it. It works.

Charlie Haden, my favorite bass player of all time, plays lines that do things I'd stop a student for. They sound like there's nothing hipper.

They aren't breaking the rules by accident.

Every choice has a reason behind it, and you won't hear the reason by staring at the notes. That's why every line here is a video lesson. I play it, then take it apart: the fingerings, the note choices and why it sounds the way it does. The transcription's there to download for all nine.

What's Inside

Nine lessons.

Every one's a video lesson from Cole. 1 hr 48 min of video in all, and 13 downloads.

  1. 1Ron Carter: Passion DanceUpright · 9-minute video · 1 downloadHow to play bar after bar of the same chord without sounding boring. On Passion Dance, Ron Carter plays the chord maybe 40% of the time.See this lesson
  2. 2Paul Chambers: Freddie FreeloaderUpright · 6-minute video · 1 downloadKind of Blue is famous for its simplicity. Paul Chambers plays the busiest B flat blues line I've ever heard on it, and it works.See this lesson
  3. 3Charlie Haden: Three Bass LinesUpright · 15-minute video · 3 downloadsMy favorite bass player of all time, bar none. Three lines that do things I'd stop a student for, and sound like there's nothing hipper.See this lesson
  4. 4Peter Washington: Giant Steps, Transcription + ExerciseUpright · 9-minute video · 2 downloadsMost Giant Steps bass lines are root, root, root, because the changes are scary. Peter Washington's isn't. This is what he does instead.See this lesson
  5. 5Paul Chambers: Walking Modal Jazz on So WhatUpright · 10-minute video · 2 downloadsSixteen bars of D minor and you're out of ideas. Paul Chambers never is. The tricks he uses to walk modal jazz, from a live So What.See this lesson
  6. 6The Genius of Israel Crosby: Three Bass LinesUpright · 25-minute video · 1 downloadThe heavyweight champion of bass lines, in a 25-minute deep dive: But Not for Me, You or No One, and a line that sounds like a symphony theme.See this lesson
  7. 7Jimmy Garrison: Resolution from A Love SupremeUpright · 10-minute video · 1 downloadJimmy Garrison's unaccompanied intro to Resolution, from A Love Supreme. It's all fourths, it's deceptively hard, and here's how to play it without hurting yourself.See this lesson
  8. 8Ultimate Paul Chambers: Solos, 2-Feel and So WhatUpright · 16-minute video · 1 downloadSpeed up a Paul Chambers bass line and you get a Paul Chambers solo. His solos, his two-feel, a rhythm changes and the wrong notes on So What.See this lesson
  9. 9Paul Chambers: So WhatUpright · 7-minute video · 1 downloadYou've heard this line a thousand times. Here are five ways to finger it, including the one you can hear Paul Chambers using on the record.See this lesson
Who It's For

Built for the bassist whose lines come out correct and a little safe.

✓This is for you if…

  • You can already walk through a tune, and your lines come out correct and a little safe.
  • You play upright. All nine are taught on upright (the notes work on electric too).
  • You'd rather learn from the records than from another book of patterns.

×It's not for you if…

  • You're a total beginner still finding the notes. Start with a walking course first.
The Price

All 9 for $47. You keep $43.

One payment. Yours to keep. It opens in your Better Bass Lessons member portal the moment you check out.

9 video lessons1 hr 48 min
Downloads13
One at a time (9 × $10)$90
All 9$47

You keep $43

Get all 9 for $47

One payment · Yours to keep · Opens in your member portal

The Jazz Transcription Club

Want the next one on Tuesday?

The Jazz Transcription Club brings you a new legendary bass line every Tuesday, note for note, with a full breakdown, a slowed-down breakdown, a backing track and the chart. You don't have to pick the next one or dig it off the record. It shows up. $27 a month. Cancel anytime.

Get a new line every Tuesday

Every choice has a reason behind it.

$90$47
Get all 9 for $47
FAQ

Questions before you buy.

Good rules.
Every player here breaks them.

Ron Carter, Paul Chambers, Charlie Haden, Israel Crosby, Peter Washington and Jimmy Garrison, taken apart note for note on video.

$90 one at a time · $47 for all 9
1 hr 48 min of video · 13 downloads · Yours to keep

Get all 9 for $47
The Offer

Here's everything you get.

Walking Like a Legend: All 9 Lessons
9 video lessons from Cole, 1 hr 48 min in all
13 downloads
Opens in your Better Bass Lessons member portal the moment you check out
One at a time$90
Today$47

One payment · Yours to keep · You keep $43

Get all 9 for $47