Summertime Walking Bass Line
George Gershwin wrote Summertime in 1934 for Porgy and Bess, his 1935 opera, with lyrics by DuBose Heyward. It's only 16 bars, and the harmony moves slowly enough that jazz players often treat it like a slow minor blues. That makes it a great tune for learning the minor ii-V, Bm7b5 to E7, which comes around five times in one chorus. Below you'll find the changes bar by bar in A minor, the key most players use, and a walking line to play through them.
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
Summertime gets played in a lot of keys and arrangements. We use the iReal Pro chart from its Jazz 1460 playlist, in A minor, which matches Learn Jazz Standards' chord analysis bar for bar, including the A7 on beat 3 of bar 4. Both write the dominant chords with alterations (E7b13 and A7b9); we show plain E7 and A7. Learn Jazz Standards' downloadable lead sheet is a different version in D minor, so don't mix the two charts.
How this line works
- The root lands on beat 1 of 18 of the 23 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.
- 22 of the 22 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: 8 on beat 2 and 3 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 Summertime teaches you
- The minor ii-V: Bm7b5 to E7 takes you back to Am7 five times in 16 bars. In bars 2, 10, 14 and 16 it goes by at two beats per chord, and in bars 7 and 8 it gets a full bar each, so you practice both speeds in one chorus.
- The note that makes it minor: E7's 3rd, G#, isn't in A natural minor. It's the note that pulls E7 back home, rising a half step to A.
- The iv chord and the bVI7: A7 on beat 3 of bar 4 sets up Dm7, the iv chord, in bar 5. Bar 6 is F7, a dominant chord built on the sixth degree of A minor, before the long ii-V in bars 7 and 8.
- A detour to the relative major: bar 12 is D7 to G7, a II7-V7 into C major, and bar 13 lands on Cmaj7 before Am7 takes over halfway through the bar.
- Slow tempos expose everything: at a slow swing, every note of your line hangs in the air, so each approach note has to point clearly at the next 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
- Miles Davis, Porgy and Bess (1959), with Paul Chambers on bass.
- John Coltrane, My Favorite Things (1961), with Steve Davis on bass.
- Art Blakey, A Jazz Message (1963), with Art Davis on bass.
Summertime: questions
What key is Summertime in?
A minor is the usual jazz key. It's the key in iReal Pro and in Learn Jazz Standards' chord analysis, and jazzstandards.com analyzes it in A minor too. Recordings come in lots of keys, though, so check with the band before you count it off.
How many bars is Summertime?
16 bars, in four 4-bar phrases. Phrases one and three start on Am7, phrase two starts on the iv chord, Dm7, and phrase four starts on Cmaj7 before a minor ii-V takes you back to the top.
How fast is Summertime usually played?
Often slow. iReal Pro's chart is marked slow swing, which it plays under 100 bpm, and Learn Jazz Standards says it's generally played as a slow blues. It works at other tempos too, so learn the line slow, then push it.
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.