The Walking Line Vault · 10 Video Lessons · 9 Downloads · Yours To Keep

A Transcription Collection · 10 Lessons

Ten jazz bass lines you should know, ending with the one I consider the greatest ever played

Collage of a bank vault door swung open onto stacks of records and tape reels

The Walking Line Vault · By Cole Davis

From Ron Carter's opening line on The Intrepid Fox to Israel Crosby on But Not for Me. Short, classic walking lines, each one teaching one big idea, taken apart on video. All ten for $47.

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

$100$47

One payment · Yours to keep

Get all 10 for $47

10 video lessons · 1 hr 41 min of video · 9 downloads

Ron Carter Israel Crosby Paul Chambers Ray Brown Percy Heath Charlie Haden
10
video lessons from Cole
101
minutes of video
9
downloads
$47
for all 10

Ray Brown's line on Long Ago and Far Away is so simple you'd think you could have written it.

Then you try to play it that clearly.

That's the trap with the classic lines. On paper they look easy. Percy Heath's line on Blue Haze is simple. Charlie Haden opens One Finger Snap with four bars of textbook walking, to prove he knows the rules. Then he ignores every one of them.

The page gives you the notes. It won't tell you why they work.

It won't tell you how a simple line gave Miles and Horace Silver room to take risks, or where a Ray Brown line's swing actually lives. Each lesson here does. One line, one big idea, and me taking it apart on video.

The tenth line is Israel Crosby on But Not for Me. I consider it the greatest jazz bass line ever played. The whole way I teach walking bass came out of it.

What's Inside

Ten lessons.

Every one's a video lesson from Cole. 1 hr 41 min of video in all, and 9 downloads.

  1. 1Ron Carter: The Intrepid FoxUpright · 17-minute video · 1 downloadRon Carter's opening line on The Intrepid Fox, and the playbook behind every two-bar phrase he plays. Once you know it, you'll hear it everywhere.See this lesson
  2. 2Israel Crosby: Cheek to CheekUpright · 13-minute video · 1 downloadThe heavyweight champion of jazz bass lines, on Ahmad Jamal's Cheek to Cheek. How to sound melodic without leaning on chromatic notes.See this lesson
  3. 3Paul Chambers: Bye Bye Blackbird, the Walking LineUpright · 8-minute video · 1 downloadPaul Chambers was the melodic, rhythmic and harmonic engine of Miles's band. His walking on the bridge of Bye Bye Blackbird shows you how.See this lesson
  4. 4Ray Brown: Long Ago and Far AwayUpright · 8-minute video · 1 downloadA bass line so simple you'd think you could have written it. Then you try to play that clearly and find out how hard it is.See this lesson
  5. 5Peter Washington: Giant Steps, the Video BreakdownUpright · 13-minute video · video onlyMaybe the best Giant Steps bass line I've ever heard, and it's built from almost nothing but 1-3-5-7. A 13-minute breakdown.See this lesson
  6. 6Paul Chambers: Bye Bye Blackbird, the Funky 2-FeelUpright · 7-minute video · 1 downloadPaul Chambers was one of the great masters of the two-beat. On Bye Bye Blackbird he dresses it up with a few rhythms that make a band feel amazing without knowing why.See this lesson
  7. 7Percy Heath: Blue HazeUpright · 10-minute video · 1 downloadPercy Heath doesn't make the swing on Blue Haze. He lets it happen around him. How a simple line gave Miles and Horace Silver room to take risks.See this lesson
  8. 8Ray Brown: Have You Met Miss JonesUpright · 9-minute video · 1 downloadA Ray Brown line swings before you do anything to it. This lesson shows you where that feeling actually lives in the notes.See this lesson
  9. 9Charlie Haden: One Finger SnapUpright · 7-minute video · 1 downloadFour bars of textbook walking to prove he knows the rules, then he ignores every one of them. Charlie Haden with Kenny Barron and Roy Haynes.See this lesson
  10. 10Israel Crosby: But Not for MeUpright · 10-minute video · 1 downloadI consider this the greatest jazz bass line ever played. The whole way I teach walking bass came out of it.See this lesson
Who It's For

Built for the bassist who wants the classic lines under their fingers.

✓This is for you if…

  • You walk, and you want the classic lines every jazz bassist should know under your fingers.
  • You play upright. All ten are taught on upright (the notes work on electric too).
  • You want one big idea per line, not a wall of theory.

×It's not for you if…

  • You're a total beginner still finding the notes.
The Price

All 10 for $47. You keep $53.

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

10 video lessons1 hr 41 min
Downloads9
One at a time (10 × $10)$100
All 10$47

You keep $53

Get all 10 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

One line. One big idea.

$100$47
Get all 10 for $47
FAQ

Questions before you buy.

The page gives you the notes.
Each lesson gives you why.

From Ron Carter's opening line on The Intrepid Fox to Israel Crosby on But Not for Me, the line I consider the greatest jazz bass line ever played.

$100 one at a time · $47 for all 10
1 hr 41 min of video · 9 downloads · Yours to keep

Get all 10 for $47
The Offer

Here's everything you get.

The Walking Line Vault: All 10 Lessons
10 video lessons from Cole, 1 hr 41 min in all
9 downloads
Opens in your Better Bass Lessons member portal the moment you check out
One at a time$100
Today$47

One payment · Yours to keep · You keep $53

Get all 10 for $47