Blues for Alice Walking Bass Line
Blues for Alice is Charlie Parker's 12-bar blues in F, recorded on August 8, 1951, with Ray Brown on bass. It's the model for what players call Bird blues: the same 12 bars as a regular blues, packed with ii-Vs that fall by whole steps, then by half steps, before a turnaround sends you back to the top. Most bars have two chords, so your line gets two beats per chord. Below you'll find the changes bar by bar and a walking line in F.
Turn the bass off and it's your gig: the piano and drums keep going and you walk the line. The band counts you in with one bar of hi-hat.
Recorded upright bass, grand piano and a jazz drum kit play the line. Tab is for 4-string bass in standard tuning.
The changes
Charts agree on the roots and differ on spellings. Bar 1 is Fmaj7 or F6 (Wikipedia mentions both), and some charts write a plain F. Bar 2's A7 often carries a b9. Bar 5 is Bb7 in most charts, but you'll also see Bbmaj7. The Learn Jazz Standards chart is a simplified version: Dm7 for all of bar 3, Bbm6 for all of bar 6, Am7 for all of bar 7, and F7 | C7 in the last two bars. The turnaround varies too: Jazz Piano School and Jazzomat's annotation of Parker's recording put a I-VI-ii-V there (Fmaj7 D7 | Gm7 C7), and jazz-circle.com starts bar 11 on Am7 D7.
How this line works
- The root lands on beat 1 of 11 of the 20 chord changes, so the harmony is clear. The rest start on the 3rd or 5th, which keeps the line from sounding like a list of roots.
- 19 of the 19 chord changes are approached by a half step or a whole step, so every new chord arrives smoothly instead of by a jump.
- Non-chord tones sit on the weak beats: 6 on beat 2 and 5 on beat 4. That's where passing and chromatic notes sound intentional instead of wrong.
- No note repeats back to back. A repeated note is the quickest way to make a walking line sound stiff.
What Blues for Alice teaches you
- Bird blues: Parker keeps the landmarks of a blues, Bb7 in bar 5 and a ii-V home in bars 9 and 10, and fills the space between them with ii-Vs.
- ii-Vs that fall by whole steps: bars 2 to 4 run Em7b5 A7, Dm7 G7, Cm7 F7, each one a whole step below the last, and the last one lands on Bb7, the IV chord.
- ii-Vs that fall by half steps: bars 6 to 8 run Bbm7 Eb7, Am7 D7, Abm7 Db7. Db7 is the tritone sub for D7, so it slides down a half step into Gm7 in bar 9.
- Two beats per chord: 8 of the 12 bars have two chords. Put a chord tone on beats 1 and 3, and use beats 2 and 4 to step into the next root.
- It doesn't start like a blues: bar 1 is Fmaj7, and bar 2 is a minor ii-V (Em7b5 A7) into D minor, the relative minor, before the tune ever gets to the IV chord.
How to practice it
- Hear the form first. Turn the bass off and play just the root of each chord along with the band until you never lose your place.
- Read the line slowly. Set the tempo around 80 and play the written line with the drums. Slow is the fast way here.
- Loop the hard spots. Turn on Loop, find the four bars that trip you up, and play them until they feel like the easy ones.
- Make it yours. Keep beat 1 of every bar, but change the approach note on beat 4. A half step above, a half step below, a whole step: each one changes the color of the arrival.
- Play it with the record. Put on one of the versions below and play along. That's where the time feel gets into your hands.
Want to build your own lines on these changes? Try the free Walking Line Builder and practice with the click on 2 and 4.
Recordings to hear
- Charlie Parker, Swedish Schnapps (1951), with Ray Brown on bass.
- Roland Kirk, We Free Kings (1961), with Art Davis on bass.
Blues for Alice: questions
What key is Blues for Alice in?
F. It's a 12-bar blues in F major, and most charts start it on Fmaj7 or F6 instead of the F7 you'd expect in a blues.
Why is it called a Bird blues?
Because Parker's changes became the model. It's still 12 bars with Bb7 in bar 5 and a ii-V in bars 9 and 10, but the gaps are filled with chains of ii-Vs, first down by whole steps, then down by half steps. Players call these changes Bird changes or the Bird blues.
How fast is Blues for Alice played?
Parker's 1951 recording runs about 169 bpm, a medium-up swing. With two chords in most bars, start slower, and bring the tempo up only once you can land every chord.
Your next step
This page gives you one line to study. These courses teach you to build your own, on the bass you play.
The 7-Day Walking Bass Breakthrough
Cole DavisWalk through any jazz tune with lines that move, swing, and never repeat themselves.
- Walk through any ii-V-I, major or minor.
- Solve the two-bar problem on static modal tunes.
- Never repeat yourself two bars in a row.
Walking Basslines on Upright Bass from the Beginning
Cole DavisFive lessons from “my walking lines don't sound like the records” to professional-grade walking.
- The chord first: the 1-3-5-7, where every great bass line starts.
- The master move: changing the order of the notes, bar by bar, on an F blues.
- The three questions every bass line has to pass, then the whole method on Autumn Leaves.
Not sure which course fits? Answer a few questions and we'll point you to one.